Driving down Highway 1 and seeing all the seafood businesses that the Gulf oil spill could affect really saddened me.

Surprisingly, despite bans on fishing off the coast and well-publicized closing of some of the state’s oyster beds, many businesses and local restaurants that specialize in seafood said they have yet to feel the effects of the oil spill.

The only road in Venice, La., winds around grassy marshes and sprouts off into gravel driveways where trailers sit in semi-circles, some on 20-foot stilts. At its end are the three marinas that support the local economy’s lifeline: shrimping.