Teachta Mac Lochlainn said;
“This is a good day for the small island based fishing fleet in Ireland to achieve this significant fish producers recognition.
“I applaud the efforts of Seamus Bonner and all in the IIMRO for their long number of years campaigning and persuading to achieve this status.
“This recognition - the first in Ireland for a small scale and inshore representative fishing body - will allow IIMRO to properly negotiate for fair and equitable access to quotas, properly resourced marketing of their product, a rightful place during negotiations and be a stronger representative body for their members.
think the oil slick will make a difference in your life, but there are some ripple effects we are all going to feel, and they ve only just begun. let s bring in casey calloway. good morning to you. how much trouble are we in the gulf coast right now? well, frankly, we re worried. we don t know exactly how much trouble we re in, but we do know we re we are the largest seafood producer in the world, and that s at critical stake right now. say that one more time because a lot of people might not get that. the largest seafood producer in the world comes out of the gulf coast. that s at stake right now. exactly, exactly. 69% of the oysters, 70% of the shrimp domestically generated come from appalachian bay, florida, to louisiana. that s us and that s where the oil has the potential to go frankly. to go how close? you have a better idea of just
reporter: of course, any of the seafood caught locally has the potential for being effected by the spill, and here that means about 95% of what you see since it s caught in local waters. what has them to most concern is the effect the spill might have on oisers and on the shrimp. nobody wants tainted shrimp. nobody wants an oyster that s going to be tainted because when an oyster is a natural filter. so you know, if oil gets up in there, it s going too take on the flavor. reporter: there are no reports of any tainted seafood. boyer says the publicity alone could damage his business. so the perception of the a lot of the seafood is that it might be tainted whether it is or not. hopefully they ll get it cleaned up, get it plugged up, and stopped. reporter: dan thomas, channel 3 news. louisiana is the largest seafood producer in the lower 48 states. it brings in about $1.8 billion a year. joining me now from new orleans, a man who makes his living from the sea, mike wazay.
commercial fishing industry as well as the tourism industry from sport fishing down off the coast of louisiana is massive. let me give you some o numbers here. louisiana, the largest seafood producer for the lower 48 states, $1.8 billion in annual retail sale just out of seafood. the oyster industry, just the oissters that come off the gulf coast in general, that s a $500 million economic impact we could see along the coast, and also recreational fishing. that s $1 billion in retail sales, folks. so you ve got the fishing industry as the main focus, then the secondary industries down there, and we saw this after katrina, we saw this after gustav is the restaurant industry, the tourism industries that are going to be impacted, in particular the restaurants. they heavily depend on those fishing activities down off the coast, of course, to get those amazing oysters that we all love to have when we go to new