The first European and African settlers arrived here in the 1700s. Today, more than 600,000 people live, work, and play within the Barataria-Terrebonne basin. It is a melting pot of different cultures including French, Spanish, Cajun, Irish, and Native American. Each year, a good number of the area's residents—roughly 10,000—fish for a living, catching a half-billion pounds of fish and shellfish. Farmers up and down the bayous harvest sugarcane and other crops. Thousands of workers help produce 10 to 15 percent of our nation's oil supply. Countless others visit the area to boat, swim, hike, bird watch, and camp.