Third Coast Cuisine

BRONSON ANNOUNCES THAT BP TO PAY $20 MILLION TO FUND SEAFOOD INSPECTIONS AND MARKETING EFFORTS IN WAKE OF OIL SPILL

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson today announced that BP will pay $20 million to his department over the next three years to help fund enhanced seafood inspections and marketing efforts aimed at restoring public confidence in the safety of Gulf of Mexico seafood.

Today's agreement comes just over three months after the Commissioner sent a letter to BP President Bob Dudley outlining the added costs his department will incur in years to come to assure the safety of Gulf seafood and initiate marketing efforts in response to the Deepwater Horizon incident last spring.

The letter was accompanied by a comprehensive food safety plan that detailed equipment that would be needed and tests that would have to be conducted to ensure that no lingering oil residues or chemical dispersants are present on the dozens of species of Gulf seafood harvested in Florida, including shrimp, crabs, oysters and dozens of species of finfish.

"We are grateful to BP for its responsiveness to our request and feel confident that these funds will go a long way toward assuring the safety of seafood harvested in Florida waters and in restoring consumer confidence in our seafood products," Bronson said.

Although the agreement that Bronson reached with BP provides that the company will provide $10 million for seafood testing and $10 million for marketing over the next three years, a clause in the memorandum of understanding that constitutes the agreement provides up to a three-year extension should state or federal waters contiguous to Florida have to be closed to seafood harvesting in the future as a result of lingering contaminants from the oil spill.

In his initial letter to BP, Bronson requested $59 million to address efforts during the next 10 years, but the letter was sent in July the same week that the well was capped but not permanently sealed.  There were concerns at that time that more oil would reach Florida waters.
With a clause in the agreement assuring that funding could be extended if warranted, Bronson said he is confident that the agreement will fully protect Florida.

"We believe this agreement is good for our citizens, good for both our commercial and recreational fishing industry and positive news for everyone who enjoys our seafood," Bronson said.

Florida has an estimated 5,300 commercial fishermen who harvest about 84 million pounds of high-value seafood and fishery products each year with a dock value of approximately $170 million.  Another 1,400 Florida-based businesses buy, sell or process seafood.

Moreover, many, if not most, Florida restaurants feature seafood for residents and visitors alike in the state's $27 billion restaurant industry.  And the state enjoys a $4.4 billion recreational fishing industry which brings millions of tourists to Florida, which is generally regarded as the recreational fishing capital of the nation.

Austin's premiere boutique hotel, the San Jose Hotel, is pitching in to help their neighbors on the Third Coast.  On Friday July, 23rd they will be hosting a fund raiser in the form of a good old fashioned Gulf Coast shrimp boil.  There will also be live music by Louisiana native and Austin resident Papa Mali and Cajun revivalists and Grammy nominees the Lost Bayou Ramblers and shrimp plates are just $10 each.  Their stated goal for the event is to raise $30,000 in donations to the Greater New Orleans Foundation.


According to the web site weareaustin.com:

Liz Lambert (Bunkhouse MGMT), Steve Wertheimer (Continental Club) and Larry McGuire (Perla’s/Lambert’s) are hosting a day of food, music and education to raise awareness and money for the Gulf Coast via the Greater New Orleans Foundation Oil Spill Fund and the Gulf Restoration Network.

The event will take place at the Hotel San Jose/Jo’s Coffee parking lot on Friday, July 23 from 6 to 10:30 p.m.  The event is free to attend and will include live music by the Lost Bayou Ramblers, speakers from the Environmental Defense Fund  and a for-purchase shrimp boil dinner by Perla’s Seafood. All proceeds will benefit those affected by the oil spill.

For more info check out this article at austinist.com.  The people of the Gulf need your help.

Two and a half months now and there is finally a little good news for the Gulf Coast.  It seems that BP may actually have the leak stopped ahead of schedule.  Well, there schedule anyway.  That was much needed news for a company that may be on it's last legs both from a public relations standpoint and from a financial one.  Just this past week BP clean up crews were caught naught cleaning beaches but rather dumping sand on top of the oil.  This action is something ecologist say is far worse for the area.  BP is like that college buddy that was always getting caught cheating on his girlfriends.  No matter how badly things turned out and how many times he got caught he just couldn't play be the rules.

