European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Gulf coast Oyster men with Dalmatian roots by Kenneth c. Danforth National geographic hurricanes Betsy in 1965, and Camilla four years later each left three feet of watering Empire la., at Kuzma Patrovich s  and his family weren t there. They were Riding Oul the storm in Danica his Oyster boat. Now he has a Boal named sometimes. Sometimes she goes out sometimes she Doorn a he says. In spite of the leisurely approach to Oysler ing the sometimes implies Petsovich is a worker of Gargantuan energies. He tears oysters rom the shallow reefs of the Gull of Mexico i be been Esterling steady since 1955," he says. Kuzma Petrovich is one of a targe tribe of dalmatians who in their hearts have never really left their native villages on the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia. Dalmatian Oyster men have been going Back and Forth Between the Mississippi Delta and Dalmatia for More than 150 years. They often return to Louisiana with brides. In the Adriatic he Minaric Alps always loomed above their boats. In the Delta tide washed spa Tina grass and the masts of other boats Are often the highest things around. The Oiler men have settled in Empire Buras Venice. Triumph and other Louisiana towns that Crouch uneasily Between twin levees that hold Back the River on one Side Gulf storms on the other. The towns have a tentative look Asil people Don t want to spend too much on what might be washed away. Not Long ago some of the dalmatians were still living As the first newcomers did. In Camps on High stilts out in the marshes where the abundance of the wetlands and the cyclical violence of the winds was at their doorsteps. Petrovich was 14 when he first saw his father. That was when he left the Village of Duba on the Pele Sac Peninsula and came to plaque mines Parish there to learn from his lather the rough All weather occupation that his Grandfather too had allowed when fishermen from the Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia immigrated to Louisiana they found mat oysters on the East Side of the Delta were plentiful but insipid. They transplanted Many tons of them to the West Side where nutrients and salinity were such that Small watery oysters grew big and tasty. Tit dul Matlonie started boating huge Mounds of oysters to new Orleans creating one of the most famous Oyster markets in Trie world. Today almost a third of the oysters sold in the United states come from Lousiana. And the Louisiana Oyster Industry is still mainly a Dalmatian Enterprise. Many of the Oyster men Are several generations removed from the first immigrants others came recently. All of them speak croatian. Other ethnic groups in the Delta Call Thorn Takos a term the dalmatians themselves use Only in jest. Malt j. Ficovich. Now 77, immigrated when he was 16. When came Down Here we did t have no Mads no toilets no electricity. But that was All right. 1 Felt at Home. The whole Damn Parish was  not quite Tor other ethnic groups had preceded the slavs. But today slavic names ring from levee to levee a concentration of Ich ending surnames Yancevich Lukinovich Malcovish Radovich Zibilich. Vujnovich. Marinovich. If it Don t got an itch,1 it Ain t Tako say the cajuns ignoring the Baricev Vlahos Dujmov and Crnjak. Having settled along the River the oys Lermen still cannot Settle Down. Oysters Aro subject to a Host of enemies silting pollution Iron Jawed Black Dru Antish Oyster borers and the Harvest is not always dependable. In Tato october 1986. Most of the area s oys Lermen decided they could do better in Texas Waters. They said goodbye to their wives and children and started of on the 50-hour trip to the Western Gulf. We have to go to Texas 1o  says John a. Tesvich president of the plaque mines Oyster association. It s been an Oil year. I could name you 200 boats that la be leaving Here  Tesvich says the main problem is water Quality. Oysters need a brackish environment he says. Right now the water is too Salty. The Mississippi has been Low for several years so there s not enough fresh water flowing out into the Delta. The oysters won t  Tesvich s own Harvest is Down about 40 percent he says. Kuzma Petrovich has taken his boat to Texas three times in 20 years. This year tie s slaying in Home Walers. You can still do Good if you work  he says. And he likes 1o be in Empire every night the kids Are the Anchor of the  so on a warm Dawn in late autumn Petrovich wearily boards the steel Barge he uses to patrol the Oyster reel he leases from the slate. Me has been out too late at a rally for Bartol Taliancich a Parish candidate opposed Kuzma Petrovich culling Oyster tit i Oit dra gtd from lasted Oyster bed in jul form Coco. To pollution and coastal erosion. He is going out to Survey his boundaries and Mark them with White plastic pipes. I was a Cooner for the first six years he says. A courier works in shallow water with tongs and gets his sobriquet rom the similarity of his methods with those of a Raccoon. I used to Long 200 sacks a  some coolers gather oysters without Longs standing Waist deep groping wrenching oysters from the reefs with gloved hands. A sack of oysters weighs 90 pounds it yields Only 7 pounds o1 meal. After the surveyors arrive Petrovich casts Oft. Steers beneath the lofty spans of route 23, then opens his throttle and chums across Bay Adams. Soon the firm dry world is left behind. As he hurtles across Bay coquette Onward toward Sandy Point and his Oyster Beds he enters a world of Marsh grass and herons and egrets where sleek Black porpoises curl through the water off his starboard Bow. In the distance Black tinker toys on the Hal immensity of the Gull Oit drilling platforms remind him of bitter struggles to keep these teeming shallows uncontaminated. The Sun is hot. And it glances off the water like a Flat flaming Stone 110  society saturday january 31, 1987 the stars and stripes Page 17