KENNER, La. (AP) — Louisiana's $2 billion seafood industry is threatened not only by the BP oil spill but also by a government bureaucracy that has been too slow to re-open waters off the state's coast to commercial fishing, Gov. Bobby Jindal and industry representatives said Monday.
Louisiana re-opened large areas of its waters to sport fishing last week after tests showed that fish caught in those areas were safe to eat. But federal approval is needed for commercial fishing in those same waters, Jindal said during a news conference at a suburban New Orleans processing plant.
"This is probably the last bit of inventory I've got left," plant owner Harlon Pearce said, gesturing toward a pallet of iced-down fish on his loading dock.
Pearce, chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, said Food and Drug Administration bureaucracy has slowed the process of getting samples to a testing lab.
"We sent samples. The samples, last Monday, got there. The FDA said 'Wait a second. You can't even take samples until we tell you you can take samples.'" Pearce said. More samples were sent to a federal lab in Pascagoula, Miss., over the weekend, Jindal said.
Meghan Scott, an FDA spokeswoman in Maryland, said she did not have details on when the tests would be completed. She said the tests are being done at a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab in Pascagoula and added that NOAA will ultimately decide when to open the waters.
Jindal said he's been assured by FDA officials that enough tests will be completed to begin opening at least some areas to commercial fishing in about a week. Seafood-related businesses can't wait much longer, he said.
"Continuity of supply at our restaurants is very important," Pearce said. "We don't want to open the marketplace to other competitors from out of the country and out of the state."
Several oyster processors have already shut down over the past few weeks. Finfish processors are now feeling the pinch.
"I really didn't think we'd be hitting the wall until August," Pearce said. "But we're hitting the wall now."
Although the BP well leak has been stopped, at least temporarily, millions of gallons of oil remain in the Gulf.
However, some parts of the Gulf have received more oil than others and, Jindal noted, many of the waters that were recently re-opened never had oil from the spill. They had been closed as a precaution.
Pearce said the FDA refused to take samples for testing from areas where oil is present. But some of those areas, he said, have only been affected by tar balls, which are clumps of weathered oil. Pearce said at that stage, it is no longer a threat to seafood.
We are all working together on the testing and making sure that we can do that as quickly as possible while still ensuring the safety of any seafood," Scott said Monday evening.
Pearce said the state and industry leaders would never let tainted seafood get to the marketplace. "We're doing 10 times the testing that we've done before," he said.
