Enlarge By Gerald Herbert, AP A worker picks up blobs of oil with absorbent snare on Queen Bess Island at the mouth of Barataria Bay near the Gulf of Mexico in Plaquemines Parish, La., in June. MARSH RESTORATION OPTIONS MARSH RESTORATION OPTIONS IMPACT OF OIL SPILL ON GULF IMPACT OF OIL SPILL ON GULF CLICK HERE for an interactive map showing beach closings, reader's thoughts and photos, important numbers and the impact on wildlife. BARATARIA BAY, La.  Eddie Adams has meandered through the dark-green marshes of eastern Barataria Bay, 40 miles south of New Orleans, for most of his life, fishing for speckled trout or guiding other anglers through the shallow waterways and bayous. These days, the salt marshes appear as if in intensive care. Rings of white absorbent boom circle islets stained by oil. Each day, teams of workers replace oiled boom, darkened by waves of crude from the troubled well in the Gulf of Mexico. Miles of smooth cordgrass and other marsh plants lie flat and blackened by the steady pummeling of oil. "This is only what a little oil has done," says Adams, 38, a charter boat captain now working for BP, the energy company responsible for the spill and its cleanup. "You just pray and hope the big stuff doesn't come in." The amount of oil in the Gulf has dropped dramatically since the well was capped in July. Yet scarred marshes throughout the Gulf will be one of the legacies of the millions of gallons of crude that escaped into the Gulf during the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster. How best to revive the delicate marshes — and whether they will grow back at all — are key questions now. TOXICOLOGISTS: Waters that look clear of oil can be deceiving ALONG THE GULF: Uneasy feelings, uncertain future GRAPHIC: Stopping the oil leak FULL COVERAGE: The latest on the oil spill Today, many of those operating in the Gulf — from coastal scientists to fishermen such as Adams — are optimistic the marshes will rebound. Given the worst ecological damage mankind can throw at it, the marshes have displayed a stunning resiliency, they say. "Oil doesn't really kill marsh plants," says John Pardue, director of Louisiana State University's Hazardous Substance Research Center, who has studied the effects of oil on marshes. "You can put several inches of oil on the vegetation surface and you won't kill the plants." Wetlands a sublime treasure Built over thousands of years by nutrients deposited from the Mississippi River, Louisiana's wetlands are a unique confluence of saltwater, fresh water and brackish marshes — one of the few places on the planet where that occurs, says Robert Thomas, director of the Center for Environmental Communication at Loyola University. The marsh grasses, cypress trees and mangroves create a vital buffer against hurricanes galloping in from the sea and erupt each year in a bounty of crabs, shrimp and other crustaceans and additional life forms that keep the Gulf fed, he says. "They're the grocery store of the continental shelf," Thomas says. About 108 square miles of marshland have been hit by oil from the well, BP estimates — less than 2% of Louisiana's 5,700 square miles of wetlands. IMAGES: Photos of oil disaster MAP: Track oil spill's spread, effects VIDEO: Latest broadcasts from the Gulf ENGULFED: Your stories from the oil spill More than 126,000 gallons of oil and 200,000 feet of oily boom have been collected from marshes around Grand Isle, according to the estimates. Another 29 million gallons have been recovered from marshes around Venice, La. The marshes of eastern Barataria Bay are some of the worst hit. On a recent afternoon, Adams motored his 22-foot bay boat down Wilkinson Canal toward Wilkinson Bayou and the northeastern stretches of Barataria Bay. Rows of absorbent boom, held in place with white PVC piping, lined each side of the narrow canal, keeping fresh oil out and catching old oil on the tide out. Deeper into the marshes, the dark green glow of healthy cordgrass and black needlegrass gave way to bursts of grey grass — areas hit by oil, Adams says. As the boat entered Barataria Bay, large sections of blackened marsh appeared on the shoreline, the oil's darkened footprint stretching 2 feet in some sections, 20 to 25 feet in others. Cleanup teams on small boats dragged up the oily boom, stuffed them into plastic bags and tossed them onto nearby floating barges. When he first saw the thick, reddish sludge of oil in the marshes, Adams had a chilling thought: "I'll never fish in these marshes again." He's more optimistic now. Recently, green shoots began poking out from the blackened marsh. "It looks better than it did a few weeks ago," Adams