VALDOSTA —
Something fishy is going on and it’s not catfish that’s being cooked this Fourth of July.
Fish markets and seafood restaurants in the area are seeing changes in their business due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The oil spill, which began April 20, comes from a sea floor oil gusher that resulted from a Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion. The oil rig, owned by Transocean Ltd. was being leased by British oil giant BP PLC at the time. The rig explosion injured 17 workers and killed 11.
The explosion and subsequent oil spill also took away the livelihood of many fishermen around the Gulf Coast.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries Services, as of June 23, some 78,597 square miles of the Gulf had been closed to fishing due to the oil spill.
Recently, the U.S. Commerce Department declared a fisheries disaster covering the entire Gulf of Mexico, including Florida.
Dixon Goff, owner of Oyster Bar Fish Market in Valdosta, said that his business is seeing some effects from the oil spill.
“It has affected (the) price,” Goff said. “We get 90 percent of our stuff off the coast of Florida. We’ve already seen the demand for oysters. Everybody wants to eat them before they get ruined.”
According to Goff, the price of shrimp went from 50 cents to 60 cents per pound. Oysters have gone from about $10 to $12 a bushel. Oysters are now going for around $45 a bushel and $28 a quart.
Crystal River Seafood General Manager Brad Smith said that they have also had a hard time getting oysters.
“You can’t blame these fishermen because they can get bigger prices for their stuff right now. I can’t blame them,” Goff said. “Fishermen, what people don’t understand is, it’s a very poor industry. It’s not like you have any millionaire fishermen.”
“(We get our stuff) right off the Florida coast. We used to get snapper (fish) from Panama City and they are about to shut that down,” Goff added.
The Oyster Bar Fish Market, which has been in operation since 1952, knows that the seafood supply has been cut short due to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Supply is already cut short,” Goff said. “We never did use any seafood out of Louisiana because it doesn’t taste as good as Florida seafood. But a lot of people did use seafood out of Louisiana and now they can’t get it. They’re having to come to Florida and so our supply has been cut drastically. They ain’t stopping it. If they stopped it, they could probably save the Florida coast. They’re not stopping it and soil is still seeping out.”
Karla Simpson, owner of Karla’s Fish & Crab, feels like the oil spill may have caused business to be a little slow lately.
“It’s slow anyway, but I feel like it might have (affected business) a little bit,” Simpson said. “It’s really hard because it’s already slow in the summer time, but a lot of people are asking.”
According to an Associated Press article, Louisiana State University recently polled residents around the Gulf. The poll found that 57 percent of the residents said “they were less likely to buy local seafood because of the spill.”
According to Simpson, Karla’s Fish & Crab is still getting fish, but she believes that a lot of it is coming from the East Coast. They still get some of their other products from the Florida coast, such as crabs.
“(People) are coming in and asking if the fish is being affected and I tell them that we are getting them from the East Coast,” she said.
“It’s critical, people don’t understand that it’s critical,” Goff said. “We’ve got our faith and trust in the good Lord, but it could be very well critical before it’s all over with.”
Quick Info
According to CNN, Susan Spicer, a famed New Orleans chef, is suing BP and Transocean on behalf of at least seven seafood suppliers and restaurants that have had their businesses damaged by the oil spill in the Gulf. Overall there are more than 200 lawsuits pending against BP because of the spill.
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Related Photos
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Karla Simpson and her son, Kanan, show oysters pulled from Florida’s coast. Paul Leavy
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Karla's Fish & Crab offers a wide variety of fresh seafood from Florida’s Gulf and Atlantic coasts, including crabs and oysters. Paul Leavy
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Karla Simpson holds a live crab, a favorite item for sale at her East Hill Avenue seafood business. Paul Leavy
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Kanan Simpson ices down fresh fish in the coolers at Karla's Fish & Crab on East Hill Avenue. Paul Leavy
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Paul Leavy | The Valdosta Daily Times Dixon Goff holds a fresh trout as he father, Robert, packages a customers order at the Oyster Bar Fish Market on North Oak Street in Valdosta.
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Dixon Goof holds a handful of Florida shrimp that have not been affected by the Gulf oil spill. Paul Leavy
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Oyster Bar Fish Market employee Victor Flanders sorts out oysters for a customer. The oysters are from Florida and are not affected by the oil spill. Paul Leavy
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Prices for oysters at the Oyster Bar Fish Market are changed on a regular basis as prices creep higher and higher due to the oil spill in the Gulf. Paul Leavy
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Robert Goff, right, packages regular customer Judy Graham's fish order at the Oyster Bar Fish Market on North Oak Street. Paul Leavy
Valdosta seafood industry braces for impact of Gulf oil spill
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