The latest crisis that has overtaken the Gulf seafood industry — the Deepwater Horizon oil spill — could be the catalyst that’s needed to help a dedicated national seafood-marketing program become reality. That’s the hope of many in the industry, including Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board (LSPMB), who’s on the front lines to preserve the region's fishing industry from this catastrophe.
In a recent letter to Sen. Mary Landrieu, (D-La.), supporting the creation of a national marketing fund, Smith painted a dire picture of the regional seafood industry’s future because of the oil that gushed into the Gulf for nearly three months.
“Seventh- and eighth-generation seafood harvesters and processors are going out of business on a daily basis. Consumers and seafood buyers across America are specifically requesting not to be served Louisiana seafood,” Smith wrote.
“A recent national survey revealed that over 26 percent of the respondents feel that Louisiana seafood is unsafe.”
Smith adds that an expensive and sustained marketing campaign is needed to restore the public’s confidence that Gulf seafood is safe to eat, and a national marketing fund could support that effort.
Led by the United Fishermen of Alaska, the National Seafood Marketing Coalition since early this year has been working to create just such a program to promote the domestic seafood industry by boosting consumer awareness and consumption of American seafood.
The coalition strives to increase demand for seafood products and expand and improve the marketing, product development, promotion and utilization of domestic seafood products. Another goal would be to assist areas like the Gulf region recover from disasters, says Julie Decker, one of the group’s promoters. Decker, with her husband, Gig, is a gillnet salmon fisherman in Wrangell, Alaska.
To read more about the National Seafood Marketing Coalition, click here. Written by SeaFood Business Contributing Editor Stuart Hirsch, the story appeared in the October issue of SeaFood Business.
All Supply & Trade >
