reporter: henry has been fishing in these waters for 35 years. but when he first started, this habitat looked much different. it s hard to imagine as i look out here, this is all pretty much water. little spits of grassy marshland. you re saying most was land? 80% in back of us, that was a little bitty pond right there. it s all gone. all around here, this was solid land when i first started fishing. reporter: even before the gulf oil spill the southeastern part of louisiana was affected by the oil industry. oil companies cleared marshes to lay pipeline and service boats that service the oil industry. the remaining marshland is being lost to erosion. when you start to lose these habitat areas, you lose the ability for the young fish and shrimp to be able to hide to grow up to a size where they can survive better in the open water. reporter: henry began
phil philip cousteau reports from plaquemines, louisiana. reporter: he has been fishing in these waters for 35 years, but when he started this habitat looks different. it is hard to imagine that this is all water and little spits of grassy marshland here, but you are saying that most of this was land before? 80% of this in back of us, that was a little bitty pond back there, and it was all gone and nothing but land. all of this around here was solid land when i first started fishing. reporter: even before the gulf oil spill, they were aff t affected, and channels were formed for the industry, but the remaining marshland is lost to erosion. when you start to lose the habitat areas, you lose the ability of the young shrimp to hide and grow up to a place where they can survive better in