Dive Summary:
- Almost three years after the disastrous Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the seafood industry is bouncing back as sales are slowly creeping to their pre-oil average.
- While all federal and private agencies have declared gulf seafood good to eat, at least 30% of consumers still have their doubts.
- With a grant from the U.S. government, the Gulf Coast Seafood Coalition was formed to promote and encourage this $30 billion industry.
From the article:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the FDA and the Gulf States worked jointly to ensure the safety of the region’s seafood following the spill. NOAA’s first action was to close oiled waters to prevent any potentially contaminated catches. According to NOAA, approximately 37 percent of federal waters in the Gulf region — 88,522 square miles from the northeaster coast of Texas to the Florida Keys — were closed to fishing at the height of the spill.
