We remain entirely unconvinced that the government’s rosy scenario of disappearing oil in the Gulf of Mexico is likely, and non-governmental research at the very least buttresses our skepticism.
So do the observations of fishermen along the Mississippi coast, who report finding oil or an “oily substance” at sea and believe shrimp season was opened too soon.
They want to see the federal government test Gulf of Mexico waters. Meanwhile, they have sent samples out for analysis on their own.
“We hope it’s not oil, but that’s what it appears to be,” fisherman Mark Stewart told WLOX-TV in Biloxi.
Ironically, says Stewart, “With your eyes you really can’t see anything ’til you put something down there to actually catch the oil with and absorb it, or what appears to be oil.
“Whatever it is, it is some type of oily substance, and you get it on your hands, and your skin doesn’t feel the same.”
Stewart is articulating the findings of researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who are reporting a 22-mile-long plume of oil 3,000 to 4,000 feet beneath the surface of the gulf.
“The water samples when we were right in the plume look like spring water,” Richard Camilli, the lead author of the group’s report, told New York’s Daily News. “You certainly didn’t see any oil droplets and you certainly didn’t smell it.”
The Woods Hole research supports the observations of fisherman James “Catfish” Miller. “We’re not fighting surface oil anymore,” he told WLOX. “We’re fighting oil and dispersants mixed together under the water.”
Stewart says seafood is safe — with a caveat.
“What seafood’s alive probably is safe. There’s some critters out there that this stuff got to [that are] dead. The ones that’s alive is just coming out of the bays and bayous and estuaries, and they’re not affected ’til they get out into the waters.
“Some shrimp came out a couple of weeks ago and they disappeared immediately… they vanished.”
Stewart says there is “no way” BP has done right by fishermen and he won’t be signing any long-term settlement deal in the foreseeable future. "I won't sign it,” he told the TV station. “No way. They’re not going to know the extent of the damages around here for years to come.”
My fear is that grim economic realities will eventually compel Stewart and fishermen throughout the gulf region to grasp for straws in the form of settlement offers they may regret signing just a few years from now.
Thank you for your time.
Jerry Fraser
Editor & Publisher, National Fisherman
www.nationalfisherman.com
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