BP Oil Spill Update: BP Spill and the Seafood Industry

Officials work hard to protect Gulf seafood from oil spill

USA Today Article

CNM News Network Article

At this time of the year, Worldwide Shrimp in Illinois would normally pack 250,000 pounds a day of Gulf of Mexico shrimp.

Now, it's getting about 15,000 pounds as a result of the Gulf oil spill. The shrimp are selling at prices 50% higher than this time last year. "It's bad out there," says Worldwide wholesaler John Appelbaum.

It may get worse. Federal officials have closed about 37% of the Gulf of Mexico to fishing because of the 6-week-old spill. Meanwhile, widescale efforts are underway to prevent seafood tainted with oil from getting to market. But Louisiana seafood officials say the brand is getting shunned nonetheless given the images of soiled water, beaches and wildlife.

"Buyers are concerned," says Ewell Smith, director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. He says Louisiana seafood processors are reporting canceled orders from buyers nationwide and that more restaurants are posting notices that they're not selling Gulf seafood. Smith fears that Louisiana's seafood brand, which accounts for 30% of U.S. production, may be harmed for years, as it was after Hurricane Katrina. Even though fishing waters were cleared as clean a month after the hurricane, "It still took us two years to turn around perceptions," Smith says.

This troubles me to no end. I am an avid seafood lover. As long as it's cooked, not so much of a Sushi fan . However, the seafood industry is an integral part of Florida as well as the Gulf Coast States. This Spill has me sick. This article is just another notch in the belt of disgust that I have for this Spill and the implications that it is going to have for years to come.

[edit on 6/5/2010 by UberL33t]

Seafood industry monitoring impact of oil spill

TBO.com Article

TAMPA - Gulf Coast shrimp boats headed to fishing grounds east of the Mississippi River on Friday, after Louisiana opened an early season to bring in as much harvest as possible before oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill washes ashore.

In the Tampa Bay area and other coastal regions of Florida, state officials, fishing fleet owners, seafood wholesalers and groceries were monitoring the possible impact.

Most agencies are following the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's lead, said Terry McElroy, spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

If the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission determines that the spill threatens the Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery, they'll close the harvest until the water is clean. McElroy said. Oil from the spill is nowhere near Apalachicola at this time.

Until then, state agencies are keeping tabs with the Florida Department of Emergency Management, he said.

"If there is any disruption, it's the anticipation of there being a disruption," said Sal Versaggi of Versaggi Shrimp Corp. in Tampa.

Florida's shrimp season varies by species, and not as much by time of year, Versaggi said. His fleet of boats may run to Texas to harvest shrimp in July, but he won't know until more information about the spill develops. He expects there will be minimal impact on deep-water fishing.

Gulf Oil Spill Threatens Local Seafood Industry

Time.com Article

They call this city the End of the World, and for many shrimpers whose entire lives have been spent here in Louisiana's southernmost outpost, it suddenly feels like it. As officials continue to struggle to stem nearly 200,000 gallons of crude oil that has surged from the base of the Gulf of Mexico in what may be the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history, Mississippi River delta residents are trying to make a buck as long as their fragile business survives.

Early Saturday morning, 48-year-old Billy De La Cruz moved buckets of plump white shrimp — "the size of golf balls" — from the barrel of his boat onto the back of a pickup truck. He'd just returned from days pulling shrimp three miles off the coast of Louisiana. Next stop: New Orleans, a 90-minute's drive to the north, where he hopes to get $10 a pound for shrimp that would normally cost $3.50. Grocers and restaurants there and across the Gulf Coast fear that the oil spill will diminish a regional dietary staple. "It's going to be unreal," he says of the anticipated demand.

It may also be one of his last chances to get a profit, at least for a while. The son of a welder and homemaker, De La Cruz began shrimping at age 8. He bought a boat and built a successful shrimp business. Then came Hurricane Katrina. "Took my boat, my house, everything," he says. Somehow, he managed to buy Captain Prong, a 55-foot-long white boat with blue trim. The boat's name is a holdover from its previous owner, and De La Cruz takes it to mean good luck. His business partner, Dean Ansarei, poked his arm out the boat's barrel, held out a plump shrimp, and shouted: "Look at these pretty shrimp. You can't get no better than that. But after this spill," he says, "you won't find them around here, anymore."

So far, Lake Pontchartrain hasn't been affected. I fish for flounder, catfish, red fish, drum, trout, and croakers. I can also get crabs and shrimp out of the lake.

But I'm lucky.. I live two blocks from the lake and am willing to fish for my own food. While it's true the Gulf is where the commercial fisherman get their catch, the lake which is brackish water (a mix of fresh and salt) can offer the local area resident much in the way of alternatives. Enough to keep him fed.

reply to post by UberL33t


Thanks for posting that info. Here's a video on the same topic:

video.foxbusiness.com...

[edit on 5-6-2010 by manta78]

I feel really sad for the people in the seafood industry who will suffer over this, but I'm also worried about all the species that may be specific to the Gulf and whether or not we will ever seem them again, after this. It seems such a shame to me. Does it really have to be this way? Couldn't we be raising the shrimp in farms and release them back into the ocean? Or is that crazy?

It won't stay in the gulf forever.

Just wait for it to hit the stream and travel around Florida up the east coast where the industry will be hit much harder.

reply to post by unityemissions

Just wait for it to hit the stream and travel around Florida up the east coast where the industry will be hit much harder.

I have been avoiding that thought, as much as it is inevitable.

reply to post by UberL33t


Here's another article on the effects on the seafood industry from
the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989, which ironically B P was also responsible
for the inital cleanup phase which was botched. Anyone surprised?

Source: www.huffingtonpost.com...
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"20 Years After Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Alaskan Coastline Remains Contaminated, Residents Still Struggle for Justice
Exxon-double-ott
March 24, 2009
Today marks the twentieth anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, one of the worst environmental disasters in history. The Exxon Valdez spilled between 11 and 38 million gallons of crude oil into the fishing waters of Prince William Sound. The spill contaminated more than 1,200 miles of Alaska’s shoreline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine animals. It also dealt a staggering blow to the residents of local fishing towns, and the effects of the disaster are still being felt today. We speak with Riki Ott, a community activist, marine toxicologist, former commercial salmon fisherma’am and author of two books on the spill. Her latest is Not One Drop: Betrayal and Courage in the Wake of the Exxon Valdez Spill. [includes rush transcript]"

Source: www.democracynow.org...



[edit on 6-6-2010 by manta78]

There goes bubu gump shrimp....

on a serious note though.... for the south-east states this accounts for a huge amount of jobs that will inadvertenly be lost do to BP. I can only imagine these states having now even higher unemployment rates.

Fox

reply to post by FoxStriker

I can only imagine these states having now even higher unemployment rates.

This is a serious implication that you bring up. Not only for the Seafood Industry. But sh|+ rolls downhill. This Spill is going to have a HUGE impact on a number of industries. It isn't going to affect just Florida, it will roll downhill, or uphill however you look at it.

Originally posted by UberL33t
reply to post by FoxStriker

 

I can only imagine these states having now even higher unemployment rates.

This is a serious implication that you bring up. Not only for the Seafood Industry. But sh|+ rolls downhill. This Spill is going to have a HUGE impact on a number of industries. It isn't going to affect just Florida, it will roll downhill, or uphill however you look at it.

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I agree. And there is going to be a huge number of attorneys getting involved in this, and of course getting rich off of same, as well as
lots of analysts hired to determine potential loss value. And if they use
the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989 as a comparison, those effects could
potentially impact the gulf for the next twenty years.

[edit on 6-6-2010 by manta78]