Toxic Soup: Dine Out to Save Gulf Seafood

"Toxic Soup" is a Change.org series focusing on how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacts the Gulf's seafood industry and marine life. For more posts on this issue, see here, here, here, here, and here.

Eating out could help save the Gulf's seafood industry. At least that's the hope of Jimmy Galle, a seafood distributor and organizer of the "Dine Out for the Gulf Coast Campaign."

The campaign, which will run from June 10th through June 12th, involves restaurants across the country. Participating establishments will donate a portion of their profits made during those three days to the Gulf Coast Oil Spill Fund, a relief effort organized by the Greater New Orleans Foundation to help communities hit hardest by the oil spill and help prevent future environmental disasters. Many restaurants will also serve up dishes featuring Gulf seafood items. The campaign aims to not only raise money for the Gulf's struggling seafood industry, it wants to let consumers know that it's safe to chow down on the region's fish, oysters, crabs, and shrimp.

Normally I'm skeptical of short-lived, PR efforts that just throw money at the problem. But this one actually seems to really embrace sustainable food ideals. For one, renowned eco foodies like chef Jose Andres and Alice Waters are getting involved with the campaign. Secondly, the Gulf is home to some of the most sustainable fishing practices in the world. Seventy-five percent of America's wild-caught shrimp (a practice far more environmentally friendly than farmed shrimp) come from the Gulf of Mexico. Plus, places like New Orleans rely heavily on seafood as part of the local diet. Importing products from elsewhere brings a bigger carbon footprint, so it's important that this local food supply remains intact.

I'm also encouraged by national projects like the Dine Out for the Gulf Coast campaign because the Gulf's seafood industry really needs all the help it can get. The region reaped in one billion pounds of seafood in 2008 and produces about one-fifth of the nation's fish and shellfish. Right now, about one-third of the area's fisheries are closed because of potential oil contamination, so the economic and cultural losses could be (and in some cases, already are) astronomical.

Another big part of this campaign aims to convince consumers that Gulf coast seafood is safe for consumption. There's no doubt that oil is incredibly toxic to marine life, humans, and, well, basically every other living thing. But now that the oil spill is garnering such massive media attention, seafood inspections are more stringent than ever before. In a way, it's almost never been safer to eat Gulf coast seafood.

With so many facets of the oil spill out of the public's control, this campaign represents a way everyday folks can take real, positive actions. Galle said it best when he talked to the Associated Press. "Those guys [the seafood industry] are facing so much turmoil and such an uncertain future," Galle told the AP. "If the consumer turns away from consumption of Gulf seafood, it's kind of like the final nail in the coffin."

Photo credit: Dan Perry via Wikimedia Commons