Memorial Day marks the official beginning of summer and many were looking forward to vacations on the water, but the telephones are not ringing off the hook for reservations. Just the opposite is happening. Families with reservations are calling to cancel them.

Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi have been ramping up new television and radio advertising to get the word out that there are plenty of rooms available. In Mississippi, coastal tourism brings in over $1.8 billion annually. BP is handing out $70 million to these four states whose tourism industries will take a direct hit from the oil leak in the Gulf.

The leak is having different effects on different industries. There are concerns about an even larger impact on the economy if the leak heads west in the Gulf of Mexico that is populated with more oil rigs and a greater portion of Louisiana’s fishing community. Loren Scott, a Baton Rouge economist said, “…oil will then go underneath existing platforms and drill ships…if that happens, those platforms would have to be evacuated and not only would energy production suffer, but so would the industries that support the oil and gas sector.”

The most immediate economic concern involves the fishing industry. Seafood production in Louisiana alone has an economic impact of $2.4 billion. About 23 percent of that amount has been temporarily shut down due to the oil leak. Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board said, “If it gets into our estuaries, there could be some longterm impact…fish can swim away from the impacted areas, the concerns are for oysters, shrimp and larvae that are unable to evacuate the spill…The last thing we can afford is the collapse of our markets.”

The Small Business Administration announced plans to offer low-interest loans to small businesses on the Louisiana Gulf Coast that are suffering financial losses tied to the oil leak. The agency also is allowing some small firms impacted by the spill to defer payment on SBA disaster loans related to the hurricanes in recent years. 

Some fishermen are able to offset their economic losses by joining cleanup efforts, but that also creates an upset in the economic balance. There are about 17,000 people employed in food manufacturing, 1,900 in frozen fish and seafood, and 2,300 in seafood canning that will suffer cutbacks or total collapse if there are reduced or no harvests.

According to Michael Lorino, president of the Associated Branch Pilots, a group who guide ships into and out of the Mississippi River, “One area of commerce that has been left relatively unscathed by the spill is shipping…ship diversions to avoid pockets of oil in the Gulf have caused some ship delays of about two hours.” Longer delays can be anticipated if a ship comes in contact with heavy oil and is required to drop anchor and have its hull cleaned before entering the river.

We need a new awakening of OCEAN ENVIRONMENTALISM in the US. While the Gulf is under assault, the ocean’s broader limits are threatened to everyone.

Finally, BP is spending millions to control the leak and mitigate damages. BP has stated that it will cover all legitimate claims resulting from the leak. The total economic activity at risk in Harrison County, Mississippi, north of the leak, is in excess of $1.4 billion. The six counties closest to the to the oil spill add another $4.9 billion. There are more than 50 counties in harm’s way. BP had an income last year of $63.4 billion and the total market value of the company is approximately $142 billion. Who will be short-changed? Do the math.