Cat Island On Ninth Life

This is the second in a series of articles detailing the outdoor opportunities and environmental threats in the "Sportsman's Paradise" of the Louisiana marsh.

BARATARIA BAY, La. -- The small island was cramped with pelicans, each of them jockeying for a position on the small sliver of land, like trying to balance on the top of a basketball.

In the two years since the Deepwater Horizon sent waves of oil into Barataria Bay, islands like this have become an increasing concern. It’s now known as “Cat Island,” a moniker given the little dots of land in Cat Bay...