Gavin's blog

Can’t say we didn’t warn ya.Today NFI followed our press release and letter on Dr. Oz’s unwillingness to offer his viewers the correct information on seafood consumption by launching banner ads, Google Ads and Facebook Ads all designed to educate consumers about the very latest in independent seafood science.This would be a lot easier if Dr. Oz would just do his homework.June 1, 2010

If you follow this blog or fisheries news at all you know that overwhelming evidence has been piling up concerning the benefits of fish consumption during pregnancy and you might also know the joint 2004 FDA/EPA advisory on fish and pregnancy has caused immense confusion with consumers and desperately needs to be updated.

One time is a mistake. Two times is a pattern.Back in January Dr. Oz produced a TV show where his advice on fish consumption and his discussion about mercury were way outside the latest up-to-date medical and scientific research on the topic.As we are want to do, we called him on it. You’ll remember this is the interaction in which Oz had his lawyer answer (or dodge) our questions rather than his crack medical staff.

If necessity is the mother of ingenuity, what is desperation? Perhaps she’s the aunt who talks a little too loudly at family functions and whose stories don’t always mesh with the facts but you put up with her ‘cause… well... you sort of have to. It looks like Aunt Desperation has launched a new website where she rehashes all of her old complaints about imported pangasius and promotes letters written by folks like the Honorable Rep. Marion Berry.

Not eating seafood can be really bad for your health and government communicators need to step up and explain that—that’s the conclusion of a new World Health Organization  report developed in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

In the PR game, one of the oldest news hooks in the book is to base a story on an upcoming holiday. While it's cheesy, it's also effective, and can help get even the most mundane story into print.Earlier today, Monica Eng from the Chicago Tribune's food blog, The Stew, fell for it, and we can't help but be disappointed: "Looking for an inexpensive last minute Mother's Day gift," writes Eng. "Consider talking to mom about mercury contaminated fish."

As everyone in the world seems to know, some fish stories are so good people can't help but tell them over and over again, and even borrow them from one another.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is an ecological and human disaster that will surely effect not only the fragile habitats where shrimp and oysters are harvested but the very core of the community that brings these iconic delicacies from the waters of the Gulf to the tables of America.

Time and time again we see local TV stations recycling the ole’ testing mercury in fish story. We have literally seen the same story in dozens of local markets across the country over the course of five or more years.  There is nothing new to the story. There’s no new angle. And yet the ease of the predetermined narrative and the predetermined outcome with the faux appearance of some sort of benefit to viewers is just too much for some, often over burdened, journalists to pass up.  

Despite all of the push back and holding of journalists accountable that you might read on this blog there’s an underlying truth that we might sometimes lose sight of while engaging in all of these individual fire fights— seafood has a great story to tell.