The new closure is an expansion of a previous shutdown and signals the fear that oil could be moving westward off the coast. (Photo: Coast Guard/NOAA)

Louisiana extends Gulf shrimp ban due to oil spill

UNITED STATES
Friday, May 07, 2010, 22:50 (GMT + 9)

State officials on Thursday extended westward a halt to shrimp harvesting in waters off Louisiana with oil from a massive Gulf of Mexico spill expected to contaminate the fishing grounds.
  
Oil has been spewing from a ruptured well on the Gulf seabed for the past two weeks, and authorities and oil industry experts are scrambling to avert an environmental and economic catastrophe in states such as Louisiana, home to fragile wetland ecosystems and a huge seafood industry.
  
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries chief Robert Barham ordered the "emergency closure of shrimp harvesting" beginning 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) Thursday in waters from the South Pass of the Mississippi River to the eastern shore of Four Bayous Pass, according to his office.
  
"Latest projections from NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) indicate that this area may be vulnerable to oil in the coming days," the office said in a statement.
  
"We are prepared and ready to do what it takes to protect Louisiana's fishermen and seafood consumers," Barham said in a statement.

The new closure is an expansion of a previous shutdown and signals the fear that oil could be moving westward off the coast.
  
All fishing was closed last week off Louisiana's coast east of the Mississippi River. Thursday's shrimp ban includes a portion of the coast west of the river.
  
Louisiana's 2.4-billion-dollar a year commercial and recreational fishing industry was dealt its first blow from the oil spill on Monday, when the US government banned fishing in some areas for at least 10 days.
  
An unprecedented operation was unfolding Thursday in the Gulf, where oil giant BP was rushing to lower a 100-US ton (90 metric tonne) dome to contain the spill and stave off the biggest US environmental disaster since the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska.

AFP

Related articles:

- Industry leaders assure Gulf seafood is safe and available
- Fishing ban imposed in oil-affected Gulf of Mexico
- Oil spill prompts premature shrimp season

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