Michael Roberts and Tracy Kuhns on the canal behind their house in Lafitte, LA. Photo: Ilene Perlman/Oxfam America

Last week I took a memorable ride in a very small boat. The flat-bottomed skiff belonged to Tracy Kuhns and Michael Roberts, leaders of Oxfam’s partner organization GO FISH, who keep it moored alongside their shrimping boat on the canal that borders their backyard.

In Lafitte, LA, where Kuhns and Roberts live, these canals are like streets, connecting families to one another and workers to their jobs. Neighbors waved to us as we cast off for a short trip from the nearby Mississippi River to the marsh-fringed Barataria Bay.

For generations, families in Lafitte and the surrounding communities have earned a living by harvesting fish, shrimp, and oysters from these waters. And until 2010—when the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill dumped millions of gallons into the Louisiana bayou—it seemed like the next generation would, too.

“My grandson has been going trawling since he was 18 months old. The boy can fish,” Kuhns told me proudly as Roberts steered the boat out under the wide, cloud-streaked sky. “Before the oil spill, he never even thought about doing anything else.”

Now, Kuhns and Roberts say, the spill has caused lasting, perhaps irreparable, damage to a resource already threatened by pollution and coastal erosion.

“Barataria Bay was ground zero for all of that oil,” said Kuhns, who witnessed layers of black sludge floating to the surface. Since then, she estimated, “our shrimp [harvest] is down by 60 to 70 percent. Fish and crabs, same thing.”

Last Thursday, BP pled guilty in a criminal case brought by the US Department of Justice. The company agreed to pay $4.5 billion in fines for its conduct leading up to the oil spill, the largest environmental disaster in US history. The verdict marks a step forward, but there is still much more to be done, including resolution of up to tens of billions more in civil penalties and damages from BP and potentially its business partners for violations of the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act.

“We still have to repair the damage done to vital and fragile ecosystems, and to the thousands of families who live and work along the coastline,” said Oxfam’s Jeffrey Buchanan. (Read his latest post on BP here.) “We need to ensure the fines from this tragedy can be invested in strengthening their future.”

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Big news, all: I’m very proud to present the world debut of Oxfam America’s video for the song “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk” by iconic indie-rockers The New Pornographers.

And this isn’t your ordinary music video. Produced and directed by Oxfam’s Shannon Hart-Reed, it focuses on the aftermath of the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast.

The Gulf Coast oil spill is making headlines right now as one of the biggest stories of the year. But come January 2011, we don’t want the most vulnerable people in this area to be forgotten. Today, over six months after the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, coastal communities affected by one of the worst environmental disasters in US history are fighting to make their voices heard loud and clear. Oxfam is working with these communities to ensure that the recovery process doesn’t pass over those most affected by this disaster. (Learn more about Oxfam’s work in the US.)

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I had a moment of déjà vu this weekend when I saw the headline on CNN.com: “Vietnamese fishermen in Gulf fight to not get lost in translation.”  When I interviewed Biloxi, MS, community leader Sharon Hanshaw on May 18, she spoke about the exact same issue—the cultural and language barriers faced by Vietnamese fishermen in the wake of the BP oil spill.

Sharon Hanshaw, right, attends a meeting of grassroots groups, coordinated by Oxfam, at a church in Boothville, LA. Photo: Audra Melton/Oxfam America

“The Vietnamese-American community is the majority of fishermen here. It’s their livelihood,” Hanshaw told me. But, she added, many Vietnamese fishermen don’t have computers or internet access—and key resources, like the BP insurance claims phone line, don’t provide Vietnamese translators.

“In East Biloxi, the Vietnamese community was left out during the catastrophic Hurricane Katrina,” added Hanshaw.  “Many are afraid it will happen again.”

It’s an understandable fear, and it’s not limited to Biloxi. According to CNN’s Jessica Ravitz, “a third of all fishermen in the Gulf are Vietnamese, making them arguably the most affected minority out there.” New Orleans East has the highest concentration of Vietnamese people in the world outside of Vietnam. Many came to the area as refugees after the end of the Vietnam War, and were among those who faced heavy losses during Hurricane Katrina.

Now, the oil spill poses a new threat to Vietnamese-American fishermen, seafood industry workers, restaurateurs, and thousands of others who rely on the Gulf waters for their livelihoods.

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