Louisiana
The Louisiana Oyster Task Force, through the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, has enlisted Ed Lallo and Newsroom Ink to assist in their ongoing effort to tell the story of the of the Louisiana Gulf oyster, the people dedicated to ensuring its sustainability, as well as its importance to the State’s economy, culture and culinary cuisine.
Louisiana Gulf fishermen have overcome natural and manmade setback after setback after setback. The recent Louisiana Fisheries Forward Summit at the Ponchartrain Center in Kenner, presented by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, Louisiana Sea Grant and LSU AgCenter, was subject to to one such unforeseen setback, Covid-19, also known as the coronavirus.
For Louisiana oysterman Tony Tesvich the last few years have been all about water, water, and more water. Too much, too little, poor quality, high salinity, low salinity, nitrogen, phosphates and hypoxia; over the past two years his oysters have been flooded with a host of water issues and that is why he will be attending the 2020 Fisheries Forward Summit.
Braving freezing temperatures and cold northern winds whipping the Carolina coast, more than 250 members of the oyster aquaculture industry recently gathered for the fourth Oyster South Industry Symposium held in Wilmington to discuss industry issues and research.
Sitting on the frozen plains of North Dakota 50-miles from the Canadian boarder, Kerian Machines has been enlisted by Gulf fishermen to develop a new method to grade by size head-on shrimp while still on the boat. The new shrimp grader will allow fishermen to better compete with imports, putting the quality consumers demand ahead of price.
Striving to survive years of low prices and a safety scare following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Louisiana fishing industry suffered an estimated $258 million loss this past year due to the historic flooding according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. Commercial fishermen, dock owners and processors and others will have the opportunity to learn about important issues facing this industry at the upcoming Louisiana Fisheries Forward Summit.
Prestige Oysters, one of the largest producers of Gulf oysters, has achieved the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification for its private oyster fisheries in Texas and Louisiana, making it the first wild oyster fishery in the Americas to be recognized for sustainable fishing practices. Sustainable fishing practices are vital to the protection of both the environment and consumers of Gulf of Mexico seafood.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The first oyster fishery in the United States has entered the Marine Stewardship Council fisheries standard assessment. Prestige Oysters of San Leon, Texas has entered full assessment for oysters harvested in Texas and Louisiana.
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