March 10, 2023

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Good morning, ladies! 

I’m still trying to get used to this interest in the fishing community. Because during my childhood in Southport, and really, up till about the year 2000, Southport was still pretty much a small fishing village. Most People had ties to the water in some way or another, so it was just the normal business of life.

Making a living fishing is not an easy life. It can mean long hours and even days away from home and family, exhausting dangerous work, and no assurance of a paycheck. So it’s not hard to understand that when better opportunities arise, some will leave for an easier life. But more on that later.

(As Mrs. Debby said, in her wonderful introduction)  I, with help from my wife April, my cousin Jenni, her husband Billy, and all the rest of the family, currently operate Potter’s Seafood Market in Southport. We sell retail and wholesale seafood that is caught by our local fishermen. I own and operate the shrimp boat Cape Point as well as provide some of the local inshore fish, oysters, and clams. We have 3 full time boats that are dedicated to catching offshore fish such as Snapper, triggerfish, and grouper, as well as a dozen or so local boats that fish part time. We are the last remaining fish house in the Southport area.

The Potter family claims it’s start in the Southport fishing industry in 1899 but let’s stroll back to the year 1860 and work our way through the history of Southport, Fishing, and the Potter family. It was in 1860 when my great, great, great grandfather, John William Potter (1810-1874) who was born in Brunswick County, moved to Wilmington. He worked on the Wilmington riverfront as a clerk at James Wilson Hardware, providing supplies to the many ships that travelled near and far. His reason for the move was to provide a better education for his children, and, I guess depending on how you look at it, he did just that! 

Not long after moving to Wilmington, his oldest son, Bryant Monroe Potter (1848-1903) came up missing after school. They searched the riverfront where he loved to watch the ships, and found his schoolbooks stacked on the dock. He had signed on as cabin boy on a large sailing vessel headed for the Caribbean. And so begins our love for the ocean!

Bryant returned to Brunswick County and worked his way up from that start as a cabin boy, eventually serving as Captain of the Dredge ship “Woodbury”, and eventually to owning and captaining his own steamer. In his times home from the ships, he would fish the Cape Fear River and ocean near Southport. He eventually settled his family on what was to become (30 some years later) the Southport Yacht Basin. It was from his steamer, the “Franklin Pearce” that he was lost at sea in 1903.

During this time of the late 1800’s, Southport, which had changed its name from Smithville in 1887, was very much a small fishing village. Life here was based on the water, in fact the name change itself was meant to reflect the position of the town and it’s hope for future expansion as “the port, south of Wilmington”. Bryant and his family lived for a time at a small farming settlement on the riverfront, in the current area of the Bald Head Island ferry terminal. While living here at “Bowensville”, Bryant would have witnessed firsthand the construction of the new and improved quarantine station being built on the opposite side of the river. This meant a mandatory stop in Southport for incoming ships. At the same time, railroads were being expanded into Southport, the river channel was being deepened, and streets were being paved with oyster shells, all with hopes of taking the all-important title of “the port of North Carolina”. Wilmington held its title, mainly because of the infrastructure that was already in place from the civil war. 

Focus was soon shifted to the mouth of the river and Fort Caswell. Tensions with Spain were rising since the “Virginius Affair”  and fort Caswell was fully manned and put back into fighting shape, ready for the Spanish – American war. The materials and men needed at the fort were ferried from Southport. (As a side note, the ship Virginius, and how it almost led to the war 20 some years earlier, and it’s ties to Southport make for an interesting read!)

Again, life in Southport was based on the water. There were river pilots and ship captains, small river steamers providing the only reliable means of transportation of people and goods, and fishermen to feed them all. 

Fishing at this time was transitioning from a means of sustenance to a more industrial occupation. Southport’s population had grown to around 1400 people, and as the railroads became better connected, it opened markets into the northeast. A “fish Camp” was set up on Zeke’s Island for the purpose of harvesting and holding of seafood until it could be canned or salted for transportation by rail. The waterfront, near current day “Oliver’s”, was home to Cape Fear canning and seafood. After the summer vegetable season was over the fall fishing season was in full swing. Shrimp, clams, oysters, and more were canned , while fish were usually salted in barrels. Near present day “Brunswick town”, the first “pogey plant”’ or menhaden factory,  was established in 1901. Menhaden were used to make fish meal for fertilizer and fish oil was extracted for everything from paint to lipstick!

