Tagged: environment

Officials in Assumption Parish say gas bubbles in Bayou Corne are producing a diesel-like odor.

An area of slurry was found Friday in a swampy area between Grand Bayou and Bayou Corne, about a half mile from Louisiana Highway 70. The area is at least 2,500 feet from the nearest home, officials say.

State police are monitoring the area, seeking possible additional bubbling sites.

Officials say they don't expect any highways to be closed or evacuations ordered as a result of the increased monitoring.

The Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission has set the 2012-13 oyster seasons based on oyster stock assessments provided by state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologists and the public.

Little Lake Public Oyster Seed Grounds and the Vermilion/East and West Cote Blanche/Atchafalaya Bay Public Oyster Seed Grounds will open at one-half hour before sunrise on Wednesday, Sept. 5.

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.

The Jackson-Bienville Wildlife Management Area is getting smaller.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says its latest lease with the Weyerhaeuser Company will keep about 25,000 acres open to public recreation such as hunting, fishing, hiking, birding and nature photography.

It says about 7,000 acres will be closed to the public. That's nearly 22 percent of the original size.

The property is in Jackson, Bienville and Lincoln parishes. The department has managed it since 1951.