MORGAN CITY, La. (AP) --
President Barack Obama's six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has sent shudders across the coast's offshore oil industry.

Earlier this week, a steel rig called Mr. Charlie that is
stationed on a river in Louisiana graduated what could be one of
its last classes of workers prepping for the rigors of offshore
life.

Louisiana has long been indebted to the oil industry. Its
thousands of good-paying jobs counterbalance the low-wage tourism
industry in the state's southern tier of parishes.

But that changed -- at least temporarily -- after the Deepwater
Horizon oil rig exploded, spewing the black gold into the Gulf.

Now, many of those who counted on making it in the oil patch are
out stumping for jobs.