hires another 41 . One of them has caught 80 tuna in a seven-day stretch off the Gulf 's Loop Current , a haul he called a `` great start '' to a seven-month season . `` Now he has to leave the current and go farther west , '' Abrams said . NOAA 's latest order extends the closed zone to a nearly 46,000-square-mile stretch , about 19 percent of the Gulf . The ongoing spill now threatens to be picked up by the Loop Current , which could spread some oil around the tip of Florida and up the U.S. East Coast . Unconfirmed reports from researchers that large amounts of oil is spreading below the surface , as well as concerns about the effect of chemical dispersants used to break up the spill , also worry people in the industry . Deborah Long , a spokeswoman for the Southern Shrimpers Association , said fishermen could face a `` multi-generational effect '' on the creatures from which they draw their living , with shrimp and bluefin tuna the two species with the most to lose . `` We 're not just worried about the shrimp stocks here ,
Washington -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Wider restrictions on fishing in the Gulf of Mexico are raising fresh concerns in an industry already hard-hit by the massive BP oil spill . With thousands of barrels of oil still spewing out of a damaged undersea well every day , the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday that it was nearly doubling the portion of the Gulf 's federal waters that are now closed to fishing . The restricted zone now pushes south and east into the heart of the Gulf -- another blow to a $ 2.4 billion industry already reeling from the nearly month-old spill . For Greg Abrams , a commercial fisherman in Panama City , Florida , that means his boats are being pushed further west to chase big catch like bluefin tuna , swordfish and mahi-mahi . `` They 'll have to go in somewhere else , probably around Galveston -LRB- Texas -RRB- , instead of coming home , '' Abrams said . `` That 'll cause some problems , but it 's better to be safe than sorry . '' Louisiana fisherman get paid for helping cleanup Abrams owns a fleet of 14 fishing boats and