Unified Command Update Oct. 27

NEW ORLEANS--(ENEWSPF)--Oct. 27, 2010.  The following information is an operations update from the Unified Area Command for the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Approximately 11,186 personnel are currently responding to protect the shoreline, wildlife and cleanup vital coastlines.

Fourteen shoreline cleanup assessment teams are working in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.  These SCATs respond to new reports of oil and systematically clean identified oiled areas.
More than 1,332 tons of recyclable waste, including oily liquid & oily solid waste, has been processed.

NOAA reopened to commercial and recreational fishing 6,879 square miles of Gulf waters about 180-200 nautical miles south of the Florida panhandle, between the Florida-Alabama state line and Cape San Blas, Fla. This is the ninth reopening in federal waters since July 22.  The remaining closed area now covers 16,481 square miles, or about 7 percent of the federal waters in the Gulf.

Approximately 93 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline are currently experiencing moderate to heavy oil impacts-approximately 86 miles in Louisiana, 6 miles in Mississippi and less than two miles in Alabama and Florida.

Approximately 483 miles of shoreline are experiencing light to trace oil impacts-approximately 226 miles in Louisiana, 78 miles in Mississippi, 60 miles in Alabama, and 119 miles in Florida.