Oily Water Closes Down Gulf Fishing, Tourists Stay Away
June 15th, 2010
Gulf Shores beaches are normally packed this time of year. Not so now, with BP’s oil still gushing into the Gulf of Mexico.
One family even went swimming in the Gulf while we were there, in spite of oil in the water nearby. People should not be swimming in these waters, and the government here and the state of Alabama are acting irresponsibly for not officially closing down these waters to swimming, just as they are closed to fishing. Next we will be hearing reports of people who got sick from swimming in the water with oil and chemical dispersants.
A boom boat works to try to prevent oil from making it to shore around the Gulf State Park fishing pier, although according to an EPA official on the scene, the BP contractor was not replacing the oil-soaked boom every day as they are required to do.
The oil sheen as well as oil globs mixed with chemical dispersants are now visible in the water and making it past the booms right off the beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama. The Gulf State Park fishing pier is closed to fishing, but some people were still seen swimming in the water here, as well as down the road behind the Flora-Bama Lounge in Orange Beach.
Globs of oil mixed with chemical dispersant line the beaches from Dauphin Island to Panama City, Florida, as work crews struggle to pick them up. There are reports of convict labor crews combing the beaches before dawn to white wash the beaches of dead turtles, fish and birds — before the few tourists left here wake up in the morning.
The sheen makes it inside the boom system, now clogged with thicker, emulsified oil globs.
At a glance, the water might look fine. But aim a camera at it and see the story told by the light, and you get the picture.
A school of minnows huddles under the Gulf State Park fishing pier, although you can clearly see the sheen in the water here.
Two globs of oil on the beachfront by the Pink Pony Pub in Gulf Shores, Alabama.
Tags: Alabama, BP Oil Spill, Flora-Bama, Gulf Shores, Oily Water, Oily Water Closes Down Gulf Fishing, Orange Beach, Tourists Stay Away
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