Then there is the President.  For months now we here on the Gulf Coast have struggled to understand why the administration never did any of the things they are supposed to do like requisition US Navy skimmers and declare the Gulf a national disaster area.  It has also been confusing that the government continues to block all efforts by those who are trying to bring the effects of the spill under control.  We've seen the frustration from civic leaders in Gulf States as the EPA blocks them from building protective berms or the Coast Guard shuts down barges using giant vacuums to clean up oil because they were missing a life jacket or fire extinguisher.  Here's a thought, Coast Guard, if these boats are lacking sufficient safety equipment just give them yours then you can go get more to bring your boat up to spec.

Every poll out there shows that most Americans realize that the federal government's handling of the Gulf Oil Spill has left something to be desired.  Let's be blunt, the federal government's actions since April 20th have been criminal.  The question really has never been whether the Obama administration was doing a good job or not but rather has it's total mishandling of the Oil Spill been the result of an scientifically unfounded crusade to "save the earth" or from sheer incompetence.  Has the government acted with unbridled evil or pure stupidity?

Well we may have inadvertently gotten our answer.  This weekend Dr. Roger Helm a Division Chief with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Department of the Interior's leading scientist studying the spill admitted that the government's actions may have in fact been because of a nefarious agenda saying, "The distribution of the oil, it's bigger and uglier than we had hoped."  Hoped? You hoped the Gulf Oil Spill would be bad?  Helm added, "The possibility of having significant changes in the food chain, over some period of time, is very real. The possibility of marshes disappearing . . . is very real."  Apparently they can mark those off the President's "to do" list.



Now surely it is possible that Dr. Helm simply made a poor choice of wording.  It happens.  It's happened to me.  But it is just as likely, if not more so, that it was a Freudian slip.  You can read more of Washington Post contributor David A. Fahrenthold's interview with Roger Helm by clicking HERE.

Well, BP, still has not stopped the oil spill or bothered to clean much of it up and President Obama has yet to do anything at all.  OK, there is the $20 billion trust fund but Barrack has hinted that he will be taking $5 billion off the top for administrative fees.  Fortunately neighbors still help neighbors in this country and that is what is happening for the Florida Seafood Industry.  So thank you, Publix, Kroger and Central Market for being good neighbors.  Read on:

GROCERY RETAILERS SUPPORT FLORIDA SEAFOOD INDUSTRY THROUGH ADVERTISING PARTNERSHIP

TALLAHASSEE -- Three major grocery retailers will promote Florida seafood products in July and August through an advertising partnership with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Participating retailers will advertise Florida seafood products in their newspaper advertisements and in-store promotions using the "Fresh from Florida Seafood" logos and the "Florida Gulf Safe" logo.  The campaign runs through August 16 at Publix Super Markets, Kroger Stores Atlanta Region, and Central Market/HEB in Texas.

"I am pleased that these retailers are partnering with our department to promote Florida seafood products," Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said.  "The extensive news coverage of the Gulf oil spill has left some consumers with the mistaken impression that Florida seafood is unavailable or in limited supply.  This promotion will help get out the message that Florida seafood is safe, plentiful and available."

The promotion coincides with July Fourth celebrations and summertime outdoor grilling activities, which are ideal for enjoying Florida's seafood harvest.

Seafood lovers can also get daily updates about Florida's ongoing commercial seafood harvest by calling the toll-free Florida Seafood Hotline at 1-800-357-4273 or by visiting http://www.FL-Seafood.com.  There they can get current information about the status of Florida's open and closed fishing harvest areas, the availability of seafood varieties, and general pricing information.
 

Those crazy brewers at Abita Brewing in New Orleans have gone and done it again and this time it's for a good cause.  From the web site:

Working with the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board (LSPMB), Abita Beer announced that it has established ‘SOS – A Charitable Fund’ that will assist with the rescue and restoration of the environment, industry and individuals fighting to survive this disastrous oil spill.