says. "It gets a little better each day." Seafood still abundant The marshes are an important breeding and feeding ground for shrimp, snails, crabs, mullet and a variety of other species, as well as a sanctuary for migratory birds such as mottled ducks, marsh hens and rails, says Jack Bohannan, a local manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. So far, the spill hasn't had a direct effect on seafood in the marshes, including blue crabs, shrimp and oysters, says Tom Soniat, an oyster biologist and fisheries professor at the University of New Orleans. The biggest impact to oysters has been fresh-water diversions opened to try to repel the oil from shore, he says. Oysters, like shrimp and crab, spawn several times a year and can resist changes to their environment, Soniat says. Last week, Louisiana wildlife officials reopened fishing grounds east of the Mississippi River in a further display of the marshes' resilience to the spill. "Organisms that live in the estuary are geared to boom-and-bust periods," Soniat says. "They can rebound really well from any type of injury that might occur." Gulf seafood also has been going through a rigorous inspection process, passing scrutiny with agents at the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and several state inspectors, says Ewell Smith, the executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board. So far, no direct effects from the oil have been found, he says. "Our Gulf Coast is the safest food source in the U.S. right now," Smith says. "Probably will be for a long time." Louisiana has lost 1,900 square miles of wetlands — an area the size of Delaware — since the 1930s to erosion, transport canals dug by oil companies and other factors and continues to lose 10 square miles a year, the U.S. Geological Survey says. When the disaster began, ecologists feared the oil could further eat away at the marshes. "The wetlands have been tattered and torn," says Windell Curole, director of the South Lafourche Levee District. "The oil problem has just made it worse." But Louisiana's marshes resist oil, thanks to hydrocarbon-eating microbes found in the swamps, says Karen McKee, a research ecologist at the National Wetlands Research Center in Lafayette, La. Oil can saturate the grasses of the marsh as long as it doesn't penetrate into underground stems called rhizomes, she says. If the rhizomes stay healthy, the marsh will grow back, McKee says. More worrying than the pools of oil floating on the surface are the underwater plumes, she says. The subsurface oil could attack the rhizomes and kill acres of marsh. Also, a storm could carry the oil deeper into the marshes, destroying acres. "A hurricane can change everything overnight," McKee says. Other unknowns include the effect of chemical dispersants used to break up the oil can have on marshes and how the wetlands will react to emulsified oil that has traveled more than 40 miles to reach shore, says Pardue, the LSU researcher. For more than a decade, Pardue has studied the effects of oil on marsh plants using fresh crude — not the emulsified, mousse-like sludge reaching shore with this spill, he says. The center launched new studies soon after the spill began. Emulsified oil is "a little trickier," he says. "We've never worked with emulsion before. We never thought to experimentally treat our marsh that way." Response crews have been ordered not to step into marshes while cleaning them and to use absorbent booms or vacuums on small skiffs to remove the crude, according to the Coast Guard. Optimism spreads For Kent Frelich, a commercial shrimper and bait shop owner in nearby Empire, La., Barataria Bay's marshes are a one-stop shop for bait fish, shrimp and other items that support his livelihood. Frelich says he has seen marshes rebound from smaller spills in the past and is confident the marsh will grow back. "I guarantee, you come back in three or four months and it'll be just as pretty as it was before," Frelich says. Others aren't so sure. Oil wedged under the marsh or heavy concentrations of dispersants could thwart the marsh's ability to regenerate, says Curole, the levee district official. Next spring, when most new marsh sprouts are scheduled to appear, will be a telling time, he says. "Next year we might be almost back to normal or next year we'll have all sorts of trouble. We just don't know for sure." Guidelines: You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. You share in the USA TODAY community, so please keep your comments smart and civil. Don't attack other readers personally, and keep your language decent. Use the "Report Abuse" button to make a difference. Read more