IMPACTS OF HURRICANE GUSTAV

Project Duration: October 10, 2008 to September 30, 2009
An assessment of seafood processors, dealers, marinas and livebait dealers is currently ongoing in Coastal Mississippi to determine the level of economic losses sustained as a result of Hurricane Gustav. The devastation by this hurricane has created an urgent and compelling need to complete damage assessments in the affected areas in as short a period as possible. The overall goal of this project is to assess the economic damages associated with Hurricane Gustav to the seafood processors, dealers, marinas and livebait dealers in Coastal Mississippi. The lists of resident seafood processors, dealers, marinas, and livebait dealers were retrieved from licenses issued by the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Marine establishments with multiple licenses were counted only once to eliminate double counting of the sample size of the survey. Table 1. Number of marine establishments in Coastal Mississippi as of October 2008. Sector Number of licenses issued Sample inlcuded in the survey Seafood processors 33 33 Seafood dealers 134 109 Livebait dealers 13 13 Marinas 20 20 Total 200 175 Three different mail surveys were conducted for the three groups of marine establishments included in the assessment. The first group consisted of 33 seafood processors and 109 seafood dealers, the second group included 13 livebait dealers and the third group had 20 marinas. A letter explaining the economic assessment and a different questionnaire for each of the three groups were mailed to 175 licensed resident marine establishments in October 2008. A follow-up mail with another letter and questionnaire was sent to those who did not respond during the first round of mails in January 2009.

For further information, contact: Dr. Ben Posadas, Associate R/E Professor of Economics, CV
Mississippi State University	MSUcares.com	Coastal Research and Extension Center	Department of Agricultural Economics