Source:
LA TimesFederal authorities on Tuesday expanded the no fishing zone associated with the BP oil spill to encompass 19% of the Gulf of Mexico. The closure now totals 45,728 square miles, extending southeast from the blowout site in the shape of a dog leg.
The expansion follows the trajectory of the spill, a portion of which is heading south, where scientists say it could become entrained in the Loop Current.
In a Tuesday news conference, Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the main body of the BP spill remained dozens of miles from the loop. But "a tendril of light oil" was approaching the current, which could carry it around the Florida peninsula.
"Oil is increasingly likely to become entrained, if it is not already," she said, predicting that it would take eight to 10 days to reach the Florida Straits between the Florida Keys and Cuba.
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/05/gulf-oil-spill-noaa-expands-nofishing-zone-to-nearly-a-fifth-of-the-gulf.html