Louisiana 'Fishing Capital' Braces for Giant Slick

[babylonsister]

Louisiana 'Fishing Capital' Braces for Giant Slick

By ÁNGEL GONZÁLEZ
Associated Press


Workers in Venice, La., load booms, above, to help contain oil from a leaking pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico Thursday.

snip//

Venice, the closest town to the drama, has become a staging center for response efforts. Beneath the nearly constant hum of helicopters going back and forth between the spill and the city, the fishermen grew anxious as it remained unclear whether the burning efforts would be successful. Moreover, late Wednesday the Coast Guard raised its estimate of the rate at which the deepwater well was leaking to 5,000 barrels of oil a day, five times as fast as previously thought.

"It could wipe us out," said fisherman Jerry Walker, 63 years old, who takes his boat all over the Gulf looking for kingfish and red snapper. Mr. Walker fears the spill could not only affect southern Louisiana, but also sully the waters all over the Gulf. The slick was recently about 15 miles from the Louisiana shore, and spread over an area larger than Jamaica.

Louisiana and federal authorities are deploying thousands of feet of inflatable tubing called boom line along the waterways to keep the incoming slick at bay. On Thursday, concerns emerged that rough weather might hamper further deployment of boom line.

"If {the oil} comes in, there's going to be hundreds of guys without jobs," said Billy Wallbaum, a charter boat captain. "I'm concerned; this is what I do."

The stakes are high here, not only for Venice fishermen. Louisiana has a $3 billion fishing industry—the source of a third of the seafood consumed in the U.S., according to the Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board, a state-run agency. Seafood caught here also helps underpin the economy of nearby states that process it, such as Alabama and Mississippi. The impact could be long-lasting and could be made worse by the fact that it's spawning season for some fish and migration time for the young of some species of shrimp.

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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704302304575214453701804226.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsTop

[provis99]

1. I grieve for what my favorite city has had to endure...

I suppose Pat Robertson says the oil slick is god's punishment for the cross-dressers in New Orleans.

[hollowdweller]

2. Wonder how many of the fishermen are wingnuts

Who voted for the drill baby drill party and pooh pooh environmentalists??

Bet it feels different when it's you who are being hurt by pollution huh?

[babylonsister]

3. Who cares if they're wingnuts? This is still their livelihood being

threatened.

[malaise]

4. This is way too sad

Where is that ignorant grifter Sarah Palin?

[SoCalDem]

6. where? making trips to the bank to roll around in all her money

:puke:

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. She's in Kansas this weekend

and not many people are coming to see her

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8243972

[SoCalDem]

5. Time to dry-dock those boats & find a new job..for a LONG time.

Seafood is suspect enough without the contaminants being deposited now..:(

they better open up some more casinos and hope people don't wander down to the shore:(

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill was only 200,000 gal

And was considered a major disaster back then and it was, the oil spill never really ever goes away.
Heaven help the Gulf States and the ecology cause this is gonna be at least 1000 times bigger.
Maybe the early burn would have helped a little but until it's capped and even then the damage will be felt for years.
Very sad