On April 20, 2010, the Deep Horizon offshore drilling platform exploded killing 11 workers and sending what was the start of an estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

Oil soon washed on the gulf's shores and gulf fisheries quickly closed. Some believed seafood industries outside of the Gulf Coast would benefit. However, it was opportunity lost.

"Just because they weren't allowed to fish in the gulf doesn't mean we could catch more," says Seven Seas Fish Market owner Chris Conklin. For more than 30 years, his Murrells Inlet market has been selling fresh seafood. "The market was soon flooded with imported seafood, and our prices never really saw an increase."

Little River Fish House Manager Addis McGinn says the images seen around the world of the British Petroleum oil spill hurt more than helped. "A majority of our products go to Canada," says McGinn. "Everyone was scared to buy American seafood. No matter where it came from. The prices didn't go up because the demand wasn't near where we expected it."

Little River fisherman Jerry Hooks says there's not a single person or event to blame. "I understand that people were afraid to buy any fish from the United States. But there was no way for the public to differentiate where their seafood came from when ate at restaurants."

The South Carolina seafood industry fishes on a seasonal basis. In the gulf, fisherman can catch year round. "During our down time, the buyers we have move onto other products and other markets, and it's tough to get them back," added McGinn.

So when the spill happened, McGinn says buyers shifted to the markets they were already doing business with in South America, because the relationship was already in place and the assumption was all United States seafood was bad.

Do you think it's fair that Atlantic fisherman are mandated to only fish seasonally while Gulf of Mexico fisherman can fish year-round? Leave your thoughts below.