Oil Spill Threatens Mississippi Seafood, Tourism | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Oil Spill Threatens Mississippi Seafood, Tourism

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Gov. Haley Barbour declared today a "day of prayer" to commemorate the Mississippians who died in an April 20 explosion on a Gulf BP oil rig, but third generation ferry pilot and Ship Island Excursions CEO Louis Skrmetta suggested the state keep praying for relief from the damage still on the way.

"This goes beyond damage to the environment," Skrmetta said. "You won't believe the kind of danger the Mississippi Gulf Coast tourism and the seafood industry is in. Hurricane Katrina did serious damage by spilling hundreds of leaks from oil rigs in the Gulf that left the place a mess, but we've never seen anything like what's coming toward us this weekend."

The blasted Transocean Deepwater Horizon rig is leaking an estimated 42,000 gallons oil a day. The rig sank last week after an explosion and fire that burned more than 24 hours. Eleven of the 126-member crew is missing and possibly dead. The rig is located approximately 40 miles off the Louisiana Coast.

BP boats are attempting to corral the oil with barriers and are skimming the sticky ooze from the surface of the water, but Skrmetta said he is expecting strong south easterly winds this weekend, which he said spells trouble: "This means, starting Friday, this thing is going to turn directly our way, heading right for the Barrier islands."

More than 260 species of birds inhabit the Barrier islands, including skimmers, plovers and terns. Sanderlings also feed during their 8,000 mile trip between the Arctic and South America. Osprey, pelicans and bald eagles also inhabit the area, but the pelicans are beginning their nesting in the area within three weeks, according to Mark LaSalle, director of the Pascagoula River Audubon Center, in Moss Point.

"I've never personally experienced something this devastating before," LaSalle told the Jackson Free Press today. "Our main concern is that any oil hitting the beaches or marshes would impact the upcoming breeding season of a lot of birds. Many of them are already sitting out there. We have record numbers of pelicans getting ready for mating season. These birds are seabirds that depend on shrimp and fish, and the shrimp and fish immediately suffer from adding oil to the environment--and this is more oil than I've ever seen hit this area."
The seafood industry, in particular, is in a panic. Margerat Pettis, co-owner of D.L. Pettis & Son Seafood Shop, in Moss Point, said she expected the oyster industry to take huge losses if the oil made it all the way to the oyster reefs.

"This oil spill could put the industry in Mississippi completely out of business," Pettis said. "We've already been shutting down for most of the season because of all the bacterial infection in the oysters. It's been rough the whole year. My husband was born and raised on catching oysters, but we didn't even have oysters this Christmas. This thing here, this thing could kill what's left of the business."

Skrmetta said the spill could have serious implications for Barbour's attempt to expand oil and gas rigs drilling off the coast of Mississippi. Casino groups and members of the Gulf Coast tourism industry, including Skrmetta, joined environmentalists in 2005 to crush an effort by Barbour and the oil industry to open the barrier island federal park to drilling.

"In 2005, we wanted to get across the fact that this kind of thing is a catastrophe. It's going to be a wake-up call to the 'drill, baby, drill' proponents who think drilling is harmless and that the oil and gas industry has made such great strides in technology. People think the industry has perfect fail-safes on every rig, but this was a $700 million rig that had the best safeguards in place, and look what happened," Skrmetta said.

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