Driving down Highway 23 last week in the southern Louisiana fishing town of Port Sulphur (map), David Ojeda could smell that something wasn't right. Turbulent winds over the approaching Gulf of Mexico oil spill were blowing strong odors inland, the 68-year-old shrimper suspects.

"Everybody's worried," he said Wednesday at the Port Sulphur harbor, which was filled to capacity with fishers rendered idle by the spill. "Nobody knows what will happen."