Decided to take a few days of down time combining two of my favorite things – a relaxing view of the ocean, and fishing. Limited out yesterday on Flounder Fishing in the Intercoastal back bays of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, and I’m headed out this evening to (try and) catch some Drum surfcasting. The Land that time forgot, indeed!
Fortunately, time didn’t forget Internet Service, which in my case is DSL provided (barely) by Verizon – and is about a crappy as it gets and still be sorta functional. I’ll probably do a blog later about how, in the US, the quality (not quantity) of DSL Service in the areas reached is the worst in the world.
IN any event, the news from the Gulf of Mexico continues to be bad. As I gazed out over the beach to the surf, I tried to imagine the beaches covered in black oil, the birds dying, fish kills – and the oyster and clam beds destroyed…
For no other reason than greed and avarice.
This area has survived numerous hurricanes, and the even more destructive NorthEasters, and just off the coast is one part of the Graveyard of the Atlantic, where German UBoats during WWII sank hundreds of ships, spilling their contents (and fuel bunkers) along the coast. It is not unusual even today to see the imprint of man along these beaches with parts of those ships washing ashore – and every once in a great while, even a Spanish Piece of Eight from a bygone era. These disasters large and small have, over time been swallowed by the winds and the waves. IN the 20 years I’ve been coming here, I’ve watched the crash site of a WWII Douglass Dauntless Bomber, which splashed down in one of the back bays, degrade each year – until only a few rusty colored spars are left from this intrusion by man 65 years ago.
But what of an environmental disaster the size of the Gulf? Will it be 20-30-40… 50 or 100 years before the fisheries recover? Will they ever recover?
This area is the center of the major migratory path for everything from fish to Butterflies. Our last Republican pro-business Governor damn near killed off the Bluefish fishery by allowing the Japanese Fleet to stretch a net across the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. That has still not recovered 15 years later.
Governor Bob McDonnell in the face of this disaster recently re-iterated his support for oil drilling off Virginia’s Coast.
Bob McDonnell Reaffirms Support for Offshore Drilling
Now, we had on Civil War fought in majority in this State…
Maybe it’s time for another.
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