So if you had any doubts about whether or not it was unsafe to open up the Gulf to fishing again so soon after the Deepwater Horizon debacle, or whether the NOAA has the least fucking clue what they’re doing, rest assured: it’s not safe, and they don’t have a clue.

NEW ORLEANS — An area off the Gulf Coast hit hard by the BP oil spill was closed Wednesday to fishing for a deepwater shrimp species after a skipper hauled up tar balls in his net, federal regulators said.

…

An Alabama skipper reported finding about a half-dozen tar balls in his net Nov. 20, said Karrie Carnes, a NOAA spokeswoman. It took several days to confirm the findings and issue an emergency closure, she said. During that period, she said royal red shrimp fishermen were told about the pending closure and officials made sure no royal red made it to market.

…

John Stein, the director of NOAA’s seafood safety program, said inspectors at a Pascagoula, Miss., laboratory, where Gulf seafood has been tested since the spill, found no evidence of oil on the shrimp the Alabama fisherman hauled in with the tar balls.

“There was no odor of oil on the shrimp,” Stein said.

You may recall that they actually did regularly ‘test’ shrimp and other seafood for oil by smelling them. How scientific!

Which brings us to now. Not only are areas opened for fishing still contaminated, not only is the oil being brought up with the food, but the NOAA’s precious tests can’t find oil in the shrimp that are being hauled up alongside SOLID MASSES OF TAR.

This goes so far beyond willful ignorance it’s shocking.

If anyone’s willing to eat gulf seafood after hearing this, they deserve to be committed.