Skip to main content

NOAA reopens small portion of Gulf to fishing

By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- Federal authorities reopened about 340 square miles of federal waters off the Florida Panhandle east of Destin to fishing Monday after finding no sign of oil in that area, the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration announced.

The area was part of a zone that NOAA closed on Saturday, as patches of weathered oil and tar balls spattered the western Panhandle. But a review of satellite and aerial imagery showed oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster had not moved into that area, NOAA announced.

Monday's announcement means 32 percent of the Gulf remains closed to fishing, including federal waters off southeastern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.