individuals across the gulf who suffered a financial loss as a result of the spill. third generation oysterman mitch gerisich runs one of the largest oyster operations in louisiana and has already settled for millions and is using the money, he says, to rebuild his oyster beds. sure, we re getting money from them and we re investing it and we re investing it in something we don t know if we ll get back. the spawn is there. and the oyster larvae for some reason is not living. that is the problem. though fishing in the gulf has improved overall, he fears an uncertain future. we ve been on a steady decline since the spill and we re looking about a 40% decrease from the previous year. what happens ten years from now, what happens 15, 20 years from now?
we have spent just thus far in honoring our obligation to restore the gulf environment and economy, $28 billion. half of that $28 billion, according to bp, has been paid to settle hundreds of thousands of claims, to businesses and individuals across the gulf who suffered a financial loss as a result of the spill. third generation oysterman mitch runs one of the largest oyster operations in louisiana and has already settled for millions and is using the money to rebuild his oyster biz. sure, we re getting money from them and we re investing it and we re investing it in something we don t know if we ll get back. the spawn is there. and the oyster larvae for some reason is not living. that is the problem. though fishing in the gulf has improved overall, he fears
surface of the water sensitive oyster beds are threatened. one oysterman says it is like mother nature is waterboarding us. what s the issue with oysters, rob? fresh water. and you know, just hard to believe that a flood that originated a thousand miles away is impacting an area really that s been in a drought. hurricanes, last year s oil spill and now this. oystermen certainly feel like they re going to take it on the chin again. we re going to pull some oysters up right off the reef. here we go. reporter: greg s family has been farming oysters here for more than a hundred years. this is basically where the fresh and the saltwater meet. reporter: perfect for oysters, but get too much fresh water like during a historic flood and the oysters die. being out on the water, there s a lot of unexpecteds. and it s very, very similar to harvesting any crop, out on
all that work. thousands of homes are flooded. 3 million acres of farm land are under water in the south. that s the damage we can see in shots like that. that s right. because in louisiana beneath the surface of the swollen mississippi sensitive oyster beds are being threatened by the on rush of water. they have to keep a certain salinity, a certain type of silt in there. and it is very difficult when you talk about this type of flooding. one oysterman says it is like mother nature is waterboarding us. pretty strong language. rob marciano is in port allen this morning. we were down there last year, it was the oil spill they were concerned about, the oyster harvest. they can t get a break. no, a double whammy. but for the same reason. let s remember that the majority of the oysters struggled last year from the oil spill because we were releasing water from the mississippi and other rivers to kind of try to flush and push the oil out of the marshes, and that added fresh water to