# Presentation: 471644

## Uncounted Resources of the Louisiana Coast

- Value and Sustainability in an Informal Economy

## 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

## Informal Economy of Lower LafourcheCREST 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

## 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?

## How significant is subsistence          in South Lafourche?   

- Adam’s Fruit Stand in Mathews, Louisiana, 2006

## 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
**Redistribution** **of Goods** (often to earn prestige)

## 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)

## 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

## 45 Resources from Survey Questionnaire  

| Shrimp | Catfish | Frogs | Garden Vegetables |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Blue Crab | Crayfish | Deer | Chickens/Eggs (Yard) |
| Oyster | Bream | Rabbit | Goat |
| Redfish | Sacalait | Squirrel | Satsuma |
| Speckled Trout | Choupique | Blackberry/Dewberry | Pears |
| White Trout | Gar | Soco (Muscadine) | Figs |
| Black Drum | Alligator | Roseau Cane | Persimmon |
| Sheep Head | Turtles | Palmetto | Loquat (Jap. Plum) |
| Flounder | Ducks | Horsetail | Sassafras (fié) |
| Croaker | Geese | Black Gum | Medicinal Plants |
| Mullet | Poule d'eau (coot) | Cypress | Other? |
| Other Saltwater Species |  |  |  |

- 45 Resources from Survey Questionnaire

## Concerning Household Use ...

- 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

## Are They Economically Significant ?Very Likely          ↔          Unknown

-       Redfish
- 	Speckled Trout
- 	Shrimp
- 	Blue Crab
- 	Crawfish
- 	Oysters
- 	Catfish
-       Garden Vegetables

- 	Figs
- 	Choupique
- 	Sacalait
- 	Poule d'eau
- 	Soco
- 	Horsetail
- 	Loquat
-       Medicinal Plants

## 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.

## Not for Sale in Grocery Stores !

*Hibiscus esculentus*
- Gumbo
- Okra

## Sechium edule                            Mirliton, Chayote, Vegetable Pear

*Sechium edule                            *Mirliton, Chayote, Vegetable Pear

## Cucurbita argyrosperma Giraumon Coucroche  Cushaw (Striped Crookneck) 

*Cucurbita argyrosperma* Giraumon Coucroche  Cushaw (Striped Crookneck)

- “I just love ‘em ... we used to eat a lot of that ....”

## 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?

## Vitis rotundifolia        soco, muscadine  

*Vitis rotundifolia        *soco, muscadine

## Speck found 73 plant curatives among Houma 

- Speck found 73 plant curatives among Houma

- Medicinal Plants

- 1941

## Taylor recorded 185 SE Indian plants

- 1940

## Basket fiber ... but medicine too.       

- Basket fiber ... but medicine too.

- Marie Dean, Houma Palmetto Basketmaker

- Speck 1941

## Saururus cernuus  

*Saururus cernuus**  *
*- Z*-herbe à Malo,                               - Z-herbe baume à l’eau,            - Lizard's Tail** **

- Taylor 1940

## Equisetum hyemale          la prêle                  horsetail, scouring-rush

*Equisetum hyemale          *la prêle      *            *horsetail, scouring-rush

## Curatives not reported by Speck or Taylor

*Baccharis* *halimifolia* L.                                              Mangolier, Mongrier, Mango,                            Groundsel-tree, Consumption-weed

- Curatives ***not*** ***reported*** by Speck or Taylor

## Momordica charantia Mexicain             Bitter Melon        Balsam Pear

*Momordica charantia *Mexicain             Bitter Melon        Balsam Pear

## Ethnomedical Resources?

- Do economists consider them when calculating La. coastal values?

## Fulica americana Poule d’eau     Coot

*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

## Amia calva

*choupique*, bowfin, grinnel, cypress trout, dogfish

- Choupique catches, Adams Fruit Market, Mathews, Louisiana

## Bigorneaux Jambalaya:

- “...first remove “*le tobac*” [viscera] – it’s too bitter to eat ...”

