A BP PLC representative hand-delivered a $5,000 check to fisherman Eric Chung and his wife, Kim Le, at their home here around 4 p.m. Wednesday.

“There’s lots of concern about cashing these checks,” Chung said to the BP representative.

He is one of dozens of Vietnamese fishermen whose job of plucking shrimp and oysters from the Gulf Coast waters is on hold as thousands of gallons of oil continue to spill into the ocean.

Not all fishing has been called off, but Mississippi’s shrimp season hasn’t started and Chung said smaller boats like his are blocked from reaching clean waters in other states.

Because husband and wife Chung and Le speak English, they have taken a leading role in navigating the financial recovery process on behalf of many of their friends who speak little or no English.

The language barrier has made a complicated situation even more confusing for many in the robust Vietnamese fishing community on Mississippi’s Coast.

Chung said fishermen were concerned that cashing the checks could mean relinquishing rights to legal actions or other claims to BP.

“It doesn’t show the claim as closed. It’s just an advance,” said Patrick Knight, a BP contractor.

Wednesday marked Knight’s third day of delivering handwritten checks to fishermen’s doorsteps that look more like they were written from a personal checkbook than cut from a multibillion-dollar, international oil giant.

He’d been to eight homes that day and had one more stop to make before calling it a day.

Arriving at the Pass Christian home, Knight pulled up a chair around a table in the garage and answered questions for 15 minutes or so from Chung and Le and a few other Vietnamese fishermen who came to witness the check delivery.

A New Orleans resident, Knight dropped “sirs” and “ma’ams” and “thank yous” with Southern ease. “BP is really backing this. I’m proud of them,” he said.

In the “For” column, the check reads: “Loss of income advance.”

Knight took with him a copy of Chung and Le’s Social Security cards and driver’s licenses but didn’t ask them to sign anything.

State Sen. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, said it appears BP is using this hand-to-hand approach to “stave off litigation.”

“I think it’s good public relations,” said Baria, an attorney. “If they’re not being required to release any claims, then I don’t have a problem with that.”

The check bears the company name ESIS, Inc. That company’s website says ESIS provides risk management services designed to “reduce claims frequency and loss costs.”

State and local government officials spoke at a meeting Wednesday afternoon called specifically for the Vietnamese fishing community in hopes of clearing up questions, though Chung said he and many others left even more confused.

One attorney told the fishermen to seek legal advice before cashing any checks or signing any agreements. Another suggested cashing the checks and writing “with reservations” on the back.

State Rep. Scott Delano, R-Biloxi, said political leaders are working on finding ways to more quickly disseminate information to the public, specifically the Vietnamese community. The Biloxi meeting at the Holiday Inn on Ocean Boulevard was translated.

An hour later in Pass Christian, standing on his shrimp boat – the Sofia Lee – Chung said he was a little concerned about what, if anything, BP wanted in return. But he said he planned to accept the check regardless, not seeing other options.

The oil spill, he said, didn’t stop the bills from coming due.

A federal judge in Louisiana on Tuesday blocked BP’s attempt to require charter boat captains seeking cleanup work to waive their rights to sue over the spill. A BP representative at Wednesday’s meeting in Biloxi said all the contracts across the Gulf Coast are identical and now without that language.

BP spokesman Mark Salt said the personal checks are to make up for lost monthly income. “We’re trying to make sure people can get on while not receiving their ordinary income,” he said.

Salt said he would check to see whether there were stipulations to the money but had not returned a phone call at press time.

Chung said he would take his chances over hiring an attorney and losing to legal fees a third or half of what little money he had coming to the family. “I hope everything goes smoothly so we can go back to work,” he said.