Oil Spill Shuts Down 19 Percent of Gulf Fishing

Federal officials say they're expanding the area of the Gulf of Mexico where fishing is shut down because of a massive oil spill.

They had already shut down fishing from the Mississippi River to the Florida Panhandle soon after an offshore oil rig exploded and sank last month. About 7 percent of federal waters were affected.

Special Section: Disaster in the Gulf

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday that it's expanding the closed area, though it won't say exactly where until later in the day. Nearly 46,000 square miles, or about 19 percent of federal waters, will be shut under the expanded ban.

Dr. Jane Lubchenco of NOAA says the government will be testing fish that is caught to make sure it's safe.

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[articsurfer]

The people at BP are a bunch of over paid idiots,get me on the payroll & get me out there & i can personally promise the gulf coast residence & america that this little problem would be solved in about a week,i've been in construction my whole life & i did a little of everything & i can fix that to..

[ddog88]

ATTENTION SHOPPERS, TUNA WILL ONLY BE COMING WITH OIL IN THE CAN-FOREVER! Really, on Dicovery channel there is a show about us deflecting meteors before they hit earth and we can't even figure out how to fix a leaking faucet on earth?

[Fr8logix]

can't they use a robot to push in V shaped rods with pinted ends to grab the side of the pipe. Do this one V-shaped rod at a time so they pile up and close the hole up

[bajajohn1]

Illegal aliens are under attack and that means no lettuce, tomatoes, veggies of all types, the fish are under attack by the oil industry, so say goodbye to seafood from the Gulf and that means more foreign oil and a bigger deficit, and the companies are all overseas, China, Europe, Mexico, etc. and that means no jobs. This is definitely all Bush's fault.

[Skruffy1]

If there is a God (and I will agnostically leave that an open question) and she (or he) put all this great stuff (including oil) down here for us to use... and considering all the cool stuff that can be made from oil... I'll bet he looks down on us all the time and says "what do you mean, you BURNED it? And you BURNED it to make cars go around in circles for your amusement?" I know, NASCAR fans will hate me for saying it...

[bajajohn1]

Well, horses do not run on oil.

[tsigili]

Considering the probability that all of the Gulf's ecosystem will eventually be destroyed, fishing in the Gulf will be a thing of the past.

[stevador39]

Nationalize the oil industry. Natural resources are the property of the people and corporations should not be allowed to control natural resources for the benefit of the few and the cost to the many.

[Skruffy1]

... or just seize all of BPs assets, and try some of their top execs for the crimes that it appears may have been committed. Sorry, stockholders... you invested in something very risky and put your funds in the hands of some criminals.

[amadeo123]

florida wanted free oil, and they got it. That's a republicon state.

[larrryshrine]

This is a horrible number, and it is going to continue to rise. After more than three weeks, BP is "successfully siphoning off "20 percent" of the oil. Three weeks! And, they say, in yet another week they "might" be able to force mud down the pipe. (They didn't think of this three weeks ago?) Now we have oil entering the loop current and washing ashore in Key West. It's already on the coast of Louisiana. This may be the worst ecological disaster in history, and lots of people I talk to don't care, because it doesn't involve the loss of human life - except for those 11 pour souls on the rig. One guy said, "It's just a bunch of birds and fish." I am prepared to yet again go to Florida to clean the oil off of sea birds, many of whom will die. This is all bad news, folks, and it isn't getting better.

[DaVicar8]

As a real American, I want to step forward and voluntarily reduce my personal consumption of Gulf Fish by 19%.

Of course, I'll up my purchase of BP gasoline by 19% too, to offset the difference.