(AP) -- U.S. shrimpers who comb seas unaffected by the oil-slickened Gulf are raising prices as demand for their catch rises, bringing a potential respite from some tough years.
Fishermen in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas, whose waters have not been affected by oil, say prices for their shrimp have gone up as processing plants that normally buy Gulf seafood turn to other docks for their supply.
Rutledge Leland is owner of Carolina Seafood in McClellanville,S.C. He said the price for frozen shrimp has increased about 30 percent in the last couple of months, a jump he said was aided by the April 20 Gulf spill. It has closed about a third of federal waters in the Gulf to fishing boats for fear of contaminated seafood.
While 90 percent of the shrimp consumed in the U.S. is imported from overseas, most domestic shrimp is caught in the Gulf.
(Copyright ©2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
