DELCAMBRE — Clouds the size of mountains rolled in during Sunday morning’s 2009 Blessing of the Fleet in Delcambre, a vivid reminder to everyone of the dangers faced by those who make their living from the Gulf of Mexico.

For the past 59 years, the blessing has been held on the final day of the Delcambre Shrimp Festival and this year was no exception.

In addition to the shrimp boats, many smaller watercraft took part in the ritual, many of which began arriving Saturday for an overnight berth in preparation for the event.

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The Rev. Herb Bennerfield, pastor of both Our Lady of the Lake and St. Martin de Porres Churches, has blessed the fleet in the past, but this year he passed the privilege to the Rev. J. Aaron Melancon, father and vocational director for the Lafayette Diocese and associate pastor of St. Pius X.

“I’ve blessed the fleet four times in the past,” Bennerfield said. “I like to have friends and others have the honor from time to time.”

The Delcambre shrimp fleet consists of between 10 to 15 boats that anchor in Delcambre or call it home port, said John Barras, captain of Miss Behaving.

Barras has been shrimping for 48 years and he remembers years ago when the fleet numbered between 150 to 200. Regardless of the fleet’s size, the blessing always has been a tradition which cannot be overlooked.

“Well, 59 years ago we didn’t open the season until they blessed the fleet,” Barras said.

“We just wouldn’t go out.”

This year the blessing from Melancon came from aboard the Miss Behaving. The 68-foot Miss Behaving was a new boat when the formal blessing first began and was the first boat in the parade 59 years ago.

Built in Delcambre in 1954, she’s been shrimping the Gulf waters every year since.

Barras said as long as there has been a Delcambre, there has been shrimping, but lately times are getting harder, a view echoed by many of the assembled captains and crew.

Jesse Verdin is captain of the Lady Catherine and father of this year’s Delcambre Shrimp Festival King, Toby Verdin. At 57 he is a third- or fourth-generation shrimper, he said, and remembers sailing into Delcambre with family members when he was 9.

Verdin says the greatest threat to shrimping in Delcambre is not the weather on the Gulf, but the business itself.

“The price is not good for shrimp,” Verdin said. “This right here is a good living if they’d pay us a good price.”

Fourth-generation fisherman Rowdy Schouest stood next to Verdin aboard the Cpt. Toby, Verdin’s son’s ship. Schouest also said it is becoming harder to make a living in shrimp.

“A lot of us have little retail outlets, that’s how we get by,” Schouest said. “But when the season opens too early so these big companies can harvest tons of small shrimp, we can’t get the size people want to buy from us.”