RCCI and Cooperative Extension work together to provide an economic boost statewide
Carteret County RCCI volunteers created a brand identity program — 'Carteret Catch' — to promote locally caught sea and sound products.
From our seacoast to the mountains, North Carolina Cooperative Extension works to help boost the economies of our state's small communities.
That means there's a better chance you'll know where to find genuine local seafood at the shore or enjoy a more visitor-friendly approach to hospitality when you visit the mountains.
For several years, Cooperative Extension has partnered in Rural Community College Initiative projects made possible by Ford Foundation-funded grants administered by the Southern Rural Development Center. Those projects range from creating a market identity for the seafood harvested by Carteret County's commercial fishing industry to public-contact training for front-line hospitality, hospital, government and other workers in Haywood, Jackson, Swain and Cherokee counties.
In Carteret, commercial fisherfolk earn about 83 percent of the average wages garnered by other workers in the county. As has been the case in other state commodities markets, overseas competition has forced many out of business.
"Even if you're dining on shrimp along North Carolina's coast, it may be farm-raised product shipped frozen from Asia or South America rather than coastal, wild-caught shrimp," says Dr. John O'Sullivan, Extension farm management and marketing specialist at N.C. A&T State University. O'Sullivan, the RCCI land-grant university contact with the Carteret Community College project, proposed the concept of promoting locally harvested seafood.
Carteret County was the state's top commercial fishing area from 1994 to 2001, harvesting 46 percent of the state's catch, according to a 2003 state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) report. But from 1997 to 2002, the number of Carteret County watermen dropped 16 percent. An April DMF document indicates a continuing decline: more than 1,000 commercial watermen left the industry between 2001 and 2005.
To stem those losses, Carteret County RCCI volunteers, through a program called "Carteret Catch," are creating a brand identity for locally caught sea and sound marine products in the county's restaurants and seafood retail stores, to increase the demand for local products.
"But before we could create a program to promote local seafood, commercial fishermen and restaurants had to be convinced a marketing effort had merit," says Barry Nash, an Extension seafood technology specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant and the College of Agriculture and Life Science's Department of Food Science Seafood Laboratory, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.
So in March 2005, RCCI volunteers recruited a group of commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and restaurant owners to visit several communities already successfully selling domestic seafood -- Gloucester, Mass., Mystic, Conn., Washington, D.C., and the Fulton Fish Market in New York City - among others. The visits paid off, convincing many participants to climb on board the marketing identity program.
At last year's annual N.C. Seafood Festival in Morehead City, RCCI volunteers unveiled the campaign: "Carteret Catch: Select N.C. Seafood from the Fishermen of Carteret County."
Says Connie Mason, Carteret Catch associate board member, "We're trying to give more value to local seafood and we're helping to preserve the county's maritime heritage."
Participating restaurants stamp the "Carteret Catch" logo on their menus to highlight local-seafood-based dishes.
Three restaurants - Bistro-by-the-Sea in Morehead City and Blue Moon Bistro and Sharpies Grill and Bar in Beaufort - already sport the logo, as do three seafood retailers and four wholesalers.
Carteret Catch's Web site educates consumers on seafood seasons and their relation to local seafood catches and informs them about sustainability programs that protect local fish stocks. It also features restaurants and distributors that participate in the program. Several local and state agencies, including the Pamlico County Chamber of Commerce, have inquired about the marketing program, Nash says.
The grant encourages community colleges in rural areas to become catalysts for economic development and educational access in their regions, with an emphasis on collaboration and partnerships, says Jennifer Ulz, the project's team leader. Carteret RCCI collaborators include the Carteret County Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Council, the Carteret County Fishermen's Association, the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service.
As reported last autumn, Cooperative Extension personnel, working with RCCI funds, N.C. A&T, N.C. State University and the Cherokee Heritage Foundation, teach the two-and-a-half hour, interactive Qualla Customer Service program known as Qualla-T at three community colleges - Southwestern (Sylva), Haywood (Waynesville) and Tri-County (Murphy).
The Qualla Boundary is the area in which the Cherokee Reservation is located.
The course — rated good or excellent by more than 95 percent of its participants — stresses such customer service aspects as positive attitude, body language, active listening and dealing with difficult people, says Bunny Johns, Qualla-T outreach coordinator.
