Safina points to gross negligence as the cause of the spill

The oil gushing from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil rig is devastating much of the Gulf of Mexico with wide ranging impacts from smothering coastal marshes, pelicans and turtles, to closing fishing grounds and potentially destroying the livelihoods of local fishermen. Because fishing is such an important industry to coastal communities, short or long-term closure of fishing grounds has ripple effects throughout the entire community. Currently about one-third of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico is closed to commercial fishing, representing almost 80,000 square miles.

The United Nations World Environment Day 2010 events got underway in Pittsburgh on Thursday June 3, with an opening keynote address by Blue Ocean Institute’s President, Dr. Carl Safina.