GREEN ISLAND, N.Y. — At the Carioto Produce and Seafood warehouse, shrimp from India and Vietnam stock the freezer, while a refrigerated aisle is stacked with bags of clams from Rhode Island, cockles from New Zealand, a fresh 5-pound fillet of lane snapper from Nicaragua and mahi-mahi from Ecuador.
The Gulf may be soiled with oil, but Al Hecker, Carioto's seafood specialist, has had little trouble getting what he needs in a global market — even for Gulf staples like snapper and mahi-mahi.
"My supply hasn't diminished, I've just stepped sideways," says Hecker.
Oil gushing into the Gulf has devastated Louisiana's fishing industry and spiked prices for oysters and some other items, but it has yet to create menu-wide seafood shortages.
That's largely because about 17 percent of the seafood Americans eat come from domestic sources, and just a bit more than 2 percent of that comes from the Gulf, according to the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group.
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