MS Coast hats inspired by Gulf seafood, Donald Trump’s slogan are a big hit in Jackson
Red caps the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources bought have been a big hit this week in Jackson, Executive Director Joe Spraggins said.
MDMR employee Patrick Levine came up with the idea to riff on Donald’s Trump’s trademark “Make America Great Again” red cap. The DMR caps say, “Make Seafood Great Again.”
MDMR Executive Director Joe Spraggins said the caps are part of a marketing campaign to promote Gulf seafood and pass a law that will require restaurants, wholesalers and other distributors to label seafood so customers will know whether it comes from the Gulf or is imported. Cheaper seafood imports have for decades contributed to the decline of the Gulf seafood industry.
Spraggins gifted caps to Tate Reeves and his staff members at a cabinet meeting Tuesday and handed out more at a packed Mississippi Coast legislative reception Wednesday night at Jackson’s Trade Mart.
“This is the greatest thing in the world,” Spraggins said Thursday. “Everybody’s wanting a hat.”
Push for seafood labeling law
Spraggins ordered 250 caps from the DMR’s seafood promotions budget at a cost of $2,923.20 — less than $12 a cap. He ran out of caps and might have to order more. He joked that he was in trouble with House Appropriations Committee Chairman John Read for not getting caps to everybody who wanted one.
The DMR is trying to help rebuild the reputation of Gulf seafood, he said, after Mississippi River flooding in 2019 led some consumers to wrongly believe it was unsafe.
More recently, headlines have focused on imported seafood passed off as Gulf fresh by famed restaurant Mary’s Mahoney’s Old French House and one of its wholesalers, Quality Poultry & Seafood. A criminal case against the businesses and managers at both locations led to renewed calls for a seafood labeling law similar to those already adopted in Louisiana and Alabama.
The DMR is working with marine resources chairmen in both legislative chambers on a bill and hoping the time is right to pass one. Past efforts have failed.
“Every bit of it is tied into trying to rebuild the seafood industry,” said Spraggins, who noted Biloxi was referred to as the seafood capital of the world in the early 1900s.
Gulf shrimp, oysters served up in Jackson
At the legislative reception, Coast restaurants set up stations where they served grilled and raw oysters, fried shrimp and other samples of seafood dishes. Later in the evening, Spraggins and others gathered for a meal at Char Restaurant in Jackson.
Spraggins said he asked a server where the restaurant’s seafood came from. The server checked and said it was from the Gulf, which he was glad to hear.
Two Coast mayors who attended the reception, Billy Hewes of Gulfport and Rusty Quave of D’Iberville, both donned their “Make Seafood Great Again” caps.
“I’ve been wearing mine around,” Hewes said Thursday. “I think they were wishing they had more to hand out.
“ . . . We’re having a little fun with ourselves and any chance we can use a slogan to promote our seafood industry and our wonderful cuisine, we’re going to do it.”
