Q & A with Mike Butler, owner of the Venice Marina and founding member of the Plaquemines Community Foundation, an affiliate of the Greater New Orleans Foundation.
Q: How did you get into the business?
A: My brother and I bought the Marina after we traveled the country for 15 years with the PGA. Our job was to put up the hospitality tents and the seating for every major golf tournament across the United States. We got tired of the traveling, and bought the Marina in 2002—just in time for Katrina.
Q: What conditions are you facing now?
A: The impact is the greatest on the fisheries and the charter guides, and those that service them. For example, in the month of May last year we sold $20,000 in live bait compared to this month’s $300. All offshore business is closed, but inland fishing is still open. I caught my limit of redfish the other day.
Q: What will speed the recovery?
A: We’re going to have an influx of advertising dollars. We are going to be able to build our brand back better than ever. Venice was not even on the map until it was heavily promoted in the late 1980s by Steve Ballay. He introduced Venice to the fishing world. Today it is known as the best place for saltwater fishing in the continental United States.
Q: Do you have a message for all to hear?
A: All fishing is not contaminated. There is oil in Barataria Bay, but no oil from Empire to Venice and east of the Mississippi River. Wildlife and Fisheries is closing areas for caution, and that is a good thing, because it is so important not to destroy the brand that took us so long to build. I’d be very surprised if we ever see fish with two heads and two tails.
The Greater New Orleans Foundation opened the Gulf Oil Spill Fund to assist fishermen and their families. Click here to learn more about the first grant made from the Fund to assist them.
