Post-superstorm, it may be a while until Atlantic fish are once again shipped to restaurants and groceries across the country.
Atlantic fishing operations and shipments by air and highway from the East Coast are on hold, battering the supply of popular catches, including lobster, crab, salmon, cod, haddock and Prince Edward Island mussels … The shortage has left restaurateurs with a choice when it comes to certain seafood — frozen or nothing …
Seafood not from the East Coast, such as farm-raised salmon, isn’t in short supply.
With 20-plus years in wholesaling, [Frank] Gonzalez has seen his share of storm-inflicted food shortages, but he expects Hurricane Sandy to be among the most damaging to his business.
Aside from transport troubles, there’s the question of how badly battered fish were by Sandy. In Florida, the hurricane swept a load of sea creatures into one coastal restaurant — but that did nothing to help business, let alone the creatures. Elsewhere, the catch hasn’t been so easy — in Ocean City, Md., for one, the fishing pier was seriously damaged.
The Asbury Park Press has a decidedly inside-fishing-baseball take:
[T]he storm is having a big impact on anglers … one that will be felt well after Sandy departs.
The tempest has roiled all the local waters and it’s tough to tell when things will quiet down enough for the fish to start biting again. The bass and bluefish blitzes that were on the beaches have been pretty much been blown up by the weather.
The tempest has roiled us indeed. Not that seafood is anyone’s top concern post-Sandy, but the storm has made it harder to obtain for people across the country even if they have electricity, dry roads, and open restaurants.
