Seafood sales rise in the more than forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, helping some south Louisiana vendors by as much as fifty percent as tastes turn from Mardi Gras king cakes to oysters, shrimp and crabs. But the region's Lenten consumption isn't what it used to be. Sellers have been hit by multiple blows on the demand side, including Asian competition and lost business since the BP spill. Supply-side whammies have also taken a toll.
On Ash Wednesday, April Michel, saleswoman at Amy's Seafood in the Westwego seafood market, said "Lent in recent years has been slower than it was before the 2010 BP spill and Katrina in 2005." Over twenty vendors run stalls at the Westwego market or Shrimp Lot on the West Bank of New Orleans. Early last Wednesday, salespeople were at their posts serving a few customers. "People haven't trusted seafood since the spill," Michel said. Oyster supplies have remained smaller since then, too. But because of relative tightness, "some vendors are putting a 'tax' on oysters and jacking prices up a little," she said.
Michel said consumers who still eat seafood are watching their spending and many have turned to giant discounters. "Walmart's killing us with their prices and most of what they're selling isn't local," she said. "It's from Indonesia, China and other Asian countries."
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