- Other Gulf Coast stories
- The Future of Food
- Planet Green Helps Others Speak Out on the Gulf Oil Crisis
- Citizen Gulf’s National Day of Action
- Save the Gulf
- Still Eating Oysters?
- Gulf Coast Snoballs Offer Fresh Flavors Mixed with Comeback Spirit
- Gulf Fundraising Gets Creative
- Newsweek’s Perspective on the Gulf Coast
- BlogHer Gulf Auction
- Ralph Brennan On the Impact of the Gulf Coast Oil Spill
- Ruth Reichl On the Gulf Coast Recovery
- Scientist Says NOAA Needs to Expand Seafood Testing in the Gulf
- Thousands Come to Eat, Play, Love at Biloxi Seafood Festival
- White House Chef Visits New Orleans
- When It Comes to Gulf Seafood, Consumers Still Aren’t Biting
- Bill in Congress Aims to Aid Fishermen, Fish, and Coastal Jobs
- Presidential Order Sets Up Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force
Multiple hurricanes and the BP oil spill wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast, but now the South is ready for takeoff. That’s the message from a new coalition of private businesses and public leaders from Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and they are calling on the federal government to help them launch.
Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, says the four states are pulling together to move forward.
“Once you go north of the four states, perception is still our biggest challenge, including for the tourism industry along the Gulf Coast. The seafood industry feeds the tourism industry, and vice versa – we feed off of each other.”
Smith says that Gulf seafood has received a clean bill of health, and the federal government can help revive sales by using its purchasing power.
“They could purchase domestic seafood from the Gulf Coast for the Department of Defense or for the hospital systems. It’s a way to help increase the demand for Gulf seafood.”
Smith says in addition to asking the government to purchase more Gulf seafood, they’re also looking for a larger share of oil revenues for Gulf states, support for construction of a tanker in Alabama, and other initiatives they say will create jobs and strengthen the Gulf Coast economy. The cities of Rosemary Beach and Pensacola and the Escambia County Commission are among the groups and governments that make up the coalition.
More information is available at www.ready4takeoff.org.
The Food Channel is bringing you recaps of some of the best stories from around the Web that will help us all learn more about the true situation in the Gulf. Stay with us as the story unfolds and let’s see what the future of food may look like in the wake of crisis.