Floating Islands

One of newest methods used in coastal restoration is the use of floating Islands in gulf marshes.The most recent project I've read about is taking place in Terrebonne parish an area of coastal marsh land that has been severely reduced due to the impact of recent storms and increased salt water intrusion.The idea behind these floating islands if you don't know already is that floating mats holding native marsh plants are are connected to existing land and are then floated out in open water.The hope is that these plant's root systems will grow allowing sediment to build up around them slowly forming new land.This new system of marsh planting is meant to take the place of older more expensive methods of simply planting marsh grass directly into the ground.Increased marsh land creates more habitats for estuarine fish and invertebrates such as the brown shrimp, in addition the new marshes give us increased protection against storms.In Terrebonne the plan is to use 1500 feet of floating island. One disconcerting aspect of the story I read was the sponsors for this project , the usual names were present The CCA and America's wet lands , and Shell. unfortunately I am putting shell in the category of usual names . The fact is that here on the gulf coast although we may not notice it oil companies are the sponsors of many environmental projects such as the aquarium and zoo in New Orleans. This is just another example of the irony that is Louisiana's coastal situation. we depend on the oil companies economically , and as I said in an earlier post the gulf would not be the same with out rigs ,but at the same time our coast is washing away because of oil canals . Big oil is destroying the coast and yet is sponsoring many programs that try to save it. Are we similar to the fish who live around the rigs, dependent on oil but threatened by it at the same time?