...post-oil-spill, because, you know, according to them, it's all perfectly safe to eat now, reports the AP.

But wait:

NEW ORLEANS — Sampling by environmental groups has found oysters contaminated with oil along the Louisiana coast befouled by the BP PLC oil spill, a finding that casts doubt on statements by state and federal officials that all seafood tested here is safe to eat.

One Mississippi oyster biologist is pretty sure "that oysters are consuming oil that has been broken down into tiny droplets by chemical dispersants." Sounds highly probable...

Meanwhile, here in Seattle at Blueacre Seafood, chef/owner Kevin Davis—who also happens to be a Louisiana native—is hoping for the best. He says his Gulf-area seafood supplies dried up after the spill, and he's "waiting to see what happens. I want to be supportive, and I will support them in the future." He's never sold Gulf oysters, since there are so many excellent local ones, and he's got lots of other great local seafood as well: "I'm basically concentrating on species from the Pacific Ocean," he says.

Davis believes we have a lot more to be concerned about with seafood farmed under completely unregulated circumstances overseas; he mentioned this alarming article that sums up the situation.

Davis says, "My family was in oil." He himself worked helping clean the rust off blowout preventers as a teen. As far as the spill itself, he says, "I’m surprised it hasn’t happened before... there's so much pressure, deep water. People didn’t until now understand what the consequences were... It's shocking, but I hope nature has a way of dealing with this mess... I can only pray that things will soon return back to normal. I do want to support the Gulf in any way that I can, and I will in the future."

Kevin Davis and a marlin at Blueacre.
  • Kelly O
  • Kevin Davis and a marlin at Blueacre.