• Worker cooked to death at Bumble Bee seafood plant in California

    By NBC News staff

    California workplace safety officials are investigating how a worker at a Bumble Bee Foods seafood plant wound up being cooked to death in an industrial oven.


    The accident happened Thursday morning at the Bumble Bee Foods factory in Santa Fe Springs, Calif., KTLA.com reported.

    Police and fire personnel, responding to a 911 call from the business, found a worker dead inside a cooking device called a "steamer machine,” according to KTLA.

    The victim was identified as Jose Malena, 62, an employee at the factory for more than six years.

    An initial investigation indicated that Malena “was fatally injured when he was cooked in an oven," California Division of Occupational Safety and Health spokeswoman Erika Monterroza told the Whittier Daily News.

    Cal-OSHA is trying to determine how the man wound up in the oven and whether there were any workplace safety regulatory violations.

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    "The entire Bumble Bee Foods family is saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Malena family," Bumble Bee Foods spokesman Pat Menke said in a statement to KTLA.

    Operations at the plant were suspended until Monday.

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  • Man calls 911 when stolen boat runs out of gas

    By msnbc.com staff

    Coast Guard officials in Florida say they helped one seafood company with their big catch of the day -- a 33-year-old man who took the establishment's crab boat out for a ride.

    About 8 a.m., William Hodges was cruising the Gulf of Mexico in the 17-foot boat when the watercraft ran out of gas and he called 911 for help, Coast Guard Petty Officer Michael De Nyse told the Tampa Tribune.

    About the same time Hodges was calling for assistance, the I.C. Sharks seafood company of St. Petersburg called authorities to report a stolen 17-foot crab boat.

    "The gentleman on the boat called in for gas, saying he was disabled and adrift about a mile east of Weedon Island," De Nyse told the Tampa newspaper. "Coincidentally, another party was calling claiming it was stolen at almost the same time."

    The Coast Guard arrived on the scene shortly after, as did deputies, De Nyse said.

    Hodges was arrested and charged with grand theft.

     

  • Guide helps navigate fishy dishes

    AP file

    Shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico and other seafood on display at the Hapuku Fish Shop in Oakland, Calif. on Aug. 17.

    What's on the seafood menu today?

    In addition to the omega-3 proteins we seek, there is an array of unsavory and unintentional side dishes that could come with sea creatures: heavy metals, salmonella and banned pesticides or hormones. Since the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, food safety experts have focused on the danger of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — PAHs — in seafood from that area. And there is guilt: Eating some fish contributes to the problem of overfishing endangered species, while eating others could harm fragile ecosystems or cultures in other ways.

    To help consumers make choices that are environmentally friendly and healthy, the advocacy group Food and Water Watch on Wednesday published the National Smart Seafood Guide 2010 that weighs nutritional and environmental considerations for eating 100 types of seafood — and may help take some of the anxiety out of choosing a fish dish.

    "The guide comes at a critical time. We've been fielding countless questions from consumers on seafood safety after the Gulf oil spill," said Marianne Cufone, Food & Water Watch's fish program director. "Unfortunately, because of the spill, many people are considering imported seafood as a safer alternative to domestic. Often, it's not."

    Failed fish
    Indeed, Food and Water Watch named imported coastal farmed shrimp the worst of the worst on its "Dirty Dozen" list of seafood products that it says fail health and sustainability measures. Imported shrimp, much of it farmed in Asia, may be tainted with "antibiotic, pesticide or bacterial residues" that are not allowed in better-regulated markets.

    Also on the guide's buyer-beware list are caviar from sturgeon that are endangered by poaching, overfishing, river damming and pollution; shark and Chilean seabass because of a tendency to have high mercury levels; and Atlantic and farmed salmon, because they introduce hazards to natural salmon populations.

    As for the safety of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, the guide says to keep watching for Food and Drug Administration updates amid ongoing testing. But Gulf coast commercial fishermen will likely be grateful for the perspective the guide offers on seafood safety. As they are quick to point out, their seafood — about 2 percent of the total in the U.S. market — is getting far more attention than imported seafood products. There are at least three federal agencies and a gaggle of state agencies and other health groups examining Gulf seafood and waters, and most are giving the products a clean bill of health.

    "We are so much more scrutinized right now than any other food or fish coming into this country," said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. His organization is scrambling to protect the reputation of Gulf fisheries products since the broken Deepwater Horizon dumped millions of gallons of oil into the water. "In spite of all these fears that are in place, there haven't been any illnesses."

