The impact oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been well documented. Thursday morning, NewsChannel 15 had an opportunity to speak to a Gulf Coast resident whose fate is directly linked to the the oil spill.
In addition to owning a seafood business and living on Florida's Gulf Coast, David Krebs is President of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Shareholders Alliance.
Krebs noted that federal government's decision Friday to reopen more than 8,000 square miles of fishing waters in the Gulf will serve as a benefit to many fishermen. Though, many more remain in dire straits.
"Certain fishermen are still able to work. A lot of the Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana fishermen, in the eastern Louisiana coast, are not able to work obviously because of the closed areas. We're still blessed. But it's very, very sad," said Krebs.
"We do have the Western Gulf open. The government is staying very proactive in keeping the consumer first, that we only fish in clean water, in open water," continued Krebs. "They're doing tissue samples on fish to ensure consumer confidence - that the products we're producing are the same wholesome fish that we were producing before the oil spill."
All though there's a lot to deal with right now, Krebs said "we're focusing on the future. We want to see the oil get stopped. We want to see the government come behind us and the industry work with the government to have good science that says the stock is healthy, the fish are healthy and let's look to the future of getting the oil stopped and getting the cleanup done and getting back to work."
