LDWF Reopens Commercial and Recreational Fishing within a Portion of Coastal Waters Adjacent to Elmer’s Island

Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries News

LDWF Reopens Commercial and Recreational Fishing within a Portion of Coastal Waters Adjacent to Elmer’s Island

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(Dec. 5, 2013) — Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) Secretary Robert Barham announced today a reopening of commercial and recreational fishing within a portion of coastal waters adjacent to Elmer’s Island in Jefferson Parish.

The area reopened by this announcement includes that portion of state outside waters beginning one-half mile seaward from the inside/outside shrimp line seaward a distance of one mile from the inside/outside shrimp line from the eastern shore of Belle Pass at -90 degrees 13 minutes 30 seconds west longitude eastward to the western shore of Caminada Pass at -90 degrees 02 minutes 46.6 seconds west longitude.

The closure area had previously included a one-mile buffer established in an abundance of caution for public safety following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The area has been reopened to establish consistency with other oil spill related closures in state outside waters, and it shows no visible surface oil and no known oil residues in the area.

The department with its partners — the US Food and Drug Administration, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals — will continue to evaluate the potential for future openings using the established protocols.

The area was most recently closed in September 2012 when Hurricane Isaac exposed large oil mats and tar balls along the shoreline of this area. A map of the revised closure area adjacent to Elmer’s Island is posted on the LDWF website at www.wlf.louisiana.gov/oilspill.

For more information, contact Harry Blanchet at 225-765-2384 or hblanchet@wlf.la.gov.

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