Gulf Seafood Foundation
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.
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.
The Gulf Seafood Foundation has announced a new slate of officers for 2019. Former Sysco Louisiana Seafood chairman Jim Gossen, a native of Lafayette, LA living in Houston, TX, will remain as the President of the organization formed to support and promote the high standards of the Gulf’s vast commercial and recreational fisheries industry.
Alabama’s Beth Walton, Executive Director of Oyster South, and Father Sinclair Oubre, a Catholic Diocesan priest and Treasurer of the Port Arthur (Texas) Area Shrimpers Association, have joined the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Craft brewers and celebrity chefs from across the South are rallying with beer-loving foodies to help Florida seafood workers affected by Hurricane Michael. Barleybrine Oyster & Craft Beer Weekend is an effort to raise funds for the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s “Helping Hands” relief efforts providing work gloves and other compensation to Gulf fishermen.
A grant entitled Community Economic Development in Rural Coastal Acadiana Parishes is a collaborative effort between the University of Louisiana Lafayette and Meridian Institute. The focus is on seafood in coastal Acadiana, a very rural region of the state.
James Beard Award winning Chef Chris Shepherd has been named the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s first-ever recipient of the organization’s “Helping Hands Award.”
Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United’s Ryan Bradley is leading the charge to promote sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico.
Southern Smoke, a charitable organization founded by Houston’s James Beard Award Winner Chef Chris Shepherd, has donated $10,000 to the Gulf Seafood Foundation’s “Helping Hands” program that distributes work gloves to Gulf fishermen.
Veteran journalist Ed Lallo has resumed the duties of Editorial Director for Gulf Seafood News after a two-year hiatus. The recently updated news site will serve as the newsroom for the Gulf Seafood Foundation, as well as the Gulf Seafood Institute.
Over the course of centuries the waters off Louisiana’s coast have been familiar naval combat grounds. Recently those same waters again teamed with a naval armada ready for combat, this time joined by some of the best known chefs in the state to show support for Gulf fishermen.
President Donald Trump has signed a new 2,232-page Omnibus Spending Bill sent to him by the Senate after it passed the House of Representative that includes an increase in the H-2B Guest Worker Program for the remainder of the year.
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