Executive directors at the Mississippi departments of Marine Resources and Environmental Quality closed the Mississippi Sound for commercial and recreational fishing yesterday in response to the gusher in the Gulf.
“Any individuals retaining any marine species from this closed area will be required to immediately return them to the waters,” the agencies stated in a joint release. “There is no catch and release fishing allowed in the closed area.
“This precautionary closure is a result of oil sightings in this general area and the potential impacts on Mississippi’s coastal marine resources. The continuous monitoring of this situation is to ensure public safety and protection of Mississippi’s coastal resources.”
Scientists have discovered evidence that oil from the destroyed BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig site has entered the food chain in the Gulf, reports The Sun Herald. Scientists have found oil in crab larvae, among other species.
“I think we will see this enter the food chain in a lot of ways—for plankton feeders, like menhaden, they are going to just actively take it in,” Harriet Perry, director of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory told The Sun Herald.
“Fish are going to feed on (crab larvae). We have also just started seeing it on the fins of small, larval fish — their fins were encased in oil. That limits their mobility, so that makes them easy prey for other species. The oil’s going to get into the food chain in a lot of ways,” Perry said.
The oil could possibly affect coastal fisheries for years.
