While the fresh seafood supply in and around New Orleans is dying off as quickly as fish out of water, Denver-area wholesalers and restaurants said the impact on their business is small fry — for now.

The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries opened and closed the fish and shrimp seasons since the British Petroleum oil spill that has poured countless gallons of sludge into the Gulf of Mexico.

"It's the creatures that can't move — crabs, shrimp, oysters, crawfish — those are the ones that are most vulnerable," said Derek Figueroa, chief operating officer for Denver-based Seattle Fish Co., a large supplier of seafood to grocery stores and restaurants. "From a pricing perspective, we have seen increases most notably in shrimp. The effect on shrimp isn't just to shrimp from that area, but also farm-raised foreign shrimp due to speculation, and that it's unknown what's going to happen with the remaining quantity of gulf shrimp."

Figueroa said he's seen shrimp prices escalate 10 percent to 20 percent when his company goes back to vendors to restock supplies. "They farm so much shrimp outside the U.S. that they won't run out. Some customers have tried to do a large-quantity buy to make sure they have enough volume."

Shanahan's Steakhouse operating partner Marc Steron says he's felt the financial pinch on shrimp pricing from his cost, which has increased $1 to $2 per pound.