At NOAA Fisheries, we know U.S. seafood is good for people, good for our planet, and good for our economy. But we know less about where it goes, how it gets there, and who benefits along the way. By definition, the shortest supply chains are achieved through direct marketing. Seafood harvesters engaged in direct marketing sell their wild-caught or farm-raised seafood directly to consumers, fish markets, restaurants, or institutions without going through a wholesaler or distributor. We caught up with direct marketing operations on the East and West Coasts to learn about how they are building community connections and increasing access to sustainable seafood.

Miss Gina's Fresh Shrimp: Building Relationships Across the Community

Captain Allen Smith has been shrimping off the coast of North Carolina since 1984. For decades, he sold his shrimp to the local fish house. When shrimp prices crashed in the mid-2000s, driving many shrimpers out of business, he wasn't ready to stop. On a whim, he and his then-wife set up a chair and an ice chest with 50 pounds of shrimp in front of their home on Highway 70. Gina was sold out of shrimp before Allen finished mowing the lawn.

Today, Miss Gina's Fresh Shrimp maintains a small roadside stand with a loyal customer base in Beaufort, North Carolina. Allen and his son, Thomas Smith, captain three day boats, shrimping primarily in Core and Pamlico Sounds and occasionally offshore. Thomas' wife, Monica Smith, handles the sales. The Smiths also employ a full-time deckhand and several part-time sales assistants.

At first, the customer base for Miss Gina's consisted of their neighbors in eastern Carteret County. But as word spread, the business attracted seafood lovers farther inland, as well as tourists visiting the shore to angle for their own seafood.

"Once we became a big name, I started noticing our shrimp were going everywhere," Monica explains. She clarifies that Miss Gina's doesn't ship--the customers transport the shrimp themselves. Eventually Monica bought a map of the United States and started adding a sticker each time a customer mentioned they were taking the shrimp home to a new state. "Last I checked we were only missing six states!"

Key to this expansion has been social media marketing. Monica posts photos of the fresh catch and advertises the products and prices daily. Customers can comment, message, or call with requests. They can then arrange to pick up the shrimp from the stand or from the box truck Miss Gina's drives to the towns of Goldsboro and Clayton most Saturdays. Recently, the business expanded to offering bay scallops and clams from other vessels and oysters from local farms.

Because she sells directly to customers, Monica has the freedom to set the prices week to week, depending on the catch. The flexibility of direct marketing, and the lasting relationships it creates with customers, strengthen the resilience of the business.

Direct marketing, Monica emphasizes, is all about relationships. ("I have phenomenal relationships with our customers!") She learns her regular customers' preferences and accommodates after-hours pick ups at the stand. And she ensures that Miss Gina's gives back to the local community, sponsoring fundraisers and organizing meal drives. The result is a base of customers who value the business's survival. "I have customers who will come buy extra shrimp from me if they know I need to move them, just to support us."

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market: Eating Locally to Sustain More than the Resource

Every Saturday, 10-15 local fishing families set up tents on the Tuna Harbor pier in San Diego's downtown waterfront. They sell their week's catch at an open-air market. Depending on the season, shoppers can find tuna, spiny lobster, rockfish, mackerel, and sea urchin, among many other species. The market includes a cutting booth for patrons who prefer not to filet their own fish. There's also a fish n' chips tent for patrons who are too hungry to wait until they get home.

Tuna Harbor Dockside Market encourages San Diegans to eat sustainably by eating locally, broadly, and seasonally. Jordyn Kastlunger, a third-generation harvester who also manages social media communications for the market, values how selling directly connects fishing communities to the public. "Supply chains don't start halfway up," she remarks. "They start with the fishermen."

The resilience of this strategy became evident during the pandemic. In 2020, precautionary restrictions shuttered restaurants, emptied grocery store shelves, and kept people in their homes (and kitchens). The persistence of the dockside market was a boon to both the fishermen and the community. Vessels that previously sold portions of their catch to restaurants suddenly had to rely on the Saturday market for all of their sales. Fortunately, there was increased demand to meet the increased supply.

The market quickly set up online ordering and curbside pick up and limited the flow of shoppers to the tents to comply with local COVID regulations. Customers waited up to 2 hours in line for local seafood they trusted. "People had more time to think about where their food came from," Jordyn explains. The market's fresh, local seafood attracted a wave of new customers who kept returning even as pandemic restrictions eased.

In August, Tuna Harbor Dockside Market celebrated 10 years of operations. Jordyn has seen progress in educating the community about local southern California seafood. She also feels the market has encouraged people who may be comfortable eating fruits and vegetables seasonally to eat seafood seasonally as well. Some customers still find it challenging to adapt to the changing product availability and the market's limited hours. But, she laughs, "At least they've stopped asking for salmon and trout!"

NOAA Supports Direct Seafood Marketing

NOAA Fisheries' National Seafood Strategy lays out our commitment to supporting a thriving domestic seafood economy that feeds people with healthy, sustainably managed seafood harvested from U.S. waters. NOAA Fisheries partnered with the University of Maine and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to launch the first-ever nation-wide survey of commercial fishermen who engage in direct marketing. Called the American Seafood Harvesters Marketing Practices Survey, the research will help fill one gap in our understanding of domestic seafood sales. The team first identified direct seafood marketers and then inquired about their strategies, expenses, employees, and products sold.

"While NOAA Fisheries has plenty of data on seafood exports, we don't know as much about where seafood goes within the United States. Better data could help us more effectively deploy the tools that we have as a federal agency-funding, policies, and technical assistance-and identify what else is needed," maintains Sarah Shoffler, NOAA Fisheries National Seafood Strategy Coordinator and one of the project leads. "This project is one piece of that larger puzzle."

Combining the responses with state and federal permitting data, the researchers estimate that at least 12 percent of U.S. commercial fishermen nationwide engage in some form of direct marketing.

Of the nearly 1,200 direct seafood marketing businesses that responded in detail, nearly 90 percent were family owned. They sold a great variety of seafood species, at different levels of processing, ranging from live to chilled, frozen, or canned. And 77 percent of their product was sold within 100 miles, confirming its role in the local seafood supply. The results represent a first step towards a better understanding of direct marketing strategies around the country. And the unique research partnership is a model for leveraging strengths of different organizations that will be critical to accomplishing the goals of the National Seafood Strategy.

That direct seafood marketing businesses differ regionally is unsurprising-this reflects the regional diversity of our fisheries and fishing communities. But another driver is the state-by-state variation in licensing regulations for seafood sales. Earlier this year, NOAA's National Sea Grant Law Center conducted a review of the laws governing direct seafood sales in 30 coastal and Great Lakes states. Comparing regulations between states can help policymakers identify best practices and model regulations for supporting direct seafood sales.

Our vision of a thriving domestic seafood economy motivates our focus on improving the resilience of our domestic seafood sector. Our nation's food systems are vulnerable to disruptions caused by pandemics, global conflicts, and natural disasters-all of which may be worsened by climate change. Diversifying our seafood supply chain can help hedge against such shocks. And shorter seafood supply chains can be easier to reconnect after an emergency, quickly resupplying communities with healthy seafood. Understanding these supply chains and the challenges unique to them is critical to shoring up resilience and supporting thriving seafood communities.

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