NOAA reopens more than 5,000 square miles of Gulf of Mexico waters to fishing

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The federal government has reopened a 5,130-square-mile stretch of waters from far eastern Louisiana into western Florida to commercial and recreational fishing, after fish samples caught from the area showed no signs of oil that would pose a risk for human consumption.
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The announcement by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is the second major fishing re-opening in a week in federal offshore waters in the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier, authorities re-opened 4,000 square miles off the western Louisiana coast. About 18 percent of federal waters in the Gulf remain closed to fishing, down from a peak of 37 percent in early June due to the BP oil disaster.
The opening takes effect at 5 p.m. central time today.
NOAA and FDA sampling of shrimp and finfish from the area passed both chemical and smell tests aimed at detecting oil. Smell tests also did not show any signs of dispersant odor, according to the agency.
Reopening of federal fisheries and fishing in state waters comes only after NOAA and the federal Food and Drug Administration have agreed that an area is free of oil and has little risk of encountering oil in the future.
NOAA and the FDA will continue to conduct tests on samples taken from re-opened areas, and is doing tests of fish and other seafood at fishing docks and processing houses.