"There's a fish shortage ... it's like a pub with no beer," Parky's Takeaways owner Ray Parkinson said.
He is having to get his fish from Invercargill after local supplies of elephant fish dried up.
"People will say they've seen fish at the shop. There might be 2kg or 3kg, but when you use 100kg..."
On the Spot Four Js in Paroa is in the same boat. Owner Gerald Birch said Westfleet could not supply rig or elephant fish, so they had gone to Talley's to buy rig in the meantime.
"We can't chop and change our fish all the time. We don't want to start selling other kinds," he said.
"We're going to have to explain to every customer that asks us about the price. We'd be lucky to make 10% on fish."
Shop owners are being told the supply will not be back until mid to late October, meaning some have had no choice but to put their prices up to adjust to increasing costs.
Gina Hawton at the Blackball General Store said they had not been able to get gurnard, which was what they normally sold, so they had substituted with terakihi and snapper.
The Top Shop in Runanga has had to switch from elephant fish to rig.
Owner Brenda Sandrey said rig was at least $100 more expensive per box.
"I won't be changing the price for that time."
Also in Runanga, Mac's Store and Takeaways has just changed from elephant to gurnard.
"This happens every year with elephant," owner Robyn McMillan said.
The change had increased costs but they were not looking at lifting prices again after only recently putting them up.
"We'll just have to keep sucking it up."
Munesh and Archana Reddy took over ownership of On the Spot Cobden Takeaways four months ago and are using flake now, which is still in supply.
"It's very hard for fish and chip businesses because of price increases," Mr Reddy said.
They were told it might be the end of October before elephant fish was in supply again.
"We're not going to put prices up at the moment ... (but) at some stage it's going to have to come up."
"We have to think about the locals as well," Archana Reddy said.
Greymouth fisherman and vice-president of the Federation of Commercial Fishermen, Allan Rooney, said government restrictions and regulations had affected the Greymouth fleet size, particularly the smaller inshore vessels.
"There use to be 30 boats in Greymouth, now there is myself on the Tanea, the Oragon and the Jay Elaine that do inshore. There are none of us left - things have got too tough for the wee guys, they were squeezed out."
Additionally, the shortage is compounded by the recent hoki season, which had seen most vessels turn their attention further out to sea.
"Everyone has been chasing hoki, there have been nearly no boats looking for inshore fish," Mr Rooney said.
"The hoki was really good this year so everyone hung in there getting as much as they could until the quota was done. There's only one boat left with any hoki quota to catch."
He noted that the quota year ends on September 30 and renews on October 1, so by now, in-mid September, many quotas such as elephant fish already had been reached.
- By Meg Fulford and Arianna Stewart
