For a caution 4,213 square miles of Gulf of Mexico federal waters off Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama were closed. NOA has taken the decision to close the areas to royal red shrimping in order to prevent further destruction. The precautionary measure was taken after a commercial shrimper, having hauled in his catch of the deep water shrimp, discovered tar balls in his net.
The fishermen who reported the catch of tar balls in his net had trawled for brown shrimp in shallow waters in a different portion of the area to be closed earlier in the day without seeing tar balls. Following the report of tar balls, NOAA was in contact with shrimpers involved in royal red shrimping in this area. Roy Crabtree, assistant NOAA administrator for NOAA’s Fisheries Service southeast region, said that the agency is taking the situation seriously. He added that the primary concern is public safety and ensuring the integrity of the Gulf’s seafood supply.
On the other hand the agency has received no reports of tar balls from fishermen that target other species in that area. Fishing for other shellfish and finfish species within this area is still allowed. These waters were closed to all commercial and recreational fishing earlier this summer because of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill and were reopened to all fishing on November 15 after hundreds of seafood specimens sampled from the area, including royal red shrimp, passed both sensory and chemical testing.
NOAA and FDA are continuing to work together to sample seafood from inside and outside the closure, and are continuing market-based sampling of seafood processing plants and dockside sampling. NOAA is also sending vessels to the area to re-sample for royal red shrimp.
