Feeling the pinch: Crab leg shortage has Myrtle Beach buffets, seafood markets scrambling
There are constants in Myrtle Beach that tourists can always count on: miniature golf courses, beachwear store bargains, fireworks for sale and crab legs at buffets.
Well, they all used to be constants.
Myrtle Beach is experiencing a snow crab leg shortage, and wholesalers, retailers, restaurants and hungry customers are feeling the pinch.
Seafood markets and eateries are scrambling to find the delectable crustaceans that are in high demand, and are paying top dollar if they’re fortunate enough to procure them.
“The prices have gone crazy, and it’s not a matter of how much you can pay for these, it’s whose got them,” said Ted Hammerman, owner of the Mr. Fish seafood market and Mr. Fish restaurant.
It’s a national shortage, but few if any destinations go through as many crab legs as Myrtle Beach.
The Seven Seas Seafood market in Murrells Inlet ran out of snow crabs but has some arriving soon. Owner Chris Conklin has been selling more Dungeness and king crab in their absence.
“They all want crab legs,” Conklin said. “Everybody gets their stimulus check and goes and buys good food. They bought up all the crab legs and we’re waiting on the fishery, for the snow crab at least, to reopen and get the market back on track.”
Easter week is a busy time for area restaurants, including buffets, and the spring in general has been busier than normal at the beach, contributing to the shortage.
“There are a couple buffets that have run out this week. I can’t tell you which ones, but we’re getting a lot of calls asking, ‘Have you run out of crab legs’ or ‘Do you have crab legs’, so obviously somebody is running out,” said John Long, assistant manager at Captain George’s Seafood Restaurant. “We are trying to get ahead of it. These couple weeks every year we’re busy and we’re in between one year’s harvest and the next and it’s kind of touch and go.”
Conklin said he is now paying the price for snow crabs that he was retailing them for last year.
“They’ve more than tripled in price over the last five years,” said Conklin, who estimates the shortage will continue for at least a few more weeks. “A lot of big purveyors who I usually get them from are out.”
Late March is often a down time in the harvesting of crab legs in both Alaska and Canada, so supplies are often stressed this time of year. There have also reportedly been processing issues, perhaps in relation to the coronavirus pandemic.
“We don’t know the exact source of the processor issues but they’re blaming it on COVID at least,” Long said.
Snow and king crab prices have been increasing in recent years, and experienced another spike with the shortage this year. Many restaurants have increased their buffet prices slightly to offset the increased crab prices.
Some buffets, including Seafood World on North Kings Highway, have resorted to selling crab legs by the pound rather than all-you-can-eat to both protect their supply and make up for the increased price.
Mr. Fish sells the crab legs at its retail seafood market and serves them in the restaurant. Hammerman leveraged the amount of money he spends annually with a wholesale vendor in order to get a shipment delivered on Friday.
“If you do a bunch of business yearly with a certain vendor, then you use that, ‘Hey, let’s take care of the home folks,’ ” Hammerman said. “We just got a bunch of them in.”
Most restaurants sell snow crabs from Alaska, which are harvested in the Bering sea, but snow crabs from Canada and Russia are alternatives. Captain George’s only serves Alaskan crab but Long said some other buffets will resort to Canadian crab legs that are generally a little smaller in a time of crisis.
Mr. Crab in North Myrtle Beach, which specializes in seafood boils, has managed to obtain a large amount of Canadian snow crab legs and is running a special on those, though it also has some Alaskan crab, according to front house manager Kristian Elliott. She said the restaurant is having difficulty finding king crab, however.
Some good news for snow crab leg lovers: the Alaska Department of Fish and Game in October set the 2020/21 Bering Sea District snow crab fishery total allowable catch at 45 million pounds, which is up from 34 million pounds last year.
The Alaskan government department sets the limits after biologists perform a stock assessment analysis.
Snow crabs from Canada are harvested out of the New Brunswick province. Fishing there was impacted by the coronavirus last year, resulting in fewer being caught.
New Brunswick Crab Processors Association president Gilles Thériault told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that more than 10 percent of the annual snow crab quota was left in the water in 2020, or between $40 million and $50 million worth of product.
The 2021 snow crab season was expected to start up to four weeks early in early April with the help of icebreaker boats, according to the CBC.
While the Canadian season extends into late June, it could be cut short in many areas by the arrival of endangered North Atlantic right whales, which can get entangled in fishing gear or struck by boats. Crab harvesting is prohibited in areas where right whales are seen.
If the crab shortage isn’t alarming enough, there is also a shortage of chicken wings.
The chicken wing supply decreased and demand increased last year. The temporary shutdown of meatpacking plants in 2020 because of the coronavirus caused a reduction in meat production, and restaurants served 7 percent more chicken wings in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the National Chicken Council, perhaps because of the increased amount of take out restaurants have done.
“I know if we order 500 pounds they’re only sending us 300 pounds,” said Bar Louie owner Thomas Stevens, who orders from the Sysco food service.
This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 4:29 PM.
