Seafood purveyors are keeping a watchful eye on the spreading oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and bracing for potential price increases on certain products. The full extent of the disaster isn't yet known, but some scenarios are deeply troubling. 'It looks like it's going to be a lot worse than what we first thought,' said Tom Patterson, owner of Foremost Seafood, which distributes seafood to restaurants and grocers and also operates a retail store in Kettering, Ohio. 'I'm more worried about next year and the year after that and the year after that. Springtime is when everything breeds down there, and if that stuff gets into those estuaries and kills off the babies, that's going to be devastating for the years to follow.' Dave Sauer -- area representative for seafood distributor Oceanwide Seafood, which sells seafood at Springboro, Ohio, and Dayton retail shops -- said impact on consumers will be 'minimal at first' but will likely affect products such as oysters and shrimp. As demand for oysters and shrimp from alternate sources rises, prices likely will rise as well, Sauer said. Louisiana is a leading provider of oysters, shrimp, crab and crawfish in the U.S., and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board told Nation's Restaurant News that about 23 percent of the state's shellfish production was in the path of the potential landfall of the oil spill. Patterson said he foresees potential impact on prices of crabs and oysters. Shrimp is available from dozens of other countries, so shortages are unlikely, he said. Jack Gridley, seafood and meat manager at Dorothy Lane Market's three stores in Oakwood, Washington Twp. and Springboro, said it's too soon to assess the impact the oil spill will have on his stores and its customers. But Gridley added: 'It's a bad day to be a Gulf fisherman.' Mark Fisher writes for the Dayton Daily News. E-mail: mfisher@DaytonDailyNews.com. 