A response boat cleaning up oil and Louisiana shrimpers out on the harvest. (Photo: US Coast Guard/ NOAA)

Oil spill prompts premature shrimp season

UNITED STATES
Friday, April 30, 2010, 23:30 (GMT + 9)

Louisiana officials have allowed a special shrimp season to open along the coastline on Thursday due to an impending oil slick from the Gulf of Mexico.

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Secretary Robert Barham said the area spans from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Atchfalaya, including waters between Freshwater Bayou Canal and the Atchaflaya River Ship Channel. Specific portions of the mouth of the river and the Mississippi River Delta area were also declared open, all until further notice.

Shrimpers are trying to bring in as much of the maturing shrimp harvest as possible before the oil spill wreaks havoc on the coastline’s and inland ecosystems.

Barham announced that the special shrimp season will close at 6 am on Friday in the portion of Shrimp Management Zone 1 south of the southern shore of the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, and the open waters of Breton and Chandeleur Sounds.

On Thursday, Barham opened Shrimp Management Zone 2 to shrimp harvesting until further notice.

The opening dates for the 2010 spring inshore shrimp season will be considered by LDWF at its meeting next Thursday, Houma Courier reports.

LDWF informed there were reports of a "number of large white shrimp" detected where the special season would be open along the Breton and Chandeleur Sounds.

"LDWF is making every effort available to the commercial fishing industry to harvest this marketable crop before the potential impact of the oil spill," the department said in a statement.

The oil from a leaking well 6 km below the ocean’s surface was expected to reach the shore by late Friday.

"This will not only affect this shrimp season but also the following season," said shrimper Kevin Drury.

Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel is leading a lawsuit on behalf of the shrimp fishing industry for millions of dollars in damages against BP, Transocean Offshore Deepwater and other companies involved in the leak of up to 5,000 daily barrels of oil.

"This is going to be a gigantic spill," Becnel warned.

He compared it to the 1989 Exxon Valdez tragedy off Alaska’s coast and the Kuwaiti oil fires after the first Persian Gulf War.

Although last week officials said they expected a disaster smaller than the Exxon Valdez spill, which dumped 42 million l of oil, the leaks in the Gulf have since been found to be more noxious than previously thought.

Related articles:

- Louisiana shrimpers file lawsuit over US oil spill
- Massive oil spill invades the Gulf Coast

By Natalia Real
[email protected]
www.seafood.media

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