Gulf coast fishermen being screwed by government/BP

General General Discussion
1

THis sh*t is enough to make your blood boil.

Any payment they receive for cleanup work they do for BP will be taken out of their claims against BP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_oil_spill_feinberg/print

Gulf coast fishermen angry over oil claims ruling
By Leigh Coleman Leigh Coleman Sat Jul 17, 12:46 am ET

BILOXI, Mississippi (Reuters) – Fishermen in Mississippi say they are angry that under the terms of BP’s $20 billion oil spill fund, money they earn doing clean-up will be subtracted from their claim against the company.

The fishermen reacted after Kenneth Feinberg, the federal official in charge of administering the compensation fund, announced the decision at a town hall meeting in Biloxi on Friday.

Some walked out of the meeting in protest, arguing it was pointless to work under the Vessels of Opportunity program, set up by BP to help clean up the damage from the deepwater leak that started in April.

Oil stopped flowing from the leak on Thursday.

“I am furious about this,” said Tuget Nguyen, who works with family members as a fisherman in Pass Christian, Mississippi.

“If he takes away the money we are making from BP when we get our claims, then nobody is going to work for BP to clean up this oil and we will not rent our boats to BP either. It is not fair,” Nguyen said.

Thousands of fishermen in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, out of work because federal authorities have closed much of the Gulf to fishing, are working for the Vessels of Opportunity program, skimming oil from the water and protecting coastlines.

Vessels of Opportunity “workers can file a claim, but we will subtract the amount they are paid from BP from their claim. That is how it has to work … Of course you can file a claim. You must file a claim, but you cannot get paid twice,” Feinberg told the meeting.

Fishermen can earn between $1,000 and $3,000 a day renting their boats under the program and individuals can earn upward of $1,400 a day. Charter boat captains can make even more.

The figures represent less than what could be earned at the peak of a shrimping season, curtailed because of the spill, but more than fishermen who have claimed against BP for economic losses have been paid.

As a result, the program has created division in some communities between those working on it and others still unemployed. Local fishermen also complain that outsiders have profited from the program at the expense of those who have lost their livelihood.

“This (Feinberg’s ruling) means I am actually losing money because I have to pay my crew out of the money BP is paying me to clean up this oil,” Larry Dossett from Biloxi said.

“If he only pays me the difference, I am in the hole. We are financially dead already.”

(Writing by Matthew Bigg, editing by Stacey Joyce)

2

I don’t see a problem. You either get paid not to fish because you can’t or you get paid more than you have earned fishing for doing clean-up why should they be entitled to both?

3

I agree, they had to pay their crews to fish, now they are paying them to clean, either way they have to pay their crew or lay them off.

4

It is like car insurance. You get in a car wreck with your 2000 Ford Escort, it gets fixed or you get the value of a 2000 Escort, not a new Buick as a replacement.

5

Geez what morons. So it’s a no-brainer: don’t help with the oil spill cleanup I guess. You induce wear and tear on your boats and equipment, put your employees at risk, etc for BP.

Same as socialism: eventually those that work hard realize it doesnt pay to bust your a$$ to feed the slugs who don’t work… Incentive to work hard vanishes as there’s no reward for it.

6

"If he takes away the money we are making from BP when we get our claims, then nobody is going to work for BP to clean up this oil and we will not rent our boats to BP either.

exactly. why would they want to work or put their boats through that crap when they could do absolutely nothing and get paid MORE?

7

There simply needs to be some sort of incentive established to compensate for any issues or damage done to the vessel while it’s utilized for something it’s not designed to do either effectively or efficiently.

If not it looks like they will lose a lot of civilian help.

8

These are made up numbers for illustration purposes.

If they normally make $20K a week and BP pays them $10K for the use of their boat to do clean up. Why should BP also pay them $20K that they would have lost had they not done the clean up? They should pay them the other $10K that they would have lost since they didn’t have a loss of $20K; they only lost $10K. If BP isn’t paying them enough to cover paying their crew and to maintain their boats then they need to renegotiate or stop working, but IMHO they aren’t entitled to more money than they have potentially lost.

9

Considering it is the federal government, I imagine that they will do exactly the wrong thing and end up costing us 5X as much as doing it the common sense approach.

