Worst Ecological Disaster in Gulf of Mexico History!

[Jhults11]

To all of my fellow fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts, get out there and fish as much as u can and enjoy the Serenity of the Gulf of Mexico between now and the next two weeks! BP really screwed the pooch on this one! The ecological devastation to the gulf coast is unimaginable. If the oil makes it to Apalachee Bay,....its all over. 99% of inshore fish will die and many offshore fish will perish by lack of food...i.e. inshore food! Many species of birds, marine mammals, turtles, and crustaceans will perish! Things just won’t be the same. Enjoy it now guys....I’m telling you it may be worse than any of us could ever imagine!!!!!!!!!!!

[big bend gyrene]

Jhults11, not to say that the potential doesn't exist but the claim your making is a bit premature (worst ecological disaster in gulf history). To put the claim in perspective even at the elevated recent estimate release rate, we've just crossed the 1 million gallon mark now.

To put the spill in historical perspective it's currently quite small compared to Ixtoc that blew in the Yucitan area of the Gulf of Mexico.

June 3, 1979 - The Ixtoc oil well blew and it dumped 140 million gallons... that's more than 100 fold than we've likely seen thus far.

June 8, 1990 - The ship Mega Borg released 5.1 million gallons of oil 60 nautical miles south-southeast of Galveston as a result of an explosion and subsequent fire in the pump room.

November 28, 2000 - Though admittedly smaller in size, the oil tanker Westchester lost power and ran aground near Port Sulphur, La., dumping 567,000 gallons of crude oil into the lower Mississippi River.

August 2005 - New Orleans, Louisiana: The Coast Guard estimated that more than 7 million gallons of oil were spilled during Hurricane Katrina from various sources, including pipelines, storage tanks and industrial plants.

None of the above is offered to say that the threat isn't REAL that it could prove the worst ecological disaster but it's early in the game to make that claim.

I saw something tonight that helped put the spill in perspective... the daily estimated release rate is enough to fill 1/3 of an Olympic pool. So it takes roughly three days release to reach an Olympic pool size amount. Some of this oil is being captured with the booms/skimmers, though certainly not all nor likely even the bulk. Still the Gulf's massive volume can absorb much of the spill if the flow doesn't push the bulk too shallow or the current loop doesn't carry too much volume down around the south portion of the peninsula. The two determining factors at this point are how quickly the flow can be stopped and how the currents disperse the oil released. I don't have a crystal ball and won't claim to know. I AM praying that the flow be stopped as quickly as possible and that the dispersion be as favorable as possible. If the worse happens I'll be down at the coast helping as much as I possibly can. I'll end by saying again, your claim still may well prove true -- just a bit too early to say.

[CrispyFishin]

If it only takes a few olympic sized pools full of oil to cause a slick like this that's the size of Rhode Island (and growing), then I'm relatively reassured of my position that offshore drilling is pretty bad idea.

[big bend gyrene]

If it only takes a few olympic sized pools full of oil to cause a slick like this that's the size of Rhode Island (and growing), then I'm relatively reassured of my position that offshore drilling is pretty bad idea.

Well, CrispyFishin, since I'm guessing you drive something that burns oil/gas, use AC/heat, cut your yard, possibly farm, etc... - your immediate alternative solutions for our nation being... ? Not with the intent to insult you but be amazed you lay down a solution that won't have it's own laundry list of challenges/problems.

Been a nature lover since birth and DON'T want to see damage to the coast I love to fish but as the old saying goes nobody wants the solution to be in "their own back yard". Yet we shouldn't burn coal, don't want caribou put at risk in Alaska, don't want windmills chopping up endangered birds, don't want dams hurting darter minnows, and don't want to sacrifice our family members to America haters in the middle east. Oh and many environentalists don't want to even put solar panels in our deserts lest the "fragile" life there be injured...

Been following each of the gas related threads closely, and I'll be darned if I've seen one pragmatic / realistic alternative suggested yet... maybe someone will give one after this post.
BBG

[1Nitrofish]

[quote=

Been following each of the gas related threads closely, and I'll be darned if I've seen one pragmatic / realistic alternative suggested yet... maybe someone will give one after this post.
BBG

Wind turbines ? Invest/fine BP and Transocean... forcing them to research-develop-finance and build hundreds of them to start the process of the "going Green theory"...plus they pay clean-up cost. Yea I know...we can then sit back and watch gas prices go up.

[DwayneFisherman]

The blame game has already started. BP says it's not their accident, but will pay for clean-up costs. Thats a joke. The only thing they care about is profits:

Over the weekend, news emerged that BP was circulating settlement agreements among coastal residents of Alabama and possibly other states, essentially requiring that "people give up the right to sue in exchange for payment of up to $5,000," the Alabama Press-Register reported. Alabama's Attorney General Troy King protested and asked BP to stop distribution of the letters.

Yep, I need oil for my car too. I use it every day, but these companies do not care about the harm they cause. It's a bitter pill. We need them and they need us.

