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teams and personnel back to work.? Thomas Holden, Deputy District Engineer at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans, said ?one of the success stories during Isaac was that increased coordination compared with past storms between the Coast Guard and several port authorities prevented navigation accidents from occurring.? He spoke at a September 24th Isaac Reconstruction Summit organized by the United States Leadership Forum in Slidell, La. Also at the forum, U.S. Small Business Administration information of cer Mark Randle said that businesses on the Gulf that suffered Isaac-related losses should contact the SBA for assistance. Barousse said ?after Isaac, operators and service companies quickly got to work  xing any hurricane damage to offshore structures. That tightened an already strong vessel market.? But he said tightness should ease during the coming winter. GULF OUTLOOK HINGES ON ELECTION AND REGION?S OIL OUTPUTGulf of Mexico oil and marine industries are waiting for the November presidential election. With an Obama win, new drilling regulations will be strictly enforced; a Romney victory might relax certain rules. It is a fact that getting a permit to drill in the Gulf now takes about twice as long as it did before the BP spill. Still, BSEE has issued more permits in 2012 than last year. Bottom line: If Gulf oil and gas output in federal waters recovers to its 2009 peak in the next few years, as some analysts predict, more support vessels will be needed. Until November, however, you?ll need a crystal ball to  gure it all out. 44 MNOctober 2012MNOct2012 Layout 32-49.indd 44MNOct2012 Layout 32-49.indd 4410/2/2012 10:02:48 AM10/2/2012 10:02:48 AM