( CNN ) -- As Gulf Coast residents wait for a huge oil slick to reach their shores , the spill and the massive response already have begun wreaking havoc on livelihoods in a region where jobs are largely dependent on two ocean intensive industries : seafood and tourism . Stephen Denmark , a city council member in Dauphin Island , Alabama , said Saturday that local scientists are predicting that the seafood crop could take a decade to recover from the oil slick . `` The last two years have been tough already , '' Denmark said , referring to the recession . `` This will be catastrophic to the mom-and-pop businesses , which is 90 percent of the business down here on the island . '' Louisiana Gov . Bobby Jindal said Saturday that heavy oil is likely to begin hitting the state 's coast by Sunday or Monday . U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen -- the Obama administration 's national incident commander for the slick -- said Saturday that oil also is likely to reach shorelines in Mississippi and Alabama in coming days . But some Gulf Coast oyster beds and other seafood harvesting grounds are already awash in oil , according to Casi Callaway , executive director of the Alabama-based environmental group Mobile Baykeeper . `` It 's already covering shrimp beds and shrimp grounds in the Gulf , '' she said . `` So it 's here and it 's now and it 's happening . '' Callaway said that the oil could ruin oyster beds for up to two decades . Forty percent of the fish harvested in the lower 48 states comes from the Gulf of Mexico . Vacationers , meanwhile , spend billions of dollars every year in the region . But this week , many Americans canceled plans to travel to the Gulf Coast over the summer . `` I 'm pretty much on pause right now ... it 's just a big waiting game , '' said David Boola , a fisherman who leads boat trips out of Venice , Louisiana . `` I 'm extremely worried because I have customers that [ have ] already canceled trips , '' Boola said Saturday . `` I should be out taking people fishing today and I 'm not . I 'm not making money today . Or tomorrow . I 'm worried about the 'now ' factor , you know ? '' Besides the oil , the deployment of hundreds of thousands of feet of floating booms along the Gulf Coast to protect sensitive land areas has kept many fishing boats tied up at the dock . In Florida 's Panhandle , where Saturday was the deadline for tourists to cancel summer plans at many hotels , phones were ringing off the hook . `` In the hurricane season , you know you ca n't stop the hurricane , but you can prepare ... and we 're great at that , '' said Jewel Cannada-Wynn , deputy mayor of Pensacola , Florida . `` But how do we deal with an oil spill ? It 's a helpless feeling . '' Blows to seafood and tourism are likely to be felt in other industries in the Gulf Coast and beyond . `` It affects the people that truck it , the people that make the ice , the people that [ provide ] fuel -- the labor just to transport it is just monumental , '' said Denmark , describing the long chain of workers involved in harvesting and shipping seafood . `` It 's not just the people that catch it and process it . ''
Spill and response already have taken toll on seafood , tourism industries . Dauphin Island , Alabama , city official : Seafood crop could take a decade to recover . Comment: Vacationers spend billions in the region , but many Americans have canceled plans .