Alaskans mentor Gulf states: the fine art of post-spill seafood marketing.

• Author: Bohi, Heidi
• Position: FISHERIES

"NO OIL HAS FLOWED INTO THE GULF FOR WEEKS, BUT IT'S JUST THE BEGINNING OF OUR WORK. I'M IRIS CROSS. BP HAS TAKEN FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CLEANUP IN THE GULF AND THAT INCLUDES KEEPING YOU INFORMED. MY JOB IS TO LISTEN TO THE SHRIMPERS AND FISHERMEN, HOTEL AND RESTAURANT WORKERS AND FIND WAYS TO HELP. THAT MEANS WORKING WITH COMMUNITIES. WE HAVE 19 CENTERS IN FOUR STATES, WE'VE MADE OVER 120,000 CLAIMS PAYMENTS-MORE THAN $375 MILLION DOLLARS--WE'VE COMMITTED $20 BILLION TO AN INDEPENDENT CLAIMS FUND TO COVER LOST INCOME UNTIL PEOPLE IMPACTED CAN GET BACK TO WORK. WE'LL KEEP LOOKING FOR OIL, CLEANING IT UP IF WE FIND IT AND RESTORING THE COAST. I WAS BORN IN NEW ORLEANS. MY FAMILY STILL LIVES HERE. BP IS GOING TO BE HERE UNTIL THE OIL IS GONE, AND THE PEOPLE IN BUSINESSES ARE BACK TO NORMAL. UNTIL WE MAKE THIS RIGHT."

Ewell Smith wants to know if you've seen the ads like this 60-second TV spot, one of several in a multi-media campaign BP is running nationwide as a part of its efforts to reassure the American public that it is taking full responsibility for the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig on April 20 that led to the BP oil spill--the largest in U.S. history and the second largest in world history after the 1910 Lakeview Gusher in Kern County, Calif.

Smith is doing everything he can to refute the perception that Louisiana's seafood is tainted and unsafe to eat, but with a four-person staff and a limited budget, he says it is impossible to reach current and potential Gulf seafood customers as quickly as he needs to, as commercial buyers cancel orders, resulting in part from widespread consumer fears that residual oil and cleanup dispersants will make them sick.

"Everyone I talk to is seeing these BP commercials all the time," he says from his office in New Orleans, where he is executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, responsible for promoting the state's seafood industry.

"They're spending millions a day to blanket the country with these messages and we haven't gotten a dime to rebuild the brand of Louisiana seafood at all, at a time when we're in a very precarious situation and our brand is being trampled on. We need to be doing the same thing BP is doing--they're rebuilding their brand, we need to rebuild ours. We want the same opportunity to get that message out."

In the meantime, the organization is doing what it can to mitigate further damage while developing a recovery strategy with the...