Governor Pushes BP To Fund Seafood Campaign

Three days after the state Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reopened state waters east of the Mississippi River to commercial shrimp and finfishing, Gov. Bobby Jindal pushed again for BP to fund a $173 million, long-term seafood testing and marketing campaign aimed at restoring consumer confidence in the state's seafood products.

"We need to be able to demonstrate, based on hundreds of samples every month, that this continues to be the safest seafood you can get anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world," Jindal said at a press conference Monday in Venice.

Share Working with the federal Food and Drug Administration over the past month, the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries reopened commercial fisheries east of the river on Friday, after finfish and shrimp samples passed FDA's chemical lab testing and specialized smell tests. FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said on Friday that the levels of oil found finfish and shrimp samples in the reopened area were "extremely low" and "significantly below the threshold of concern."

To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Times-Picayune.

Photo by Patrick Semansky, Associated Press