Florida
Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Representative Bradley Byrne of Alabama have taken the lead on a Congressional letter addressed to Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker urging the Secretary to ensure that NOAA acts swiftly on electronic data collection funding.
The Gulf Council recently held their first meeting of the new year in Point Clear, Alabama, a town where wealthy families from Mobile and New Orleans tried to hide from yellow fever outbreaks by escaping to the daily breeze off Mobile Bay they deemed as “good air”.
Gulf Coast seafood processors and its hospitality industry rely annually on a seasonal workforce granted entry to the United States via the temporary worker H-2B visa program. Working closely with the Gulf Seafood Institute, Louisiana Congressman Boustany has led a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez asking him to resume accepting private wage surveys.
High heels and wingtips clicking and clacking through the marble halls of Congress, a constant buzz of voices bouncing off Gulf Senators and Representatives office walls, hands continuously pressing the flesh and passing paper after paper; these are the sights and sounds of the Gulf Seafood Institute’s second annual “Walk on the Hill” in the nation’s Capitol.
During Washington Mardi Gras in mid-January, the offices of the Gulf coast Congressional Delegation will once again be filled with members of the Gulf Seafood Institute spreading the message of the economic and environmental importance of the Gulf of Mexico and the seafood industries that it supports.
Citing 2014 as a landmark year for the Gulf Seafood Institute, the organizations Executive Director Margaret Henderson touted the year as a time for tremendous growth and groundbreaking successes in the organizations recently published first annual report.
2015 is going to be HOT for Gulf Seafood, as well as the Gulf Seafood Institute and Gulf Seafood News!
Accurate and real time data collection of Gulf fisheries based on electronic monitoring took a major step forward with the enactment of the Congressional 2015 Omnibus Appropriations Act that included $2 million for electronic data collection for the Gulf recreational charter-for-hire sector.
The Gulf Oyster Hatchery Initiative has proposed the use of hatchery produced oyster seed to restore Gulf of Mexico oyster reefs, as well as create new habitat resulting in a clean Gulf.
For Michael Kelly, vice president of sustainable marine resources at CLS America, the only way to sustainably manage Gulf fishery resources is through new technology, and he sees the Gulf Seafood Institute committed to help make this possible.
Congressional leaders called upon two Gulf Seafood Institute board members to testify on The Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Conservation Act of 2013. Florida’s Bob Gill and Louisiana’s Harlon Pearce represented the interests of Gulf of Mexico fishermen before the House Subcommittee on Fisheries, Wildlife, Oceans and Insular Affairs in the ongoing saga of red snapper management.
According to author Paul Greenberg, Americans only eat about 15 pounds of seafood per year, half of the global average. While other countries are willing to pay top dollar, he says “Americans want our seafood cheap and easy”.
Happy Thanksgiving from Gulf Seafood News and the Gulf Seafood Institute!
One of the strongest voices for the Gulf of Mexico and the seafood it produces has taken the first step in an ongoing process to enlarge its board of directors. The Gulf Seafood Institute has installed William (Bill) T. Hogarth, Ph.D., Jennifer Jenkins and Raz Halili as new board members.
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