Often when we debate about the need for off-shore drilling, our arguments tend to focus on our need for energy. Between the cars that we need to drive, the tractor trailers that deliver our food and goods, to the plastics that we have grown to depend on in our lives…the argument is hard to argue. Sure, many of us are concerned about climate change, the damage that we cause to our environment, and the sacrifices that we make of our coast line, but that argument against off-shore drilling has always been based on what-ifs – outweighed by the reality that no one is really ready to make the changes necessary to lesson our dependence on fossil fuels. The environment is a “liberal” cause that leaves the “conservative” a little parched.
Driving your car is a tangible, the temperature of the earth is hard to understand when the weather outside says the opposite. It’s not enough to want to do the right thing when there is just no clear plan on how to do it. And yet every year we dig ourselves deeper into the hole. The auto industry fights us every step of the way to provide us with vehicles that get better mileage; the utility companies put up road blocks with legislation that makes a school yard dealer look like he’s giving out candy; and the oil and coal industry continue to be the carnival barkers- peddling their games to the child with wide eyes. Our hands always feel like they are tied.
This past April, one of the worst environmental disasters occurred within the Gulf of Mexico. British Petroleum(BP), Transocean, and Halliburton were all apart of a rig named the Deepwater Horizon.
“The Deepwater Horizon was one of the most sophisticated drilling rigs on the planet.
The Deepwater Horizon was an “ultra-deepwater, dynamically positioned, semi-submersible offshore drilling rig” capable of the precision work of sending drill pipes more than six miles down, dead straight, through the ocean floor and deep into the earth’s crust. Within hours of finishing the final steps, there was an explosion that sent 126 men running for their lives. 13 men died that day while the rest watched from their life boats as the rig went up in flames and then finally laid to rest on the ocean floor. Now 5000 barrels a day are pouring out of the well since April 21,2010 and is expected to continue at that rate for a couple more months. We watch the reports everyday wondering when it will reach our shores. Visions of a black gel-like substance that will coat our beaches, our mangroves, and wildlife bring fear and angst into our lives. Was it worth it? Did we really recognize the risk of drilling for oil? Are we willing to accept the consequences?
Never is there a thought amongst any rational argument that there are also industries that will become the collateral damage of our need to keep drilling for oil. “According to NOAA, there are 3.2 million recreational fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico region who took 24 million fishing trips in 2008. Commercial fishermen in the Gulf harvested more than 1 billion pounds of finfish and shellfish in 2008.” Now I realize that the recreational fishermen are not a group that depends on fishing to make a living, but what about the commercial fisherman? The Gulf of Mexico links the ports of five southern U.S states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). The Gulf also produces 73% of the nation’s domestically produced shrimp and 59% of its oysters, says the National Marine Fisheries Service. Already, the commercial fishermen battle tight regulations, foreign competition, and virtually uncontrolled waterfront development. As they learn to navigate through these obstacles to keep their head above water, we come along and throw them to the wolves with an oil spill that will wipe them out entirely.
Families, for generations, have taken to the ocean for their livelihood. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters uphold this family tradition in the same way we hope that one day our children will be a part of our history. These children see the struggles of their parents and will often look for a life elsewhere. The local community also depends on these fisherman. Restaurants, wholesalers, fish markets and the people who live in that community depend on the fisherman. This interdependence is vital to an economically healthy community. But when we pass laws and sign leases to drill for oil off of our coast, we do it without even the slightest regard to putting an industry up for sacrifice.
The public grumbles when restaurants are not able to sell grouper for a month because of over fishing. Can you imagine what it will be like when there is no one left to fish at all because we have driven them out of business? We are so willing to discount such an important industry without any further consideration. Sure, BP is hiring fisherman to help with the spill and the government is seeing to it that there will be a grant fund for the fisherman to pull from to help compensate them for their troubles, but is that what we really want? In a time when we are quick to ridicule any person, company, or government for accepting financial assistance – we seem to feel better about the situation with the fishermen by throwing money their way. That is now. What about in a year from now? Will we be just as tolerant when they are still on government assistance because they cannot find a job doing something else? Do you think this is what they want? Or do you think that they want to be recognized as an important part of our world?
What about the communities that depended on these fishermen? Places like Tarpon Springs, Fl., Venice, La., Jekyll Island, Ga.,and Port Aransas, Tx. are going to find themselves like the ghost towns of the long lost west. Then what? Even if it is not within our generation that our oil reserves will become depleted, and the climate will become hot enough to destroy habitats, the commercial fisherman will already be a thing of the past – long before you ever see the sunset of your life. “The Commercial Fisherman – Killed by Friendly Fire” will be posted under the display at the Smithsonian. Are they now worth considering when we decide to drill for oil?
Other reads:
LA Times – Commercial Fishermen bitter over BP job handouts.
Photo from: National Fisherman
BP Hearing – What The Traditional Media Did Not Report
