On the Highway 23 meanders south of New Orleans toward the Gulf of Mexico happened an explosion which killed 11 workers and sank an offshore rig, plumes of thick, dark oil have been spewing into the water about 50 miles away. Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said that now, that monster’s growing out there, and the heartbreaking thing is, we don’t know how big it’s going to get.
The local residents now feel that the spill will destroy their two chief industries, fishing and oil. Like many of their neighbors, Acy and Marla Cooper, owners of the Riverside Restaurant, say oil and seafood are twin themes threading through their lives Marla Cooper grew up in an oil family — her father, brothers and extended family worked on rigs — and Acy Cooper is a third-generation fisherman who can’t remember a time when he didn’t know how to fish.
According to Coopers once fishing gets in your blood, you can never stop. When the shrimp are biting, Cooper stays out on the boat from dusk until the next morning. Last week, Cooper spotted tar balls, round clumps of oil dotted with shells, in those grasses.
Nungesser, the parish president, said he was hopeful that BP would employ many local fishermen to help with the cleanup. But gesturing to dozens of boats moored at a marina — including the Miss Annette, the Evelyn, the Restless and the Wager — he said the economic impact could not be underestimated. Most recently, Cooper, the vice president of the Louisiana Shrimp Association, and his wife, a member of the Plaquemines Parish council, lobbied state leaders to impose tougher restrictions on cheap foreign shrimp, a threat to their market.
