By Bob Marshall

"What about the rest of us" is a question that keeps ringing in my mind as I watch governments and BP move to compensate people suffering economic hardship due to the oil company's disastrous mistake in the Gulf of Mexico. A dominant theme in the reporting and commentary (including mine) has concerned the terrible economic impact on the commercial fishing community, charter boat operators, and beach tourism, and how the responsible parties should--and are--paying the bill.

That's all proper. But what about the rest of us?

What about you and me, the sportsmen, and the rest of the citizen-owners of these resources? We don't depend on these public properties to make our livings, but we do depend on them to make our lives better. And our claims are as just and valid as any others--and money might not heal the wounds.

How are we going to be compensated for our losses? Who will mitigate the lost hours and days we would have spent in our wetlands and on the Gulf of Mexico enjoying land and water that also belongs to us, properties we have paid to maintain, manage, and protect for more than a century? Who will make good those lost moments spent fishing, hunting, boating--or just sitting and watching--not for a paycheck, but for their restorative value to our sense of peace, for the opportunities they offer us to re-create ourselves and re-charge our emotional batteries?

Who makes up for the loss of precious time with family and friends in places that move our imaginations and souls like no others? Who pays the bill for the loss of confidence in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the seafood we consume?

These are some of the intrinsic societal values of a clean and healthy environment that helped spur the nation to set aside portions of our land, water, fish, and wildlife in the public trust. And our community--hunters and anglers, campers and hikers--has always been the largest users of these properties, as well as their most responsible custodians. We pay into management far more than we ever take out.

But over the last few decades our position of authority in public resource management has been lost. The word "value" has no meaning in those decisions today unless there is a monetary definition attached. Recreational owners--and the rest of the citizenry at large who deserve and want a clean, safe environment--have been put at the back of the bus because we don't wear dollar signs.

Congress has decided the Gulf and coastal ecosystems are only "valuable" where economists can estimate their impact in the billions of dollars. Using that formula, commercial fishing operations now must be compensated. Likewise, that formula excuses the enormous risks the energy industry poses to the entire system. Indeed, groups representing you and me--recreational users-- now use the same arguments, quantifying the "value" of a healthy functioning ecosystem not for its role in the quality of our lives, but for its economic impact. You could hear and read it last week. Reporters dutifully relayed the figures: Louisiana's recreational coastal fishery, which is worth $757 million annually to the state's economy, faces a serious threat. Those specks and reds, ducks and geese, bayous, swamps and marshes require the use of boats, motors, kayaks, camps, rods, reels, leases, fuel, overnight stays, guides, marinas.

But they are not talking about us. They are talking about people who make a living off us as we pursue those other values, the ones most precious to us.

The truth is sportsmen and other outdoors lovers never try to monetize their pastimes because they know the result would be embarrassing.

How much did I pay for those four specks (despite Louisiana's 25 fish daily limit, that was the average harvest per trip in 2009)? Let’s see: the boat cost $30,000; the tackle another $500; the fuel for this trip was $80; the bait another $30; lunch $15; insurance $750 a year; maintenance another $400.

My expenses for two duck hunting trips sound like something out of the housing bubble. I'll take the Sportsman's Fifth: I refuse to answer on grounds it will humiliate me.

But as that famous TV commercial points out: Some things are priceless.

How do you put a dollar figure on what it means to sit with your children and watch dawn cast a rosy glow on a long string of white pelicans soaring over your boat on a crisp fall morning? Or the magical beauty of that purple-blue shine a big speckled trout carries on its wide sides during the summer spawning season? Or the pure thrill of carrying on a conversation with a flight of widgeons circling your decoys? Or the sight of yellowfin tuna the size of 50-gallon drums free-jumping from the cobalt blue Gulf? Or the sense of every muscle relaxing as your kayak slips past the front wall of the cypress swamp that swallows the noise of the life behind you, replacing it with a stillness as soothing as a two-hour massage? Or the deep brotherhood you feel with hunting and fishing friends who speak a language that often uses no words?

Or waking up each day confident the air and water you breathe, as well as the swamps and marshes and open Gulf you may never see, is protected from harm and functioning as it should to provide you and yours with a healthy, safe environment?

The people we trust with protecting our interests allowed BP to drill a well that had the potential to put all that at risk. And now it has. The keepers of the public trusts are now scrambling to repair the monetary damages that terrible mistake has caused commercial fishers, charter boat operators, marina owners and other who can show a dollar value for their losses.

