"gulf oil spill" news and stories

Nearing the third month into the Gulf oil spill (count 'em, 85 days), we couldn't be more frustrated: If you're like us, you lie awake at night, wondering what will cap that damn thing; you may have even considered driving down to scrub a flock of oily pelicans, if only to get the images out of your head. And while this is likely not an option for most of you -- no matter how hard you beg your boss to fund a charity trip -- by the end of this month, all you'll have to do is drink.

In connection with the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, New Orleans-beloved Abita beer has announced a special brew for relief and restoration efforts: SOS -- A Charitable Pilsner.

The golden-hued, 22-oz 7% ABV is an unfiltered Weizen Pils described as having a "sweet malt flavor with a pleasant bitterness and aroma." Now in its final leg of aging, it's slated to be shipped out by the end of July, available wherever Abita beer is sold -- including a to-be released list of participating restaurants.

The bottles will feature hand-drawn shrimp, boats, pelicans and other Gulf coast fishing icons arranged in "SOS," in this case meaning "Save Our Shores."

Many fish and seafood lovers are wondering whether it is safe to buy the fresh wild gulf shrimp on sale at their local markets, while other consumers of unmarked fish worry whether what they're eating came from the Gulf of Mexico. How do they know whether it is contaminated by the oil spill and dangerous to eat?

AOL News's senior public health correspondent, Andrew Schneider, spent the past two weeks investigating who is doing the testing and how seafood safety is determined. Head over to AOL News to read his exclusive report.

The nose knows. Or at least officials from NOAA and the FDA are counting on it as an inexpensive, reliable way to detect oil-tainted seafood and to keep it from reaching the public. The agencies have pooled resources with Michigan-based International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) and have been busy training seafood inspectors from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida at the National Seafood Inspection Laboratory in Pascagoula, Miss.

Training sessions include plenty of hands-on sniffing of finfish, shrimp and oysters. Different stations are set up where students participate in blind whiff tests. Some samples are spiked with varying levels of oil, while other items were left untouched.

"Inspectors are taught not to let their sight confuse them. To just go by the smell, because oil can be washed off or masked with something else," says Joan Bowman, spokesperson for IFPTI.

BP chief Tony Hayward isn't the only executive putting his foot in his mouth. Fellow BP representative Randy Prescott brought on his own internet firestorm after he was quoted saying, "Louisiana isn't the only place that has shrimp." Ouch.

While it's true that shrimp are indeed harvested in other parts of the world, for those seeking sustainable American wild-caught shrimp, the Gulf has long been an important source. According to a Seafood Watch report, 90 percent of the landings of three major species of shrimp come from the Gulf of Mexico.