News Editor
Ed Lallo is the editor of Gulf Seafood News and CEO of Newsroom Ink, an online brand journalism agency. He is also owner of Lallo Photography based in Chapel Hill, NC.
A comprehensive seafood supply chain study of Louisiana’s St. Mary, Iberia, and Vermilion Parishes highlights obstacles and opportunities for an area battered by an array of environmental disasters, economic losses and competition from imports. The study confirmed what the seafood industry in those parishes, as well as all along the entire Gulf coast, have speculated for years; without a unified voice and aligned economic development at all government levels, Gulf seafood is in trouble, big trouble.
Acadiana Rural Economic Development:Web_Final
A young clam farmer who “dabbles in oysters” is finding Florida aquaculture a challenging field with a host of potential minefields, especially Red Tide. For the past six years Carter Davis has farmed 16-acres in the waters off of Pine Island in Tampa Bay. Just when he thought he was getting the hang of it, Red Tide almost put his operation out of business.
The billion dollar question haunting the Gulf seafood industry, as well as fisheries across the U.S, is how domestic seafood can compete with imports when fish in the freezers or on the counters of almost every grocery store, and in the kitchen of almost every restaurant, comes from another country? Countries that often fail to impose any semblance of quality control or inspections.
BREAKING NEWS: Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards Joins Call for Seafood Disaster (via Washington Post)
Heeding the call of a seafood coalition led by the Gulf Seafood Foundation, Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United and Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is the first Gulf governor to petition the federal government to declare a Gulf fisheries disaster. Flood waters from the upper Mississippi River tributaries continue to gush into delicate saltwater estuaries vital to the lifespan of a wide variety of Gulf seafood and the livelihood of fishermen and seafood processors.
The Mississippi River is trying to change course into the its historic Atchafalaya Basin channel according to Dr. Jun Xu, a world-renowned hydrologist and Professor of Hydrology of Louisiana State University’sSchool of Renewable Natural Resource, in a recently released video on Bigger Pie Forum. A course correction Xu says is not a matter of “if” but “when”, placing Southern Louisiana on the verge of one of the worlds most detrimental natural disasters in history.
As a result of record flooding in the central United States, the gates of the Morganza Spillway are set to send fresh water into a fragile ecosystem that is home to a wide variety of Gulf seafood. Louisiana Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser, the Gulf Seafood Foundation and other Gulf-wide organizations are calling for Gulf State governors to make a coordinated request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to declare a state of emergency existing specific to Gulf seafood and its related industries.
Growing up in Sarasota near the historic fishing village of Cortez, Brian Lacey wasn’t born into a fishing family; it is just some he always wanted to do. He is one of the few, the proud and the brave. No, not a Marine; the next generation of Gulf fishermen.
A new study by the University of Louisiana Lafayette examining the people and industries on the frontlines of Gulf seafood and detailing how the industry has weathered challenges while capitalizing on opportunities for growth will be expanded to include all Louisiana parishes bordering the Gulf. A $250,000 grant by the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board will dovetail with an initial grant by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the same amount expanding the initial study.
A storm that brewed in Galveston Bay for the past four-years over the ownership of Texas oyster production rights has finally subsided. A Texas Supreme Court ruling and new legislation has effectively shuddered the Chamber-Liberty Counties Navigation District (CLCND) claim to lease submerged bottomland to Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management (STORM) for the purpose of growing oysters.
Founded by settlers from North Carolina in the 1880’s, Cortez is one of the last historic Gulf waterfronts with a working commercial fishing village. A short walk from the Florida fishing fleet waiting to unload Gulf seafood is the Florida Maritime Museum, home to interpretive exhibits as well as an educational program studying the Florida waters.
In the midst of a Florida field beseeched with palmettos and pines, Two Docks Shellfish is not your typical Gulf aquaculture business. A lawyer, a PhD, a Master and a biologist comprise the brain trust running the successful Bradenton clamming and oyster aquaculture operation.
An internationally recognized leader in sustainability has joined the board of the Gulf Seafood Foundation. Florida’s Ed Chiles, founder of The Chiles Group and son of former Florida Governor and Senator Lawton Chiles, has been a driving force for best sustainability practices in his Anna Maria Island community, his state, across the Gulf of Mexico and around the world.
The recent Blue Collards’ Barleybrine Oyster & Craft Beer Weekend rallied craft brewers, celebrity chefs and beer-loving foodies to help Florida oyster growers affected by the hurricane. The dinner prepared by Chef Kelsey Barnard-Clark, winner of the latest season of Top Chef, raised funds for the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s “Helping Hands” relief efforts which distributes work gloves to fishermen, as well as other need aid.
Cleansing the waters of the Gulf of Mexico’s Tampa Bay using northern quahog clams to combat Florida Red Tide might seem a little “out there”, but “out there” has been the trademark of Ed Chiles, founder of The Chiles Group.
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