The fund has pledged that 100% of all money raised will go to charity. In addition, the Louisiana Seafood Marketing Board will play an important role in advising where the money can do the most good. An advisory committee is being established as the donation process and grant procedures are finalized.

The centerpiece of the fundraising effort is a new charitable beer created by Abita. The brew, called SOS – A Charitable Pilsner, will generate 75¢ for every bottle sold. This Abita Beer is a message in a bottle...a distress signal for the troubled waters of our Gulf Coast. For every bottle sold Abita will donate 75¢ to the rescue and restoration of the environment, industry and individuals fighting to survive this disastrous oil spill. This unfiltered Weizen Pils is made with Pilsner and Wheat malts. It is hopped and dry hopped with Sterling and German Perle hops. It has a brilliant gold color, a sweet malt flavor, and a pleasant bitterness and aroma.

In addition, related retail merchandise (hat, tee shirt, lapel pin, decal and car magnet) will be sold and 100% of the net proceeds will also go to the SOS Fund.

So last night I ate at my first stereotypical Gulf Coast seafood restaurant since the Deepwater Horizon accident in late April.  This is not a review therefore I will not give the name or the location of the family-owned eatery.  After all, it was not their fault.

Unlike my dining companion, the events of the past two months effected what I ordered.  The special that night was all-you-can-eat fried catfish.  Fresh water cats, mind you, most likely from one of the farm ponds in the neighboring county so that is the direction I went.  My associate opted for the seafood platter with the aforementioned catfish plus oysters, shrimp, crab claws (a Gulf Coast delicacy) and a stuffed crab.

The first thing we noticed when the plate arrived was the size of the oysters.  They were minuscule; they were wee.  Then there was the flavor.  I had tasted oysters like that before - they were clearly from the Pacific.  I want to go on record as saying that our friends on the Pacific Coast enjoy fantastic seafood.  The wild salmon is amazingly healthy and the Dungeness crab is mystical.  But for the most part, Pacific oysters are not very good.  There's a reason why chef's who do not work in coastal areas prefer Gulf oysters for their menus; they're just better.  Well, were.

The shrimp, however, were plump and juicy with perfect texture just not a lick of flavor.  I mean nothing, no flavor that identified them as shrimp or seafood or even protein.  Most likely the shrimp had come from some toxic chemical laden pond in Asia.  They most assuredly would never pass USDA inspection.  How lucky for the importer that the USDA never bothers to inspect Asian seafood.  Next came the crab claws.  They were large and fried golden brown but the texture was dry.  Of course that could be from either overcooking or quality but the flavor ended any discussion as to which.  Crab should never taste like fish.  And as for the stuffed crab - it was not much bigger around than a silver dollar.

We spoke for a while with the owner, a hard working 30-something most likely of Vietnamese decent.  "We haven't seen you in here for a while.  Glad you come back."  Many of her regulars have stopped coming as often as well.  Some are taking a hit in the wallet because there haven't been any tourists spending money wherever they work for a living.  Others have tasted this, whatever this is that now passes for seafood and won't return.  She used to have a lunch buffet, the price of seafood most certainly made it unprofitable.

To you, Midwesterners, I now have greater respect for your plight - you have to eat this crap all the time.  But people do not visit Lincoln or Tulsa or Kansas City just to get a soft-shell crab po'boy - they go there to eat a truly magnificent steak.  No upstate New Yorkers vacation in Biloxi for the hot wings.  And I'll be the first to admit that nobody comes to Alabama for our Manicotti (except mine, of course, which is dreamy). People visit the Gulf Coast because it embodies the good life - relaxed atmosphere, fantabulous seafood and shockingly white beaches with emerald surf.  All of that is gone.  Not for two or three years but for most us, the rest of our lives.

Imagine that for a second; see if you can grasp it.  You in L.A., what if you could never get avocado or an In-N-Out Burger ever again?  Mr. Windy City, you can forget ever splitting a deep dish with the guys on the bowling team or slamming another Italian beef for the rest of your life.  From hence forth there were no pastrami in Manhattan, no cheese steak in Philly or no ribs in Memphis.  Take the theme parks from Orlando, the music from Nashville, the NASCAR from Charlotte.  Somebody tell Seattle that Pearl Jam is moving to Oakland and they're taking coffee with them.

