NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — With Easter weekend here, many are heading to seafood markets to stock up for their family gatherings, but a limited supply is sending some prices soaring.
Wayne Hess, the manager of American Seafood, said that this is a great time of year to be in business. “It’s Holy Week. It’s busy. Got a lot of practicing Catholics, and a lot of people in the city love seafood,” he said.
But Hess added the conditions are making it a little more challenging to meet the demand. “The catch is probably down about 80% of what it normally is,” he said, adding it has to do with the time of year. “Lent is a little earlier this year,” he said. So, the waters have not warmed up enough.
The limited supply of certain items has Hess turning down taking on higher prices.
“Crabs are extremely scarce this year. Price is extremely high. I refuse to pay the price that they want,” Hess said.
Higher prices are affecting a local favorite, crawfish.
Hess said crawfish are incredibly scarce and expensive right now, “Probably twice as high as they were this time last year.”
According to the latest data from WGNO’s Crawfish Price Index, the average cost per pound for live crawfish is just under five dollars, and for boiled crawfish, it’s more than seven dollars.
But Hess said we will start to see prices recover soon. “After we get past this holiday and the weather warms up a little bit, and water temperatures warm up, we’ll see a little bit more availability and a little price decrease.”
You can find more about American Seafood on its Facebook page.
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