areas that were off-limits because of the oil spill. jeffrey kofman reports from the coast of louisiana. >> reporter: many of those shrimp boats that have been conscripted for oil cleanup for the last three months could be back shrimping very soon. with the leaking well capped and less and less oil on the wate the federal government is poised to announce a major reopening of fisheries. this huge area east of the mississippi will be open to commercial fishing for the first time in almost three months. work for the fishermen but less work h in venice, louisiana, bp now operates a small city. 2,100 workers get fed, housed, and well-paid to work on oil spill response. what happens if they start ratcheting down all these people, thousands of peop working on this project? >> it's going to be bad. people artof money, out of jobs. >> reporter: at the peak of spill response operations three weeks ago, 46,000 people from florida to texas were working at bp's expense. with no oil near alabama or florida now, more than 16,000 of