That’s as it should be.

But what about us? - Bob Marshall

Comments (10)

from Mike Diehl wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

You just have to adjust, Bob. I know if you're from the area this has to hurt alot. But you'll have to make those opportunities somewhere else. And write your reps and senators such that proper blowout prevention is installed from the get-go. There ought to be a sure way to close pipes if that pinch-type preventer fails. Maybe some backup expolosive collar that crushes the blowout preventer close.

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from YooperJack wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

Mike:
Hopefully, some guy in his garage will invent that valve, make millions, and protect they oceans in the future. Most likely, one of the oil companies will do it.
As to Bob's article, its the price we pay for using petroleum products. Put this another way; Its the price we pay for being alive. Best case scenario is that this event never happens again.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

i think it is a joke that oil companies make so much money off the american public every year to drive to beautiful places like the gulf of mexico. What i can't believe is that the technology to clean a problem of this scale is so minimal and slow moving. I don't know if that guy in his garage should be working on just a valve but on containing problems like this as the current method is vert poor.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Fruguy101 wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

He has a point. The Feds are getting BP to pay all this money for businesses that have/will lose income because of te oil spill. If you fish for a living, guide people for a living, own a big boat dock, or whatever, you will get your money.

The people who go down to those areas annually, or more often, are the real losers, along with the local governments and citizens. Think about all the lost tourism income that a lot of communities will lose over the next decade because of this. That makes it harder to live in the towns down there because the local governments won't have the money to do things they have been doing because of tourism dollars.

Those who actively use those areas for recreation, and not for profit are the real losers in this gig. You won't get to do the things you normally do anymore.

Whoever let BP drill in that place ultimately need to be held responsible. The fact that oil is inseparable from our daily lives is the norm these days, but we shouldn't have to gamble with the well being of our environment just so we can drive to the grocery store. A bike will get you there just as well(not the motorized kind).

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from timromano wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

Bob,

You hit the nail on the head. Thank you for putting it so eloquently. Some things you can not put a value on.

I have and hopefully will continue to spend far more money than I should to chase reds in the marsh.

I'm from Colorado, but this area - it's fish, people, and ecosystem have literally sculpted me in many beneficial ways and transformed my life for the better.

It makes me mad that I have very little recourse.

thanks,

Tim Romano

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from ingebrigtsen wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

in a garage somewhere someone is working on slush hydrogen storage.. hurry the fuxc up someone.. the oilcompanies ainth gonna develop this untill there is a profit to be made... Hurry up, the planet cant take many more spills like this and still support us!!

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jamesti wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

like i said in an earlier post on this, where is the accountability?

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Beekeeper wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Haliburton strikes again...

-2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Anhinga wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Growing up and living in "oil production country" all my life, I have seen a great deal of localized damage from spills of crude and "produced water" from wells. Inland production sites, and some marsh platforms, have had significant areas of damage and some, virtually 100% kill of vegetation and sessile wildlife in the areas from spills and discharges. In the 30's, 40's and 50's it was common practice to simply discharge the process water (hundreds of times saltier than open seawater) from tank batteries down the adjacent drainage, with virtually all vegetation in that path killed. Oil and oily residue accompanied it also. It has been my observation that the oil spills were naturally biodegraded much more rapidly than recovery of the area where salt water ran or stood for years. There will be immediate and longterm damage from the oil, just like there has been spill damage in the past. However, the magnitude of this continuing blowout is enormous and the impact on local economies along the entire Gulf Coast will be huge. Those contemplating a fishing or other vacation trip to this area are/will be put off by the media hysteria associated with the potential for oiled beaches and by the present closure of fishing in the Gulf and coastal water of Louisiana and Mississippi. We have economically progressed riding on the back of "the oil horse" for the past 100+ years. We will not soon eliminate our dependancy on oil, but new safeguards for offshore drilling must be implemented to attempt to eliminate another occurance like this. I choose not to live on the Gulf or Atlantic seacoast because of hurricanes. But for the life of me, I don't know how to stop using my combustion-engined vehicle or the everyday chemicals and plastics that are derived from crude oil and natural gas.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from ingebrigtsen wrote 2 years 5 days ago

Your petrol engine can run off hydrogen gas with very little rebuild and plastics can be made from fresh plantoils, much like biodiesel.;)
Hemp will save the wold!!!!!!!!!

