Local fishermen watch as clueless out-of-staters take on cleanup duties

Local out-of-work fishermen around the Gulf of Mexico are fuming at the Unified Command Center and BP after hundreds of people from other parts of the country have showed up for work along the Gulf Coast with their boats.

Bob Zales, president of the National Association of Charterboat Operators, said that those people from out of the area are taking jobs away from the fishermen and others directly affected by the spill. They’re doing it, Zales said, by getting hired onto BP’s subcontractors’ workforces.

Companies BP subcontracted to handle cleanup operations include SWS Eagle, Parsons and PEC Premier.

Zales said things would be better if the workers were experts on the handling these kinds of issues or at least knew the area.

“These so-called professionals they’re bringing in from out of state don’t have a clue how to set up boom,” Zales said. “They’re just here making money. But we’ve got people begging for work.”

Zales said the subcontractors should kick out the workers from other parts of the country and hire the local fishermen who know the area and how to do the work correctly.

“These are companies that are allegedly experts on environmental issues,” Zales said. “But, I can tell you, that from what I’ve seen, they don’t know what they’re doing. If this wasn’t so serious, it would be a good comedy.”

In Panama City, Fla., SWS Eagle employed at least 11 illegal immigrants, all of whom were arrested by law enforcement officials in Bay County. The officials expect that many more illegal aliens are working on cleanup sites.

“Thirty people didn’t show up for the next shift,” Ruth Corley, Bay County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson, said. “We had received several tips that BP had employed illegal aliens. It turned out it was a subcontractor situation.”

SWS Eagle also employed at least one wanted criminal in Panama City, who was arrested by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office on a warrant from Alabama.

Corley said the subcontractors are hiring several convicted felons and putting them up in cheap motels near work sites so they can be bused in.

BP said that it is hiring mostly local workers for all cleanup jobs, with percentages ranging from at least 75 percent in some communities up to 83 percent local hires in others. Most local government officials find those numbers hard to believe.

Even when they’re local and legally employed, though, workers are hesitant to talk to media. On beach cleanup sites, foremen ride around keeping an eye on workers and prohibit them from communicating with journalists.