And we (the official “we”) are all pretending it’s not there:
The fear is palpable on the docks from Galveston to Panama City. Commercial fishermen working the waters hardest hit by the BP oil spill are worried sick about their future. It keeps them up at night. Many are convinced the 200 million gallons of crude that spewed into the Gulf last year have done irreparable damage to the fragile fisheries that provide their livelihood. According to a new CBS News segment, Gulf fishermen “have started catching fish with sores, fin rot, and infections at a greater frequency than ever before.”
It would seem BP’s oil is coming home to roost in an epidemic of sick fish and devastated lives. An Aug. 15 CBS News video – that’s going viral as we speak – captures the uncertainty of tens of thousands of commercial Gulf fishermen: “I don’t think we’ll be fishing in five years,” says Lucky Russell. “My opinion. …Everybody is worried.”
Everybody includes LSU oceanography Professor Jim Cowan, who has been studying the Gulf ecosystem for years:
“When one of these things comes on deck, it’s sort of horrifying,” Cowan said. “I mean, there these large dark lesions and eroded fins and areas on the body where scales have been removed. I’d imagine I’ve seen 30 or 40,000 red snapper in my career, and I’ve never seen anything like this. At all. Ever.”
I told Mrs DBK that we are done eating any fish that might have come from the Gulf and also any fish that might be from the north Pacific. Doesn’t leave much except farmed fish and north Atlantic cod or salmon. This report is about how BP poisoned the Gulf, but I am also waiting for the stories about the radioactive fish in the waters around Japan.
BP execs should be made to eat those fish three meals a day for the rest of their lives.