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"We don't have no excess to be sending stuff anywhere else," he said. Despite the price spike, it's unclear if the trend will help the industry in the long run, said John Williams, executive director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, an advocacy group. It's not known yet how much the spill will harm the national supply, he said. "If we are down substantially, I'm sure importers will try to step in and take some of the market share," Williams said. In some cases, they already have. James Clarkson, a chef at Clawson's 1905 Restaurant & Pub in Beaufort, N.C., has started importing shrimp from Asia instead of purchasing from Gulf fishermen. The restaurant serves about 200 pounds of shrimp a week, he said. Since the spill, a 50-pound case of shrimp has jumped more than 60 percent in price. "As soon as they had the accident, prices went right up," Clarkson said. "That cuts into the profits of our restaurant. It was killing us." Doug Cross, owner of Grantsboro, N.C.-based seafood distributor Pamlico Packing Co., said potential profits for shrimpers from "panic buying" could be short-lived if restaurants determine their catch is too expensive and take the seafood off their menus. "It can fall off a cliff, crash," Cross said. "Restaurants can't afford up to so much for shrimp ... Somewhere there's a ceiling."
[Associated
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