Federal officials have ordered commercial fishing vessels to cease oil recovery operations in Louisiana’s Breton Sound. The action came after four crew members aboard three vessels reported health problems including nausea, dizziness, headaches and chest pains.
Medics transported the four crew members to a hospital for evaluation. None of the other commercial fishermen involved in oil recovery operations in Breton Sound reported symptoms. However, officials directed all 125 commercial vessels equipped for oil recovery in that area to return to their staging area so that the remaining crew could receive precautionary medical evaluations.
“We are taking this action as an extreme safeguard,” said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Robinson Cox.
On Wednesday, FOX News freelance photographer Joe Vasquez experienced a minor version of this while traveling with a National Wildlife Federation team out in the Gulf of Mexico. Twelve miles off the Louisiana coast, their boat encountered a thick plume of oil.
“My tongue began tingling,” Vasquez said. “It was like biting a pepper, but without the taste.”
Vasquez put on a respirator and said the symptoms quickly went away.
Researchers on the boat lowered remote devices into the water to collect data. The devices returned covered in thick layers of oil with the consistency of melted chocolate.
Meanwhile, BP continues its “top kill” operations to block the flow of oil from a damaged well on the ocean floor. According to the company’s Twitter site, “There are no significant events to report at this time.”