Another very hot beautiful day at the beach. Everyone is enjoying the cool water with their families, even the dolphin!!! We’ve got some great pictures and I’ll add a video very soon.
To date, no oil has reached the beaches of Ft. Morgan. Although there has been a report of a suspected underwater plume near the well, the Unified Command at the site has not verified that the plume is actually oil. In any case, it is far off shore and southwest of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach. Local emergency management officials do not consider it an issue for our area at this time.
The Alabama Department of Public Health and Alabama Department of Environmental Management have stated that there is no foreseeable need to close beaches and, short of a drastic change, they have no plans to do so.
Although NOAA has revised the area of closed commercial fishing in a limited area of the gulf between the Mississippi River and Pensacola Bay, there is a large area of the gulf still open. Red Snapper season begins tomorrow and charter boats are leaving Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Fort Morgan every day to fish areas up to 25 miles out and in our inshore waters. To view a map of the closed area, go to https://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/.