Tuesday, May 25
May 25, 2010Thursday, May 27
May 27, 2010
Shrimp season is open in St. Mary Parish from Marsh Island to Fresh Water Bayou, and oyster harvesting could begin as early as today.
St. Mary Parish President Paul Naquin said the precautionary move is good for St. Mary. However, parish officials are still awaiting word as to whether the tar balls found last week on Marsh Island were from the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
“There was tar balls noticed in Florida two weeks ago. Within one day, everyone had the DNA on what those were,” Naquin said. “St. Mary Parish, Terrebonne and Iberia – all the parishes should have the same response the same day, just like Florida did.”
Naquin said frustration is mounting as commercial fishermen and the parish has been left watching southerly winds to learn their fate.
“Fishermen from Vermillion Parish who fish in St. Mary Parish have been out of work for more than six days,” he said. “We’re asking all the players to get a faster response in our area. We’re not taking the excuse that the waters are rough, anymore.”
Duval Arthur, director of the St. Mary Parish Office of Emergency Preparedness, said oil is also on nearby Chenier Au Tigre Island in Vermillion Parish.
“It looks like it is about a barrel or so. We ‘re just waiting for someone to clean it up or to tell us what it is,” he said.
Arthur said there is now 17,000 feet of boom on standby in St. Mary Parish at the Bayou Sale staging center below Centerville. The boom was trucked in last week by the U.S. Army National Guard.
Naquin said more boom has been deployed on Marsh Island as well to protect nesting areas.
“We’re crossing our fingers about the oyster beds,” he said. “There’s a good chance [they will be safe from oil] but you just never know what this oil is going to do. We still don’t know whether or not the small presence of oil in our parish is indeed oil, or where it came from.”
PAUL NAQUIN – Parish president says tar balls spotted on shore
