Gulf Update #4 Pausing to Reflect by Jim Shepherd 3-31-2011

Gulf Update#4/Pausing to Reflect    The trouble with a whirlwind tour of an area is sensory and informational overload. Since arriving in Louisiana, I have tried to talk with as many people, see as many areas and gather all the information possible about the status of the people and the health of the Louisiana portions of the Gulf of Mexico that were the recipients of the most obvious damage from last year’s massive oil spill.

As we’re making another three-hour drive around the coast, it seemed like a good time to take a few minutes and reflect on the knowledge or experience gained by the accident. Experience was once explained to me as “what you get when you’re expecting to get something else.”

If that’s the case, this part of the Gulf of Mexico has one of the most unique “experiences” imaginable. While there are 3,000 drilling rigs of one form or another in the Gulf, no one dreamed Deepwater Horizon would happen. But it did, and the ways that were devised to help bring the Gulf back to pre-accident health - or better - seem to be working.

Granted, it’s still one season too-early to know how the shrimp are “really” doing, but the Sargassum mats appear to have survived, providing their protective cover to the myriad of fish and other Gulf sea life that need protection in their larval stages.

The vertical oyster bed offers a ready-made artificial home for oyster spat and a simultaneous deterrent to tidal erosion.
Other methods, like the vertical oyster beds also seem to be bringing the area back up to snuff. As we’ve written, those combination of manmade and organic materials seem to be attracting oysters - with the fresh layers growing on top of the pre-packaged shells dropped into the triangular holding baskets.

One proposed effort to stop the flow of oil inland at Grand Isle was a partial reduction in the actual width of the bay. The plan was initially approved by the Army Corps of Engineers, and hundreds of tons of rock moved in in preparation for building what would have become a seawall to help impede and control the directional flow of oil as it moved ashore and toward the marshes.

That approval, however, was rescinded. The exact blend of science versus bureaucracy in that decision isn’t known, but today, Grand Isle is the owner of an impressive pile of rock.

But the knowledge gained from the attempts to control the oil and ongoing problems of beach erosion have brought some new insight into the idea of conducting breakwaters or seawalls or whatever you care to call the manmade barriers to oil or tidal incursion.

Today, there’s a better way to build those tidal protective barriers. Rather than sitting them in a straight line configuration, a slight angular offset (think baffling /// rather than a straight —– alignment) not only dissipates the effects of tidal motion, it makes for a more durable structure. More durability means more deterrent to the tidal action that eats several feet of marshland every year.

Shrimpers have adapted methods and equipment to reduce bycatch.
Shrimpers have already adapted their equipment and fishing methods to reduce bycatch. Today the vast majority of sea life from drum and redfish to sea turtles - can pass harmlessly through their net systems.

Talking with guides and captains over the past three days reveals an attitude that non-fishing people have a hard time comprehending. It’s the same attitude that hunters have about the species they harvest: not the attitude of a hunter seeking prey; but the responsible, almost protective attitude -and actions - of conservationists dedicated to preserving a healthy environment.

As it was explained to me over dinner on Tuesday, the imminent dangers posed to the entire Gulf of Mexico helped make everyone more aware of the bounty they’d begun to take for granted.

Experience is sometimes a harsh teacher. But the lessons tend to stick with you.

–Jim Shepherd