"Oil Spill: What Is the Threat To Gulf of Mexico Seafood?"

"Along with officials' consistently cautious predictions about the scope of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, another group has been calling for a tempering of dire oil-spill forecasts: the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry.

Already battered by imports of shrimp and other seafood -- 80 percent of the seafood Americans eat is imported -- the Gulf of Mexico seafood industry is eager to avoid a panic about the safety of their catch. And for good reason.

So far, the seafood is safe. Gulf oysters are never exposed to surface waters, so unless the oil sinks, the oysters could well survive, as could shrimp and stocks of redfish and other species who can swim away from the spill."

Patrik Jonsson reports for the Christian Science Monitor April 29, 2010.