Carolina Seafood: Keeping it Fresh
Posted on | February 10, 2010 | 2 Comments
Duke University students and Carteret Catch, a fish industry marketing and education group in Carteret County, are teaming up to bring fresh North Carolina seafood to local markets. The collaboration is one of the latest community supported fisheries (CSF) programs to pop up in the United States. The goals are clear: increase access to locally harvested seafood, strengthen the local economy, and keep people talking about sustainability and local foods.
Initiated by students at Duke, the project called Walking Fish was launched this past Fall as a North Carolina’s first pilot CSF program. The seafood products offered through the program were chosen because the fisheries from which they came are managed for the long term and use gears that minimize negative effects on the ecosystem. Walking Fish partners are planning to use the program as a platform to demonstrate a growing demand for sustainable seafood. If they are successful, hopefully the fishing industry, regulators, and the local communities will be encouraged to work together to adopt policies and practices that further promote ecological sustainability.
Carteret Catch, a joint venture started in 2005 by fishermen and local restaurants, is looking to at sustainability from a different (but not inconsistent) angle. Its goal is to maintain fishing as a viable livelihood and preserve a culture that has existed along the Carolina coast for nearly four centuries. The Carteret Catch brand of seafood ensures consumers they are getting fresh seafood directly from local fishermen.
If you are fortunate enough to live within the range of Walking Fish or any other CSF, SOP encourages you to check it out. Ask questions about how healthy the populations of fish are and what gear was used to harvest the fish. And, enjoy fresh seafood that will be available reliably season after season, year after year.
Also, see SOP’s article on Maine’s first CSF.
Tags: Carteret County > community supported fisheries > Duke University > fisheries > North Carolina > ocean > seafood > sustainable > Walking Fish
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February 11th, 2010 @ 5:12 AM
wasn’t the university of North Carolina the ones that started this not Duke?
thats Tar Heels not Blue Devils
February 11th, 2010 @ 10:15 AM
UNC folks helped start the Carteret Catch group. The initial focus was getting fresh local seafood into the restaurants. The Duke team picked up on this initial success and started the Walking Fish CSF to give the general public access to Carteret Catch seafood.