Louisiana

The Aristocrat, Caminada Bay, Beauregard and Champagne Bay oysters are changing the playing field for a Gulf oyster industry in decline since Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon spill. These Louisiana oysters join others in Alabama as the first commercial success stories for farm raised oysters grown in off-bottom cages; breathing new life into the industry.

After a very successful two-year Founding Member period, GSI is now initiating its standing, long-term dues structure recently approved by the Board of Directors. With this new dues structure, GSI will be well positioned to solicit new members as the organization continues to grow in numbers and scope.

As a joint Gulf state seafood marketing effort sails into the sunset, the program’s Marketing Director has left for a job in the private seafood sector. Joanne McNeely Zaritsky, the former Marketing Director of the Gulf State Marketing Coalition, has joined domestic seafood processor Captain’s Fine Foods.

As John Supan, the director of Louisiana’s Sea Grant Oyster Research Laboratory and oyster specialist for the LSU Agricultural Center, prepares for the first season of production at the state’s new $3 million oyster hatchery, he has turned his focus on water quality issues that plagued the old Grand Isle site the past four years.

The Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee under the chair of David Vitter of Louisiana recently met to questioned seafood regulators and industry experts, including Gulf Seafood Institute’s Frank Randol, on how federal labor and safety laws are impacting small businesses within the seafood industry.
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