MURDER!
That is how many of us who live in Southwest Florida are feeling right about now, as we watch , what is it day 40? — We are watching the spewing, the oil plume, every day and we feel that BP has committed MURDER and they should be made to pay. They have Murdered our water, our very way of life. This is what the water looks like now in May 2010. How long will it take for the oil balls, the tar balls, the goop, to drift or slide or roll, in to our shores?
What will happen to our mangroves? Our estuaries? This is where the fish lay eggs and where the hatchlings live. What will happen to our fish? Our Snook (“Schnook”)? Our Mangrove Snapper? Our Mullet? Our Grouper? What about the Pompano? What about the Sheepshead. People fish for these and many other fish all over Southwest Florida, day after day. Fishing is a pastime for visitors, and is a livlihood for many, many people.
Beyond us as a species, beyond the people who play and fish in the water, and who drink this water, there are the Birds and Sea Turtles and all manner of other species who depend on the water being clean and just right for them. When the oil comes (And we feel it is only a matter of time, really,) and the oil soaks into all the nooks and cranies of the mangroves, it will coat all the roots and branches with oil and kill everything in its path.
This isn’t a particularly good picture– I got the focus off a bit — but it shows you what the base of the mangroves looks like. Each one of those b rown things is a root going into the shallow water. This is the way our land is formed here in Southwest Florida. How do you clean the mangroves without destroying them?
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Is there any plans that are being made in preparation for this happening or are we all just sitting ducks.
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Not sure! In the first early weeks of the Oil Spill, the newspapers were reporting that there is a lady who was organizing voulnteers to help clean up. They had all attended a course and become certified in the clean up process. I am not sure if it was for the ‘beach’ itself, or the marine life, or what. So no, I know of no plan for cleaning up the mangroves. I will see if I can find out.
~WM~
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