Tagged: BP oil spill

University of New Orleans researchers are getting federal money to study shrimp and crab populations over the 120 miles of coast between Lake Borgne in Louisiana to Mobile Bay in Alabama.

On Thursday, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced funding the $1.2 million five-year study of blue crabs, brown shrimp and white shrimp.

Researchers will track the abundance and distribution of the shellfish with the aim of understanding fluctuations in their populations and to see how they recover from disasters.

Federal lawyers are preparing to defend the Obama administration's moves to shut down offshore drilling in the wake of BP's oil 2010 oil spill before an appellate panel on Wednesday.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear an appeal by the Interior Department challenging a contempt of court finding U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman issued in February 2011. Feldman chided the department for its "dismissive conduct."

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission says the fall inshore shrimp season will open at 6 a.m. Monday, Aug. 13.

The opening covers the state's inside waters from the Atchafalaya River and Atchafalaya River Ship Channel west to the Louisiana/Texas state line. The state inside waters from the Atchafalaya River east to the Mississippi/Louisiana state line will open 12 hours later, at 6 p.m.

The commission set the season Thursday.

Researchers at Tulane University are calling for long-term studies on how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill two years ago is affecting migratory birds. Traces of BP’s oil spilled in the Gulf is being spread far inland by the birds.