The Gulf oil spill probably won't steal shrimp from your plate, but it may take a bigger chunk out of your wallet to get them there.
Though much of the Gulf of Mexico remains open to commercial fishing, Louisiana's biggest seafood item is down to just 30 percent of normal production, according to the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board.
Combined with an already-tight global shrimp market, the spill is likely to mean much higher prices.
"For the consumer, it's going to be harder and harder for people to afford to buy it, especially in this economy," said Hal Ambos of Ambos Seafoods, an importer, exporter and wholesale distributor in Savannah, Ga.
Shrimp is the nation's No. 1 seafood — Americans typically eat about 4 pounds a year — and Louisiana is tops in U.S. shrimp production. Still, the shrimp market is global and only about 7 percent of shrimp consumed in the U.S. comes from the Gulf, according to the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group.
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