As I mentioned earlier, in 1903 Bryant was lost at sea, not far offshore of Oak Island. He left behind a wife and 5 children. His two oldest boys, John (who was my Great grandfather) (16 years old) and Roy (13 years old) took on the burden of supporting the family. They had grown up fishing the river and creeks, and continued to do so the best they could. John, being old enough, took his first job on a fishing schooner that arrived here from the northeast. On his first trip they fished for 3 days and nights near oak island and bald head, filling the boat with mullets which were cleaned and salted in barrels. The schooner dropped him off in Southport and returned to the northeast to sell the catch. His pay for the 3 days was $3.60. Soon the boys learned of available work building Flagler’s Florida east coast railroad. 

They worked as laborers as the railroad went thru Miami, and as the overseas portion began through the key’s, their skill on the water was recognized. Both John and Roy earned positions on some of the many tugs and barges used for the construction of the bridges. This provided the income they needed to support the rest of the family back home in Southport. 

The early 1900’s in Southport was a time of growth. Electric streetlights were being installed, a proper road was being constructed to Wilmington, and tourism was booming. Tourists would make day trips or extended visits, staying with the famous Miss Kate Stuart. Transportation to Southport was still predominately via steamer service from Wilmington, roughly a 2 ½ hour trip.

After completion of the railroad, Roy remained in Key West while My great grandfather, John, married Una Knowles and returned to Southport in 1921. Una was a Bahamian, descended from the original European settlers. Her family were fishermen and sponge divers that would bring sponges to market in key west.

John and Una, along with their 7 children, returned to the family house on what was soon to become the yacht basin. Before the yacht basin was created in the 30’s there was a small creek that ran to the front of the house. With a growing population this provided a convenient place to keep his boat and sell his daily catch to the residents and visitors. 

John and Una’s second son, John Reginald Potter, was my grandfather. He , along with his 4 brothers and 2 sisters had grown up in a fishing family and had learned the trade well. Fishing and shrimping were becoming the main industry in Southport, and my grandfather had grown up with the best of teachers. The family continued to catch and sell their seafood directly from the boats at the yacht basin. While some brothers shrimped as far away as Florida and Texas, my grandfather focused on fishing locally as much as possible. He shrimped and enjoyed fishing the creeks for flounder, mullets, and spots as well as fishing offshore for black sea bass. As the menhaden industry grew, he was very successful as a captain, working several boats for the “Brunswick navigation company”. The “fish Factory” was at the location of present-day south harbor marina, at the end of what is still called “fish factory road”.

Well, now that we have some of the back story, we can begin to focus on the “current version”, of Potter’s seafood. My father, Leroy, and his brother “Tookie” built the current building in 1976. As had been done for generations, they both fished and worked as captains on ships. The market was run full time until the early 80’s when fuel prices rose, and a struggling economy made it difficult to support the families. Both brothers took jobs as ship captains and continued to fish and operate the market in their off time. Work aboard these ships is typically divided between 2 full crews, one crew working at sea for 3-4 weeks and then being home for 3-4 weeks while the other crew continues the operations. 

Throughout the 90’s the market continued a part time basis with help from their sister Cathy Melton and cousin Billy Potter. In 1992 I began helping to supply the market by shrimping and fishing on weekends and during the summer months. By the time I graduated from school in 1998 the family also owned a much larger fish house next door in what is now Fishy Fishy. The larger fish house became both the wholesale and retail market until it was sold in 2000. I joined the Coast Guard for 4 years while my father continued work on the ships, planning to retire when my service was done. At that point we would re-open the “little yellow building” full time. 

In 2004 my father passed unexpectedly, and I made the decision to return home and carry out the plan of  restarting “Potters Seafood”. At this point it was just a shell of a building, I began shrimping and fishing again, selling my daily catch, just as the family had done 100 years before.  I also carried on the tradition of working on ships. My wife ,April, would run the market while I was away. As our family grew, the time away from home on ships was too much, and I focused full time on shrimping and keeping the market supplied. With help from family and friends the business quickly regained its place as Southport’s source for fresh local seafood. 

The Southport fishing industry began to decline after the 1980’s. By 2000 there were 3 fish houses left in in town. Where Potter’s seafood focused on supplying locals with our daily catches, the other 2 fish houses were still geared towards volume of seafood, which was mainly shipped out to markets in the northeast and Canada. In 2019 the only other remaining fish house closed its doors. We then had the responsibility of taking on both the retail and wholesale sides of the business to provide an avenue for the local fishermen to sell their catch. This has afforded us the opportunity to select the best fish to keep and retail to the locals, while wholesaling the rest out for processing and distribution. 

