Living High and Dry on a Shrimp Boat
Doris Boulet and her fiancé, Korey Vaughn, live on their shrimp boat in Empire, LA. The boat isn’t floating at a dock, however, but propped up on scaffolding in a boatyard, where it has sat ever since being removed from the levee on which it was tossed during Hurricane Katrina.
The couple faces a dilemma. Shrimping is their livelihood, and fishing is good this season. But they can’t afford the $15,000 or so it would cost to repair damage to the boat and get it seaworthy. They applied for a loan to cover those expenses but were turned down.
So they currently ply the inshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico in a smaller flatboat, collecting oysters. That work brings in less money than they could earn in the shrimp boat, leaving them frustrated and disappointed.