NOAA Declares Gulf Seafood Safe
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
By: Tom Parkinson

April 20, 2011 | WMFE - One year after the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the federal government says it's safe to eat Gulf seafood.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has reopened more than 1000 square miles of the northern Gulf for commercial fishing. Those waters had been closed to fishermen and shrimpers since just after the massive oil spill began.
NOAA administrators say laboratory tests found very low levels of oil and dispersant chemicals in about 10% of the 320 recent samples of Gulf seafood.

But the state’s fishing industry still faces a significant problem with public perception of seafood safety. A poll released this week by the Florida Department of Agriculture shows 63% of Floridians polled still believe Gulf seafood is contaminated.
Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam says repeated testing has shown seafood from the Gulf to be safe but that message is not reaching the consumer. 
The Agriculture department will try to counter that negative image through continued advertising and marketing efforts.

The Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, 2010 killing eleven workers and spilling more than 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf in the following months.