Recreational and commercial fishing was shut down last night (May 22) in all of Barataria Bay and much of the marsh stretching from Golden Meadow west to Point au Fer because of “confirmed oil reports” from the Deepwater Horizon spill, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries announced.
These closures came less than four hours after the agency announced the first Barataria Bay closures.
Click here to see the most-recent LDWF map of state closures.
In the Barataria Basin, inshore waters south of 29 degrees, 30 minutes, 00 second north latitude from the western shore of the Mississippi River west to Bayou Lafourche was closed.
This line runs just north of Bays Sansbois, Batiste and Wilkinson bays through the southern end of Little Lake to just north of Galliano.
West of Bayou Lafourche, inshore fishing was stopped south of 29 degrees, 21 minutes, 00 seconds north latitude from Bayou Lafourche west to 91 degrees, 20 minutes, 20 seconds west longitude near Point au Fer.
That means hallowed fishing grounds like Lost Lake, Lake Mechant, Sister Lake, Lake Barre, Lake Felicity and all the associated marshes are now closed to all fishing.
At the same time, all state-owned offshore water from 91 degrees, 20 minutes, 20 seconds west longitude (near Point au Fer) eastern to the Mississippi River’s South Pass were closed.
All other closures remain in place.