with Mr. Babbitt. In response he claimed that given the circumstance it was outrageous that Exxon would not meet. Secretary Babbitt also promised to bring the full weight of the government to bring Exxon into negotiations. The fines accumulated from the US Coast Guard were forgiven following a meeting with Jim Gray, a spokesman for the protestors, and President Clinton’s staff in Washington D.C. Effects of the Blockade The blockade is considered to be a contributing factor to federal studies in Prince William Sound. The studies found that lingering oil from the spill had a negative impact on wildlife in the area, impacting the populations of seabirds, sea otters, seals, eagles, killer whales, salmon, and herring. These studies gave cause to demand an additional $92 million from Exxon for the purposes of restoring the shorelines that had been impacted by the oil spill. After the blockade, the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council created the Sound Ecosystem Assessment Program. The SEA Program was created to determine the factors that impact the proliferation of Pacific herring and pink salmon which the fishermen of Cordova relied upon. The SEA project is the largest ecosystem research project funded by the Trustee Council. The Trustee Council stated that the SEA Program’s creation was directly linked to the blockade. The SEA program’s development is inclusive of models that orchestrate the patterns of salmon migration, and plankton movement patterns. The SEA program’s models help to predict the returns for pink salmon during season. The forecasting of the hatchery models builds adjustments for when the release of salmon fry and herring fry will be conducted. See also Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Cordova Prince William Sound Bligh Reef blockade pink salmon ExxonMobil References 1993 protests 1993 in Alaska Exxon Valdez oil spill Protests in the United States