$2.6M Lost In La. Fishing License Revenue

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says BP PLC has agreed to pay $2.56 million to cover lost revenue from oyster tag sales, recreational fishing licenses and associated federal money.

An announcement Tuesday said Wildlife Secretary Robert Barham and other state officials completed the agreement on Monday with BP.

The department says it lost nearly $1.7 million in recreational fishing license sales, nearly $450,000 in federal money and more than $200,000 on oyster tags.

The department says that sport fishing license sales fell from nearly $7.3 million between April 21 through Nov. 30, 2009, to about $5.5 million for the same period this year.