Fuel costs breached $4 a gallon in parts of Duval County Monday. The surge is affecting seafood costs, forcing businesses to consider raising prices to stay open.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Gas prices have blown past $4 dollars at several different pumps as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.
Some gas stations in Duval County were boasting big numbers Monday, with prices reaching $4.29 for a gallon of regular.
At Mayport C&C Fisheries in Atlantic Beach, manager Joshua Harris said he watched the numbers climb for over a year. He said the business receives anywhere from 600 to 2,000 pounds of fresh fish every day, six days a week, shipped in by boat and flown into Miami before making it to Northeast Florida.
Every leg of that journey now costs more.
“The prices have definitely been increasing,” Harris said.
He estimates fish prices have risen anywhere from 50 cents to two dollars per pound on whole fish. By the time it gets to a restaurant as a filet, he said, that number often doubles. The fuel charges from shipping and fishing companies, charges he has little control over, get folded straight into what his customers pay.
“I think it’s a heavy burden for everyone, for the people that come in to buy from us, and people we sell to and deliver fish to,” Harris said. “It increases their cost on the bottom line, increases the plate cost when people go out and eat at restaurants.”
Mayport C&C delivers to restaurants and markets across Northeast Florida, from Fernandina Beach down to Palm Coast, out to Orange Park. That means the cost increase isn’t contained to one shop. It spreads across every menu and every seafood counter they supply.
Harris said his customers are complaining. He doesn’t blame them, but there isn’t much anyone can do about it right now.
“There’s no options that we have,” he said.
So far this year, the fishery hasn’t raised its prices to customers, but Harris said that’s coming, probably within the next month. And when it does, his message to the people he serves will be simple and direct.
“This is what we have to do to stay in business,” he said.
The broader concern isn’t just today’s prices. It’s what happens if the situation doesn’t ease up.
“If it keeps going up, there will definitely be a decrease in sales.” Harris added, “It can’t just keep going up.”
