Hurricane Sandy affects Albany seafood prices - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Hurricane Sandy affects Albany seafood prices

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ALBANY, GA (WALB) -

With the northeast still cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy, south Georgia seafood eaters may feel some of the storm's effects.

Some areas of Chesapeake Bay were closed to oyster harvesting for a few days, and some fishermen missed some time on the water.

It is standard protocol to prohibit oyster harvesting when an inch or more rain falls in a 24-hour period.

But that has hurt the supply, which means you could be paying more for oysters here in South Georgia.

Superstorm Sandy not only caused extensive damage to the northeast, but it adversely affected seafood consumers in Albany.

The next time you stop in AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar, you may notice some price adjustments.

"The hurricane has affected us, and the prices have gone up on certain things," says Jeremy Hancock, AJ's Seafood and Oyster Bar Manager.

Hancock attributes those prices to superstorm Sandy. In some parts of the northeast, oyster harvesting was closed because of possible contamination problems.

"It is just the fact that fisherman can't get out there and do their jobs, so therefore it causes a back up of product, and we end up having to suffer the backlash and pay the price for it," says Hancock.

And they've had to pass those price increases along to their customers.

"The oysters, we had to raise our prices a little bit, they went up a $1, $1.50 per dozen," says Hancock.

And some customers are noticing the price adjustments.

"I have had people say something, they just haven't complained about it, they realize that prices do change, things do go up," says Hancock.

He says as soon as prices readjust, customers should notice their oyster prices return to normal.

"That's why everything on our menu is written black magic marker so we can erase it and wipe it back off just as soon as we can," says Hancock.

Customers hope that happens soon.

He says it could take about 4 to 6 weeks before prices return to normal. Hancock says they also has to find new vendors for some products including flounder, grouper, and snapper.