CHALMETTE, La. — A month ago, El Pescador lay half-submerged, another wrecked boat in a bay full of them. Hurricane Katrina had punctured its hull in three places.

Today, the 35-foot oyster and shrimp boat is afloat, back at the dock with temporary patches over the holes. But the boat is far from seaworthy, and skipper Troy Guerra isn't sure permanent repairs would be worth the effort when he can't make a living from the Gulf of Mexico anymore.

"I don't know what we're going to do," says Guerra, 33, of Hopedale, La. "I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Even before Katrina and Rita hit, the Louisiana seafood industry was struggling with high fuel costs and foreign imports.

Nearly all 4,750 fishing boats in the Louisiana area affected by Katrina were damaged or destroyed, the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says.

Most shrimpers have no insurance for their boats and equipment and little savings to fall back on.

Docks, bait shops, fueling stations, freezers for the daily catch and ice stations are gone throughout the Gulf Coast.

Many processing plants are damaged or destroyed — or have little seafood to process.

They now fear another crippling blow: an upcoming federal government decision whether to lift a tariff on imported shrimp and drive the price for their catch even lower.

"It's a heck of a time to consider lifting the tariff," says New Orleans fisherman Pete Gerica, whose home was split in two by Katrina.

"We're trying to survive."

If the tariff is lifted, says shrimper Kim Chauvin of Chauvin, La., "It would be like another Katrina coming over us, only this time our industry will be hit from North Carolina to Texas."

A devastated Gulf fishing industry not only affects tens of thousands of jobs but is felt throughout the whole country.

Nearly half of all U.S. shrimp production comes from shrimpers fishing out of, or delivering to, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama ports, according to a September damage report by the Congressional Research Service.

About 40 percent of the nation's oysters come from the area hit by Katrina and Rita.