Maritime defenses stouter as oil looms

MOBILE BAY, Alabama (WALA) - A BOBBING WALL OF DEFENSE

Over the last few weeks crews have been working feverishly to protect Mobile Bay from the crude. Miles of containment boom are now deployed, and even more is being put in place.

Senior Chief Kai Christensen, with the Coast Guard, has been riding around the bay as that boom has been laid out and so far, so good.

"So far, we haven't seen any oil sheen or the globs of oil a lot of people have sighted. We check the beach regularly and out here floating around. We haven't seen anything at all," Christensen said.

Christensen said boat traffic around Dauphin Island has increased substantially with small boats laying containment boom in the shadows of the large ships.

"The boom is not going to be able to stretch across the main ship channel until the actual closure of Mobile Bay," he said. "Which won't happen until something catastrophic were to come our way."

PROTECTING CRITICAL COASTLINE

So far, time has been on our side, and preparations continue. Carol McBryant, with the National Park Service, said the boom is critical to protect hundreds of miles of pristine habitat.

"We are very pleased and happy with all the work that's being done out here by the local people that have stepped up, and they're helping to try and preserve these islands by putting boom up and assisting where they can," McBryant said.

McBryant said so far the Gulf Islands National Seashore, which stretches from Cat Island in Mississippi to Santa Rosa Island in Florida, hasn't had any oil wash up, and she's hopeful all the hard work will pay off.

"It's quite a threat, but I think with everybody working, we can minimize the impacts of the oil," she said.

With each passing day, the maritime defenses get stouter, and we wait to see if they're stout enough to stop a slippery foe.