"Entire Gulf of Mexico Reopened to Fishing a Year After BP Spill"

"WASHINGTON, DC -- Federal regulators [Tuesday] reopened commercial and recreational fishing in all federal waters of the Gulf of Mexico that were closed to fishing due to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The three-month-long spill was triggered by the April 20, 2010 blowout of BP's Macondo exploratory well 40 miles off the Louisiana coast. The explosion killed 11 workers and resulted in the largest offshore oil spill in U.S. history - some 4.9 million barrels of crude oil.

At its peak, the closed area was 88,522 square miles, or 37 percent of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

The National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, today reopened the 1,041 square miles of gulf waters immediately surrounding the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. After several failed attempts to stop the undersea gusher, the wellhead was capped in July.

No oil or sheen has been documented in the area since August 4, 2010."

Environment News Service had the story April 19, 2011.