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A shrimp trawler idles through Pass-a-Loutre near the mouth of the Mississippi River. The pilot calls himself “Little Buddy.” If pressed, he’ll admit his given name is Nathan Creppel. He’s been shrimping in these waters all of his adult life. Two Department of Wildlife & Fisheries employees are riding shotgun, and three reporters are sitting up front.

On Creppel’s left, two lines of boom buffer a swath of roseau cane: hard boom on the outside and absorbent boom on the inside. Marsh plants like the cane are important because they hold the soil together and help keep Louisiana’s valuable wetlands from vanishing into the sea.

But the boom isn’t really for protection; the oil got here first. This is more like a quarantine, keeping the oil in place so the contamination doesn’t spread as workers in smeared white jumpsuits try to clean up the mess. A rust-colored sheen floats among the reeds, and a black stain can be seen about two feet above the waterline. Creppel estimates oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster has been here a month. Maybe even longer.

“If they don’t get up in there and clean it up, it’ll stay there,” he says. “At least they’re doing something.” The unspoken concern is if those plants die, the land beneath them will wash away.

On Creppel’s right is a rusted, hurricane-battered lighthouse. Years ago, he says, a man could walk four miles beyond that lighthouse. Today it’s surrounded by water. This land has long been disappearing, even before being clobbered five years ago by Katrina, and some experts and activists say the oil is just one more stress on Louisiana’s fragile coastline.

“The wetlands, for the last decade, have been on life support,” says Val Marmillion, managing director of the America’s WETLAND Foundation.

Marmillion coined the adage “Louisiana is losing land at the rate of a football field every 50 minutes,” which might be true on average, but the land isn’t washing away at a steady pace. Hurricanes greatly accelerate the process, and Marmillion says oil poses another threat to portions of the wetlands that already are weak.

But he also sees the crisis as an opening. He argues at least some of the money flowing in for oil response and recovery should be spent on projects like river diversions that might make the state more resistant to oil while helping restore the coast.

“There are dual-purpose opportunities,” he says.

According to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, about 640,000 acres of the state could be underwater by 2050. Those areas support a diverse array of wildlife and some of the most productive fisheries in the world. The wetlands and barrier islands also serve as hurricane buffers.

Flood-control levees that preserve civilization along the Mississippi River, however, prevent freshwater and sediment from naturally replenishing the wetlands. The oil industry, while vital, contributes to the destruction by draining and dredging wetlands for canals and pipelines. Many operations near the coast or in shallow water would be endangered by storms without protection from the wetlands.

“They have a lot at stake,” says Mark Davis of the Tulane Institute on Water Resources Law and Policy. “Those marshes that are being oiled are often owned by oil companies. When land turns into open water, at some point it becomes claimable by the state.”

University of New Orleans coastal scientist Denise Reed says oil in a marsh might kill off some plants. But if enough green leaves are exposed to provide oxygen to the root system that holds the soil together, the marsh can make a comeback, although certain sections might not make it.

As long as oil is mostly confined to the outer edges of the marshes, she says Louisiana can consider itself lucky. Reed fears a tropical storm could raise the water level a few feet, allowing oil to float over the top of the marsh and deeper into the wetlands. The oil’s toxicity has decreased by the time it reaches shore, but enough oil could smother the plants. At the same time, Reed warns, attempts to clean up the oil could be dangerous.

“These plants don’t like physical damage,” she says. “It varies from one location to another, but for the most part it’s a good idea to just leave it alone. The oil will naturally degrade.”

Andrew Barron of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program in Thibodaux agrees that tromping through the marsh with boom could push oil further down onto the roots. But he says if you put absorbent boom on the outside, tidal movement can bring the oil back to you, which might have been the working theory at Pass-a-Loutre. Low-pressure hoses can be used to gently push oil into the boom.

LITTLE BUDDY: Nathan Creppel (center) has been shrimping in the waters near the mouth of the Mississippi River for his entire adult life.

“There are very strict guidelines, but most of the time passive cleanup is the appropriate way to clean up the marsh,” Barron says. Burning the oil off is sometimes discussed as an option, but burning into the root mat could permanently remove parts of the marsh.

Many scientists fear efforts to fight the oil could harm the coast. Harry Roberts, director of LSU’s Coastal Studies Institute, does not consider the spill a serious erosion issue. But he worries about plans by Gov. Bobby Jindal to plug gaps between barrier islands with walls of sand. The exchange between the open water and the bay remains constant. If you fill one opening, he says, more water just gets pushed through another.

“By closing one, you’re going to perhaps erode part of the barrier islands in the process or deepen the tidal channels,” Roberts says. “Probably both.”

State officials say building sand berms is an accepted response strategy, and say the situation will be monitored for any unintended consequences.

“We are at war and we need to fight this oil on the sand, well before it ever gets into our marshes and interior wetlands,” Jindal says.

As the nation watches a dramatic demonstration of offshore drilling’s impact, Sen. Mary Landrieu is calling for accelerated revenue sharing from federal offshore leases, which could lead to an estimated $100 million or more per year for coastal sustainability. President Barack Obama mentioned coastal restoration in his June 15 address regarding the oil spill.

“We need a long-term plan to restore the unique beauty and bounty of this region,” Obama says. “The oil spill represents just the latest blow to a place that has already suffered multiple economic disasters and decades of environmental degradation that has led to disappearing wetlands and habitats.”

After hurricanes Katrina and Rita, many residents hoped to see a new focus on coastal issues, and Jindal says the state is doing more to address erosion than ever. But Tulane’s Davis says federal agencies became so concerned with levees and hurricane protection plans that they lost focus on the coast.

“The good news is there is finally an awareness that we have a need, that it is urgent, and that it should be a national priority,” Davis says. “The bad news is we’re in the grips of something that significant parts of our coast might not survive.”