Seeking allies for a changing coast, New Orleans chefs, fishermen connect on the water

The clatter of hatchets on shells fell silent as the boxy metal fishing boat drifted in a slow circle on Adams Bay, near the fishing port of Empire, Louisiana.

Yet the just-harvested oysters that the crew had been roughly separating and sorting remained the center of attention, and the subject of increasingly excited talk between the oyster boat captain and his visitors.

A small skiff had pulled up alongside, and up to the oyster boat climbed Dana Honn, chef at Carmo, and Lindsay Allday and Jeff Spoo, oyster sommelier and shucker (respectively) at Sidecar Patio & Oyster Bar.

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