By By JURGEN BOEREMA
Special to the Daily News
As the BP Oil spill continues to spread through the Gulf, eastern North Carolina commercial fishermen can relate to the situation from a personal angle.
Two major disasters have affected eastern N.C. in much the same way: an outbreak of toxic algae in 1987 and three hurricanes in 1999.
Both caused untold damage to the commercial fishing industry.
Eastern N.C. is very similar to the Gulf Coast in that fishing is an important part of the local economy. The region is threatened every season by hurricanes, but the oil spill is a far greater, and longer lasting, threat.
Curtis Wilkins owns the Crab Ranch, a small fishing business in the Bath area. He described himself as a “six-generation commercial fisherman”. He hinted that perhaps no one knows the full extent of the BP disaster.
“How thick is it on the bottom? They are only showing us the top. The technology they have is only able to show us so much,” he said.
Josh Hopkins, another crabber who works with Wilkins, offered his own opinion on the matter.
“I think the spill will affect the oyster market more than anything else. Louisiana is a big supplier to the rest of the nation, so if pollution starts to kick in, that could have a big effect on supply and demand. Then our prices will go up,” he said.
He noted that the spike in prices would be hard to determine since North Carolina’s oyster season is at a different time than Louisiana’s.
Hopkins helps Wilkins bring in a daily crop that goes to larger restaurants in Maryland.
Patricia Smith is the public information officer for the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. She spoke on what the agency would do in the event that the state might see some impact from the spill.
“We would use boats, planes, and biologists to assist the U.S. Coast Guard and other agencies in whatever way needed. The U.S. Coast Guard is the lead agency in such an event,” she said.
Smith’s agency is also working with sections of the Division of Environmental Health. They are gathering samples of different fish and shellfish from different waters along the coast. The samples are then frozen.
If state agencies suspect an impact from the oil spill, the samples can be used for research. The samples being taken now can be tested against later samples to detect any impact on the fish.
Since the Division of Marine Fisheries only focuses on fish and fish habitats, it is not clear the full impact of the oil spill. The Coast Guard and Division of Emergency Management conduct larger reports about impacts on the entire region of the state.