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Issue link: https://seafoodbusiness.epubxp.com/i/112398
News Recap HOUMA, La. In BRIEF Gulf community mourns loss of Mike Voisin The National Fisheries Institute���s Future Leaders class of 2012 raised more than $15,000 and donated nearly 160,000 pounds of food to SeaShare, a Bainbridge Island, Wash., charity that works with the seafood industry to eradicate hunger in the United States. Having undergone an audit of its sustainable ���sh suppliers and chain-of-custody veri���cation, Manischewitz anchovy, sardine and mackerel products now carry the Friend of the Sea eco-label. Captain D���s Seafood Kitchen produced a record year in 2012, with a 9.2 percent same-store sales growth in company restaurants as well as a 7.5 percent sales increase in franchised restaurants. The Nashville, Tenn., chain also achieved a new all-time average unit volume record for the year. A sandwich from a Shnucks Markets chef took top honors at the Alaska Seafood Prepared Foods Challenge. Chef Rosanne Toroian, food editor and information specialist for the St. Louis-based chain, wowed judges with her Dilled Alaska Surimi Seafood Salad Sandwiches. Produced by the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, the challenge asked U.S. retail chefs to present recipes that were ���innovative, nutritional and offered satisfying ���avor at an affordable price.��� The Scottish Shell���sh Marketing Group says its rope-grown mussels had ���great success��� during Sainsbury���s recent Switch the Fish campaign. The supermarket gave away free samples of less popular types of seafood, like mussels, to anyone who bought one of the ���big ���ve��� species: cod, haddock, tuna, salmon and prawns. F riends, family and leaders in the Louisiana seafood industry are mourning the loss of their greatest spokesman and supporter, as Mike Voisin passed away due to complications arising from a heart attack. Voisin, 59, died Feb. 2 at Terrebonne General Hospital in his hometown of Houma. ���Mike died peacefully to the songs sung by family and friends,��� says longtime friend Chris Nelson, VP of Bon Secour Fisheries in Alabama. ���It was both a privilege and honor to be so close to Mike during his ���nal hours.��� A Los Angeles native, Voisin had lived in Louisiana for more than 38 years, and since 1971 he had owned Motivatit Seafoods, the company his father Ernie founded. But simply running a seafood company wasn���t enough for Voisin, and he soon became a signature voice for the Louisiana seafood industry. In 1984, Voisin helped found the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board. With Nelson and Al Sunseri, of P&J; Oyster Co. in New Orleans, he founded ���Walk the Hill,��� an annual event where advocates went to Washington to lobby congress on behalf of the industry. ���It was a tragedy that Mike fell ill the day before he was scheduled to go to Washington,��� says Nelson. ���Everywhere we went on the hill, congressmen and senators asked how Mike was doing.��� Congressional o���ces were decorated with yellow ribbons in Voisin���s honor. Te ribbons represented Gold Band Oysters, the product Voisin���s family created through high-pressure processing that eliminated the Vibrio vulni���cus bacteria, a persistent problem with raw shell���sh. Voisin was a���liated with a long list of seafoodrelated organizations, including the Louisiana Oyster Dealers and Growers Association, Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries Foundation, Southeastern Fisheries Association, Louisiana Seafood Processors Council, Gulf Oyster Industry Council and the Louisiana Oyster Task Force. Voisin was also a past chairman of the National Fisheries Institute. NFI President John Connelly said Voisin was ���truly a giant��� in a statement following Voisin���s passing. ���He was unwavering in his advocacy for seafood and for the men and women who work tirelessly to bring it to American tables,��� Connelly said. ���Inside the beltway there is a little-known saying that it is not who you know in Washington but how you are known that matters. He was known as a man of character, whose honesty and drive in advocacy for others was unmatched.��� Ewell Smith, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board, says he considered Voisin his mentor. ���Our seafood community has lost an incredible leader,��� Smith says. ���Our seafood community is where it is today because of Mike. It will continue to move forward because of all of his amazing e���orts. We will miss him dearly and pray for his wonderful family.��� ��� Sean Murphy Direct QUOTE It���s entirely possible that these subsidy programs could all exist and no ���rm would have ever taken advantage of them. Stranger things have happened, but not many. ��� David Veal, executive director, Coalition of Gulf Shrimp Industries (see Top Story, page 28) 12 SeaFood Business March 2013 Courtesy of Norwegian Seafood Council Snap SHOTS On a roll: Videos featuring dance group The Human Sushi are spreading on YouTube, part of an unusual marketing campaign from the Norwegian Seafood Council. Depictions of Nama Salmon Nigiri, Nama Salmon Sashimi and Prawn Maki were made to increase the online presence of Norwegian seafood brands. For updated NEWS, go to www.SeafoodSource.com