Louisiana reopens Gulf waters to sport fishing

[spanone]

Tossing a life preserver to its ailing tourism industry, the state of Louisiana has reopened most of its state waters in the Gulf of Mexico to recreational fishing.

The state’s seven-member Wildlife and Fisheries Commission announced Wednesday that approximately 86 percent of recreational fishing in state waters extending 3 miles off the coast would be reopened immediately to recreational fishing, including shrimping and crabbing. Excluded are “heavily oiled areas, areas associated with boom and areas of active cleanup,” it said.

The areas remain closed to commercial fishing, though charter boats, bait fishermen and “dealers who harvest for and sell to recreational fishermen exclusively” can resume operations.

The move makes Louisiana the first state hard hit by BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill to lift strict restrictions on recreational fishing. Mississippi’s coastal waters in the Mississippi Sound remain closed to both commercial and recreational fishing, while state waters along Alabama and a 23-mile stretch of northeast Florida are open only for “catch and release” recreational fishing. (Texas, which has so far largely been spared by the oil, has placed no restrictions on commercial or recreational fishing.)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38284766/ns/disaster_in_the_gulf/

[Scurrilous]

1. Good news.

:thumbsup:

[Karenina]

2. . .

:sigh:

[Liberty Belle]

3. So the fish that didn't die from oil will just get eaten instead;

Seems like overfishing of potentially threatened populations should be studied before they open this up widely for sport fishing.

[MineralMan]

6. Most of the fish caught in that area by sportfishing anglers are

released after being caught. Catch and release is rapidly becoming the method of choice, except for a few fish kept for the table. I haven't kept a fish I've caught for years. All are caught using hooks that are easily removed and the fish are released, in most cases, without ever leaving the water.

Commercial fishing is something completely different.

[lunatica]

4. The town's councilmembers and mayor reopened the beaches in JAWS too and

look what happened there.

[spanone]

5. tourism dollars trump all

[lunatica]

7. satellite photo of oil off Louisiana from yesterday

[marions ghost]

8. well

maybe they can tell us how the fishing is compared to past years?

"Recreational fishing" includes shrimping and crabbing :eyes:

And who's going to test these fish?

[eowyn_of_rohan]

9. Everythings OK again!! SEE? It wasn't so bad now, was it?!

drill baby drill
:puke:

Wonder if the non "heavily oiled" areas have light oil? Dispersed oil WITH dispersants?

[Angry Dragon]

10. And the real crime is hidden below the surface

Anyone wonder how much oil is suspended in the water that is not being seen??

All the dispersant that is in the water, are people going to get sick after eating the seafood??

This could be the same as mercury poisoning.... just thinking out loud