--- title: Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou | TIME description: In Bayou Barataria, Louisiana, shrimp fishing families brace themselves for the worst as a massive oil spill heads their way canonical: https://time.com/video/WcIeeNsw/ og:title: Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou og:description: In Bayou Barataria, Louisiana, shrimp fishing families brace themselves for the worst as a massive oil spill heads their way og:url: https://time.com/video/WcIeeNsw/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WcIeeNsw/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou twitter:description: In Bayou Barataria, Louisiana, shrimp fishing families brace themselves for the worst as a massive oil spill heads their way twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/WcIeeNsw/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou [Watch (HLS stream): Oil Spill Anxiety on the Bayou](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/WcIeeNsw.m3u8) (3:55)  _Published 2010-05-06. In Bayou Barataria, Louisiana, shrimp fishing families brace themselves for the worst as a massive oil spill heads their way_ --- Jul 27, 2023 2:15 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Evicted by the Oil Spill](/video/7QmVOip9/) ### Evicted by the Oil Spill [The Gulf Oil Spill by the Numbers](/video/1VyYPAD3/) ### The Gulf Oil Spill by the Numbers [Portraits From the Oil Spill](/video/DxeqNR0P/) ### Portraits From the Oil Spill --- ## Transcript >> There is so much anxiety about what's gonna happen right now with the oil spill. And I mean, it's shaping up to be unprecedented. >> About 35 miles southwest of New Orleans is Barataria where Michael Roberts and his wife, Tracy Kuhns, are bracing for the worst. They have fish, shrimp in and around this estuary for more than 40 years. But now, a massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is heading their way. >> We have more fishermen in South Louisiana than they have in all the other low 48 states. >> They are down to their last cooler of shrimp at a time when they would normally be celebrating at the start of shrimp season. They gather with friends and neighbors on their porch as their boat, the Fatty Maddy, stays docked and idle behind their house. They've spent thousands of dollars on readying and repairs over the winter. >> It's extremely hard labor and there's not a big profit margin in our fisheries here. >> I mean, everybody is just real anxious, they are scared, they are nervous, they don't know what's gonna happen. You know, if all pollutes the beds, all pollutes the fishing grounds, we could be out of work for a year, maybe two years. I mean, god only knows. >> Like hundreds of others in their fishing community, they waited a long line to sign up for hazardous material trainings. The company responsible for the spill, BP, has indicated that they want to hire boat owners to help with the cleanup. >> I anticipate we're gonna need dozens of all size, all varieties, and all mix. >> I've worked on the [ unk ]. >> Most of the trainings hoped to off- set their fishing losses by signing oil cleanup contracts with BP. But Tracy says the contract stipulate conditions that many small boat fishermen will not be able to meet. >> Everything you had to pay for like fuel up front and all these insurances, these guys, the majority of them are small boat fishermen, they can't afford to spend 10 grand buying insurance that they say they want them to have. >> BP spokespeople say they have heard no complaints from fishermen so far and have only the best intentions for them. Still, anger remains high among some members of the community. >> You know, I know it's a massive problem and a lot of it they don't know what to do, but they shouldn't relax all our regulation because they wanna rush out and drill everywhere because, oh, we need the oil, we need the oil, we need the oil. >> We need the jobs, we need the oil, but what's the tradeoff? We at South Louisiana are not worth the tradeoff. They're trading us off for domestic goal for the rest of the country. >> We need to protect our fisheries and protect our environment and protect the other jobs that we have. >> For the people who live in these bayous, fishing is more than just what drives the economy. It's also a way of life. >> Usually, the first time you come in with shrimp, everybody is shouting. Fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, barbecued shrimp, baked shrimp [ unk ] salad. >> But with massive amounts of crude oil expected to hit shores later this week, this family finds its life on hold. >> We're in this like limbo right now not knowing for sure like everybody. 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