File:Coast watch (1979) (20472842500).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_18 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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showing," he says. "The fishing part is good. It's the bureaucracy that's running many out of the business." ft jding it out A turning point for many Outer Banks operations came in 2000 when NMFS closed the spiny dogfish fishery, says Jeff Aiken, a Hatteras seafood dealer. Cut off from a lucrative world market for this small shark — the main ingredient of fish and chips — some dealers shut down completely. Trucking and other support services also lost out. "In the opinion of many, there was not enough science to close the fishery," he says. NMFS cited declining spiny dogfish stock in its decision. Still, selling out is not an option, says Aiken, who once operated a fleet of fishing boats. "I'm riding a dinosaur, but I have little choice but to ride it out. Not many people are interested in buying into an industry where there is zero recruitment, no young blood." While some in the industry are determined to hang on, others are getting out completely. "Those who leave fishing altogether do so only as a last resort," says Brian Cheuvront, who leads the DMF socioeconomic program. But the occupational transition is not always easy for commercial fishers, he says. DMF surveys reveal that some find work at the military port, state ports or with the ferry system. Others work on dredge boats. Some convert their vessels to charter boats for sportfishing.
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A^or re than a job "There is little doubt that commercial fishing is at a crossroad," says Pam Morris, whose family ties to Davis, a Carteret County community, date back to the 1700s. Morris began advocating for the commercial fishing community during the moratorium era and continues to support NCFA efforts. She's often frustrated by the perception that commercial fishermen are "backward thinking and enemies of the environment." Nothing can be further from the truth, says Morris, whose husband Herbert operates the shrimp boat Pamela Rose out of Davis. "The problem is that no one knows who we are. We are faceless," says Morris. In her work as exhibit curator at the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum on Harkers Island, she portrays fishers as part of a broader Down East culture that respects and relies on a healthy environment. Each year Morris also helps organize the North Carolina Seafood Festival to celebrate the commercial fishing industry's contribution to the state's economy, as well as to dinner tables across the country. Jack Thigpen, North Carolina Sea Grant extension director and coastal community specialist, says the fishing community is a powerful symbol of traditional values — hard- working, independent people who live in close harmony with nature. "These values," he says, "may provide the political clout and power at the state and federal level to enact some legislation to protect U.S. fisheries products from foreign imports and to protect fishing villages and dock space from development." Thigpen notes that one Sea Grant project is under way to focus on the economic and community changes in Hatteras Village as it moves from commercial and sportfishing to tourism and service economies. Along with a socioeconomic study, the project will help sponsor a Hatteras Island "Day at the Docks" festival later this year to call attention to its water-based traditions. But Morris knows that festivals will go only so far. Like their Brunswick County counterparts Lisa and Dave Beresoff, Pam and Herbert Morris believe that fishing families must explore new ideas or niche markets to stay afloat in the changing global marketplace. Recently, the entire Morris family joined a Carteret County contingency that went north on a different kind of fishing expedition. They visited waterfront operations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Virginia to gamer ideas for promoting wild-caught seafood. They were encouraged to see places where towns designate dock space for commercial fishing boats and lease nearby storefronts to seafood retailers who buy the catch from the boats. Pam Morris is working with Barry Nash, North Carolina Sea Grant seafood technology and marketing specialist, the Carteret County Community College, the Carteret County Economic Development Council and local restaurant owners on a variation of that idea to promote locally caught seafood. "Down East is all about the water. We live on the water. We five off the water. That combination makes us good at fishing," Morris says. "Fishing is more than a job. It's a way of life. It's a heritage worth saving." □ See Book Market, page 28, to read about Fish House Opera, a book by Susan West and Barbara Garrity-Blake that examines the lives of commercial fishing families along a changing coast. COASTWATCH 21

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