William W. Walker

Location of Interview
Collection Name

Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History

Description

NOAA's Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster Oral History documents the experience of people living in Gulf  of Mexico  oil-spill-affected fishing communities. The oral history data complements other social and economic data about the spill collected by NOAA and other governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Date of Interview
02-27-2012
Transcribers

Stephanie Scull-DeArmey
Linda VanZandt

Audio
Transcript
Supplemental Material
Biographical Sketch

Mr. William W. Walker is a resident of the Gulf Coast. At the time of this interview he was Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. Walker was born on September 16, 1945, in Hammond, Louisiana, to Mr. and Mrs. William Byrd Walker. Mr. Walker attended Hammond High School, Southeastern Louisiana University for his bachelor’s degree, and Mississippi State University for his master’s and doctoral degrees, graduating in 1972. He married Sharon H. Walker (b: July 8, 1945) on May 9, 1977, in Ocean Springs, Mississippi; they reared one child: Scott Jared Walker, born July 9, 1979, in Biloxi, Mississippi. Dr. Walker worked for the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs for twenty-nine years; after retirement from there, he worked with the US Environmental Protection Agency in Pensacola, Florida. After five years with the EPA, Dr. Walker took a fellowship with Senator Trent Lott in Washington, DC. While Walker was still in Washington, DC, Governor Ronnie Musgrove appointed him as Executive Director for the Department of Marine Resources, located in Biloxi, Mississippi, a position he still holds at the time of this interview. Dr. Walker is affiliated with the Methodist religion. He has served on the Ocean Springs Recreation and School Board and on the YMCA Board of Directors in Ocean Springs. In his leisure time, Dr. Walker enjoys fishing and boating, baseball, and reading.

Scope and Content Note:
He talks about Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, Mississippi Legislature, permits, regulations, Hurricane Katrina, oysters, Bonnet Carre Spillway, freshwater diversion, oyster larvae, oyster spat, cultch, oyster reefs, finfish, shrimp, seafood industry's infrastructure, FEMA, MEMA, shrimpers, NOAA, Emergency Disaster Relief Program, relaying/reseeding oysters, importance of marshes, sea life nursery habitats, Hurricane Rita, BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster, tar balls, sampling tissues of sea life, issues regarding safe-to-eat-seafood, oil-eating bacteria, natural oil seeps in marine environment, natural resource damage assessment, national media, imported shrimp, testing Gulf of Mexico's seafood, Corexit oil dispersant, necropsies of marine animals, pros and cons of drilling for oil in the US, Mineral Management Service, enforcement of regulations, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation, and Enforcement, marsh/wetlands, BP's Vessels of Opportunity, federal fisheries failures requested for Mississippi oysters, shrimp, and crabs, restoring fisheries to health, favorite seafood.


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