by Springfield Lewis/Newsroom Ink
Continuing to give industries and organizations a greater voice and web presence, Newsroom Ink has launched and staffs a news site for the newly established Gulf Seafood Institute.
Gulf Seafood Newsroom addresses a wide variety of issues affecting all of the Gulf of Mexico. The Institute represents every Gulf state, as well as every aspect of the industry – both commercial and recreational – and has become one of the leading voices on key issues including sustainability, seafood safety, disaster mitigation and recovery, and data collection.
The institute mission is focused on uniting the five states to “protect the Gulf’s unique culture while elevating the Gulf Seafood brand with consumers, customers and policy leaders through advocacy, education and science.”
The Gulf Seafood Newsroom deals with topics from consumer concerns about seafood safety during the government shutdown of services – an issue being covered by major news media- to chefs who creations entice customers to order Gulf seafood.
The institute was the brainchild of influential seafood leaders across the Gulf of Mexico, including Harlon Pearce, former chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board. Photo: Louisiana Seafood News
The institute was the brainchild of influential seafood leaders across the Gulf of Mexico, including Harlon Pearce. The former chairman of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board is a longtime champion for Louisiana seafood and a respected Gulf Coast business leader. He has operates Harlon’s LA Fish & Seafood in New Orleans for more than two decades.
While serving on the Louisiana Seafood Board, Peace believed in the power of its newsroom and advocacy for the state’s 12,000+ commercial fishermen. Mainstream media, industry news outlets and social media often picked up and used the articles —giving the board a business communications platform to position Louisiana seafood from “the water to the plate.”
Pearce brings this same conviction to the new Gulf Seafood Newsroom whose purpose is to give a voice to a wide-variety of companies, organizations, fishermen and communities having an impacting on the Gulf’s unique ecosystem.
“There are numerous stakeholders in the Gulf of Mexico, each with an agenda,” said Pearce, a 40+-year seafood industry veteran. “The mission of the Gulf Seafood Institute is to give each of these stakeholders a seat at the table; to find common ground for the betterment of the Gulf. The newsroom is both ours, and their voice.”
Since its launch in September 2013, the newsroom has been visited more than 10,000 times by viewers worldwide. The more than 75 articles published have been accessed more than 15,000 times, with readers spend an average of more than two minutes on site.
In addition to the newsroom, the Newsroom Ink team also launched the official website for the Gulf Seafood Institute – GulfSeafoodInstitute.org.
“Without the newsroom we would not have gained an influential foothold as quickly as we did,” said Jim Gossen, chairman of Louisiana Seafood and a founding board member. Photo: Ed Lallo/Newsroom Ink
“There are so many important discussions happening about the sustainability of our fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s essential that folks across the country hear about it,” explained Kristen McConnell Senior Conservation Manager for the Environmental Defense Fund’s Gulf of Mexico and Southeast Oceans Program. “I’m glad that the GSI Newsroom is committed to sharing these stories.”
“Without the newsroom we would not have gained an influential foothold as quickly as we did,” said Jim Gossen, chairman of Louisiana Seafood and a founding board member. “The newsroom allows us to immediately address important seafood issues, something no other Gulf organization currently has. Our newsroom is ‘The Voice of the Gulf’.”
Members of Newsroom Ink, Ed Lallo, Springfield Lewis and Tony Cecala, led the relaunch of Louisiana Seafood News for the seafood board before Hurricane Isaac struck the Gulf Coast in 2012. The Newsroom Ink team was instrumental in the site’s initial launch during the BP oil spill disaster in 2010.
