The Department of Health has announced the reopening of oyster harvest areas that were closed on Tuesday, August 30, 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina. Oyster harvesting can resume in the Harvest Areas 3-4 and in Harvest Areas 8-13.
Harvest Areas 3 and 4 are located in St. Bernard Parish and areas 8-13 are located from the Mississippi River west to Bayou Lafourche, covering areas in Plaquemines, Jefferson and Lafourche parishes. The reopening of these areas is effective at sunrise on Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005.
The remaining Louisiana water body currently closed to the harvest of (oysters) shellfish that will remain “CLOSED” until further notice is Harvest Area 2. LDH will continue to conduct chemical and microbiological testing of the water and oysters in this area and it will remain closed until it meets the necessary reopening criteria.
Water standards for oyster harvesting areas are set by the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference and can be found at http://www.issc.org. LDH has the authority to open and close these waters under LSA-R.S. 40:5,3.
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