As the Deepwater Horizon wellhead continues to gush oil into the Gulf, menacing the livelihoods of Gulf Coast residents and slopping beaches with tar balls, rust-colored mousse or dark brown glop, you may be wondering what you can do to help.
Besides visiting the Gulf Coast to support its struggling tourism industry, there are not many options for those wanting to help.
“If you’re going down for a vacation, go, but if you’re going around to try and help, right this minute, there’s really not a lot that can be done,” said Virginia Morgan, the Alabama Cooperative Education System’s point of-contact to the Extension Disaster Education Network.
Dr. LaDon Swann, associate research professor at Auburn University and director of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center (AUMERC), said even though people see others on TV cleaning oiled birds and feel the need to volunteer for the cleanup, it’s not likely to happen.
“That’s hazardous material, and they have to go through rigorous HazMat training or Hazwoper training of 40 hours or more to be qualified to do that,” Swann said. “Volunteering to come down and clean up oil is not something that’s needed. I know we want to do it. I want to do it. We all want to do it, but we have to leave that in the hands of BP and trust the agencies here to do that. It would be best if that was left in the hands of people who are without jobs right now.”
While volunteering to clean up oiled shorelines or coastal wildlife is not an option, there are other volunteer opportunities you can take part in if you live along the coast.
Mobile Baykeeper and the Alabama Coastal Foundation (ACF) have been working together since the disaster began to find ways to utilize volunteers, according to Tammy Herrington, deputy director of Mobile Baykeeper.
Baykeeper, ACF, the U.S. Coast Guard, BP and the state of Alabama formed the Coalition of Active Stakeholders Team (COAST) in response to the oil spill, she said.
Through COAST, Baykeeper and ACF developed the Volunteer Field Observer Program, in which local volunteers, primarily in kayaks, canoes or small boats, go out twice a week to assess and gather information on the impacts of oil on Alabama’s shorelines and waterways, Herrington said.
“They go out, and they document what they’re seeing on the water,” Herrington said. “So whether or not they’re seeing oil; whether or not they’re seeing wildlife in distress; whether or not they see any outfalls, brake pipes with water coming out; whether or not it’s something that seems to be a danger or problem for the environment.”
Soon after the Deepwater Horizon disaster occurred, Herrington said they reached out to the Waterkeeper Alliance, a global environmental organization that connects and supports Waterkeeper programs such as Mobile Baykeeper.
“We were able to call the Waterkeeper Alliance office in New York and say ‘help, we need you guys,” Herrington said.
Herrington explained how Waterkeeper Alliance reached out to waterkeepers in Alaska, San Francisco, Delaware, New Jersey and other areas of the country that had experienced oil coming ashore in a significant way, and put them in contact with Mobile Baykeeper.
“We were able to talk to all of those other Waterkeepers and get information about how they have done natural resource damage assessment along the shorelines as well, so that added to the volunteer program that we have,” Herrington said.
There is a training course for the Volunteer Field Observer Program on June 29 from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. If you would like more information on the program or want to volunteer, visit http://savethegulf.mobilebaykeeper.org/welcom -save-gulf.
Kick Kennedy, ambassador for the Waterkeeper Alliance and daughter of environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr., mentioned political action as a way to make a difference when she spoke in May at a press conference for the Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Ala.
“I think if you want to change the way our country treats the environment, you have to get involved in the political process,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s more important to change your politician than the lightbulb.”
Besides going down to the Gulf to support the businesses that depend on tourism, Swann suggested other avenues students could consider.
“If anyone ever thought about getting an environmental degree or something like that, there may be jobs for them down the road, certainly in the Gulf,” Swann said. “There are no guarantees there, but we’re going to need whole different skill sets to build this for the long-term.”
Swann also suggested adopting a $25 oyster cage as a tangible way students could get involved, although he stressed that he was not necessarily advocating it.
“I know how as a student, money’s hard to come by, so I’m not saying doing that,” Swann said, “but there are things people can do: could be a group of people kick in five dollars apiece, a group of five adopt an oyster cage.”
P.J. Waters, an extension specialist and the program coordinator for the Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program, also encouraged people to look into adopting an oyster garden if they are interested in getting involved.
“Essentially, they participate on the same level as an oyster gardener does, except they don’t have the garden,” Waters said. “It’s for folks that either live inland or don’t live in areas that are classified as conditionally open (for shellfish harvesting).”
Waters added that restoration is going to be more important than ever after the spill is stopped and cleaned up.
“We’re not sure of the impact that the oil’s going to have, long-term,” Waters said. “We’ve never seen this much oil in one spot up here before. The contact with the oil, as far as the oysters are concerned, doesn’t necessarily lead to mortality, particularly in adult oysters. The larval oysters, certainly, will not fare well, having been in contact with the oil.”
Waters noted that they were fortunate to get the oyster larvae set on whole oyster shells before the oil really came in.
“We had probably an extra month or so before oil actually started showing up around Dauphin Island where the oyster hatchery is,” Waters said. “So we took advantage of that and got the oysters set on whole shell, so they’re ready to go.”
Those oysters will be distributed to gardeners on July 10, although there will be fewer distributed than usual.
“Normally, each gardener will produce about a thousand oysters, so that may be depleted by as much as half just because they’re not going to have as many to start with,” Waters said.
Those interested in adopting an oyster garden can find more information at oystergardening.org.