Head to one of New Orleans' most popular grocery stores, and you may have trouble finding evidence that Louisiana is the nation's No. 2 seafood producer.

Why it matters: Industry supporters are working to increase local demand for local seafood, but it can still be maddeningly hard to find when all you want to do is get dinner on the table.

The big picture: Most people in the metro do their grocery shopping at a small handful of stores, data shows.

• Most, like Walmart and Winn-Dixie, have hundreds of locations across the U.S., and source their seafood by the millions of pounds, says Julie Falgout with Louisiana Sea Grant.
• That creates a disconnect between most local shoppers and Louisiana's seafood industry, which is largely comprised of small businesses.

How it works: "It's usually somebody behind a computer making deals, getting the best price for the size [of a specific product] they want," she tells us.

• Then, once a store cuts a deal for what they want, it ends up in warehouses that serve an entire region, Falgout says.
• "You don't have that many stores down here anymore that buy directly from local fishermen or local docks or processors."

Yes, but: Rouses is one, Falgout says.

• The Louisiana-born market is known in the industry for buying up fresh Gulf shrimp when it's in season.
• "If it's fished here, [we buy] here first," says Rouses Market seafood director Denise Englade. But it's not easy: The company identifies local fishermen, then introduces them to distributors who get products from docks to warehouses before they're shipped to one of Rouses' stores.

Overall, Falgout says, "it's gotten more difficult over time because it's all about sourcing, convenience and price."

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Louisiana's seafood industry has a conundrum: The state is the No. 2 producer of seafood by volume, but only the No. 4 producer by value, data shows.

• Translation? Louisiana seafood isn't priced in a way to compete with the "luxury" status of products like Maine lobster or Alaskan salmon, says ULL researcher Geoffrey Stewart.
• Most locals don't even know what they're eating is imported.

Zoom in: The industry wants to change that, he says, and Louisiana lawmakers have passed legislation to try to help by requiring restaurants to label where they're getting their product.

• "When [chefs] leverage where the product comes from, people are willing to pay for it," Stewart says. "Preservation of culture isn't just something we document . ... Preservation is also participation in the culture."

One place that's trying to do it right is Porgy's Seafood Market.

• "We'd been talking for years about how hard it was to find a place to buy fresh, wild-caught local seafood in the city," says co-owner Marcus Jacobs. "We want everybody to have access to the same stuff restaurants have access to."
• The Mid-City spot is half restaurant and half market, with a display case stuffed with fresh, in-season filets straight off the boat and a tight menu focused on highlighting the same bounty.

The bottom line: "It's on consumers to ask questions and demand local stuff," Jacobs says. "Vote with your dollars."

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🎶 Ed Sheeran surprised fans by doing a street performance with The Soul Rebels in the French Quarter. (Watch the video.)

• Here's a first-hand account from Keith Spera at the Times-Picayune.

🌪️ A tornado outbreak claimed at least 35 lives in the South over the weekend. (Axios)

• Kentwood (drone video) and Tylertown, Miss., (photos) were hit pretty hard. The Cajun Navy is heading to Mississippi to help.

👀 Louisiana's first execution in more than a decade is back on schedule for tomorrow, after a federal court vacated a preliminary injunction. (AP)

🏛️ Mayor LaToya Cantrell used her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself during a hearing Friday about police promotions. (WWL)

A plumber died in Kenner after the tunnel he was working in collapsed under a home. (Fox 8)

Didn't get enough St. Paddy's partying over the weekend? Today's options:

🥬 Eat corned beef and cabbage at these restaurants.

🎉 Go to a block party at Tracey's, Parasol's or Chafunkta Brewing.

🤩 The Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day Club has a party at Annunciation Square. (Details)

🇮🇪 Finn McCool's has a "wee parade" at 6pm, along with its annual bash. (Details)

🥃 Get a drink at the Irish Cultural Museum or Erin Rose. (More pubs)

🎉 The Downtown Irish Club Parade rolls at 6:30pm. (Route)

🎶 Listen to Irish-inspired music at BJ's Lounge. (Details)

What we're watching: The Irish Channel St. Patrick's Day Parade organizers tell us they are working with the city to find a new date to roll.

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We might all be Irish today, but only 5.7% of Orleans Parish residents have Irish ancestry, according to the U.S. Census.

The big picture: The United States had an average Irish ancestry of 9.5% in 2022.

Zoom in: St. Tammany Parish has one of the higher concentrations of Irish descendants in the state (13.2%).

• Jefferson Parish came in at 7.4%.
• West Carroll Parish is the most Irish (18.3%), while St. James Parish is the least (1.3%).

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