Fresh Oysters (photo by Seemann, courtesy of morgueFile.com)

The impact of the massive oil spill in the Gulf won’t be limited to just those coastal inhabitants who earn their living from bountiful seafood harvests. Everyone who enjoys Gulf shrimp, oyster or crab dishes and the restaurants who serve them can expect prices to soar as shortages develop.

The Houston Chronicle quotes Jim Gossen, president and CEO of Louisiana Foods and someone who has been in the seafood business for 40 years, "There's already an extreme shortage of oysters. The diminishing supply of product is causing something of a frenzy.”

Gossen worries that restaurants will start taking favorite Gulf seafood dishes off their menus, and diners will begin to avoid regional delicacies. The worrisome situation is compounded by a recent determination by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department's Coastal Fisheries Division that Gulf shrimp are unseasonably small and need more time to grow. The Division will close the commercial shrimp season on May 15th and reopen it at some point in July.

Cajun crawfish should be spared the fate of seafood from the Gulf. According to an article on Viet-Cajun restaurants in the Boston Globe:

While there is great concern for the impact of the Gulf Coast oil spill on saltwater shellfish and fin fish, there is no expectation that it will affect Louisiana crawfish. Farmed Louisiana crawfish is raised inland in freshwater with 99 percent of farms more than 10 miles from the Gulf. Wild crawfish also live in freshwater six to 100 miles inland.

To view the Houston Chronicle report cited above, go to: Crab on your menu? Prepare for a pinch

To view the Boston Globe article cited above, go to: Here come the Asian Cajuns

To follow American Feast on Facebook go to: American Feast on Facebook

To follow American Feast's Founder on Twitter go to: Jeff Deasy on Twitter

For information related to the purchase of advertising space and editorial coverage on the American Feast web site call Jeff Deasy toll free at 877-332-7875 or email him at jdeasy@americanfeast.com