Tradewinds - April/May 2019

COMPLIMENTARY

April/ May 2019

WWW. NCFISH.ORG

A Publication of North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc.

Fish and CHPPs

NC Shellfish Aquaculture Suffers...$10 Million

What to Know & Where to Go…

Board of Directors The North Carolina Board of Directors is comprised of members representing all of the State’s coastal regions as well as the many facets of the industry gear type, targeted species, and commodity groups. The association elects its board members and officers annually.

Brent Fulcher-252-514-7003 Chairman Doug Todd-910-279-2959 Vice Chairman Glenn Skinner-252-646-7742 Executive Director Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Treasurer

Tradewinds

A publication of the North Carolina Fisheries Association Tradewinds have been used by captains of sailing ships to cross the world’s oceans for centuries. The captain of a sailing ship would seek a course along which the winds could be expected to blow in the direction of travel.

Tradewinds were important in the development of trade and provided a means of transportation and communications to isolated coast communities We are still isolated in a sense even with our modern ships, aircraft, telecommunications and the internet.

We need a connection from island to island, person to person…and to the rest of the world.

We hope that this Tradewinds will become as important to you as the Tradewinds were to our ancestors, not only to in-landers wanting to know more about the coast, but coastal people learning about other coastal people.

NCFA Staff: Glenn Skinner Executive Director Jerry Schill Director of Government Relations Aundrea O’Neal Administration & Accounting Tradewinds Editor Nikki Raynor Membership/Receptionist Tradewinds- Co-Editor 101 N. 5th Street Morehead City, NC 28557 Office: 252-726-(NCFA)6232 | Fax:252-726-6200 www.ncfish.org

Tradewinds is proud to announce that our publication will now be archived at: North Carolina Collection at Wilson Library University of Chapel Hill, NC

Area 1Vacant Area 2Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Area 3Mark Vrablic-252-305-2718 Area 4Vacant Area 5Wesley Potter-252-229-1881 Area 6Brent Fulcher- 252-514-7003 Area 7- Doug Todd-910-279-2959 At LargeSonny Davis-252-725-0784 At Large- Chrissy Fulcher Cahoon-252-670-7223 At LargeRoss Butler-757-435-5317 At LargeJeff Styron-252-675-8354 Charter BoatRalphie Craddock-252-473-0953 Albemarle Fisherman’s Association Terry Pratt-252-339-7431 Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley Styron-252-342-8821 Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Hardy Plyler-252-928-5601 Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association Wayne Dunbar-252-670-7467 Brunswick County Fishermen’s Association Randy Robinson-910-209-3463 NC CatchKaren Amspacher-252-732-0982 NC For-Hire Captain’s AssociationRyan Williams-910-263-3097 The Tradewinds is a free publication published bi-monthly by the NC Fisheries Association. All parties advertised herein and the claims represented are the sole responsibility of the advertiser.

Though every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of all advertising and copy contained herein, the publisher may not be held responsible for typographical errors. The NC Fisheries Association reserves the right to refuse any advertising or editorial deemed inappropriate. The agency, its employees, agents or representatives may not be held responsible for any actions or consequences derived as a result of following advice or instructions contained herein. ©2019

April /May 2019

From the Chairman.................. 4

contents 24 27

From Glenn Skinner................. 5 Nikki Raynor............................. 6 From Your Editor...................... 6 A Word From Jerry................... 7 NFCA Legislative Dinner......... 9 Brown’s Island 8: Mullet Boat, Seines & Net Spreads...... 10-11 Mailboat: John’s Creek Diary “Daffodil Spring”..................... 13

Marketplace.........................................................27

BDTRP Regulations............... 39

Captain’s Spotlight..............................................29

Red...Right............................. 41

North Carolina Fisheries Welcomes New Affiliate......... 15

Talk on the Dock: What’s for Supper............ 30-31

AMSEA.............................. 42-43

CCFA Fish Fry.....................................................33

Councils & Commissions....... 45

Affiliate News......................................................35

Tred Barta.............................. 47

What to Know & Where to Go... 17 Core Sound Waterfowl Museum................ 21 NC Agriculture Suffers Losses of Nearly $10 Million from 2018 Storms.................................... 23 FEATURE STORY

Fish & CHPPs................... 24-25

AFLAC for Members...........................................36 Bluewater Fishermen’s Association....................37

On the Cover: Newport River

Photo by: Aundrea O’ Neal

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TW Disclaimer: Articles and letters appearing in Tradewinds are the opinions of the authors and unless specifically noted may or may not reflect the opinions or official positions of the North Carolina Fisheries Association.

