BATON ROUGE(AP) — Oyster fishermen don’t know if they’ll be paid by BP for the shellfish deaths caused by opening the state’s freshwater diversion structures in a bid to flush out oil encroaching on the oyster beds from the Gulf spill.

The decision to open the release valves on the Mississippi River diversions at Caernarvon and Davis Pond was made by Gov. Bobby Jindal’s administration a few days after the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, with the consent of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said Wednesday that oyster fishermen are being told by BP claims workers that they won’t be paid for oyster bed losses caused by the opening of the diversion structures, because the damage wasn’t caused by oil.

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“No decisions on that have been made,” said Darryl Willis, head of claims for BP.

Willis said oyster fishermen are currently receiving short-term cash emergency payments because of disruption to their livelihoods. But he said a determination won’t be made whether they’ll receive long-term settlements for any reef damage caused by freshwater diversions until the damaged oil well is capped permanently.

The diversions are pumping thousands of cubic feet of water per second into coastal areas, including fertile oyster grounds where the shellfish need saltwater to survive. While oysters can tolerate some freshwater, the diversions poured too much into areas, destroying some reefs, which experts say take at least three to five years to bring back into production.

Garret Graves, Jindal’s top coastal adviser, said BP PLC is liable for damages caused by the freshwater flushing because the diversions were used to keep oil from causing worse devastation of oyster reefs.

“There’s no question the effectiveness of those diversions, and the state has full expectations that BP will be compensating,” said Graves, who chairs the state Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, at the panel’s meeting Wednesday.

He added later, “Anything that was done in response to this spill is absolutely a BP responsibility.”

Al Sunseri, a member of the Louisiana Oyster Task Force and co-owner of P&J Oyster Co. in New Orleans, said the task force supported the opening of the freshwater diversions to keep the oil at bay, even though members knew the freshwater would cause widespread oyster losses. But he said the oyster industry “expects to be made whole” and compensated for the damage.

State Rep. Sam Jones, a Democrat from coastal St. Mary Parish, questioned whether it was a good decision to use the diversions or whether the damage outweighed the benefits.

“Sometimes the doctor gives medicine, and it kills the patient,” he said.

Graves said the long-term implications of freshwater on oyster beds were better than being damaged by the oil spill.

Louisiana’s oyster industry employs an estimated 6,000 people and is valued at $330 million.