Fresh from the Outer Banks
Fresh Catch Seafood’s dayboat shrimpers along the Wanchese, NC docks
Fresh Catch Seafood in North Carolina’s Outer Banks is owned and operated by native North Carolinians Micah Daniels and Matt Huth. This wife-husband team has been supplying Wegmans with our Food You Feel Good About fresh wild-caught North Carolina shrimp since 2016. Micah’s fish-mongering heritage is impressive—her great-grandfather, grandfather, and father all owned and operated fish houses in coastal North Carolina. She and Matt take a lot of pride in providing delicious, sustainably harvested shrimp.
Delicious chemical-free shrimp that’s dayboat-harvested for incredible freshness
The season for fresh North Carolina shrimp begins in earnest in July each year. As North Carolina’s coastal waters warm in the summer months, the wild shrimp migrate from the deep ocean to the coast and the harvest gets underway.
Micah and her team rely on their network of trawler shrimpers known as “day boaters” from North Carolina to Florida to bring in the finest shrimp of the season. These dayboats go out for a maximum of 24 hours per fishing trip, then return each day to off-load their catch right at the Fresh Seafood fish house dock in Wanchese. The day’s catch is quickly processed, sorted, and packed with fresh ice for quick delivery to Wegmans—all within 24 hours of harvest!
Matt Huth and Micah Daniels
Aboard Micah’s partner dayboats, only ice is used to keep the wild-caught shrimp fresh. And that’s surprisingly rare. Most commercial shrimpers go out for a week or more at a time, preserving their catch at sea with bisulfites (chemical preservatives). While these preservatives are common and FDA-approved, they can compromise the flavor and texture of the shrimp – which is why Wegmans never allows chemicals in any of our seafood products.
Yes, it costs more to “day boat” shrimp, as the shrimpers lose valuable fishing time by returning to dock after only 24 hours. But we believe the end result—a shrimp that’s as incredibly sweet and succulent as nature intended—is worth every penny! We think you’ll see what we mean when you get a taste of these delicious, flavorful shrimp.
Matt Huth and Micah Daniels
Fantastic on the grill, steamed for shrimp cocktail, or as part of a low-country shrimp boil—these highly-seasonal beauties are the perfect summer treat!
No time to cook? Let us steam them for you! Call ahead to place an order of steamed shrimp or walk up to the Seafood Service Case Counter in any of our stores and we can steam the shrimp in 5 minutes for you!
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