The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is pushing up prices for shrimp and oysters from those waters but having limited impact on the larger U.S. seafood industry.
Here's why: The U.S. imports about 83% of its seafood and just 2% of domestic supplies come from the Gulf.
That's no comfort for Gulf fisheries, of course, which have been devastated by the spill that has gone on for two months now.
The average wholesale price of Gulf brown shrimp has jumped by more than half since before the spill as fishing restrictions have closed down large swaths of the once-prolific fishery. Oyster prices are up 33% over the same period, according to Urner Barry, a company that tracks commodity prices, including seafood.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Wall Street Journal.
