|
September 30, 2005
Subject: Operational Status of the Designated Port
of New Orleans, Louisiana
Background: On September 2, 2005, the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast Region Law Enforcement
office announced that until further notice wildlife inspection operations
at the Port of New Orleans, Louisiana, would be closed due to the devastating
effects of Hurricane Katrina. The Service has evaluated the situation
and the feasibility of restoring operations.
Action: W e will re-open our Wildlife
Inspection Office on Monday, October 3, 2005 for import/export inspection
services at the port of New Orleans. Due to continuing logistics
and infrastructure problems in the New Orleans area, we will be operating
on an intermittent schedule through Monday, October 16, 2005. We anticipate
that we will resume normal operations at that time.
Our wildlife inspector
assigned to New Orleans will contact local customs brokers, importers/exporters,
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to advise them of this
schedule and any changes that may occur. We hope that our efforts to facilitate
wildlife trade at the port of New Orleans will contribute to
the economic recovery of this hard hit region.
|
