State closes oyster harvest areas

Effective at sunset Tuesday, oyster harvest areas 1-28 — from Lake Borgne in St. Bernard Parish to Vermillion Bay in Vermilion Parish — will be closed.

The state Department of Health and Hospitals announced the precautionary closure because Tropical Storm Isaac, which is expected to strengthen into a hurricane, could cause flooding in coastal parishes that would cause natural contaminants to be washed into rivers, bayous and streams and possibly into oyster-growing areas.

The areas will stay closed until such time as state health officials determine the waters are safe.

DHH Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Public Health J.T. Lane and Dr. Jimmy Guidry, the state's Health Officer, on Monday signed the order to close the oyster-growing areas in advance of Isaac's anticipated landfall.