PilotOnline.com announced today that Dare County is preparing to launch a branding program called the “Outer Banks Catch” to help raise awareness about locally caught seafood and inform customers of the seasonality of seafood.
“This is really going to help the fishermen educate the general public, which is ultimately going to help the commercial fisherman,” said Jamie Reibel, a member of the county’s working watermen committee. The article points out that vast majority of seafood eaten in the U.S. actaully comes from overseas. There is a drastic difference in taste between frozen shipped seafood and fresh, locally caught seafood; the latter being much more tasty…and healthy.
Last year local fishermen caught about 22.7 million pounds of seafood in Dare County. That much seafood translate into about $23 million dollars. However, most of that catch is shipped off to New York and other ports. The goal of this program is to ultimately increase demand for local seafood.
The goal is to have the campaign ready to present to the community by April 2010.
On your next trip to the Outer Banks try to buy local seafood, you’ll notice the difference!
