Thirty-three percent of Gulf now closed to fishing

Effective at 6:00PM on Monday, June 28, 2010 EDT, all commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release, with the exception of transit vessels are prohibited in the closed area of the Gulf of Mexico as outlined on the above map. The closed area has now expanded to measure 80,228 square miles and covers about 33 percent of the Gulf

However, with the closure the majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico remains open to both commercial and recreational fishing.

Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science, however, NOAA fisheries service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing.

The closed area is bounded by rhumb lines connecting, in order, the following coordinates: