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Tuesday, August 17, 2010 – Daily News – 5A Oil, price worries as Louisiana shrimpers start season NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Shrimpers returned to Louisiana waters Monday for the first commercial sea- son since the Gulf of Mexi- co oil disaster, uncertain what crude may still be in the water and what price they’ll get for the catch if consumers worry about possible lingering effects from the massive BP spill. The spill has put a crimp in the fishing industry in a state that ranks first in the nation in producing shrimp, blue crab, crawfish and oys- ters, a $318-million-a year business in Louisiana. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke planned to visit the state Monday to lunch with fishermen and talk to seafood industry represen- tatives. Perhaps the biggest fear is that some fisherman might try to sell oil-contam- inated shrimp and scare consumers away again after prices crashed once already this summer. ‘‘If you see oily shrimp, you got to throw them back over. Go somewhere else. It’s all you can do. And you hope everyone else does the same,’’ said Dewayne Baham, 49, a shrimper from Buras. While fishermen wor- ried about the effect of the spill on the new season, the final fix to the blown-out well at the heart of the prob- lem remained at least a week away. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man on the spill, told reporters Monday that it will be roughly seven days after he gives the order to proceed with the so-called bottom kill before the well is dead. But Allen doesn’t know when he’ll give that order. Scientists and engineers from BP and the federal government are looking at two options to relieve pres- sure inside the well before the bottom kill, in which heavy mud and cement are pumped in from below. One option would involve building a pressure- relief system in the tempo- rary cap that has kept the oil from gushing into the Gulf for more than a month now. The second option would involve swapping out that equipment for a different models. Allen said both options would lengthen the time necessary to kill the well, but declined to esti- mate exactly how long the whole process will take. ‘‘I’d rather have a credi- bility problem by not hav- ing a timeline than having a timeline and having to change,’’ he said. Louisiana shrimp prices rose soon after the Deepwa- ter Horizon rig exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the spill that eventually spewed 206 mil- lion gallons of oil from BP’s blown-out well. The price spike was fed by fears that the shrimp would soon be unavailable. Despite state and federal assurances that seafood reaching the market was safe, demand dropped and prices crashed a month ago, said Harlon Pearce, a seafood dealer and head of the state’s seafood promo- Attention Tehama County Teachers! You could win one of THREE $100 gift certificates at Raley’s. Just sign up to receive FREE copies of The Daily News to use as teaching aids in your classroom. Request by 5 PM Tuesday, August 31 Contest details and order form online at http://www2.redbluffdailynews.com/special_section/171 or call 527-2151 ext 128 for more information D NEWSAILY RED BLUFF TEHAMACOUNTY 8049 Hwy 99E, Los Molinos, CA BBQ Bacon (With purchase of beverage) No substitutions 7875 HWY 99E - LOS MOLINOS, CA (530) 384-1265 Orders to go 384-1563 WE ACCEPT FOOD “Your Family Supermarket” We appreciate your business - and we show it! HOURS: 7AM - 9 PM DAILY BLACK CANYON ANGUS BEEF WE FEATURE SPECIALLY CUT MEATS AT NO EXTRA CHARGE Prices good Aug. 18 - Aug. 24, 2010 STAMPS NO CARDS REQUIRED FOR EVERYDAY LOW PRICING OR SALE ITEMS Fresh Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast $199 Lb. New York Steaks $ Boneless Beef 599 Lb. Red, Black or Green Seedless Grapes $129 Lb. Western Family Sodas 20 oz. 2 for +CRV Coors or MGD 18 pks. (Crenshaw, Casaba, Orange Flesh Honeydew) Mixed Melons 69¢ Budweiser 12 pks. Gold Rush 2 for $400 $100 $799 $1199 $699 +CRV Tillamook Cheese +CRV Cheese 8oz. Chunks 2 Lb. Cottage Cheese Pints Crystal (Regular or low fat) 2 for $400 Lb. tion board. Ravin Lacoste of Theri- ot, said he believes his fel- low shrimpers know better than to turn in a bad catch. ‘‘If you put bad shrimp on the market — we in enough trouble now with our shrimp,’’ Lacoste said. ‘‘You might can go in the closed waters and catch more shrimp. But it ain’t worth it.’’ Pearce did what he could over the weekend to allay fears about safety. On Fri- day, he was in a group that set out with several fisher- men on a test run around Grand Isle and Barataria Bay. They trawled several areas, pulling up nets that held shrimp, mud, jellyfish or driftwood — all without the signs or telltale smell of oil. Seafood testing begins when there’s no longer visi- ble oil in a particular area. First, inspectors smell sam- ples for oil. Then comes testing at federal or state laboratories. To reopen seafood harvesting, the samples must test below Food and Drug Administra- tion-set levels of concern for 12 different potential cancer-causing substances. BP also used chemical dis- persants to break up the crude, but the government has not yet developed a test for the materials in seafood. Shrimpers also are con- cerned about how much they’ll be able to make on their product. Restaurant Breakfast ★ Lunch Served 6:30am-2pm daily Lunch Special Cheeseburger Served with French fries & Slice of Pie $699