Dean Blanchard, aka the Lousiana Shrimp King, is losing millions of dollars because of the oil leak, and he has some sharp words for BP’s CEO Tony Hayward:

“He took away everything I love most in the world. I am going to hunt that son of a bitch down like a ‘coon.”

“He wants his life back after all he has done to us? The hell with him.”

According to the UK Guardian, Blanchard’s company accounts for 11% of the US shrimp supply and his only job now is to deliver fuel and water to BP clean up crews.

Mr. Blanchard is itching for a fight, and rightly so. With the media’s focus currently on plugging the leak, how many barrels are actually spewing, and the adverse effects on wildlife, no one is talking about the economic impact.

Mr. Blanchard’s firm employs the services of over 6000 fisherman, so it is safe to assume that they, too, have lost their livelihood. It is highly likely that millions of people are going to be severly hurt economically, ranging from those who catch our seafood, to those who transport, then cook,  and then serve the food, as well as all of the periphery businesses that depend on the gulf coast. Add to that the imminent price increase of seafood, and subsequently other foods that will need to compensate for lack of supply, and you’ll have an already stretched consumer having to cough up even more money for an important food staple: meat.

This is not only an environmental and ecological disaster, but likely an economic catastrophe that is not yet fully understood.