Gulf of Mexico: from magnificent resource to industrial sacrifice zone

[marmar]

from Grist:



So long and thanks for all the fish
Gulf of Mexico: from magnificent resource to industrial sacrifice zone

by Tom Philpott
29 Apr 2010 3:20 PM


The Gulf of Mexico is a magnificent resource: a kind of natural engine for the production of wild, highly nutritious foodstuff. Here's how the EPA describes it:

Gulf fisheries are some of the most productive in the world. In 2008 according to the National Marine Fisheries Service, the commercial fish and shellfish harvest from the five U.S. Gulf states was estimated to be 1.3 billion pounds valued at $661 million. The Gulf also contains four of the top seven fishing ports in the nation by weight. The Gulf of Mexico has eight of the top twenty fishing ports in the nation by dollar value.

According to the EPA, the Gulf is the home of 59 percent of U.S. oyster production. Nearly three-quarters of wild shrimp harvested in the United States call it home. It is a major breeding ground for some of the globe's most prized and endangered fish, including bluefin tuna, snapper, and grouper.

It would be a wise policy to protect the Gulf, to nurture the health of its ecosytems, to leave it at least as productive as we found it for the next generations. As climate change proceeds apace and population grows, sources of cheap, low-input, top-quality food will be increasingly precious.

So, how are we doing? As I write this, oil is gushing into the Gulf at the rate of 5,000 barrels per day, 5,000 feet below the water's surface, The New York Times reports. Above the surface, an oil slick with a circumference of 600 miles is lurching along, lashed by wind toward the coasts.

By Friday, it will have reached Louisiana's wildlife-rich coast. And according to MarketWatch, "Beaches in Alabama and Mississippi are also threatened, and, if the spill spreads into the Gulf's 'Loop Current,' it could devastate coastlines as far away as southeastern Florida." .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-04-29-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill-fishery-to-industrial-sacrifice-zone/