That is life on the Gulf Coast.  Our food, our heritage and our culture are now on the endangered list.  We are relics waiting for a museum.  Our region is now stripped of its soul even as we battle against the inevitable in a Quixotic attempt to save what little remains.

And what makes this pill all the more bitter is that it is not our fault.  We did not do this to ourselves nor was it an act of nature.  Someone (BP) made this happen.  Then someone else (the government) made it worse.  BP, through their own greed and apathy, gambled with our livelihoods and came up snake eyes.  Either by incompetence or malice, the government has failed to act or even acknowledge it's responsibility.  Well, on behalf of everyone on the Gulf Coast I would like to offer a very sardonic "thank you" to BP and President Obama.  You have turned the entire Gulf South into an Applebee's.

From margaritaville.com:

To demonstrate support for the people, businesses and culture of the Gulf Coast, CMT will telecast a free musical celebration live from the beach at Gulf Shores, Ala. CMT Presents Jimmy Buffett & Friends Live from the Gulf Coast will air on CMT on Thursday, July 1, from 8-9:30 p.m. ET/PT. Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band will be joined in the concert by his friends Sonny Landreth, Zac Brown Band, Kenny Chesney, Jesse Winchester and Allen Toussaint. A special souvenir tee shirt will also be designed for the concert and sold onlne and at the show. More info coming soon!

Buffett, a pioneer in slacker rock, is originally from Mobile, Alabama and his sister Lulu operates a wildly successful seafood restaurant in Gulf Shores.

When I started this site it was not supposed to be an activist site.  My intention was to use it to celebrate life along America's Third Coast, the Gulf of Mexico.  Now, I had meant to do the occasional piece to remind people that we have not yet fully recovered from the effects of Ivan, Katrina and Rita but for the most part I wanted to highlight Third Coast chefs and eateries while sharing a recipe now and then.  Unfortunately the events of April 20th have changed a lot of things.  The explosion was a tragedy, BP's response has been half-hearted and the federal government's response has been laughable.

Just one day after the President's lackluster address about the Oil Spill:

• Orange Beach, AL mayor Tony Kennon warned that the Federal Government wants to take the first $5 billion of the $20 billion BP escrow account for "administrative fees."
• Alabama officials are denied permission by the US Coast Guard to enact a plan that would prevent the oil spill from reaching the delicate estuary of Mobile Bay.
• Louisiana officials reported to the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority about the repeated obstructions from both BP and the federal government to protecting the state's coastal wetlands.  That included an order that day from the US Coast Guard for the state to remove barges carrying vacuum trucks that officials were using to suck oil out of the Gulf near wetlands and barrier islands.
• A University of Southern Mississippi study reports that the oil spill will cost the state of Mississippi $120 million in tourism revenues this summer alone.

TALLAHASSEE -- Seafood lovers who are confused about the availability of Florida seafood products due to the Gulf oil spill can now get daily updates about the ongoing commercial harvest.  The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has implemented a new toll-free hotline at 1-800-357-4273 to provide consumers with current information about the status of Florida's open and closed fishing harvest areas, the availability of seafood varieties, and general pricing information.

"Because of the extensive news media coverage of the Gulf situation, many consumers are confused about whether Florida seafood is being harvested and if it is available in stores and restaurants," Florida Agriculture Commissioner Charles H. Bronson said.  "We want consumers to know that Florida's commercial fishermen continue to harvest wholesome seafood products from the waters that are unaffected by the oil spill.  Florida seafood is safe and plentiful."

Bronson said the telephone hotline will be updated daily with information about the Gulf situation.  He also reminded consumers that -- in addition to the Gulf waters off Florida's west coast -- Florida's fishermen also harvest numerous seafood varieties from the Atlantic waters off the state's east coast.

"The Florida peninsula has more than 1,300 miles of coastline, and our commercial fishermen continue to work hard to bring in their catch for the enjoyment of consumers," Bronson said.  "The commercial fishing industry is important to our state, and we want consumers to know that they can buy Florida seafood with confidence."