  • Coast Guard Cutter Venturous heads to home port after spill duty

    USCG

    U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Venturous

    One of the U.S. Coast Guard cutters that patrolled the Deepwater Horizon oil spill returns Wednesday to its home port of St. Petersburg, Fla.

    Coast Guard officials issued a statement Tuesday that the Coast Guard Cutter Venturous is scheduled to return from patrol 9:15 a.m. Wednesday after a 49-day deployment first to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response and later to Haiti for migrant interdiction operations.

    The Venturous crew was heading for a south Caribbean drug-interdiction patrol but was diverted to the spill to assume on-scene command and control for vessels 72 days after the oil started spilling, according to the ship's newsletter.

    "At any given time in the first couple of weeks in the Gulf you could expect to see over 20 Coast Guard cutters in the Gulf, ranging from 87’ patrol boats to 225’ buoy tenders that were converted into oil skimmers," the newsletter said.

    Crewmembers developed a communications and operations framework that will help to sustain continued oil spill response efforts in the future, the Coast Guard said.

    Its sister ship, Resolute, conducted media operations out by the drill head, the Venturous newsletter said.

    After BP capped the Gulf gusher, the Coast Guard Cutter Decisive took over command and control duties, the statement said.

    Venturous is an 85-crew, 210-foot Reliance class cutter homeported in St. Petersburg, the Coast Guard says. Before the Gulf spill, its typical missions, according to the Coast Guard, included pursuits of drug traffickers, rescuing illegal immigrants from perilous waters, search and rescue operations and fisheries enforcement.

    More details about Venturous, according to its website:

    Motto: Nemo Supra, which means 'None Better.'

    Builder: American Shipbuilding Co., Lorain, Ohio.

    First commissioning: Sept. 12, 1968.

    Decommissioned: Feb. 11, 1994.

    Recommissioned after modernization: May 9, 1996.

    Second life-extending makeover: March 2007.

    Commanding Officer: CDR Edward M. St. Pierre.

  • Government testing of Gulf seafood flawed, groups say

    A coalition of environmental and social nonprofits and churches on Tuesday called on the federal government to beef up seafood testing following the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

    A letter drafted by the Natural Resources Defense Council on behalf of the groups calls for a review of current procedures, which have led to reopening commercial fishing in large sections of the Gulf of Mexico.

    “We’re raising a few concerns about the scope of the seafood safety assessments that are going on,” said Gina Solomon, senior scientific advisor to the NRDC. “We’re not saying they are totally inadequate, or questioning a specific reopening, but there were things that gave us pause. “

    The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Food and Drug Administration already are moving to increase testing. NOAA and the FDA are developing a test to detect dispersants in seafood as part of an effort to assuage ongoing health concerns about the chemicals used to break up the oil as it gushed into the ocean.

    The federal agencies have also been bringing in more non-government researchers to analyze the data to address concerns that the testing has not been transparent enough.

    “We're taking extraordinary steps to assure a high level of confidence in the seafood," NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco, told reporters on Monday.

    But the letter to the agency said portions of the safety testing are based on assumptions of average body weights that may fail to protect people who fall outside the parameters.

    “They assumed that the average weight of a seafood consumer is 175 pounds,” said Solomon, a physician and scientist who studies toxic contamination for the NRDC. “That’s OK if you’re a guy, but not for most women or a kid. Those are populations we are the most concerned about.”

    The letter raises concerns about the use of national consumption averages to calculate risk to seafood consumers, which would likely understate the risk to coastal communities that rely solely or largely on seafood for protein.

    The letter also points out that the agencies are not testing seafood for heavy metals. At present the testing focuses on a different set of contaminants found in oil--polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

    “Cadmium, copper, lead and mercury have all been detected in studies of crude oil,” and should be included in Gulf seafood monitoring “given the public health threat of exposures to low levels of these metals and their potential to bio-accumulate in seafood,” it said.

    The full text of the letter to NOAA, can be viewed by clicking here. We will report on NOAA’s response to the letter when it is issued.

  • Is BP on the hook for fish's sullied reputation?

    By Kari Huus, msnbc.com senior reporter

    After a major oil spill, there are birds to be washed, tarballs to be retrieved and tarnished reputations to be repaired. For seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, promoters say that will likely be a long and expensive road — a cost they expect BP to bear.