[CSMarine]

Hey gyrene,
Here's mine. At eleven years old I learned to lay a mullet net by circling the school in a wooden "Birdog" with a set of oars. My grandmother and I rowed from the Nut All Rise, slap to the Gulf with oars shellcracker fishing a few hundred times by the time I was a teenager. I could go back to that, to save the Aucilla River from oil sludge. Won't be any use in running 40 mph up and down the river in a high powered outboard if everything in the river is dead or not fit to eat. Am I a tree hugger? HELL YES! I love every cypress tree, bay tree, cabbage tree and all others growing in what has been my backyard for almost 60 years. I'd sleep in a hollow stump, and crap from a forked tree limb if I thought it would save my rivers and coastline.
What can we do about this mess now? Not a freeking thing. It's out of our hands now. All we can do is lean into it and get ready for the s--t storm that's about to flow over us, and pray that a small resemblence of what we used to take for granted will be left when it all passes.

[big bend gyrene]

CSMarine, agree with everything you said. Best redfish numbers I ever got were out of arm powered canoe, not the boat I run now... wouldn't cry at having to use muscle versus engine for fishing alone. But problem is that there are so many other sacrifices we would have to make to give up oil immediately. I have loved ones die in far away states now, I can fly to be with family. The groceries I buy for low prices at Wal-Mart, vast majority have made quite long treks to take advantage of extremely low labor costs. My family did tons of canning when I grew up and we always had gardens to live as much as we could off the land but don't see so many folks taking the time/effort to seal mason jars anymore.

My point is that we enjoy TREMENDOUS luxuries at the expense of gas and to simply say stop all offshore drilling doesn't acknowledge the drastic changes in life we'll face if we aren't willing to man up and accept that other solutions have problems too and be it us or humans in other locations, someone's almost always at risk for some negative consequence.

Lest anybody be mistaken, I'm NOT Mr. Pro Oil... that said, I do like many of the amazing luxuries it provides and haven't really heard anyone (except possibly Charles ) saying they want to go back to Amish style living. All this said, CSMarine, with you 100% on the leaning into it and be ready for the s--t storm.

[CSMarine]

Nothing more sobering than a jarhead being sober about something is there?

[What a mess]

be carful if JT sees you up in the tree crapping he may follow you home and if he sees you catch a fish in a row boat he will swear it was his fishing hole!

I love to fish, & I hate the spill, my boat has a motor I am part of the problem. I trailer to the water from Ga. I am part of the problem. It is for pleasure not need. I am part of the problem.

For those who make a living there it will distroy the only way of life they know. I hate that. I don't know what is worse the loss of the enviroment or the fact it will ruin many lives.

The story about what happened when the nets were outlawed CS Marine told me made me see from it from another point of view. I want my cake I'd like to be able to eat it too. I am just too American and only see how it will affect me.


I wish I could see the larger picture & maybe have a more informed view. There will be a bunch of selfish jerks trying to capitalize on this while many families suffer as a result.

[woopty]

eyewitness account...
the fishing trip from hell...in more ways than one

http://www.mudinmyblood.net/forum/showt ... =explosion

[captkeyser]

Unbelievable.

[Charles]

I wouldn't make it as Amish. I tried growing a beard for a few months a while back. It came in red and patchy and made me look like an orangoutang.

And then there's the horse thing. I've had enough exposure to horses to know they can be a real P-I-T-A. Of course if you've got no other way to break ground, hitch up the Belgians. Tractors with hooves.

I had an epiphany yesterday as I was driving the Highlander. BP isn't necessarily solely to blame for this fiasco. I am, with my over-sized, over-powered car.

The folks who just can't live in Florida without AC are.
<"Welcome to to Florida. It's hot, humid and buggy about 10 months out of the year. By comparison, Appalachia isn't.">

The folks who just can't catch fish without a powerboat.
<"Who has greater impact? The guy in a kayak who keeps a limit; or the guy in the flats boat who runs all over the bay at 70 mph but feels good because he releases everything?">

Etc.

The sun makes a great clothes drier.
<And no; under state law your HOA cannot tell you you cannot have a clothesline:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/ind ... 04#0163.04

In short; the blame for this lies with pretty much everybody who lives under the status quo. Which we know is not sustainable. And when that collapses because all the cheap energy is gone ... we're all royally screwed.

Sure it'll be painful to voluntarily make the transition to a more sustainable lifestyle; but the train wreck that will happen if we don't will be a hell-of-a lot worse. And if the federal government collapses because of that; everybody who (like me) gets a check every month, or any other benefit, will be SOL.

[Good Times]

eyewitness account...
the fishing trip from hell...in more ways than one

http://www.mudinmyblood.net/forum/showt ... =explosion

wow

[RHTFISH]

I have a requestee.....you guys leave me a forked branch!

When it comes to utilization of our natural resources and our preferred ways of life, liberty and the pursuits of happiness I think we have not much
reasonable choice but to begin where we are now. Anyone that thinks they can guarantee anything or anybody against disaster is living in a dream world.
Right now we're focusing on the ills of an oil leak and the potentials for damage to our beloved part of the world. It could be other things also. About all that anyone can do is pray for Godly wisdom and use common sense.

Can someone explain what all is involved in a state of emergency declaration...

On May 3, 2010, Governor Charlie Crist extended a state of emergency declaration (Emergency Order 10-100) for the coastal counties of Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota.

Many Thanks!