MANTEO, N.C. — "Is this fresh local seafood?" That's the question many visitors ask their servers while dining at restaurants during their trip to the Outer Banks. SeaD Consulting for years has put the answer to that question to the test in coastal communities, specifically for fresh, local, wild-caught American shrimp.
"It was a quite a large stir in the community," said Erin Williams, co-founder and chief operating officer for SeaD Consulting.
That's Williams talking about the results of their shrimp authenticity testing in the Outer Banks in December 2025, which showed nearly two-thirds of 44 surveyed Outer Banks restaurants were not selling fresh, local, wild-caught American shrimp, with 43 of the 44 advertising that they were. The organization is now back on the Outer Banks for round two.
"We've done this type of testing from Texas to North Carolina. Ideally we like to go into whatever market we've tested in each one of those states, and do a retest for that same premise. We want to see the data of how is it shifting, and is there any increase of authenticity there," said Williams.
So how does it work?
"We visit that restaurant, we look at the menu, we look at where it's at, how they brand themselves, and what they're saying about their shrimp dishes. So that could either be written on the menu, or we'll ask and say, "Hey, is this shrimp local? Where's the shrimp caught? And then we note everything they describe it as down on our sampling ID chart, and we do that essentially 22 more times, and from there we're able to test those dishes and see what species is actually being served," said Williams.
This time only 22 of the original 44 surveyed restaurants have been randomly selected for testing again, but this time it's during the busy tourism season.
"When you have a lot of people coming down to the coast to enjoy what the coast has to offer, we would really hope that more restaurants are doing the right thing, that the supply chain is reflecting what they're saying is being served and what they actually are serving," said Williams.
Though there's no arguing with what the results show, it is a special feeling when the SeaD Consulting crews get the results back for a restaurant that is doing the right thing.
"It's incredible. We get lied to more times than we're told the truth. So, to find a restaurant who's doing things the right way, and you can feel it when you go there, everyone's being authentic. When you ask the question, there's not a pause and look over the shoulder, or someone's coached them to say something. Everyone's able to be genuine and authentic with what they're doing and I think a lot of people would want to support places like that," said Williams.
Williams grew up around the seafood industry, and the organization's overall mission is to build up the restaurants that are being authentic, support commercial fishing communities and push for legislation change for mislabeling of products.
"When their catch that they take pride in and work so hard to get, isn't being served to the consumer on the plate, especially when that's being misrepresented, it hurts the diner and it hurts our coastal fishing communities and also every link in the supply chain," said Williams.
News 3 should know the results of the testing of the 22 surveyed restaurants on the Outer Banks by next week. No matter what, Williams has hope for the future of the fishing industry.
"I grew up in the seafood industry, I watched it change in my lifetime, and I'm not going to lose hope. There is a way forward if we all work together and we're united under the mission that we want to protect our coastal fishing communities," said Williams.
SeaD Consulting's study is being done on behalf of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
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