Administration Arranges "Dockside Chats" To Alleviate Gulf Seafood Concerns

By Miles Wolf Tamboli - Talk Radio News Service

The Obama administration announced Wednesday that they will soon begin conducting “dockside chats” to inform the public on the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. 

Only a few days after the first official day of the shrimping season in Louisiana, many still fear that Gulf seafood may be unsafe for consumption due to the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which gushed for more than three months and spewed millions of barrels of crude oil into Gulf waters.

The administration has scheduled eight of these chats in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida in order to address these fears and keep the public up-to-date on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) rigorous safety measures to ensure that tainted seafood does not reach consumers.

“We are committed to making sure that Gulf seafood is the safest in the world and to reassuring consumers that Gulf seafood is safe to eat,” NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said Wednesday.

State and federal teams will meet with commercial fishermen, shrimpers, crabbers, oystermen and local officials to answer questions, discuss concerns and “correct misinformation.”