10

Isn’t RickRock our resident liberal troll?

B_C

11

yes, but even a stopped watch…

12

“This (Feinberg’s ruling) means I am actually losing money because I have to pay my crew out of the money BP is paying me to clean up this oil,” Larry Dossett from Biloxi said.

“If he only pays me the difference, I am in the hole. We are financially dead already.”

This guy has no clue what he is even talking about. In that program the owner of the boat gets paid for the rental of the boat, the captain gets paid and the crew gets paid all by BP. If the owner is the captain, he gets paid the rental and gets paid for his time.

13

What exactly is so liberal about my views? Because i’m not anti Obama all the time and jump to blaming all the problems of the world on him? I’m sorry its not the simple. I’m actually pretty damn middle of the road. Maybe you’ve missed all the posts where I’ve been quite critical of Obama and the Democrats in general? Maybe you’ve missed me opine on my hatred of Pelosi? Its funny, on more liberal forums I’m viewed as right wing. The polarization from both sides is retarded and really counterproductive to any sort of progress or good for our nation as a whole. I guess everything is liberal if you’re viewpoint is coming from the extreme right…and vice versa.

And please, maybe you should go look up the definition of a troll. I’m far from it. Merely disagreeing with you politically does not constitute a troll.

14

There were some other articles about the fishing business and the BP impact. Part of the whining comes from the fact that the majority of fisherman and fishing boats operate on the “cash business” model. No payroll taxes, no FICA, workmans comp, etc.; like contractors. Much of their “earnings” were hidden from the government. Now the “G” and BP are using their “reported earnings” as the baseline for setting payment bars so that leaves the fisherman a little “short”.

15

Wish I could say I’m surprised.

Sure glad I turned down the protection contract @ their barges in the Gulf regarding this entity.

Sour taste in my mouth for sure.

16

If you can’t see it, I don’t know how to explain it to you. Thinking people should be paid to not work as well as for any work they actually do? You don’t see that as wrong?

What if the reason they couldn’t fish was because of a natural disaster? Should we, BP, the .gov or someone else compensate them? How many legitimate reasons are there for being paid not to work?

If that’s middle of the road, the road has swung hard left and a pretty long time ago.

Yes, in my opinion, you disagreeing with me does make you a liberal troll. I don’t know why it bothers you or what you are worried about, because my opinion and $2.50 will get you a cup of coffee.

B_C

17

You need to get out of NoVA. I can still get an ok cup of coffee and a danish for that.

18

In this case, no I don’t see that as wrong. Because BP has screwed up these people’s livelihood for a long time to come due to their negligence. How many years of lost work are they going to pay for with these settlements? People from the Exxon Valdez disaster still have not recovered. And this is magnitudes larger.

And then consider all the health problems that come from assisting with the cleanup. Migraines, respiratory issues, cancer, etc.

Yes, I think the settlement should be different from the payment they get for helping to clean up. The settlement is to cover BP’s negligence that lead to the loss of these people’s livelihoods. The payment to clean up their mess is separate.

No, because no entity is liable for that. Although there is disaster assistance from the government for folks in that situation. This is just a red herring and has no place in the discussion. This was not a natural disaster. It was man made, a result of negligence.

You may be right about that. The majority of the world would be considered quite left wing by American standards.

how utterly childish.

who said it bothered me? this is a discussion forum, we’re here to discuss. did you expect me not to respond to your personal attack? i recognize your post for what it is, clearly nothing but baiting. but i wanted you to explain what makes me so liberal. apparently you can’t. enough said i guess.

19

Yes, I think the settlement should be different from the payment they get for helping to clean up. The settlement is to cover BP’s negligence that lead to the loss of these people’s livelihoods. The payment to clean up their mess is separate.

Why should it be different? They are getting paid to use their boat or to clean up oil, which if they choose to do it is a livelihood. If your boss closes the place you work you get unemployment, if you get another job you dont still get to collect unemployment just because your boss took your livelihood away.

Plus if you do the math they will be making alot more money cleaning up than any settlement they will get or what they would fishing.

20

Some people are still above being paid to do nothing.

I would still like to see some figures as to what individual fishermen make, how much the average ship clears for the owner in profit, etc.