Fear and Loathing in New York

The New York Times devoted a lot of ink to the mercury-in-seafood debate over the past couple of weeks (if you call decidedly one-sided coverage a "debate"). The National Fisheries Institute in McLean, Va., was hoping for more, in the form of a complete retraction for what they deemed was "alarmist, activist-driven journalism." But that's not forthcoming, as Times' Dining Editor Pete Wells told NFI, in a rather terse exchange of e-mails, that the newspaper stands by its coverage. Whatever minor corrections the Times may actually print would do little to repair the damage the article caused. Media-fueled health scares, whether based on real danger or hypothetical risk, can have a devastating effect on business.

One Florida seafood supplier told me yesterday that demand for fresh tuna "is in the gutter" due to the media hype. The article's effect on consumers' mindsets is immeasurable, because once other newspapers and bloggers got a hold of the story, many people, even those not considered at risk from trace levels of mercury in fish, needlessly worried about eating seafood. New York Magazine reported this week that some Manhattan sushi restaurants' sales are down 20 to 30 percent.

Look back to the summer of 2006, when Pacific Northwest oysters contaminated with the Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria caused nearly 200 gastrointestinal illnesses. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration promptly warned consumers to avoid raw oysters from the region. And they sure did. Many shellfish grounds there remained safe for harvesting, but since that fact wasn't afforded the same headlines, area growers had to lay off employees as sales plummeted up to 70 percent over a three-month period.

A similar situation could play out now in the Gulf of Mexico, where ciguatera poisoning has been traced to fish caught near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (ciguatera is considered extremely rare outside of tropical waters). After the FDA's press release came out this week, the supplier told me several of his customers wanted signed forms assuring his fish is not harvested from that region.

He says he's never purchased fish from the sanctuary area and wasn't worried. But even with the FDA alert about ciguatoxin in Gulf grouper, amberjack, hog snapper and other species, guess what was on the minds of most of his customers? Mercury.

"The public needs to be aware of [these risks], but sometimes it just gets out of hand," he says.

Truer words were never spoken.

Thank you,
James Wright
Assistant Editor
SeaFood Business

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