[StBernard] Sunday marks four year anniversary of BP oil spill

[Westley Annis]

Sunday marks four year anniversary of BP oil spill

Updated: Apr 20, 2014 10:48 PM CDT
Written by: Meg Gatto - email

 

NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) - Four years ago Sunday an explosion on the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, killed 11 men. BP's Macondo well
spewed roughly 200 million barrels of oil into the water, crippling the
business of local fishermen and the ecosystem in many areas along the Gulf
Coast.

At Yscloskey Seafood in St. Bernard Parish, the crabs being sorted look much
healthier than a couple years ago. Owner Bruce Guerra, Sr. says, "Right
after the spill it was a shame you know, some crabs their mouth gone, holes
in their in the sides, you could see their lungs."

These crabs look normal, but Guerra says there aren't a whole lot of them,
or other seafood, to be found. "Well everything slowed down, you know the
oysters, even the crab, the shrimp," said Guerra.

Shrimper Charles Robin adds, "It took two years for our white juvenile
shrimp to come back, little by little you can see it coming back. As far as
our Brazilian shrimp, it's been bad since then."

The fish that is caught, is being sold for a pretty penny. Store owners say
seafood prices have doubled since the spill. "My best friend used to own a
seafood restaurant. He was forced to sell his restaurant because the people
couldn't afford the poboys or the seafood he was selling," said Minh Ngyuen.

Fishermen in St. Bernard Parish say the oil that leaked from the Macondo
well still affects not only the fish, but wildlife too. "There's islands out
there that still got oil on them saturated. If you go out there you can see
the birds and the nests, there's dead eggs, it's not nice to go out there
and see," said Robin.

Eleven men died during the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig and others
suffered injuries. Those who helped BP clean up the massive spill, say they
too continue to suffer from the effects of the chemicals they were worked
around. "We can't walk, we can't run a mile like we used to do before this
happened," said Robin.

The oil spill fouled shorelines from Texas to Florida, eclipsing the
severity of the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska back in 1989. When asked if
they think this area will ever recover from the BP oil spill, most of these
fishermen say no.

A federal agency looking into the rig explosion says it plans to release two
volumes of a four volume report on the disaster on June 5. The focus of the
investigation is to prevent such accidents in the future.