Summit: Stay confident in Gulf seafood

What hurt the seafood industry more than anything — including supply shortages — was the loss of seafood’s place at the table. At the International Boston Seafood Show SeaFood Business Summit “Rebuilding Consumer Confidence in Gulf Seafood” on Sunday, a panel of industry experts discussed how to let consumers know that Gulf seafood is safe.

While perception of Gulf seafood is continually improving — studies show the percentage of people who believe there are problems with seafood from the area has dropped from the initial 75 percent — once seafood loses its place at the table, it’s hard to get it back.

“People are substituting other protein products for seafood, which is very troubling and concerns all of us,” said Chris Nelson, VP of oyster procurement for Bon Secour Fisheries. “We need to figure out how we’re going to get that part of the marketing back.”

“We have to get people to be more comfortable with what happened in the Gulf. Ninety-nine percent of people are completely confused,” said panelist Rick Moonen, chef and owner of RM Seafood in Las Vegas. “The environment has had a symbiotic relationship with petroleum far before man came on this planet, so it’s used to it — it’s not as big a disaster as everyone thinks. [Chefs] message [to the industry] is clear. We want to support you, please don’t fish in closed areas; if just one tainted product hits the market it’s going to explode.”

Keeping consumers informed is key to helping them overcome their concerns about seafood. The panelists agreed that the main way to give consumers confidence in Gulf seafood is through continued testing.

“Just saying it’s safe isn’t good enough,” said John Stein, deputy science director of the Northwest fisheries science center for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We have to keep collecting information and educating to change their perception.”

According to Stein, the numbers speak for themselves.  When the spill first occurred, 30 percent of the exclusive economic zone in the Gulf was closed. Today only 0.4 percent is off limits to fishing and boats are on the water now collecting samples, which will be delivered early next week to be analyzed to get that final area reopened. Then, the area will continued to be monitored to give consumers confidence that reopening the Gulf to fishing was the right decision.

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