More fishing, oyster areas closed due to spill

More fishing, oyster areas closed due to spill


BATON ROUGE – More fishing and oyster harvesting areas are being shut down as the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to move toward the west.

Two additional oyster harvesting areas – areas 8 and 9 - were shut down by the State Department of Health and Hospitals Tuesday, while the NOAA has extended the area closed to fishing further west to central Timbalier Bay, southeast of Houma, Louisiana

The NOAA said the expanded closure now means that about seven percent of the federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are closed to fishing. The area extends east to Choctawhatchee Bay, Florida.

The oyster closures, which will take effect Tuesday at sundown, are west of the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish. Areas 10 through 12, also west of the Mississippi, remain open. Area 8 has been closed since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 due to the presence of fecal coliform and remains closed with this order.

DHH officials have been working closely with local, state and federal agencies to monitor the oil plume that continues to grow off of the Louisiana coastline for its potential impacts on oyster harvesting areas. Meanwhile, employees with DHH's Office of Public Health Molluscan Shellfish Program have continued its regular testing throughout 8 million acres of coastal waters along the Louisiana shoreline.


http://www.wwltv.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/More-fishing-oyster-areas-closed-due-to-spill-93467474.html