Dr. Denise Reed: Gulf Waters Surprisingly Oil Free
by Veronica Del Bianco
Ask Dr. Denise Reed about the lingering effects of BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and she responds with a challenge – go out in the Gulf by air or boat, as she has done many times, and it is increasingly difficult to find any hint of oil in the waters.
Dr. Denise Reed, University of New Orleans
“We’ve been very lucky,” says Dr. Denise Reed, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of New Orleans who has remained an optimist throughout the worst oil disaster in American history. According to Dr. Reed, a person today would need to really work to find an oiled area in the 16,000 miles of U.S. shoreline along the Gulf of Mexico and its inland bays and waterways.
“I think we have to show people what most of the coast is like, not just those small spots that featured on the news so much for so long,” says Dr. Reed. “Those images have ingrained in people’s mind. Clearly there were some serious effects … but the Louisiana coast is huge, it’s huge, and the oiled areas are relatively small.”
Formed from the delta of the Mississippi River, one of the largest and still relatively wild rivers in the world, the Louisiana coast is a fertile crescent of wild seafood production.
“Ours is still a great natural ecosystem where we can have wild harvest of things and really take the bounty of that landscape and take it to market without overly cultivating or fertilizing or manipulating the landscape,” says Dr. Reed. ‘We can have nature and seafood out of this system. That is one of the great values that we have left here.”
Dr. Reed’s greatest concern is not this past spring’s oil spill or even the oil that remains today. Her more immediate concern is that the future policies, decisions and funds resulting from this disaster follow a master plan that promote not only a healthy ecosystem but also promote all the industries that depend on it.
“What we need to do in the future is manage it so that we can continue that bounty,” says Dr. Reed. “So we can sustain that ecosystem into the future.”
And, sustain the people that depend on the Gulf of Mexico for their livelihood, she adds.
Category: Chefs & Experts