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

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from Mike Diehl wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

You just have to adjust, Bob. I know if you're from the area this has to hurt alot. But you'll have to make those opportunities somewhere else. And write your reps and senators such that proper blowout prevention is installed from the get-go. There ought to be a sure way to close pipes if that pinch-type preventer fails. Maybe some backup expolosive collar that crushes the blowout preventer close.

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from timromano wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

Bob,

You hit the nail on the head. Thank you for putting it so eloquently. Some things you can not put a value on.

I have and hopefully will continue to spend far more money than I should to chase reds in the marsh.

I'm from Colorado, but this area - it's fish, people, and ecosystem have literally sculpted me in many beneficial ways and transformed my life for the better.

It makes me mad that I have very little recourse.

thanks,

Tim Romano

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from ingebrigtsen wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

in a garage somewhere someone is working on slush hydrogen storage.. hurry the fuxc up someone.. the oilcompanies ainth gonna develop this untill there is a profit to be made... Hurry up, the planet cant take many more spills like this and still support us!!

+3 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from YooperJack wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

Mike:
Hopefully, some guy in his garage will invent that valve, make millions, and protect they oceans in the future. Most likely, one of the oil companies will do it.
As to Bob's article, its the price we pay for using petroleum products. Put this another way; Its the price we pay for being alive. Best case scenario is that this event never happens again.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from fliphuntr14 wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

i think it is a joke that oil companies make so much money off the american public every year to drive to beautiful places like the gulf of mexico. What i can't believe is that the technology to clean a problem of this scale is so minimal and slow moving. I don't know if that guy in his garage should be working on just a valve but on containing problems like this as the current method is vert poor.

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Fruguy101 wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

He has a point. The Feds are getting BP to pay all this money for businesses that have/will lose income because of te oil spill. If you fish for a living, guide people for a living, own a big boat dock, or whatever, you will get your money.

The people who go down to those areas annually, or more often, are the real losers, along with the local governments and citizens. Think about all the lost tourism income that a lot of communities will lose over the next decade because of this. That makes it harder to live in the towns down there because the local governments won't have the money to do things they have been doing because of tourism dollars.

Those who actively use those areas for recreation, and not for profit are the real losers in this gig. You won't get to do the things you normally do anymore.

Whoever let BP drill in that place ultimately need to be held responsible. The fact that oil is inseparable from our daily lives is the norm these days, but we shouldn't have to gamble with the well being of our environment just so we can drive to the grocery store. A bike will get you there just as well(not the motorized kind).

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from jamesti wrote 2 years 2 weeks ago

like i said in an earlier post on this, where is the accountability?

+2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Anhinga wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Growing up and living in "oil production country" all my life, I have seen a great deal of localized damage from spills of crude and "produced water" from wells. Inland production sites, and some marsh platforms, have had significant areas of damage and some, virtually 100% kill of vegetation and sessile wildlife in the areas from spills and discharges. In the 30's, 40's and 50's it was common practice to simply discharge the process water (hundreds of times saltier than open seawater) from tank batteries down the adjacent drainage, with virtually all vegetation in that path killed. Oil and oily residue accompanied it also. It has been my observation that the oil spills were naturally biodegraded much more rapidly than recovery of the area where salt water ran or stood for years. There will be immediate and longterm damage from the oil, just like there has been spill damage in the past. However, the magnitude of this continuing blowout is enormous and the impact on local economies along the entire Gulf Coast will be huge. Those contemplating a fishing or other vacation trip to this area are/will be put off by the media hysteria associated with the potential for oiled beaches and by the present closure of fishing in the Gulf and coastal water of Louisiana and Mississippi. We have economically progressed riding on the back of "the oil horse" for the past 100+ years. We will not soon eliminate our dependancy on oil, but new safeguards for offshore drilling must be implemented to attempt to eliminate another occurance like this. I choose not to live on the Gulf or Atlantic seacoast because of hurricanes. But for the life of me, I don't know how to stop using my combustion-engined vehicle or the everyday chemicals and plastics that are derived from crude oil and natural gas.

+1 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from ingebrigtsen wrote 2 years 5 days ago

Your petrol engine can run off hydrogen gas with very little rebuild and plastics can be made from fresh plantoils, much like biodiesel.;)
Hemp will save the wold!!!!!!!!!

0 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

from Beekeeper wrote 2 years 1 week ago

Haliburton strikes again...

-2 Good Comment? Yes | No | Report

Post a Comment

 

All submitted comments are subject to the rules set forth in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.