. >> we know frens when the exxon valdez spilled, the area has still not recovered. this is not a short gain, it is a big ecosystem that's complex. changes happen over time. >> reporter: in speeches and press releases, bp likes to say, the most dire predictions have not come true at least not yet. but you think they'd like to talk about it on camera. instead they declined our request for an interview. bp recently released a report timed to the fifth anniversary of the spill. it says there hasn't been any significant long term impact on marine life in the gulf. adding that the massive response which followed mitigated the damage. the company also told "america tonight" that their results were covered by the government, not bp. >> a great piece of public relations material but science begs to differ to say that all's well and good and we should all go home is a great talking point for them, but it's not the truth. >> reporter: five years after the spill fishermen all along the gulf coast have fallen on hard times. oystermen have been hit particularly hard. according to

. >> we know from other spills, the exxon valdez, spills all over the place that recovery takes decades and some things may never recover. so the idea that at five years the bp can declare the gulf back to normal, which got the bulk of the oiling has seen a continued above-normal rate of dolphin death that's been going on since the spill. in addition they've done studies actually capturing dolphins, checking their health and what they've seen is shocking. very sick dolphins, some of them dying at much higher rates compared to dolphin populations in parts of the gulf that were not affected. we can't bring back the dead dolphins the dead pelicans, the dead turtles they're gone. but what we can do is, improve the habitat improve the ecosystem, so that those populations can eventually recover. well, cat island is a symbol. there are some of the largest nesting colonies of wading birds in north america here on the louisiana coast. the oirl came oil came in. it not only oiled young and old in the colony, many that were rescued and attempted rehab on, but it eventually killed the mangrove. >>

it's not just things like b.p., before that we had the exxon valdez. if you could separate the oil out, that would be a huge step forward. >> and hopefully no more deep wore horizons. >> it's for this... 3 grams of gold >> killing our planet >> where it's blood red... that's where the mercury is most intense >> now, fighting back with science... >> we fire a laser imaging system out of the bottom of the plane >> revealing the deadly human threat >> because the mercury is dumped into the rivers and lakes, it then gets into the food chain... >> that's hitting home >> it ends up on the dinner plate of people... >> techknow only on al jazeera america >> part of al jazeera america's >> special month long evironmental focus fragile planet >> tonight. >> a lot of these mining sites are restricted. >> a silent killer. >> got a lot of arsenic in it. >> you know your water's bad and you know you're sick. >> unheard victims. >> 90 percent of the people will get some type of illness from the water. >> where could it happen next? >> i mean, they took away my life.

. >> we know from other spills, the exxon valdez, spills all over the place that recovery takes decades and some things may never recover. the idea that in five years b.p. can declare the gulf back to normal is ridiculous on its face. this area of the gulf which got the bulk of the oiling has seen a continued above-normal rate of dolphin death going on since the spill. in addition, they've done studies capturing top 15s checking health and what they found is shocking, very sick dolphins some of them dying at much higher rates compared to dolphin populations in parts of the gulf not affected. we can't bring back the dead dolphins pelicans and furtherles. they're gone, but what we can do is improve the habitat improve the eco ask me so those populations can recover. the island is a symbol. they have some of the largest nesting colonies of wading birds in north america. the oil came in, it not only oiled both duties and young in the colony, many of which got rescued and we attempted rehab on them, but it eventually killed the mangrove. >> as the oil washed in, it smothered the plants and t

waters it would rank up to the santa barbara spill of 1969 and the exxon valdez spill of more than 20 years ago now. >> tell us five years retrospective, what did the industry get wrong and what is it still getting wrong? >> i think the major issue is we placed enormous faith in the blowout preventer that that would cut off the flow of oil and gas coming forward. and that failed at the end of the day and that was a sort of a pearl harbor moment for the industry. that's what the industry got wrong most centrally. >> mr. deans let me ask you this. is that something the industry should have gotten wrong from the standpoint of environmentalists, is that something that they should have known was not going to go right? >> well, certainly the blowout was the result of a long change of mishaps miss judgments finally the failure of that blowout preventer. the question is now could it happen today? sadly unfortunately it could. the industry has taken steps to remove the risks of an operation at sea but we haven't made it safe we can't make it safe and in fact del just last year there were more

and the most well-known case would be the exxon valdez case. >> but the montreal convention, correct me if i'm wrong, will only cover you so long as you didn't do something really wrong. >> no, the montreal convention will make the airline liable for negligence, for willful misconduct or anything they do wrong. and there's really no limit to the damages the families can get if -- compensatory damages, damages for loss of support, loss of services, those sorts of things, if the airline did anything wrong. so here with the notice that the airline now says, which apparently is something contrary to what they said earlier, with the notice that they did know that he had to stop training and they did know that he suffered severe depression -- >> that doesn't expose them significantly? >> it exposes them -- their responsibility would be to fully compensate the families. >> i read in "the new york times" this morning that this really opens them up to the possibility of criminal procedure in germany or france. did that sort of pass the smell test to you, criminal procedure -- >> no. >> the fa

the exxon valdez didn't november effect to make no rules. but the oil companies didn't follow them. >> where are you five years after the fact? what is your business like today compared to what it was? >> i told my wife. if things don't change we're going to close. >> why is labor day drop dead date for your shrimping industry? >> well, it is the last day of our summer season on the island. i figured we would give it that's usually our best time so we'll give it through labor day. if it ain't changed, we're going to close. >> do you get a sense that your area has changed forever? >> it will never be the same in my lifetime. i realize that. all you have to do is look at what happened in alaska. i don't know if i have 30 years left. >> what about bp's announcing $134 million in early restoration projectsful are they trying to make it right? >> i think it is part of long term public relations campaign. to a lay person $134 million sounds like a lot of money. when you break that down into how much it actually costs to make proper reparations, it

are we going to ask the captain of the exxon valdez or the captain to charter a party boat for us?lved and extremely problematic. >> can i mack a completely -- what's the right word unpoliticked observation here? the very trades that he was involved in that got him in such trouble ended up being -- >> profitable. >> they were massively profitable. i don't know what the charge is with the justice system and the civil system -- >> this is money. >> the trades he was making were the right trades. >> and absolutely -- >> scott? >> didn't they get it all back? >> hang on hang on, one at a time. scott. >> you're completely right. i've been a trader for a number of years. the trades that jon corzine was in european sovereign debt trades, they were really good trades unless the market is really against you. and that's basically what happened. >> let me just -- >> a billion dollars of klein the money missing. there's a billion dollars of klein the client money missing. >> hang on. andrew. tnz tonight -- [ talking at once ] >> i want to be clear about this every trader always says my timing