American Indian businesses decline in Terrebonne

MONTEGUT, La. (AP) – After more than 30 years in the seafood industry, Charles Verdin, chief of the Pointe-au-Chien American Indian tribe, is closing the last of his shrimp companies.

Starting in 1975, he ran various shrimping outfits – the Katina Corporation, Mr. Verdin Inc. and Captain Dickie Inc. But in 2006, he started to shut down the companies one by one, finding it more profitable to shrimp part-time, getting oilfield work when he could.

“I just couldn't compete with the cost of imports,” he said. “The price to operate keeps going up but the price of seafood keeps going down. That's what really put the hurt on me.”

Verdin knows other members of his tribe who have also been forced to shut down their independent businesses, either because they can't compete with prices or because federal regulations have limited their ability to fish.

“Some of us had to get out of it. Some of us are still holding on, and I'm happy for them,” he said. “But I wasn't quite able to do it.”

U.S. census numbers bear out the chief's experience. Between 2002 and 2007, the already small number of American Indian-owned businesses in Terrebonne Parish decreased by 12 percent, from 220 to 193, though the number of American Indians in the region remained steady over that same period. A 2010 survey completed by the United Houma Nation tribe just one month before the oil spill found that 43 percent of its members in Terrebonne Parish fell below the federal poverty line.

Officials from the region's various tribes say the problem is a combination of natural disasters, geographical disadvantages, competition and the ongoing struggle to gain federal recognition.

LOW-LYING AREAS

Marlene Foret, chairwoman of the Grand Caillou-Dulac band of the Biloxi-Chitimacha tribe said hurricanes have hurt small businesses down the bayou, where there's a large population of Indians.

“There is very little businesses down there, except for the shrimpers, and they've been hit too, by the hurricanes, and the cost of insurance,” she said. “The numbers (of businesses) will continue to go down, I'm afraid, as long as there's no levee protection.”

The Houma Nation survey also found that 74.7 percent of Houma Indian households in Terrebonne Parish reported damage to their homes as a result of hurricanes Katrina and Rita and that 75.7 percent reported home damage as a result of Gustav and Ike.

“We may have had some tribal businesses that weren't able to rebound after that, especially those little bayou communities that had flooding in lower Terrebonne. That's where we've had a large number of tribal citizens,” said Lanor Curole, program coordinator for United Houma Nation Vocational Rehabilitation Services.

She added that the loss of a network in the parish's low-lying southern areas, has a viral effect on local businesses.

“The infrastructure is steadily disappearing down the bayou. Dulac used to have a bank, used to have a grocery store. So even if you did have someone with a viable business, they may not have that infrastructure to support it.”

The BP oil spill hasn't helped the seafood industry, either.

Thomas Dardar Jr., principal chief of the United Houma Nation, said that after the spill, the tribe's offices were inundated with citizens seeking help with their claims applications.

Last year, the Houma Nation applied for grant money from BP, asking for enough to cover the salary of a case worker to help the tribe manage the influx.

According to Dardar, the company gave them three days to complete an application, then denied the claim.

“When they finally sent us the reply, it said, `BP cherishes its relationship with United Houma Nation, but we can't give you the funding because you aren't federally recognized,' " he said. “We had to do it on our own, and spent a lot of time working after hours.”

FEDERAL MONEY

The federal Bureau of Indian Affairs has a Division of Workforce Development, which offers economic and workforce development grants to federally recognized tribes. But the Houma, the Pointe-au-Chien, and the Biloxi-Chitimacha are only recognized by the state of Louisiana, despite years spent trying to win federal recognition.

“We do have a small program offering funding to 565 federally recognized tribes,” said Nedra Darling, spokeswoman for the bureau.

Foret said those federal dollars would go a long way toward economic development for the Biloxi-Chitimacha in the lower bayou.

“When we get federally recognized, that's the first thing on the agenda: to build businesses in the area,” Foret said. “And I'm not talking casinos, either. I'm talking about grocery stores, shrimping processors, ice plants. Businesses that will put some of our people back to work.”

Dardar said the money would make locals eligible for many programs.

“A lot of local legislators are starting to see it as a solution to economic problems in the area, and starting to see the economic push it could mean for the area,” he said.

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Information from: The Courier, http://www.houmatoday.com