As for the decline in the fishing industry, it is not isolated to Southport. Coastal towns across America are  seeing the same thing. There are many reasons that contribute to this. I believe much can be attributed to the fact that people have lost touch with where their food comes from. Less and less people have connections with farmers and fishermen, not fully understanding what we do and how we do it. This leads to issues from everything from poor fisheries management to the influx of imported seafood.

Coastal development has a twofold implication in the decline as well. As more and more people move to the coast, increased development not only creates more pollution in the vital nursery areas that so many species are dependent on, but also displaces the working waterfronts. As property values soar, it is no longer economically feasible to provide a firsthand source of food. Bars, restaurants, and luxury homes now occupy the waterfront needed to land catches and maintain boats. 

The role of imported seafood cannot be understated in all of this. As a country, we now rely so heavily on imported goods. Numbers vary slightly between reports, but roughly 90% of seafood consumed in America is now imported. The desire for cheap products has left us with coffee makers that break after two weeks and Styrofoam cups that leak straight out of the package! 

While these things can be an inconvenience, the same lack of quality can be downright dangerous in our food supply. Imported shrimp are a prime example of this. Nearly all the shrimp consumed in restaurants are imported. Not only in restaurants in Nebraska, but Yes, even in those quaint looking places right on the water. The reason. It’s cheap. Why is it cheap? Well, 2 examples would be wild caught shrimp imported from Thailand and farmed raised shrimp imported from China. 

Many of the wild caught shrimp from Asian countries are caught and processed with slave labor. Catching and Processing takes place without any regard for environmental or health regulations. A standard practice is for families to buy shrimp from the boats, take them home and inject them with gel that makes them weigh more, and reselling the heavier shrimp to exporters, thereby earning just a few dollars a day to live off. American shrimpers have the responsibility of paying workers, providing safe working conditions, and adhering to strict fisheries, environmental, and food processing regulations.

In the case of imported farmed raised shrimp, the Chinese government began subsidizing its shrimp farming industry. Their intentions were to ramp up production to a level necessary to provide the entire world with cheap shrimp. In creating such a large-scale operation in unsanitary conditions, it quickly became necessary for them to treat shrimp with chemicals and antibiotics. Most of the cheap, low-grade chemicals and antibiotics used were illegal for food production throughout the world, therefore the rest of the world banned imports of Asian farm raised shrimp. China now produced enough of these shrimps to supply the world and no one to buy them. Luckily for China, the U.S. government managed to overlook such trivial things, and has continued to do so to this day, and Americans, none the wiser, have cheap shrimp to enjoy.

So, moving forward, where do we go from here. What is the future of seafood in America? How do we improve?

Number one is people need to be reconnected to their food source, education is a huge part of what we do at the shop. When you walk into Potter’s Seafood you will most likely be interacting directly with the person who caught your seafood. We talk a lot about seasonal availability and the fact that we don’t carry certain items year-round. Just as December is too cold to grow strawberries, so is it too cold for Spanish mackerel that have migrated south.

As for the growth in coastal development, we need more awareness of its true impacts on the environment, and on its impacts to America having a secure domestic food source. In recent years there was an effort from many coastal municipalities around the U.S. to protect working waterfronts through tax breaks and incentives to maintain that all important accessibility. Unfortunately, it seems to be losing traction. Again, due to the lack of connection to and understanding of its importance. And, of course, the money. 

Education again plays an important role against unsafe imported seafood. If people truly took the time to find out what they are consuming it wouldn’t be an issue. Greed, and honesty, also play a role in this. 

How many times have you been told by your waitress that your seafood “just came off the boat”. Many coastal restaurants and seafood markets enjoy a free ride by selling cheap imports as “fresh off the boat”. We have had customers upset with us because we did not carry local salmon that they were being sold at other local markets. Education and honesty. We are far too warm a climate to have local salmon and its more important that the customer learns the truth versus just “making a sale.”

Aquaculture itself is not a bad thing. In fact, that is what I studied in college. Done wrong, as with Chinese shrimp and tilapia, it can destroy the environment and contain dangerous chemicals as I mentioned before, but when done properly it can be a great alternative to feeding the masses while taking pressure off a wild stock. The ocean and its creatures are very unique and diverse, some seafood lends itself easily to aquaculture, while other seafood is impossible to recreate what mother nature can do perfectly.

So, the future of Potter’s Seafood - Continue to do the right thing. Continue to provide a truly untouched natural food source, wild harvested directly from mother nature. Continue to be a good steward of the ocean and its bounty. Continue to educate. And to continue to pass all this down to the next generation, just as it was passed to me, and many before.

I hope this has been both fun and informative , and not too boring! Again, thank you for your interest in what we do, because It is this interest, that will help save the industry for generations to come.