At Slim's Fishing Camp in Belle Glade, Florida lake levels may be up but business is not.

"There for a while since Wilma it was a low lake level. Then the gas prices. Then bad fishing. Then we got water in the lake and the fishing went up. And now the economy went down," says manager Howard Kleman.

The economy has taken a big bite out of all sorts of businesses around Lake Okeechobee, but some of the biggest teeth marks have been left in an industry with big teeth of its own. The alligator trade.

Alligator skins, which used to sell for $30 or more per foot are now fetching only five to ten dollars, if that.

It's a drop of 75%.

The global recession has practically eliminated demand for expensive alligator purses, belts, shoes and wallets and it may not get any better any time soon.

Next month marks the beginning of alligator hunting season, which means there will be thousands of more reptile skins on the market, more supply with virtually no demand.

"We have 6,000 permits that we issue and they're all gone," says the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Gabriella Ferraro.

The FWC says this year's hunt, already a sell-out, indicates there's no lack of enthusiasm for hunting gators, but the reptile recession is clearly trickling its way down from the sophisticated boutiques of Asia and Europe to the rural swamps of Florida.

At $275-dollar per permit and more than $1,000 for out-of -state residents, trappers and processors have a warning for this year's gator hunters.

"It's just a sport now. It's not to try to make any money out of it," says Kleman. "You're lucky if you get your money back."

Ricky Kramer, a Palm Beach County licensed trapper for the FWC, says he has more than 200 alligator hides sitting in cold storage North Florida waiting for a market turn-around.

Still, he concedes that likely hinges on the overall economy.