## Tou-la-lou -- prime bait for snapper, grouper, sheepshead

*Uca panacea*      tou-la-lou,                  fiddler crab

*Uca longisignalis*                            tou-la-lou*,*                                                Gulf Marsh Fiddler Crab

*Tou-la-lou -- *prime bait for snapper, grouper, sheepshead

## Siren intermedia lesser siren 

*Siren intermedia* lesser siren
- En-soir – a nocturnal salamander 		used as bait

## Myrophis punctatus Speckled worm eel 

- Premier catfish bait

## Consumption / Exchange Patterns

| Species | Eat or Consume | Give away | Trade | Sell | > Monthly |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Shrimp | 91% | 10% | 4% | 6% | 89% |
| Crayfish | 78% | 3% | 0% | 1% | 54% |
| Redfish | 76% | 24% | 1% | 0% | 49% |
| Garden Vegetables | 73% | 11% | 2% | 1% | 67% |
| Speckled Trout | 72% | 23% | 1% | 0% | 56% |
| Blue Crab | 67% | 9% | 2% | 2% | 58% |
| Oyster | 66% | 7% | 2% | 0% | 47% |
| Flounder | 64% | 8% | 1% | 1% | 30% |
| Satsuma | 61% | 8% | 0% | 1% | 41% |
| Catfish | 57% | 6% | 1% | 2% | 41% |
| Deer | 57% | 9% | 1% | 0% | 28% |
| Figs | 48% | 9% | 0% | 1% | 26% |
| Chickens/Eggs  | 47% | 3% | 0% | 1% | 40% |
| Blackberry/Dewberry | 46% | 8% | 0% | 1% | 22% |

## Consumption / Exchange Patterns, cont.

| Ducks | 42% | 8% | 1% | 0% | 17% |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| White Trout | 40% | 13% | 1% | 0% | 17% |
| Pears | 38% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 24% |
| Rabbit | 37% | 5% | 1% | 0% | 12% |
| Sassafras (file) | 32% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 24% |
| Frogs | 32% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 9% |
| Black Drum | 29% | 11% | 1% | 1% | 13% |
| Alligator | 27% | 3% | 1% | 0% | 3% |
| Loquat (Japanese Plum) | 24% | 7% | 0% | 0% | 9% |
| Sacalait | 23% | 5% | 0% | 1% | 10% |
| Sheep Head | 22% | 12% | 1% | 1% | 11% |
| Poule d'eau (coot) | 21% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 4% |
| Persimmon | 21% | 4% | 0% | 0% | 11% |
| Turtles | 20% | 3% | 0% | 0% | 4% |

_**Species                  Eat/Consume        Give Away    Trade      Sell      > Monthly**_

## How Respondents Obtained Species 

| 
Speckled Trout | 56% | 41% | 7% | 6% |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Redfish | 54% | 47% | 6% | 1% |
| Flounder | 38% | 40% | 10% | 1% |
| Blackberry/Dewberry | 34% | 16% | 8% | 3% |
| White Trout | 32% | 21% | 1% | 1% |
| Blue Crab | 28% | 32% | 52% | 2% |
| Shrimp | 27% | 41% | 66% | 2% |
| Figs | 26% | 28% | 7% | 2% |
| Black Drum | 25% | 15% | 1% | 2% |
| Garden Vegetables | 24% | 34% | 52% | 1% |
| Sheep Head | 21% | 14% | 1% | 1% |
| Satsuma | 21% | 29% | 38% | 1% |
| Ducks | 19% | 34% | 4% | 1% |
| Catfish | 18% | 21% | 38% | 1% |

_**Species                        Catch/Harvest      Given to You        Buy       Trade**_

**How Respondents Obtained Species**

## How Respondents Obtained Species, cont. 

| Deer | 16% | 52% | 3% | 1% |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Rabbit | 16% | 27% | 3% | 1% |
| Sacalait | 15% | 14% | 1% | 1% |
| Loquat (Japanese Plum) | 12% | 12% | 4% | 1% |
| Crayfish | 12% | 22% | 72% | 0% |
| Oyster | 11% | 26% | 54% | 1% |
| Frogs | 10% | 21% | 12% | 1% |
| Persimmon | 8% | 10% | 7% | 1% |
| Poule d'eau (coot) | 7% | 18% | 2% | 1% |
| Turtles | 6% | 17% | 3% | 0% |
| Pears | 6% | 13% | 28% | 1% |
| Chickens/Eggs (Yard) | 5% | 16% | 37% | 2% |
| Sassafras (file) | 2% | 10% | 25% | 1% |
| Alligator | 2% | 21% | 7% | 0% |

**How Respondents Obtained Species, cont.**** **

_**Species                            Catch/Harvest        Given to You        Buy          Trade**_

## Consumption Patterns by Number of Species 

**Consumption Patterns by Number of Species**

## Use Patterns by Number of Species 

**Use Patterns by Number of Species**** **

## Profile of a Subsistence Economy

## Why is Subsistence Econ Important ?

- Linked to Resilience
- Quality of Life Factors
- Part of Traditional Heritage
- Cultural Identity and Distinctiveness

## 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)

## Traditional Knowledge --

- Is it the most significant
-  uncounted coastal resource?

## TK /TEK is a Valid Field!

## NOAA has sponsored great TEK projects – 

*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!