The information that is available by calling the 1-800-357-4273 hotline will also be posted online at the Department's seafood web site http://www.FL-Seafood.com where consumers can also find links to other pertinent web sites including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.  Webcams placed at various coastal locations and in retail establishments will be added to the web site later.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration are continually monitoring water and product samples.

"If and when the quality of Florida seafood is impacted by the spill, we will take immediate action to close the waters to commercial seafood harvesting," Bronson said.  "Our commercial fishermen take great pride in the quality reputation Florida seafood products have earned, and we would never put any product on the market that would tarnish this hard-earned reputation."

The BP/Obama Oil Spill continues to ravage the Gulf Coast with little help from BP and absolutely no help from the government.  P&J Oyster Co. in New Orleans is the oldest continuously operating oyster processor in America.  Correction - was the oldest continuously operating oyster processor in America.  No oysters mean no business and now the century-old family owned business is in jeopardy of closing its doors forever.  Just so people know how this is supposed to work BP is responsible for capping the leak and the federal government is responsible for making sure no oil touches our shores.

However, BP is the only one attempting either.  President Obama, either through incompetence or malevolence, has refused to do his job.  I saw this weekend where one news show had added up the hours the President has spent on the Gulf Coast and compared them to how much time he's spent playing golf.  Golf hours were 3:1 over the Gulf.  I certainly hope that the attorney generals of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida have their warrants for arrest ready for the day Mr. Obama leaves office in January 2013.  His actions (or in-actions)  have surely earned him a little jail time.  Check out a snipit of this story from NPR Tamera Keith on P&J:

The fallout from the BP oil spill continues to ripple through the Gulf economy. This week, it caught up to P&J Oyster Co. in New Orleans.

The owners say it's the oldest continuously operating oyster processor in America. But thanks to the oil, they now have no oysters to process.

An Emotional Moment
Oysterman Mitch Jurisich first spotted oil floating on the water above his beds at 7:30 in the morning. It was just yards away from where his grandparents first settled after emigrating from Croatia almost a century ago.
"This is the last of our areas that we had open from our family to harvest oysters," Jurisich says. "We were fortunate enough to have one little slice of pie left that we were still farming from, and that slice of pie now is gone."

Jurisich had hoped somehow the oyster beds his family has leased and farmed for so many years would be spared. Maybe his grandmother was watching over them.

Headway finally with the Gulf Oil Spill.  Leave it to my New Orleans Saints to do more for the Gulf Coast in a day than BP, the EPA and Barrack Obama have done in two months.  I wish Drew Brees were President.  Check this out from NewOrleansSaints.com:

Inaugural New Orleans Oyster Festival may also be its last.  Let's hope not.

The New Orleans Oyster Festival will educate the country about the benefits of the Louisiana Gulf Oyster, honor and celebrate the restaurateurs and oyster farmers who have solidified the New Orleans French Quarter's position as the "Oyster Capital of America.


Proceeds from the event will go to "Save Our Coast."  Our Community, Our Culture, Our Coast.

Schedule of Events:
June 5-6, 2010
   Saturday
   11:00 am - 7:00 pm
   Sunday
   11:00 am - 6:00pm
Location: French Quarter by the river at Berger Parking Lot
The Finest Local Culinary Delights
Great Local Music
Historic - Cultural Oyster Tent
Acme "Oyster Eating Contests"
New Orleans Fish House "Largest Oyster Contest"
P&J "Shucking Contest"

With regards to the Third Coast, President Obama is burning through good will at record setting pace.  The day the Deepwater Horizon explosion first occurred their was the requisite expression of remorse for lives lost and a vow to investigate the cause - then nothing.  For days the people of the Gulf region waited for the White House to address the issue again.  Three days passed, then four, then five, then a full week.  In fact it was nine days after the rig exploded and sank before the President mentioned it again, ten before he actually sent someone down to take a look.  And throughout that time Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and Plaquemines Parish president Billy Nungesser were patient and supportive.

The state of Louisiana had a plan to save their marshlands, the source of both ecology and industry for the region.  A man-made berm to protect both the fragile barrier islands and the even more delicate marshlands behind them could be constructed in a little over a week.  The President refused to allow the state of Louisiana to begin construction stating ecological concerns.  Jindal and Nugesser would have to seek an "emergency" permit for such a project, a process that takes two weeks just to process before the Army Corps of Engineers can begin to evaluate it.

