The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill led to widespread concern about the quality and safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. However, Lucina Lampila, associate professor and seafood specialist with the LSU AgCenter, says the tainted reputation of the seafood isn’t grounded in actual danger. “I would encourage you to enjoy Louisiana seafood,” she says. Speaking to the Baton Rouge Press Club today, Lampila says efforts to clean the affected area have been swift and largely successful. She says that the accident led to increased testing of seafood that will continue at least through 2014. “The seafood out there is safe and the most scrutinized in the nation, if not the world,” she says.
“Word is starting to get around” in the national media about efforts to ensure safety, Lampila says. Still, she concedes, “Perception is so difficult to change,” especially among those unfamiliar with unprepared seafood. “We had some people from up north who had never seen full shrimp, and they thought the black spot was oil. And when they picked it, it would run. … They weren’t aware that it’s the digestive tract.” Lampila attributes the safety of gulf seafood to both natural and artificial cleaning efforts. She says some species of fish employ natural defenses when oil spills have occurred, in the gulf as well as in other areas around the world. “We can see them rid themselves of petrochemicals … very fast.” Chemicals used in cleanup efforts have been effective with minimal lingering risks to marine life, she says. Dispersants “kept the oil from coming in and coating the coastline.” That, she said, “would have been a disaster.” —Ian McGibboney
