Darla Rooks is a bayou fisherman to the core. When she married Todd 20 years ago, she wore her white plastic fishing boots under her wedding dress. Todd and Darla love shrimping in the coastal waters of Louisiana the way cowboys love riding the west Texas range. It's in their blood—a calling passed down through the generations—a lifestyle they hope to pass on to their grandkids.
Update: On Nov. 24, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration closed 4200 square miles of federal Gulf waters to fishing for royal red shrimp after oily tar balls were discovered in the nets of a commercial fisherman trawling for shrimp.
On Thursday, families of the Gulf coast will gather together to celebrate the holiday. But for many, it will be a bittersweet occasion. This is the first Thanksgiving since the BP oil disaster destroyed their coast and many of their businesses. Some will find it difficult to afford a turkey or ham to celebrate.
This is truth. This is what the people are facing down here. If you have any interest in the genocide that is happening in our Gulf, if you are not afraid to know the truth, watch this.
Tuesday, Sept 14th - Over the past three days, local fishermen in Bayou La Batre, Alabama have been documenting a thick sludge that has emerged in the water along their shores. They say it must be caused by the BP oil disaster, and they all independently described it the same way: “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
BP spokespeople and local officials, meanwhile, also have a unified message: “It’s algae.”
In the past few weeks, independent scientists, fishermen, journalists, and advocates have taken testing of Gulf waters, sand, and seafood into their own hands. The results prove that the Gulf still has dangerous levels of oil and toxic dispersants from the BP disaster, despite claims from federal agencies and BP.
Here is a state by state overview of some of these investigations.
Speech from the Gulf Change Rally. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 10/30/10.
Tuesday, Sept 14th - Over the past three days, local fishermen in Bayou La Batre, Alabama have been documenting a thick sludge that has emerged in the water along their shores. They say it must be caused by the BP oil disaster, and they all independently described it the same way: “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
Yesterday, Mississippi natives Mendy Cockrell and Donna and Marty Dunn commemorated 9/11 with an unlikely crowd. 
In the past few weeks, independent scientists, fishermen, journalists, and advocates have taken testing of Gulf waters, sand, and seafood into their own hands. The results prove that the Gulf still has dangerous levels of oil and toxic dispersants from the BP disaster, despite claims from federal agencies and BP.
