Things I couldn’t make up if I tried, continued, BP Oil Spill category, day 47 :
From the Florida Department of Tourism, Friday, June 4th, 2010
Pending castastrophe special:
http://www.visitflorida.com/fl…
Florida Travel Update
Updated June 4, 2010 1:45 p.m.There have been confirmed tar ball sightings in widely scattered areas east of Pensacola. Additional impacts are expected in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties within the next 72 hours.
At this time, there are no beach closures. Florida’s 825 miles of beaches, 1,260 miles of coastline and 14 seaports, including cruise ships, remain open for business.
At this time, Florida’s state waters remain open to recreational fishing. On June 5 and 6, both residents and nonresidents of Florida may fish for saltwater species around the state without a license. Go to www.MyFWC.com/Fishing for more information.
VISIT FLORIDA believes that planning your Sunshine State vacation should be the beginning of a great experience. If you’re concerned about any potential impact from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we encourage you to check with local destinations in order to get the most up-to-date information. To make it easy, we’re providing you links below.
For the state’s official response to the oil spill: www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/
For official trajectory and forecast information, visit NOAA’s site.
If it gets noticeable, we’ll just go to catch and release
(pdf) from Florida Fish and Wildlife, Friday, June 4, 2010
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/dee…Fishing advisory issued for Escambia, Santa Rosa Okaloosa and Walton counties
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) advises anglers and boaters in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties in northwest Florida that oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill could soon reach coastal waters of these counties. Oil spill trajectory projections conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) indicate that these areas could experience some amount of oiling in the next 72 hours, but these projections carry a certain degree of uncertainty.
In addition to the NOAA projections, the FWC is conducting airborne and waterborne surveillance to definitively establish oil presence and extent to guide management actions. In the interim, FWC cautions people to avoid any oil they might encounter on the water while fishing or boating.
The FWC, along with partnering agencies and fishery stakeholders, is keeping a close watch on coastal waters in northwest Florida and is prepared to prohibit the harvest of fish if oil has contaminated the water to the point where it is not safe to consume fish. The FWC will decide whether to close a specific area to the harvest of fish based on a visual assessment that confirms there is a significant amount of oil on the surface of the water.
If a closure is necessary, it will be as small as possible and would prohibit all commercial and recreational harvest and possession of fish within clear and describable boundaries. Catch-and-release fishing would still be allowed in a closed harvest area. Closed harvesting areas will reopen as soon as possible but only after an official determination is made that the consumption of fish from those waters is safe. Any consideration of shellfish closures would be coordinated closely with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
It is also important to note that oil has not affected most of Florida and there are still vast areas open to fishing and other recreational opportunities. The FWC encourages everyone to go fishing where the waters are clear and to enjoy freshly harvested Florida seafood products.
Updated information regarding fishing advisories or harvest closures in Florida due to the BP oil spill will be posted online at http://myfwc.com/OilSpill/inde…
And you can go oyster mucking tomorrow, too.
(pdf) from Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commisioner and Florida Fish & Wildlife, Friday, June 4,2010
State announces extra harvesting day for Apalachicola oystersFlorida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H.
Bronson and Chairman Rodney Barreto of the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission (FWC) announced Friday that the summer oyster
harvesting areas in the Apalachicola Bay System will now include harvest on
Saturdays, giving fishermen six days of harvesting per week.The summer oyster areas are normally closed for harvest on Fridays and
Saturdays in June, July and August, and this is the first time that the two agencies,
which jointly manage oyster resources in Florida, have implemented this change.
The decision to open Apalachicola Bay to oyster harvesting on Saturdays comes a
day after Bronson sent a letter to the FWC seeking the change and in response to
requests by representatives of the oyster industry for an increase in harvesting
days.“We are pleased to support Commissioner Bronson in this effort to help the
hard working people in Florida’s oyster industry,” Barreto said.
Staff of both agencies will continue to closely monitor Bay water quality,
oyster harvest, oyster handling and oyster processing to ensure oysters resources
are protected and are safe to consume.
“This action should be viewed by the citizens of Florida and the United States
that Gulf of Mexico seafood in restaurants and markets is safe,” Bronson said.
“With demand for safe Gulf oysters at a peak, this action will benefit both our oyster
industry and consumers alike.”
Oh well, there’s always cable and the innertubals –
CNN now says oil confirmed on Pensacola beaches, confirmed by Florida’s Division of Emergency Management.
The CNN blog has pictures of the tar patties.
FDEM- Couldn’t find anything there except hurricane stuff.
http://www.floridadisaster.org…
After rooting around on the state of Florida’s Division of Emergency Management’s deepwater horizon response page, I found a pdf for June 4 Friday that says this. Did I mention that Gov Crist has abandoned the Republican Party and is now trying to be an Independent as he runs for another office ?
Friday June 4th 12:00 hours EDT report #37 Charlie Crist, Governor
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/dee…Current Situation: • Florida beaches are open. • There is no planned use of dispersants in Florida waters. • Unified Area Command estimates release rate of oil from Deepwater Horizon at •
12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day. • This event has been designated a Spill of National Significance. • Unified Area Command continues with a comprehensive oil well intervention and• Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, and Gulf (10-99) Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota (10-100) Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Monroe, Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach (10-106)
spill response planning following the April 22 sinking of the Transocean
Deepwater Horizon drilling rig 130 miles southeast of New Orleans. • More than 20,000 personnel are working the on and offshore response. • Oil-water mix recovered: approximately 14.97 million gallons • Response vessels in use: more than 1,900 • Dispersant (in gallons): approximately 1,021,000 deployed / 450,000 available •Areas of tarballs, tar patties, and sheen have been confirmed approximately
within 3.6 miles from the Escambia County shoreline. Lightly scattered tarballs
have impacted Pensacola Beach.According to the NOAA oil plume model, the primary oil plume is 17 miles from
Pensacola, more than 100 miles from Gulf County, and 280 miles from St. Petersburg, with non contiguous sheens and scattered tarballs closer.
That’s tar ball patties, not tartar sauce patties.
Life’s a beach, then somebody shows you a satellite picture from today.
Friday, June 4, 2010. Gulf of Mexico, Florida, and Cuba. Greenish, silvery brown smudge is the oil. photo biomass NRL Montery, color bumped by ARC
compare this to the updated fisheries closure map they just released from NOAA for tonight (warning, very big map but loads very quickly ) http://ht.ly/1Ujem
Your Federal Govt Spin for Today:
http://ht.ly/1TUhC
“The placement of the containment cap is another positive development in BP’s most recent attempt to contain the leak, however, it will be sometime before we can confirm that this method will work and to what extent it will mitigate the release of oil into the environment,” said Admiral Thad Allen, National Incident Commander. “Even if successful, this is only a temporary and partial fix and we must continue our aggressive response operations at the source, on the surface and along the Gulf’s precious coastline.”
So long, and thanks for all the fish, Crist.