Gulf on the radar; fish on the menu

The BP disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has had a major effect on the fishing industry and brought market demand directly to the Long Island Sound, especially for oysters.

According to Doug Goodman, seafood manager and buyer for Stew Leonard”™s Yonkers, N.Y., location, the shrimp markets are taking the largest hit from the Deepwater Horizon well disaster.

“Most of the shrimp out there was caught before the disaster and has been frozen, but people are scared and unsure; they don”™t want to touch it,” said Goodman.

Gulf shrimp is typically caught six months to a year before and goes into cold storage. The springtime disaster occurred before the typical shrimp season began, he said.
“There is production that is starting again now,” Goodman said. “The season is opening up now.”

He said certain areas that were not impacted directly, or yet, will be where the fisherman are looking for shrimp.

“You”™ll see the real spike of supply, demand and pricing in shrimp in the fall,” said Tony Norado, owner of Bon Ton Fish Market, which has been open in Greenwich since 1902. “That”™s when the effected stock will be under question. The supply will have to come from somewhere; prices will go up in the fall.”

Norado said this year he bought additional future stocks in order to cover himself.

The Mexican side of the gulf has yet to be affected, “and that”™s where a great deal of shrimp comes from,” said Norado. He also said a skeptical buying public makes monitoring the spill and having reputable suppliers increasingly important.

“The government and the FDA is there every day as the boats come in, they have yet to find traces of oil in the shrimp as of yet,” said Goodman.
Ralph Pagano, partner of Pagano”™s Seafood in Norwalk, which has a retail and wholesale location, said that regardless of oil traces, the market will be looking to the Atlantic Ocean side of Florida for shrimp.

“It puts pressure on the Carolinas and Georgia, where you have an Atlantic fresh shrimp, that”™s always been there,” said Pagano. “We”™ve seen those prices increase because the market has tightened.”?According to the federal Gulf of Mexico oil spill update for July 26, “Although crude oil has the potential to taint seafood with flavors and odors caused by exposure to hydrocarbon chemicals, the public should not be concerned about the safety of seafood in stores at this time. Fish and shellfish harvested from areas unaffected by the closures are considered safe to eat.”

Of Norado”™s stock only 4 percent to 5 percent comes from the gulf.

“We have the Fulton Fish Markets that a lot of fish comes into; down south what they fish is what they can get,” said Norado. “They”™ve just been wiped out. If everything stays shut down, the gulf is going to have to look to the market up here. There are certain products that I won”™t and can”™t carry now.”

Major gulf-specific fish populations include red snapper, amberjack, tilefish, swordfish, and various grouper, as well as shrimp and crabs. Oysters are also harvested on a large scale from many of the bays and sounds.

At the end of the 2007 fishing season the FDA passed traceability regulations requiring seafood retailers to post where their catches originated ”“ something Goodman said he expects shoppers and retail buyers to be looking at more closely.

Pagano said because the spill to date has a known radius, fishing can be done outside its affected zone, keeping many of the gulf-specific types of fish in the cases.

Norado said that although the gulf situation limits some types of fish, 95 percent of his fish is and always has been from the North Atlantic, as far north as Iceland.

According to Goodman, fish sales that were initially affected such as swordfish and tuna have started to recover because these fish migrate with the Gulf Stream, and have now hit waters outside of the gulf.

Goodman said where you are finding oil traces is in the oysters and other shellfish.

“The oysters filter that water,” said Goodman. “That will be a long-term issue there.”

Goodman said Stew”™s and many Northeastern seafood retailers don”™t ever buy gulf oysters because of the dangers of contamination in warm waters and travel time. Other parts of the country closer to the gulf are reliant on the gulf oysters. Goodman and Norado said carrying warm-water oysters in the Northeast has always been a risky and foolish venture. “It”™s just too dangerous,” said Norado.

Instead the gulf market is being supplemented with Northeastern oysters from companies such as Norm Bloom and Sons in Norwalk.

“We work closely with Bloom and Sons and their business has greatly increased since the spill,” said Pagano.

Bloom”™s owners and management were not able to be reached because they were traveling in the gulf area on business. Bloom, who supplies Stew Leonard”™s with the majority of the grocery company”™s oysters, has begun shipping Blue Point Long Island Sound-caught stock to Louisiana and Mississippi.

“It has created a bit of a shortage around here for the first couple of weeks,” said Goodman. But they”™ve since picked up production and as catches improve the prices have started to come back down.”

Goodman said because the contamination of gulf oysters, he expects the disaster will prove to be a boon for Long Island Sound oyster industry.

“This really could put Long Island Sound Blue Point oysters back on the map and get some more money into the market,” said Goodman.