Boxes of "Fresh Seafood," each containing a bushel or thereabouts of Shrimp from Pamlico Sound, await pickup on the loading dock of a local fish-house (Garland Fulcher Seafood).
One of the commercial shrimp trawlers (the "Captain Jeff") peeks through the passageway while tied up at the fish-house dock.
Trucks of all sizes come in to pick up fresh-off-the-boat shrimp from Oriental's two fish-houses, mostly on the weekends when the boats come in to unload.
I'll try to do some more photos on the whole process of boats coming in, unloading and re-provisioning, and of the catches being processed.
A sad reality is that the very survivals of Oriental's two fish-houses (Garland Fulcher Seafood and Point Pride Seafood) are under threat from a host of factors, including global competition, diminished fishing stocks (and corresponding increased catch regulation), high fuel prices (upwards of $50,000.00 just to fill the tanks of a small commercial trawler), real estate values/land taxes that have led to the closing of so many fish-houses along the coast that boats have to go farther and farther (costing more non-fishing time and fuel) between fishing grounds and someplace to unload their catches.
Anyway, I am told that at least this year the size of the catch is larger than last year... and that last year's catch was larger than anyone has seen in a long time.
Look for future posts in what I suppose is becoming "this series."
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