KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, JUNE 30, 2010 / NEWS
ENVIRONMENT
3
Seafood costs prone to rise after oil spill
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
cthibodeaux@kansan.com
twitter.com/c_thibodeaux
The effects of the oil spill will soon make their way to other parts of the country, potentially increasing seafood prices.
Brian Phillips, meat and seafood department manager at the Community Mercantile, 901 Iowa St., said the United States only gets about two to four percent of seafood from the Gulf of Mexico. But the oil spill is the beginning of one long ripple effect.
Lawrence seafood retailers said they didn't seen ill effects so far, but knew they could have trouble obtaining resources.
"As far as seafood in the United States goes, it's in an OK place, I guess," Phillips said. "The worst part about where it is that it's destroying the bottom part of the food chain, which moves its way up very rapidly."
The Merc only buys one product from the gulf: farm-raised crawfish around Mardi Gras season. About 65 percent of its food is imported, the majority from Alaska.
According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Foundation, the spill will affect wild shrimp and snappers from the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic, wild Eastern oysters, groupers, and U.S. farmed oysters and shrimp.
According to the Ocala Star Banner in Ocala, Florida, gulf shrimp prices have shot up by 50 percent while oyster prices have increased by 33 percent.
Many companies in the gulf, including small, family businesses, have faced hardship because of the oil spill.
Ted Nguyen, general manager and co-owner of Angler's Seafood House, said he expected businesses around
the country to experience the same problems if the spill wasn't contained soon.
"It's almost out of sight and out of mind for us here," Nguyen said. "The only time the consumers here in Lawrence are going to feel it is in their pocketbook."
The seafood industry is in prime harvesting season right now, and the supply is still intact, Nguyen said. Once the demand outweighs the supply, naturally prices are going to go up.
"Now people are more aware of the spill," Nguyen said, "But they're not as aware of what's going to happen to the supply simply because there's still a supply."
With the gulf in its present condition, marine wildlife is pushed into a smaller area, giving predators a greater concentration of prey. Ngyuen said this would eventually contribute to a diminished supply.
"It's like if they took us all in Lawrence and crammed us on Mass. Street," Ngyuen said. "It's unnatural balance."
KU Dining Services hasn't finished its menu for the fall, and assistant director of retail dining Alecia Stultz said she wasn't sure how seafood supply would be affected next semester.
"Since we're not ordering the product and don't exactly know what we're going to be using, we can adapt our menus accordingly and get what we need from other sources," Stultz said.
Nguyen said the whole situation was frustrating because the use of oil, among other resources, caused this mess. The costs, he said, have far outweighed the benefits.
"Whoever is to blame is to blame" he said. "But we're all going to suffer because of it."
To read a break down about the BP oil spill, see Richelle Buser's story on PAGE 6.
Brian Phillips, meat and seafood department manager at the Community Mercantile, 901 Iowa St., says his inventory has seen little effect from the oil spill in the gulf. Although the United States seafood industry only depends on the effected region for two to four percent of its seafood, many local retailers know the disaster could cause problems for them in the future.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN
What do you think? BY SARAH HENRY
What do you think should be done about the oil spill in the gulf?
NATHAN BOEHR
Senior
"I think the government probably shouldn't have to worry about it. I think BP should take care of it themselves. It'd be nice if there was extra money for the government to help out, but overall I think BP should take care of it."
MARGAUX DEROUX Graduate student
"I'm Alaskan, so we've had oil spill experience. I think we need to be devoting conscious effort to repair the damage that's been done and to think critically about the system and patterns that contributed to the situation in the first place. As a nation we need to reduce our dependency upon oil and allow ourselves to consider renewable energy sources as valid options."
JOSH ROCHA Sophomore
"I don't really have a strong opinion one way or the other. They should probably be doing the best they can to regulate and keep the overall chaos level under control and keep people from overreacting.Well, not overreacting, because it is a big deal, but just keep things calm.Do everything they can to clean up and fix it."
To read what more KU students think, see kansan.com