The exhibit deals with the demise of subsistent fishing and the rise of processing houses. The museum maintains a standing committee for long-range exhibition planning. The committee members are the director, curator of exhibits, curator of education, maritime curator, business manager, and three senior curators. Outside consulting firms are used occasionally for professional and objective perspective. Once exhibit topics have been chosen, the Exhibits Committee reviews progress of script and fabrication.
Research is assigned and developed into a story line.
Finally, a scale model of the exhibit is built. At this point, the committee gives final approval to script and design, and the exhibit is fabricated. Exhibit topics and finished exhibits are evaluated by museum visitors through hand-out evaluation questionnaires. These are submitted to both general visitors and to targeted audiences, such as young people, adults, school groups, elderly visitors, and museum professionals. The museum also submits its exhibits to competitive judging by professional museum organizations and has won numerous awards from the Southeastern Museums Council, the North Carolina Museums Council, the Council of American Maritime Museums, and others.