"Our economy in western North Carolina depends on tourism," she says. "If someone wasn't treated well, they won't come back. We're trying to get our locals to shop more locally, and we're trying to build return trade."
That means there's a better chance you'll know where to find genuine local seafood at the shore or enjoy a more visitor-friendly approach to hospitality when you visit the mountains.
For several years, Cooperative Extension has partnered in Rural Community College Initiative projects made possible by Ford Foundation-funded grants administered by the Southern Rural Development Center. Those projects range from creating a market identity for the seafood harvested by Carteret County's commercial fishing industry to public-contact training for front-line hospitality, hospital, government and other workers in Haywood, Jackson, Swain and Cherokee counties.
In Carteret, commercial fisherfolk earn about 83 percent of the average wages garnered by other workers in the county. As has been the case in other state commodities markets, overseas competition has forced many out of business.
"Even if you're dining on shrimp along North Carolina's coast, it may be farm-raised product shipped frozen from Asia or South America rather than coastal, wild-caught shrimp," says Dr. John O'Sullivan, Extension farm management and marketing specialist at N.C. A&T State University. O'Sullivan, the RCCI land-grant university contact with the Carteret Community College project, proposed the concept of promoting locally harvested seafood.
Carteret County was the state's top commercial fishing area from 1994 to 2001, harvesting 46 percent of the state's catch, according to a 2003 state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) report. But from 1997 to 2002, the number of Carteret County watermen dropped 16 percent. An April DMF document indicates a continuing decline: more than 1,000 commercial watermen left the industry between 2001 and 2005.
To stem those losses, Carteret County RCCI volunteers, through a program called "Carteret Catch," are creating a brand identity for locally caught sea and sound marine products in the county's restaurants and seafood retail stores, to increase the demand for local products.
"But before we could create a program to promote local seafood, commercial fishermen and restaurants had to be convinced a marketing effort had merit," says Barry Nash, an Extension seafood technology specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant and the College of Agriculture and Life Science's Department of Food Science Seafood Laboratory, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.
So in March 2005, RCCI volunteers recruited a group of commercial fishermen, seafood dealers and restaurant owners to visit several communities already successfully selling domestic seafood -- Gloucester, Mass., Mystic, Conn., Washington, D.C., and the Fulton Fish Market in New York City - among others. The visits paid off, convincing many participants to climb on board the marketing identity program.
At last year's annual N.C. Seafood Festival in Morehead City, RCCI volunteers unveiled the campaign: "Carteret Catch: Select N.C. Seafood from the Fishermen of Carteret County."
Says Connie Mason, Carteret Catch associate board member, "We're trying to give more value to local seafood and we're helping to preserve the county's maritime heritage."
Participating restaurants stamp the "Carteret Catch" logo on their menus to highlight local-seafood-based dishes.
Three restaurants - Bistro-by-the-Sea in Morehead City and Blue Moon Bistro and Sharpies Grill and Bar in Beaufort - already sport the logo, as do three seafood retailers and four wholesalers.
Carteret Catch's Web site educates consumers on seafood seasons and their relation to local seafood catches and informs them about sustainability programs that protect local fish stocks. It also features restaurants and distributors that participate in the program. Several local and state agencies, including the Pamlico County Chamber of Commerce, have inquired about the marketing program, Nash says.
From left: Bunny Johns; Rob Hawk, Extension agent and training facilitator; and student Karen Wilmot, administrative assistant with the Swain County Chamber of Commerce, discuss the Qualla Customer Service program.
Photo by Art Latham
Photo by Art Latham
As reported last autumn, Cooperative Extension personnel, working with RCCI funds, N.C. A&T, N.C. State University and the Cherokee Heritage Foundation, teach the two-and-a-half hour, interactive Qualla Customer Service program known as Qualla-T at three community colleges - Southwestern (Sylva), Haywood (Waynesville) and Tri-County (Murphy).
The Qualla Boundary is the area in which the Cherokee Reservation is located.
The course — rated good or excellent by more than 95 percent of its participants — stresses such customer service aspects as positive attitude, body language, active listening and dealing with difficult people, says Bunny Johns, Qualla-T outreach coordinator.
"Our economy in western North Carolina depends on tourism," she says. "If someone wasn't treated well, they won't come back. We're trying to get our locals to shop more locally, and we're trying to build return trade."