June 19, 2014 — Like a few types of seafood, America’s East Coast watermen are an endangered species. As environmental factors and overfishing continue to challenge their source of income, some watermen are turning to tourism and other careers. Fortunately, in North Carolina’s Outer Banks, people who earn a living from the sea are still blessed with access to the wide-open Atlantic. And they’ve become the chief suppliers of seafood for people living north of the Mason-Dixon Line.
Like so many watermen, Ashley O’Neal’s grandfather fished these waters, as did his father before him. O’Neal’s Sea Harvest is a commercial fishing operation in Wanchese, a tiny village on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks. Mr. O’Neal operates a fleet of boats that harvests seafood from the Atlantic Ocean, as well as the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds.
The 36-year-old oversees his family’s operation consisting of 30 watermen — that includes fisherman, crabbers and shrimpers — and up to 14 packers depending on the season. In May, their busiest month, the company shipped nearly 18,000 dozen softshell crabs to Northern cities from Washington, D.C., to Boston. The bulk of the crabs supply restaurants and markets in Baltimore, New York and Philadelphia, but restaurants in Pittsburgh are creating interesting dishes with soft-shell crabs — such as the soft-shell crab tostadas served earlier this season at Tamari.
There are eight commercial seafood operations in the Outer Banks. In addition to supplying wholesalers, they sell their fish and shellfish at small markets adjacent to where their boats unload the fresh catch of the day. You can’t get seafood any fresher than what you’ll see in these markets. It’s one of the best reasons to vacation in the Outer Banks.
“May and June are the key months for soft crabs,” explains Mr. O’Neal. “The blue hardshell crabs become plentiful in June, July and August. We’re bringing in shrimp in August, September and October. Beginning in September and through November, the flounder start running.”
Read the full story at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette