Will Gulf Fisheries Ever Recover?

By John Vlahakis

In the coming months we can expect to pay more for harvested shrimp and oysters that are supplied by the Gulf of Mexico. Assuming of course, that we will be allowed to consume them, or would even want to. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has already closed a large area of the Gulf of Mexico to commercial fishing and some state mollusk shellfish beds have been closed in anticipation of the oil nearing the shoreline. Every governmental agency that has some interest in this issue, has taken a position to assure the public, that they have our best interests in mind in when it comes to consuming shrimp and shellfish from the Gulf. From the FDA, US EPA, National Marine Fisheries, NOAA, and the States of Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, all claim that they will shut down the fisheries, and recall any tainted food found in your local grocery store. This is most reassuring after seeing our government’s response to stopping the spill. Tainted seafood from the Gulf according to the FDA will smell bad, and taste bad. Really? How many of us want to add a little petroleum to our diets? What these agencies are not telling us is just how long can we expect to be eating tainted seafood? Or for that matter, will the fisheries ever recover from this disaster? For a little foreshadowing to the answer, let’s take a quick look at how the Gulf of Alaska recovered from the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. It hasn’t. One of the experts, Phillip R. Mundy, from the Valdez spill has been consulting with officials on the Gulf spill. Phillip R. Mundy is the former scientific director for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council. The council was formed to oversee $900 million worth of restoration to the injured Alaska ecosystem. In Alaska, he said they looked at what the oil had done to the environmental system, and how it had changed as a result. Once, the herring fisheries there comprised some of the biggest in the Gulf of Alaska, said Mundy. In 1993, four years after the spill, those populations collapsed, he said. “After 1989, we quit fishing, we haven’t fished for 15 years,” Mundy said. “The herring population is very, very low. I can’t tell you exactly how it worked, but it is obvious the oil triggered something in the ecosystem.” Twenty-one years later the Gulf of Alaska has not recovered. The Gulf of Mexico spill is even greater than Valdez. Just how will BP make this right? I think it’s safe to say that we can forget about eating anything out of the Gulf for quite some time.