One of the underlying goals of this project is to provide a narrative about the seafood you receive. Describing the process – how seafood gets ‘from boat to fork’ – is an important part of this goal, as it adds transparency and meaning to the concept of ‘local.’
Since the beginning of our initiative we have been working with Carteret Catch, a coastal non-profit, to create a locally relevant model that utilizes existing infrastructure and balances the needs of fishermen and consumers alike. To start, the community-supported fishery (CSF) will be small. It is, more then anything, a ‘proof of concept’ designed to illustrate its potential to consumers, fishermen, and the larger community.
This season, the CSF itself is being orchestrated by Bill Rice, owner and operator of Fishtowne, a small, Beaufort-based processing facility. We are working with Bill for multiple reasons. In addition to having a HAACP-certified processing facility and access to transportation, he is a member of Carteret Catch, well respected in the community, and has a clear vision for the future of North Carolina’s commercial fishing sector.
As the pilot project gets underway, the next stage of our initiative is to bring interested fishermen to the table to develop further strategies for the future.
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Carlyle Gilgo, Coastal Seafood |
COASTAL SEAFOOD, Sea Level, NC - CATCH: FLOUNDER
The Southern Flounder that you received in your Walking Fish CSF share this week was primarily caught by fishermen in Sea Level, NC. Some of the fishermen that caught this week’s fish were Aaron Salter, Danny Davis, Richard Hamilton, Brandon Gavatti, and Cecil Simons. They brought their fresh catch to Carlyle Gilgo, who is the owner of Coastal Seafood. Carlyle is also a fisherman and has owned Coastal Seafood since 1992. We are at the beginning of the flounder season so many of these fishermen are in the process of setting up their pound nets. Some have already set them up an d used this fishing method to catch our first week of flounder. Others used regulation size gill nets.
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Paul Russel
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PAUL RUSSEL
Paul Russell provided the clams for the Walking Fish CSF shares. Paul has 14.29 acres of bottomland that he manages for clam harvest. He has three leases, one his father bought in 1961, one he bought in the late nineties, and another he leases from the state. Paul re-seeds his leases twice a year, which allows him to harvest nearly all year. Stormwater runoff, created during rain events, can force Paul to close his leases until the water quality returns to a suitable level. The water near Paul’s leases is sampled by the Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality Section after storm events and tested for bacteria. He has seen the number of shellfish harvest closures increase throughout his career.
If his leases are closed, Paul will harvest wild clams from the shores of Shackleford Banks or other estuarine areas near Beaufort that he knows are productive. The pictures below were taken in August on one of his harvest trips to Shackleford Banks. On this trip we collected 200 clams, which is a small harvest. Knowing where to go to find the clams, especially the right size clams, was Paul’s response when I asked him “What is the hardest thing about being a clammer?” When I asked him what was the best part about being a clammer, Paul listed being outside and being self-sufficient as reasons.
You may recognize Paul from the CSF pick-ups, because he is also the driver of the refrigerated truck that delivers our CSF seafood.
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Aron Styron Jr. (above) Phillip Styron (right)
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STYRON FAMILY
The Styron family has a long history of commercial fishing in Cedar Island, NC. The family has lived in Cedar Island for hundreds of years and has historically been supported by fishing. Aron Styron Jr. and his son, Aron Styron III, are the most recent members of the family to fish in the Pamlico Sound.
During the fall, the Styrons fish using pound nets. Pound netting involves using a long series of nets to guide fish into an enclosure which then directs fish into a net that fishermen pull into their boats to collect the fish. The Styrons set-up their pound nets in September and fish until the end of November or December. The gear and techniques they use have been passed down through their family and they add new gear and nets when necessary. Pound nets are an efficient method for catching bottom-dwelling fish such as flounder.
The species of fish that the Styrons catch depends on the time of year and weather, but flounder is the most common fish to catch in a pound net. The Styrons have provided flounder and black drum for the CSF. Phillip Styron, who is another Cedar Island native, fishes with Aron Jr. and Aron III. The pictures below were taken while the Styrons were fishing for flounder.
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LARRY KELLUM
Larry grew up in the small fishing hamlet of Marshallberg, NC, located east of Beaufort. He currently resides in the nearby community of Bettie. He keeps his boat in the Marshallberg harbor, and works out of that area during the spring and summer months, sometimes making trips to Pamlico Sound to catch shrimp. In the fall of the year, he runs his boat to McClellanville, SC and works there through the fall months. During the winter and early spring, he has a shellfish lease in North River where he grows and harvests oysters. He participates in the NC Division of Marine Fisheries' polluted oyster relaying program, where under the guidance of the division he goes to polluted shellfish areas and takes up oysters, moving them to his lease. The lease remains closed during this time to allow the oysters to "purge" any impurities until the divisions runs tests to determine the oysters are safe for human consumption.
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