Louisiana fishermen battle back from a decade of hurricanes and oil slicks

After a rough decade, the fishing industry around New Orleans is struggling to recover from the lingering damage from Katrina and the BP oil spill

Like Louisiana's largest city, New Orleans, the state's verdant, marshy coastline is wild and diverse: a fat, largemouth bass might snatch the same topwater lure in the same fishing spot where you just landed a 30lb bull redfish. Just beyond the beady iridescent eyes of a freshwater gator emerges the fin of a benevolent porpoise. The coastal fishery's singular bounty has traditionally provided for many.

It's tempting to ask how Louisiana fishing culture is faring 10 years after Katrina. But given the abuse doled out to the state's fisherman since that famous storm - including three more hurricanes and the effects of the 2010 BP oil spill - it's a wonder Louisiana's commercial fishing industry hasn't gone extinct even sooner than most local fishermen now predict.