Uncounted Resources of the Louisiana Coast

1. Uncounted Resources of the Louisiana Coast Value and Sustainability in an Informal Economy

2. Many Underrated Cultural Resources • Maritime & Wetland Heritage • Wooden boats and historic port facilities • Artifacts and tools related to historic fisheries • Visual art (models, decoys, paintings, etc.) • Intangible Heritage Resources • Louisiana French language – endangered! • Performative folk art (songs, tales, music, etc.) • Folk narratives and oral histories

3. Informal Economy of Lower LafourcheCREST Project - 2006 “Subsistence Use and Value: The Sharing, Distribution and Exchange of Wetland Resources among Households in Coastal Communities” Robert Gramling, JoAnne Darlington, George Wooddell, Ray Brassieur University of Louisiana at Lafayette

4. Unrecognized Coastal Economies • How Important are Non-Market Economies? • Have we underestimated coastal value? • What is the range of coastal subsistence activities? • How important (valuable) are these activities?

5. How significant is subsistence in South Lafourche? Adam’s Fruit Stand in Mathews, Louisiana, 2006

6. Economic Exchange • Market Exchange(the only metric valued in $$$) • General Reciprocity • Family support (nuclear & extended family) • Giving for charity (community, church, club) • Balanced Reciprocity • Exchange of materials or services of equal value • “Payment”often deferred • Useful in maintaining alliance network • Trade/Barter – Reciprocal exchange of items • Redistributionof Goods (often to earn prestige)

7. Informal Exchange Networks • nuclear family • extended family • neighbors • friends / acquaintances • occupational networks • church networks • voluntary associations (local festivals, etc) • friends of friends • victims of misfortune (benefit recipients)

8. Research Methods • Mail survey, conducted fall/winter, 2005-06 • Randomly selected mailing list of 5,000 residents from Lower Lafourche • Questionnaires with postage paid return envelopes • Queried respondents about use of 45 resources • Only 180 returned questionnaires • Method did produce interesting statistics • Follow-up field interviews during summer/fall, 2006

9. 45 Resources from Survey Questionnaire

10. How often do you eat or use it? More than once a week Weekly Monthly Seldom How do you get it? Check all that apply. Catch, harvest Given to you Trade Buy Is this resources necessary to you? Yes No What do you do with this resource? Eat or consume Give away Trade Sell Concerning Household Use …

11. Redfish Speckled Trout Shrimp Blue Crab Crawfish Oysters Catfish Garden Vegetables Figs Choupique Sacalait Poule d'eau Soco Horsetail Loquat Medicinal Plants Are They Economically Significant ?Very Likely ↔ Unknown

12. Gardens Deserve A Closer Look • 2005 La. Ag Summary -- 6,500 home gardens in Lafourche Parish • What are they growing? • How important are gardens? • Who gets the produce? Loulan Pitre, Cuttoff, La.

13. Hibiscus esculentus Gumbo Okra Not for Sale in Grocery Stores !

14. Sechium edule Mirliton, Chayote, Vegetable Pear

15. “I just love ‘em … we used to eat a lot of that ….” Cucurbita argyrosperma Giraumon Coucroche Cushaw (Striped Crookneck)

16. Ficus carica (Fig) • 2005 La. Ag. Summary -- only 3 acres of figs in Lafourche Parish • They are ubiquitous! • Locals claim they’re needed. • What do they do with them? • Who gets them?

17. Vitis rotundifolia soco, muscadine

18. Medicinal Plants 1941 Speck found 73 plant curatives among Houma

19. 1940 Taylor recorded 185 SE Indian plants

20. Marie Dean, Houma Palmetto Basketmaker Speck 1941 Basket fiber … but medicine too.

21. Saururus cernuus - Z-herbe à Malo, - Z-herbe baume à l’eau, - Lizard's Tail Taylor 1940

22. Equisetum hyemale la prêlehorsetail, scouring-rush

23. Curatives notreported by Speck or Taylor Baccharishalimifolia L. Mangolier, Mongrier, Mango, Groundsel-tree, Consumption-weed

24. Momordica charantia Mexicain Bitter Melon Balsam Pear

25. Ethnomedical Resources? Do economists consider them when calculating La. coastal values?

26. Fulica americana Poule d’eau Coot Poule d'eau Gumbo Skin poule d'eau, wash, cut up, salt and pepper; Fry lightly and set aside; Make basic roux …. Lafourche poule d’eau decoys

27. Amia calva choupique, bowfin, grinnel, cypress trout, dogfish Choupique catches, Adams Fruit Market, Mathews, Louisiana

28. Stramonita haemostoma bigorneaux, southern oyster drill Bigorneaux Jambalaya: “…first remove “le tobac” [viscera] – it’s too bitter to eat …”

29. Uca panaceatou-la-lou,fiddler crab Tou-la-lou -- prime bait for snapper, grouper, sheepshead Uca longisignalis tou-la-lou, Gulf Marsh Fiddler Crab

30. Siren intermedialesser siren En-soir – a nocturnal salamander used as bait

31. Myrophis punctatusSpeckled worm eel Premier catfish bait 

32. Consumption / Exchange Patterns

33. Consumption / Exchange Patterns, cont. Species Eat/Consume Give Away Trade Sell > Monthly

34. How Respondents Obtained Species Species Catch/Harvest Given to You Buy Trade

35. How Respondents Obtained Species, cont. Species Catch/Harvest Given to You Buy Trade

36. Consumption Patterns by Number of Species

37. Use Patterns by Number of Species

38. Profile of a Subsistence Economy

39. Why is Subsistence Econ Important ? • Linked to Resilience • Quality of Life Factors • Part of Traditional Heritage • Cultural Identity and Distinctiveness

40. What about Sustainability? • Depends on Biological Diversity • Social Stability is Needed • Stable Social Networks • Stable Patterns of Reciprocity • Requires Traditional Knowledge -- (Often transmitted in French)

41. Traditional Knowledge -- Is it the most significant uncounted coastal resource?

42. TK /TEK is a Valid Field!

43. NOAA has sponsored great TEK projects – Local Fisheries Knowledge Project – Maine Among Tribal People in Alaska Louisiana and the Gulf Coast needs to get aboard!