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Broadened Boatbuilding Capability Spurs New Growth By Vincent Bosarge and Harold R. Larimer Special to Maritime Reporter BAYOU LA BATRE A Shipyard Success Story One of Bayou La Batre, Alabama's very old timers years ago said, "You can hear anything in Bayou La Batre except money rattling and meat frying." Fish was the staple and the area generated little outside com- merce, a situation not at all true today. In fact, the history of this relatively small fishing village (more people work here than live here) has always been one of rolling with the punches, adaptability and vision. Seafood production traditionally has so much flavored the local life-style that natives were referred to as being mullet chasers and its four seasons The 143-foot luxury yacht Sea Falcon, built by Angus Yachts, Inc. known as shrimp, crab, oyster and fish. As for rolling with the punches, local industries have proved resil- ient and pragmatic. Fierce storms and extremes in market changes have been faced as challenges and regardless of the output of its indus- tries, their products have gained worldwide recognition. The seafood industry of this 205- year-old town has mushroomed from a fresh local catch sold within lim- ited surrounding areas, next mov- ing to major exporter of canned product and today to that of being the source of vast shipments of fro- zen seafoods flown to Tokyo and other world markets. Additionally, present day processing of seafood here far exceeds the local catch. Because of fishing, the towns- people have always been boatbuilders with the type boats built paralleling fishing needs and innovations. When wooden boats began giving way to steel hulls in the late 40s, Bayou La Batre began what has destined to be its most dramatic change. Fishing, particu- larly shrimping, was entering a period of production in amounts previously unheard of. This ulti- mately opened a flood gate of de- mand for steel shrimp trawlers. A point was reached wherein a person holding a firm contract for construc- tion of a trawler could sell the con- tract at a profit of several thousand dollars. Builders were booking as much as three years ahead. The American fishing industry eventually became saturated with boats and this, along with various other factors, caused domestic trawler demand to cease. Not sit- ting still, Bayou La Batre boatbuilders next directed their attention to the overseas fish boat market. Considering the complexi- ties of foreign sales, it can probably be said that it is in this endeavor that these builders have been most successful. At this time, Bayou La Batre became known as the "De- troit" of trawlers and fishermen worldwide came to recognize the superiority of its trawlers. Local builders have, however, kept their hands on the pulse of market potential and taken advan- tage of changing market demands. Today, the Bayou building pattern is literally a panorama of many dif- 16 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
