Herring Industry News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Robert Millar

Gaelic is not the weapon of mass destruction some seem to think it is, writes Angus Peter Campbell. Fear and resentment are hindering understanding and joy.

What have they told you about the similarities and the differences? >> reporter: well, they're in the gulf, some have just gotten back. they've spent 21 years studying the exxon valdez spill, $1 billion spent because exxon had to pay all that money to the government to study the effects on the spill. what they have told us is that there are some differences. the key difference is the use of dispersant, that chemical dispersant in the gulf of mexico is breaking up the oil so we're not seeing large amounts of oil already getting to the coastline in the gulf. but the tradeoff is that we have thos...

>> people's lives were ruined. there were damn good fishermen, damn good fishermen here in the sound that just said screw it. >> reporter: they left because the fish disappeared. the herring industry alone lost $400 million, three years after the spill they vanished and never returned. exxon says it had nothing to do with the spill, but no one here is buying it. >> people went bankrupt. people lost things. >> reporter: mike webber lost his marriage. with the fishing industry in ruins, he says he began drinking heavily. >> i blame my divorce on exxon and the oil spill. >> reporter: sociologists...

Beyond my control, i wasted 20 years of my life. >> reporter: about 3400 miles from here, the bp accident in the gulf has leaked an estimated $4 million gallons of oil. up here the "exxon valdez" leaked 11 million gallons of crude and left 1500 miles of alaska coastline black end. birds, sea mammals, fisheries, and people were devastated. >> we got hosed here in cordova. and nobody cares. >> reporter: platt says his story is typical. the spill caused such stress, it practically ruined his marriage. you're just one fishermen in this community. but you speak for many. >> people's lives were ruin...