Some commercial fishermen in the gulf are going to have their best season ever.

[Winterblues]

Many are being paid over two thousand dollars a day to haul skimmers and booms around trying to halt the oil. I have no clue about the long term effects of the spill but for this year and this year ONLY some will bring in hundreds of thousand of dollars and not catch a single fish..While their industry certainly will be hurt, maybe for decades, this year many are going to have a great year. No gear loss, no bait expense, guaranteed money.. While I have sympathy for their industry, this year they will not suffer very much..

[bluestateguy]

1. And they'll need every penny of it too

Because they won't likely be fishermen anymore next year.

[fascisthunter]

2. cancer may make this moot

hopefully they have proper equipment to stay healthy.

[marions ghost]

3. PTSD

will eventually require counseling. Once they realize what they've really lost....

[Winterblues]

5. The year after the Exxon Valdez spill Salmon fishermen had a very good year.

While there is still oil on some of the beaches in Prince William Sound, the fishing industry in Alaska is Very Healthy...Oil is not poison and the gulf will recover..

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. Fishing village still recovering from Valdez impact..... YOU LIE

CORDOVA, Alaska (CNN) -- As the biggest fishing town on Prince William Sound, Cordova may have suffered the greatest economic loss of any community in the aftermath of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

Time has not yet healed the wounds in Cordova, nor has it eased the anger many fishermen still feel toward Exxon.

Before the spill, fisherman John Gregory said he could bring in over $1 per pound for pink salmon. Now he's lucky to get 14 cents per pound. A fishery once worth more than $46 million a year to Cordova now averages about $25 million.
"We saw the worst effects of the spill four and five years after the spill, not in 1989," said Ott, who holds a degree in marine toxicology. "But the oil spill actually detonated ecosystem-wide ripple effects, which just took time as they attenuated through the ecosystem."
http://edition.cnn.com/NATURE/9903/22/valdez.fishermen/

Exxon Valdez damage persists after 21 years (Feature)
Anchorage, Alaska/San Francisco - The worst oil catastrophe in US history happened more than 21 years ago. Yet reminders of the Exxon Valdez supertanker disaster are still plentiful and painful along the Alaskan coast.
Craig Tillery keeps a collection of fresh samples from the oil spillage in his office in Anchorage to remind him of the lingering damage.

'They smell so strongly, it takes you right back,' the environmental lawyer told the German Press Agency dpa.
Tillery works for the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, which administers damage payments from oil giant Exxon, now ExxonMobil, to the government and oversees the restoration of marine wildlife damaged in the 1989 spill.

An estimated 64 tonnes of oil remains in the region, emitting toxins along the once pristine coastline of Prince William Sound. Mostly, it is found in the sea sediments, where the crude oil chemicals continue to hurt birds, fish and mammals.

'We are surprised to see that much and more surprised to see it in a relatively fresh looking toxic state,' says Tiller in a worried voice. 'If you dig it up in the right spot, it smells and looks exactly like oil.'

An estimated 250,000 marine birds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbour seals, 250 bald eagles and 20 orca whales died in the aftermath.
Several species including herring, salmon and orca have been nearly destroyed by the spill.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/usa/features/article_1553252.php/Exxon-Valdez-damage-persists-after-21-years-Feature


NOW GO AWAY........

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. NOW GO AWAY..........

:thumbsup:

[Winterblues]

12. I have fished commercially in Alaska for almost thirty years

Fish prices go up and down year after year. The worst we ever had it was in mid eighties after a botulism scare. The Exxon spill didn't even make a dent in either our pricing or quantity after one year..I have first hand knowlege and I do not LIE





"The weather's been bad and it's supposed to kick up to 40 knots this afternoon," said
Hap Symmonds at Ocean Beauty Seafoods in Cordova.
The May 13 opener coincided with the Ascension of the Lord Holiday for the Russian Old Believers.
"That is the second largest Russian holiday next to Easter, so there was no participation by that portion of the fleet," Symmonds said, adding that the Old Believers make up 28% of the region's salmon fleet.
The so-so catches of 924 Chinook and 6,389 sockeye fetched a nice price:
$4/lb for sockeyes and $6/lb for kings; an increase of $.50 and $.75 over starting prices last year. Seafood Source.com reported that first servings of the famous Copper River fish are being promoted at $43.95 per meal in New York City. The next opener is set for May 17.
http://www.thebristolbaytimes.com/article/1020trollers_eclipsed_by_copper_river_catch
http://www.cf.adfg.state.ak.us/geninfo/finfish/salmon/salmon_harvest.php

[Horse with no Name]

11. Oil isn't poison

That is true.
Too bad the shit they are dumping in the gulf to clean it up is.:eyes:

[Oregone]

4. Who knows really

Paying crews, paying off a commercial fishing license they cannot use (which are not cheap), repairing their boats, paying for oil related medical bills, etc, may not leave much left over. Fishing boats already make a shitload daily in the proper conditions, so this new source of money isn't miraculous

And then next year comes.

[FarCenter]

6. Almost every boat I've seen on television has been a power boat

Those must use a lot of diesel and gasoline. MPG is notoriously bad on large power boats.

[damntexdem]

9. They won't suffer this year unless the cancer is a fast one.

But then there may be faster-acting lung or other diseases that WILL make them suffer this year.

[Horse with no Name]

10. Very myopic observation.

They are still working whether it is hauling booms or hauling fish.
Have you read the reports of the horrible carcinogens they are being exposed to out there?
Read up on the effects of toxic exposure to Benzene--you "might" reconsider your position.
They will be suffering a long time for the transgressions of BP. This definitely isn't a windfall year for them.

[JanusAscending]

13. Right....

and I believe I read somewhere on DU in the past day or so, that they are not hiring fisherman for the clean up process. They are hiring well off recreational boaters to do the work! It's also been said that they are hiring cheap Mexican labor at peons wages??? So whom are we to believe? I KNOW this much; I for one would not want to eat any fish coming out of those waters, would you?