Anyone out there still eating Gulf Coast shrimp?

State officials shut down shrimping in Gulf amid scientists finding deformities and ‘horrifying creatures’ — Media attributes closure to lesions, then retracts

By ENENews

Alarmed by widespread reports of visibly sick, deformed seafood coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, state officials have closed area waters to shrimping this morning (April 23). The waters will be closed indefinitely as scientists run tests in an effort to get a handle on a situation that is fast becoming a full-blown crisis on the Gulf Coast.

The closures – including all waters in the Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, areas of Bon Secour, Wolf Bay and Little Lagoon – mark the first official step in responding to increasingly urgent reports from fishermen and scientists of grotesquely disfigured seafood from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle.

[...] I am deeply saddened but not surprised by the shrimping closures. I applaud the courageous move by state officials to put consumer safety first. There’s no doubt in my mind – as I’ve said for months on end – that seafood coming out of the Gulf of Mexico is unfit for human consumption. [...]
Title: Waters Closed to Shrimping
Source: WEAR-TV ABC 3
Date: Wednesday, April 25 2012, 12:05 PM CDT

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has temporarily closed some local waterways to shrimping [...] in the Mississippi Sound, Mobile Bay, areas of Bon Secour, Wolf Bay, and Little Lagoon.

The closure is in response to routine shrimp sampling that indicated the average size were smaller than 68 head-on shrimp per pound. [...]

And we’d like to clarify that the closures were not due to lesions being found on shrimp as we reported earlier this weekend and Monday morning.

PREVIOUS REPORT: Area waters close to shrimping, April 21: [...] The closure comes after scientists found smaller than average shrimp and lesions. They say the plan to test the water and will continue to run samples until the waters are re-opened. There is no set time when the waters will be open for shrimping again.
Title: Gulf Shrimping Shut Down
Source: 104.1 FM (Birmingham, AL)
Author: Todd Prater
Date: Apr. 23, 2012

[...] The closure comes after scientists found smaller than average population of shrimp and lesions. They say the plan to test the water and will continue to run samples until the waters are re-opened. There is no set time when the waters will be open for shrimping again
Title: Shrimp Without Eyes Found in the Gulf of Mexico
Source: WSAV-TV
Author: Kris Allred
Date: April 24, 2012

[...] fishermen and scientists have found horrifying creatures in the Gulf of Mexico…including blue crabs without claws, shrimp without eyes and fish with lesions. [...]

And it’s not just deformities that has researchers worried. It’s also the drastic decline in sea life populations, and that decline’s impact on the food chain.

In the continental United States, more than 40 percent of seafood is caught in the Gulf, making the levels of mutations in the region’s sea life a major cause for concern.

So does this mean that humans should stop consuming seafood caught in the Gulf? Well, the answer remains unclear. [...]

But here is what one fisherman says…”We’re continuing to pull up oil in our nets. People who live here know better than to swim in or eat what comes out of our waters.”

Link:
http://enenews.com/state-officials-shut-down-shrimping-in-gulf-amid-scientists-finding-deformities-and-horrifying-creatures-media-attributes-closure-to-lesions-then-retracts