Mississippi Shrimpers Refuse to Trawl, Fearing Oil, Dispersants

[Robbien]

BILOXI, Mississippi, Aug 20, 2010 (IPS/IFEJ) - The U.S. state of Mississippi recently reopened all of its fishing areas. The problem is that commercial shrimpers refuse to trawl because they fear the toxicity of the waters and marine life due to the BP oil disaster.

"We come out and catch all our Mississippi oysters right here," James "Catfish" Miller, a commercial shrimper in Mississippi, said in an interview. Pointing to the area in the Mississippi Sound from his shrimp boat, he added, "It's the only place in Mississippi to catch oysters, and there is oil and dispersants all over the top of it."

. . .

Miller took this reporter out on his shrimp boat, along with commercial shrimper Mark Stewart, and Jonathan Henderson of the Gulf Restoration Network, an environmental group working to document and alleviate the effects of BP's oil disaster.

The goal was to prove to the public that their fishing grounds are contaminated with both oil and dispersants. Their method was simple – they tied an absorbent rag to a weighted hook, dropped it overboard for a short duration of time, then pulled it up to find the results. The rags were covered in a brown oily substance that the fishermen identified as a mix of BP's crude oil and toxic dispersants.

. . .

On Aug. 6, Mississippi's Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, in coordination with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, ordered the reopening of all Mississippi territorial waters to all commercial and recreational finfish and shrimp fishing activities that were part of the precautionary closures following the BP oil rig disaster in April.


http://www.enewspf.com/index.php/news/88888996-bpgulf-oil-spill/18302-mississippi-shrimpers-refuse-to-trawl-fearing-oil-dispersants


The reporter here is Dahr Jamail, the same reporter who reported the first years of the Iraq invasion as a freelance reporter in Iraq. This article is as detailed as his Iraq reports were. Well worth a click through to read the entire piece.

[my2sense]

1. Why are they

trying to catch anything in toxic waters for anyone to consume. SMDH

[Robbien]

2. They aren't. The Govt is just trying to help limit damage to BP

by opening up contaminated waters. Both the Govt and BP are stating the danger is over, the problem is gone.

Gulf fishermen are beside themselves getting blamed by the press for being too lazy to go back to work. The water is toxic, the fish are toxic but instead of reporting the facts the press are parroting the Govt/BP party line.

[emilyg]

3. I believe the fishermen.