Oil-Spill Threatens US Seafood Prices

The crude oil spill from BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico is expected to increase seafood prices by up to a quarter.

Seafood dealers have reported price increases of up to 25% for oysters and nearly 10% for shrimp, and the increases from Louisiana seafood processors could go higher.

The spill threatens 25% of the US’s fresh fish haul, according to businessweek.com.

The leak, gushing an estimated 5,000 barrels a day, has shut down fishing for at least ten days from the mouth of the Mississippi River to areas off of Florida’s Pensacola Bay.

In 2008 Gulf Coast sales accounted for about $639m of the $3.85bn US market for seafood, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.