ORIENTAL, Pamlico County — When it comes to the pandemic, restaurants are among the businesses taking the biggest financial hit.

Now, those with seafood on the menu have an added challenge on their plates. Owners of The Chelsea, Mj's Raw Bar and Grille, and other New Bern restaurants say seafood prices, crab in particular, have soared, and it's incredibly hard to get right now.

At MJ's Raw Bar and Grille, Manager Ben Lentz says crab in particular is difficult to get, and what they can get is priced 60% higher than usual. The reasoning for this points directly to supply and demand, starting with limited crab supply.

"Crabbing has been really slack. Very, very slack this year," explained fisherman and owner of Endurance Seafood Keith Bruno.

Bruno said the combination of colder and wetter weather has put fishermen like himself behind 5-6 weeks this season with crab, shrimp and blue fish. He's worked in the industry for over 18 years and has never seen anything like this season when it comes to supply.

"Specifically for crabbing I have never seen it this late," Bruno said.

With supply low, Bruno has to sell certain seafood like crab at a steep price for his business to stay afloat.

"Sometimes it’s hard to look at somebody and say ‘well our soft crabs are $5 a piece.’ But it’s what the market will bear, and it’s definitely a supply-and-demand-type situation," he said.

Usually crabs sell for 2-3 dollars each. Bruno suspects demand is even higher given people's excitement to be back in restaurants and the extra stimulus cash to spend.

"People know that they’re really so good. Mother’s Day’s coming up. People are going to treat themselves. It’s going to be a good week to be in the market side of crabs and seafood."

Bruno said the jump is helping him catch up from the long year of restaurants not serving pricey food during the pandemic. Restaurant owners, on the other hand, say to expect crab dishes to be limited and expensive for the time being.