    “We’re going to need marketing dollars to get out of this hole,” said Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board, a state entity that markets everything from oysters to tuna caught off state shores. “Our brand has been damaged badly. It may take up to five years to restore our brand. That’s a multimillion dollar, multiyear program to rebuild brand and consumer confidence.”

    Photo by Alex Ogle/AFP/Getty Images

    A seafood restaurant's sign lights up in New Orleans on July 23, 2010.

    BP gave the marketing group $2 million shortly after the Deepwater Horizon accident on April 20, but Ewell said he considered that “a sort of deposit.” The money has been used for crisis communication, seeking to assure the public that seafood from Gulf fishing areas that remained open was just fine.

    But restoring the Louisiana seafood brand long term will cost $20 million to $40 million, he estimates – and maybe more. In addition to marketing, the state government wants BP to pay for 20 years of seafood monitoring and other costs associated with winning back consumer confidence. In an April 29 letter, state officials requested a total of $457 million from BP to set the seafood industry right.

    “Public confidence in our industry is eroding,” said the letter, addressed to BP CEO Tony Hayward. This is evidenced by a recent USA Today poll, where 13 percent of those polled said they would not eat gulf seafood. This poll was taken before the images of coastal impact were seen on television, and we can only assume the damage is even worse today.“

    “We still haven’t had any action on it,” communications director for Lousiana's disaster recovery unit Christina Stephens said of the request.

    BP press officer Mark Proegler confirmed the company had received the request and said the company “is in dialogue with state officials on this matter.” He went on to note that ongoing testing has shown Louisiana seafood to be safe. “Also, we're also pleased to see the reopening of fishing areas,” Proegler added in his email response, referring to the state’s decision to reopen some of Louisiana’s commercial fishing waters. That’s a start to reviving the state’s commercial and recreational fishing industries, which collectively generate about $4 billion a year.

    What the Seafood Promotion Board is seeking, however, is the means to change the public perception that fish from the Gulf is contaminated, which history suggests can be big chore.

    The 1989 Exxon Valdez spill — which only affected Prince William Sound, a small portion of Alaska’s total commercial fishing area—nonetheless tainted the reputation of products from the whole state according to Ray Riutta, executive director at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute.

    The state marketing organization spent $10 million a year for several years after the spill and brought in a public relations firm that specializes in crisis management to market Alaska seafood, he said. In addition, the state ran a rigorous testing program, said Riutta.

    But surveys of consumers in other states showed that it took three to five years to rebuild confidence in the safety of Alaska’s fish, Riutta said.

    “The impression (outside the state) was that all the fish in Alaska had oil on them,” he said. “The whole image of the state was tarnished by that and it took years to fix.”

    Smith, executive director of the Louisiana seafood board, said the pattern is similar now: People outside the state have the image of thick oozing oil etched into their minds, and don’t realize that many fishing areas were untouched by the slick.

    He wants to bring in some big guns to help change that perception.

    “We will work with celebrity chefs across the nation, and they will help us get the news out,” he said

    But long term, the job is more likely to involve relentless traditional marketing, said Smith.

    “We need to bore the consumer out of their minds with good news,” he said.

  • Shrimpers caught fishing in closed waters

    It was bound to happen, given the increasing desperation of out-of-work fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico.

    The Coast Guard on Sunday seized about 30,000 pounds of shrimp from two boats that were fishing about 35 miles south of Louisiana's Terrebonne Bay -- an area closed to fishing because of the BP oil spill, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported Monday.

    Coast Guard officials boarded the vessels Lady Monica and La Borrachita after receiving a tip that they were shrimping in closed waters. The vessels were cited for fisheries violations and the shrimp were dumped back into the sea, it said.

    "The Coast Guard is committed to ensuring a robust law enforcement presence in the restricted fishing area," Lt. Cmdr. Carmen DeGeorge, chief of the Eighth Coast Guard District law enforcement branch, told the newspaper. "We will continue to dedicate assets to the restricted area to ensure integrity of the Gulf of Mexico seafood."

    -- Mike Brunker

  • Gulf restaurateurs struggle for survival

    New Orleans restaurant owners had only recently started to see business pick up following Hurricane Katrina and the recession when they were hit with another blow: the Gulf oil disaster.

    As Allison Linn reports, the price of seafood such as shrimp and oysters from the Gulf of Mexico have skyrocketed since the oil spill began in April, forcing Louisiana restaurants to adapt. Some Louisiana restaurants are looking at bringing back old or rarely used recipes or using substitute products like alligator or catfish instead of shrimp and oysters.

    Read the full story here.