Randy, commercial fisherman
Contaminated
If you cross the unmarked orange boom on the beach you have become contaminated. By rule, if you are contaminated you are required (by law enforcement) to be decontaminated. If you touch the water you are required to say goodbye to your clothes and be cleaned off by guys dressed in hazmat suits. Crude oil is a highly toxic poison, but we're lucky enough to have it dispersed with an even more toxic poison (namely COREXIT 9527). We were contaminated, the video goes up tomorrow.
Oil booms failing in Louisiana
The value of oil containment booms are questionable even in a light chop. These particular booms look more fit to protect a dock in a calm lake than beaches on the Gulf of Mexico.
Our apologies for the video quality, we were kept at a distance and weren't technically supposed to be filming in this location. Oops.
Interview with Randy, a commercial fisherman in Grand Isle
Randy is a commercial fisherman that we met in Grand Isle, LA. He's been fishing his whole life and will tell you straight up that he doesn't know (or want to know) how to do anything else. Thanks to the oil spill he can't fish and we were able to sit down with him for an afternoon. He spent hurricane Katrina in his home on the Gulf waist deep in water, but the oil spill is taking a larger toll.
NOAA long-term oil threat map
 an updated threat model for the likelihood that surface oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill will come ashore on US coasts. It looks especially troubling for the Florida Keys and Miami area.](/media/photos/2010/07/03/noaa-shoreline-oil-spill_jpg_788x400_crop_q85.jpg)
NOAA has released an updated threat model for the likelihood that surface oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill will come ashore on US coasts. It looks especially troubling for the Florida Keys and Miami area.
Welcome to It's a Big Ocean
The ongoing BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill is turning into the largest ecological disaster of our lifetime and sadly will have an impact ultimately measured in decades, not barrels per day. We're an independent group from Florida who couldn't sit on the sidelines and watch our coast be destroyed without the story behind the headlines being told.
Our coverage style is still evolving, but we're trying to tell the human side of the story. An oily pelican makes a great headline and photo op, but the lifelong fisherman with four kids to support presents a much different problem. Unfortunately it's one without any easy answers.
Signs of things we lost
We passed a chilling memorial for all of the things that residents of the Gulf Coast can no longer do.
Sneak peek
Here's a preview of what we got during our first trip to the Gulf Coast.
