Five years after an oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, killing 11 people and pumping millions of gallons of the oil into the waters, fishermen are still struggling but slowly recovering from the pollution that had poisoned their catch. "It's been a decade of a lot of struggle and resiliency," said Sandy Nguyen, who runs a group that advocates on behalf of the shrimpers, many of whom are Asian-American immigrants. "But we're not going anywhere." In 2010, the oil spill was capped after close to three months, and the season for the shrimpers was lost. Nguyen said shrimpers, who could pull in $80,000 or more in a decent year, were "freaking out." Some fishermen have moved on and found different occupations, while others moved to other locations with hopes that things will get better.