Now nearly a month and a half since the explosion BP and the government have yet to make a dent in the oil leak and have done even less to protect the shore.  The "emergency" permit is still jumping through bureaucratic hoops and now oil is saturating those precious marshlands.  All this has prompted Jindal to tell the White House and BP to either stop the oil spill or get out of his way.  Billy Nungesser offers this candid narrative of what dealing with the Obama administration has been like.

By Justin Gillis of the New York Times:

Expert claims NOAA is guilty of a 'catastrophic failure'

Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill’s true scope.

The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean.

They are especially concerned about getting a better handle on problems that may be occurring from large plumes of oil droplets that appear to be spreading beneath the ocean surface.

The scientists point out that in the month since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded, the government has failed to make public a single test result on water from the deep ocean.

And the scientists say the administration has been too reluctant to demand an accurate analysis of how many gallons of oil are flowing into the sea from the gushing oil well.

“It seems baffling that we don’t know how much oil is being spilled,” Sylvia Earle, a famed oceanographer, said Wednesday on Capitol Hill. “It seems baffling that we don’t know where the oil is in the water column.”

TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson and Chairman Rodney Barreto of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) today announced that the summer oyster harvesting areas in the Apalachicola Bay System will open at 12:01 a.m. Friday -- 11 days early.

The summer oyster areas are normally open for harvest in June, July and August, and this is the first time that the two agencies, which jointly manage oyster resources in Florida, have opened the summer area early.

Requests for this early harvest were received from the Franklin County Board of County Commissioners, the Franklin County Seafood Workers Association and the Apalachicola Bay Oyster Dealers Association.

"We are pleased to support Commissioner Bronson in this effort to help the hard working people in Florida's oyster industry," Barreto said.

Staff of both Agencies will continue to closely monitor Bay water quality, oyster harvest, oyster handling and oyster processing to ensure oysters resources are protected and are safe to consume.

"This action should be viewed by the citizens of Florida and the United States that Gulf of Mexico seafood in restaurants and markets is safe," Bronson said.  "With demand for safe Gulf oysters at a peak, this action will benefit both our oyster industry and consumers alike."

For more info contact:
David Heil
mailto:heild@doacs.state.fl.us
(850) 488-5471

Lee Schlesinger, FWC
(850) 487-0554

The media coverage of the BP oil disaster to date has focused largely on the threats to wildlife, but the latest evaluation of air monitoring data shows a serious threat to human health from airborne chemicals emitted by the ongoing deepwater gusher.

Today the Louisiana Environmental Action Network released its analysis of air monitoring test results by the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA's air testing data comes from Venice, a coastal community 75 miles south of New Orleans in Louisiana's Plaquemines Parish.

The findings show that levels of airborne chemicals have far exceeded state standards and what's considered safe for human exposure.

For instance, hydrogen sulfide has been detected at concentrations more than 100 times greater than the level known to cause physical reactions in people. Among the health effects of hydrogen sulfide exposure are eye and respiratory irritation as well as nausea, dizziness, confusion and headache.

The concentration threshold for people to experience physical symptoms from hydrogen sulfide is about 5 to 10 parts per billion. But as recently as last Thursday, the EPA measured levels at 1,000 ppb. The highest levels of airborne hydrogen sulfide measured so far were on May 3, at 1,192 ppb.

FLORIDA EXPRESSES CONCERN ABOUT DEEPWATER HORIZON INCIDENT'S ECONOMIC IMPACT ON TOURISM AND SEAFOOD INDUSTRY


TALLAHASSEE -- State agency leaders are concerned that people across the United States falsely believe the state has been impacted by oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.  Florida's beaches and fishing grounds remain open to residents and visitors to enjoy.  Currently, there are no impacts to Florida's more than 1,260 miles of coastline and 825 miles of sandy beaches.  Winds and currents continue to keep the oil plume away from the Florida coast.

