Recreational fishing west of Mississippi River begins to close, inshore waters remain open

LDWF GRAPHIC

Recreational and commercial fishing in offshore waters and along associated beaches has been closed from the Mississippi River's South Pass west to Point Au Fer beginning tonight at 6 p.m.

The western-most boundary of the closure is at 91 degrees, 20 minutes, 44 seconds west longitude.

This new closure does not include inshore waters, and applies only to the front-side beaches along the coastline, LDWF’s Karen Foote said. That means anglers still can fish backside beaches such as Grand Isle and Grand Terre.

To this point, recreational fishing had been closed only east of South Pass, but the agency said LDWF Secretary Robert Barham announced the new closure (which includes all commercial fishing) today in response to the westerly movement of oil from the Deepwater Horizon leak.

Forecasts show large masses of oil moving toward the beaches between the river and Pointe Au Fer over the next two days, with Tuesday’s forecast predicting oil on beaches all along the coastline. See the related forecast images for details.

There has been no word of a similar closure in federal waters, although federal officials on Friday expanded a similar closure east of Southwest Pass. See map of the federal closure for closure parameters.

LouisianaSportsman.com will continue to follow the developments and post updates.