Fishermen and beachgoers will begin to see boom deployed in the Gulf of Mexico off of Franklin County.

Franklin County commissioners held an emergency meeting on Sunday to update the public about the ongoing work. The meeting was standing room only – with a number of Seafood workers and St. George Island residents in attendance.

The Tier 1 boom deployment, which is done in the Gulf, began Saturday with about 1500 feet of boom at Indian Pass. A company called Eagle/ SWS has also begun moving 36 thousand more feet of boom by crew boat from Port St. Joe to begin deploying at the mouths of other passes including west pass and the Bob Sikes Cut.

Once the Tier 1 work is complete, Tier 2 booming will begin which is done in the bay to protect important areas from oil.

Tier 3 work will follow which will be done by local groups to protect areas even further inshore.

About 250 thousand feet of boom will be situated in the county to be used in the various boom plans.

The local emergency Management Office is also going back to a level 2 activation on Monday to watch the oil spill more closely. That is a partial activation in which EOC personnel work 12 hours shifts 7 days a week. They also man the EOC hotline to provide local information.

If oil does begin to impact Franklin County they will move to level 3 activation which is full activation 24 hour a day.

Commissioners have also asked that the state begin looking at the possibility of closing up local passes completely with sand to keep any oil from washing in to the bay.