Gulf Fishermen Get Some Help from Farmers' Markets

One of the biggest insults the sustainable food movement gets is that it's elitist. And as much as it pains me to admit it — the critics make a good point. Organic and farmers' market fare oftentimes costs significantly more than conventional food products. Plus, sustainable food purveyors like farmers' markets and food co-ops tend to reside in middle- and upper-class neighborhoods. There are always exceptions, but generally speaking, we've got a long way to go to make the sustainable food movement more accessible.

One of the folks working the hardest to break down these barriers is Chef Michel Nischan of Wholesome Wave. Nischan and his organization work to get more farmers' markets to accept food stamp benefits, and the initiative recently launched its Fruit and Veggie Prescription Program, where at-risk consumers can cash in "prescriptions" for fresh, farmers' market produce. Wholesome Wave's most recent initiative aims to help a segment of the population that's struggling the most right now — Gulf fishermen and their families.

According to CNN's Eatocracy blog, Wholesome Wave recently partnered with marketumbrella.org, a New Orleans-based non-profit, to launch the MarinersMatch program. Here's how it works: Fishermen can show up to participating farmers' markets in Mississippi and Louisiana and present their valid fishing license and a photo I.D. The farmers' markets will then provide fishermen and their families with $40-worth of tokens, which they can exchange for goods sold at the market. The program not only helps beleaguered Gulf families eat — it helps them eat the right kinds of foods.

"Our commercial fisheries industry suffered severe losses in the last few months due to the BP oil spill," Mike Strain, Louisiana's Commissioner of Agriculture and Foresty, said in a marketumbrella.org press release. "This will provide much needed assistance for them to feed their families during this time of crisis."

Oil may have stopped flowing from the Deepwater Horizon rig more than a month ago, but fishermen are certainly still caught in a crisis. From April 20th to September 19th, the rig spewed more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. Most fishermen, crabbers, shrimpers, and oystermen were out of work during this time. Recovering economically after months without employment takes time — MarinersMatch aims to alleviate some of those money troubles.

While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) consistently opens more and more areas of the Gulf to commercial fishing, many remain closed. Even for areas that have been reopened, some fishermen are loath to return to work for fear of oil-contamination in seafood. "Nobody wants to rush into this and then someone gets sick on the seafood and the first thing you know, no one wants to buy our seafood," Patrick Hue, a Louisiana shrimp fisherman, told Associated Press (AP) reporters back in August.

The oil spill may have only lasted five months, but what's clear now is that it's going to take the Gulf fishing industry years — if not decades — to fully recover. MarinersMatch is a solid program that's clearly helping out Gulf families in their time of need, but the party that should really be stepping up its aid efforts is BP. The oil company, after all, is the one who got us all into this sludgy mess. Take action now, and sign our petition asking BP to fund a seafood safety program in Louisiana.

Photo credit: NatalieMaynor via Flickr