State officials want people to know that Florida's shores are clear and open for business. Florida's emergency response agencies are diligently working with BP as well as federal and local government officials to protect our state for any potential impacts the Deepwater Horizon incident may cause our state.

On May 7, 2010, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration modified and expanded the boundaries of the closed fishing area in federal waters to better reflect the current location of the BP oil spill, and extended the fishing restriction until May 17, 2010.  The closure affects commercial and recreational fishing in the oil-affected area of the Gulf of Mexico, largely between Louisiana state waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River to waters off Florida's Pensacola Bay.  State officials are concerned that the closure has given potential visitors the impression that all gulf waters are impacted.

Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services officials remind Floridians that all species harvested from the closure line to shore, including grouper, snapper, golden tilefish, mullet, blue crab, oysters, clams, flounder, sea trout, shrimp are safe.  Stone crab season is in effect until May 15 and is also not impacted by the ban.

State agencies including the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and the Department of Health continue to collect and test water samples and shellfish to establish baseline information and to ensure there are no problems in area waters.  Officials with these agencies continue to say they have no intention of halting commercial and recreational fishing in Florida until there is evidence that the action is necessary.

State officials are assuring residents and visitors they are closely monitoring the situation and if there is any change in the status of fishing in Florida, or if there are any environmental impacts the information will be immediately released.

To view more information about Florida's response to the Deepwater Horizon incident, visit http://www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon or follow http://www.Twitter.com/FLDEPalert

DIRECT ALL INQUIRIES TO:
Emergency Operations Center ESF 14
(850) 921-0217

Liz Compton
mailto:comptol@doacs.state.fl.us
(850) 488-3022



FLORIDA COMMERCIAL FISHING SEASON ADVISORY

NOAA Modifies Commercial and Recreational Fishing Closure
in the Oil-Affected Portions of the Gulf of Mexico

Updated Closure:  Current revisions to the closure, described below, will be effective on May 17, 2010, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time (5:00 p.m. Central Time). All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed.
Link to map:  http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/deepwater_horizon/DWH_FisheryClosure051710.pdf

*   *   *

SBA Disaster Loans

On May 14, 2010, Florida Governor Crist announced that the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved disaster loan funds for businesses along Florida's Gulf coast that have been impacted by the Deepwater Horizon incident.  Link to press release: http://www.flgov.com/release/11593


These advisories are distributed to those who are involved in Florida's seafood and aquaculture industries.

These advisories are distributed by the Bureau of Seafood and Aquaculture Marketing, Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Click on the link below to view all Florida Commercial Fishing Season Advisories that are currently in effect: http://www.fl-seafood.com/season_advisory.htm

Official Statement from Emeril’s Homebase on Safe Condition of Gulf Coast Seafood
Posted by: Jeff Hinson

NEW ORLEANS (May 4, 2010) – Chef/Restaurateur Emeril Lagasse’s three restaurants in New Orleans – Emeril’s, NOLA and Emeril’s Delmonico – remain open and unaffected by a recent oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico and continue to serve safe seafood from unaffected areas of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Louisiana Departments of Health and Hospitals, and Wildlife and Fisheries have issued a precautionary restriction on select state offshore fishing areas and federal waters for the portion of the Gulf of Mexico impacted by the spill. Seafood will not be harvested from those areas.

“We are closely monitoring the situation in the Gulf and are in constant contact with our local seafood purveyors along with state and federal authorities. They assure us that they will not be harvesting from any of the fishing regions affected by the spill,” said David McCelvey, Vice President of Culinary & Operations for Emeril’s Homebase. “The quality of our food and safety of our guests are our top priorities. Any seafood served in our restaurants is safe and will only come from clean waters.”

“Our thoughts are particularly with Louisiana’s hard-working fishermen, shrimpers and seafood purveyors, who are the heart and soul of our community. We hope the situation is resolved soon and that the impact can be minimized as much as possible,” said Emeril Lagasse. “While there are still many unknowns about the outcome of this spill, we are confident in the extensive safety precautions taking place and the high quality of the seafood products we are still able to get from our local fisheries.”

Emeril’s is in constant contact with local, state and federal authorities and will continue to closely monitor the condition of the state’s fisheries and seafood supply.