Brazil oil spill leaves local fishermen in the lurch

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Holding his breath for 90 seconds, Arivaldo Sousa dives to depths of up to 65 feet (20 meters) to haul lobsters from the seafloor off Bahia state, one of tens of thousands of fishermen who make a living from the rich waters in one of Brazil's top tourist destinations.

Now their livelihood is drying up. Since the start of September, a mysterious oil spill has sullied almost 250 beaches on Brazil's northeastern coast. Globs of black crude have been contaminating the coastline in nine Brazilian states, most recently slithering southward to Bahia.

On the outskirts of Salvador, Bahia's capital, Sousa normally harvests 175 pounds (80 kilograms) of lobster per month but has fished a mere fraction of that recently, with hotels and restaurants no longer buying for fear of contamination. Luckily his wife is a teacher, but still they've cut all extravagances. Friends are worse off.

"There are people here going hungry already, because they have no way to sell elsewhere, and they have no way to fish," Sousa said by phone. "It's very sad, our situation is very critical."

Affected beaches are scattered across 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers), according to the Navy, which is overseeing an investigation and has said its primary hypothesis is that it spilled from a boat navigating off Brazil's shore. Brazil's state-run oil company determined the oil originated in Venezuelan fields; the Venezuelan government has denied it is the source of the spilled oil.

Salvador, where Sousa fishes, is Brazil's first capital and considered the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. Some of its colonial buildings were built using lime made from mounds of discarded seashells. Since crude began washing up in Brazil's northeast region, volunteers have rushed to the picture-perfect beaches and pulled on their gloves to gather sludge from...