WWW.NCFISH.ORG advertisers: Ace Marine.............................................. 12 Atlantic Seafood...................................... 32 B&J Seafood............................................. 8 Barbour’s Marine Supply Co................... 16 Beaufort Inlet Seafood.............................. 8 Beaufort Yacht Basin.............................. 20 Blue Ocean Market................................. 18 Carteret County Fisherman’s Association.....35 Calypso Cottage..................................... 44 Capt. Jim’s Seafood................................ 26 Capt. Stacy Fishing Center..................... 44 Capt. Willis Seafood Market................... 28 Carteret Catch......................................... 14 Chadwick Tire ........................................ 16 Davis Fuels ............................................ 44

Fulcher’s Seafood................................... 28 Gordon’s Net Works................................ 38 H and R Repair....................................... 20 Hardison Tire .......................................... 40 Henry Daniels F/V Joyce D................... 18 Homer Smith Seafood............................ 16 Hurricane Boatyard................................. 38 Locals Seafood....................................... 36 Murray L. Nixon Fishery, Inc. ................. 32 N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.......... Back Cover Offshore Marine...................................... 12 O’Neal’s Sea Harvest.............................. 37 Outer Banks Seafood............................. 40 Pamlico Insurance.................................. 40 Potter Net and Twine.............................. 40 Powell Brothers Maintenance................. 42

Quality Seafood...................................... 14 R.E. Mayo Seafood................................. 40 Robinson & Stith Insurance.................... 22 Rocky Mount Cord Co............................ 18 Salt Box Joint.......................................... 18 Seaview Crab Company......................... 36 Ted & Todd’s Marine Services................ 12 The Clement Companies........................ 15 Tred Barta............................................... 47 Wanchese Fish....................................... 20 Wanchese Trawl..................................... 20 Wells Fargo Bank.................................... 26 Wheatly Boys.......................................... 22 Wheatly, Wheatly, Weeks, Lupton & Massie............................................... 5 Wilheit Packaging................................... 18

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A word from the chairman ...

T

LEGISLATIVE SEAFOOD RECEPTION

his year’s Legislative Seafood Reception was a resounding success once again, and highlights the importance of good food, fellowship, and dialogue with our legislators, spouses and their staffs. While there are some serious discussions on issues that take place, the goal is for guests to leave with their belly full and a smile on their face. From what I could see and based on the feedback we received, that was accomplished!

Approximately 450+ attended the event at Fred Mills’ new location which made parking and ease of access very accommodating. We sincerely appreciate the hospitality Fred and his team have shown us over the years.

Rain had been forecast preceding the event but we didn’t feel a drop. The temperature was very comfortable and we had adequate seating for everyone.

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Fred’s team also cooked their famous ribs to be added to the shrimp, fish, scallops, tuna bites, oysters, soft shell crab, hush puppies and more! Locals Seafood provided their oyster shucking station. And we can’t forget Bradley Styron and Jerry Gaskill’s clam chowder!

We are fortunate to coordinate this very popular event with North Carolina Watermen United with Mary Ellon Ballance as the point person with the coordination.

Now that the fun part has passed, we continue the task of working with legislators on passing some good bills and kicking some bad ones to the curb.

To say THANK YOU just does not seem adequate for all the volunteers, Fred Mills, Locals Seafood, the Catch groups, those that donated seafood and other product, NCFA and NCWU Board members and of course, all of those that attended!

Happy Spring and best wishes for a Blessed Easter Season!

Brent Fulcher, Chairman

A thought from Glenn ...

A

FISHY LEGISLATION

bill entitled “Let Them Spawn� (HB-483) has recently been introduced in the NC General Assembly that proposes to set a minimum size limit for every species of marine fish listed in the DMF Stock Status Report to ensure that 75% of the juvenile fish for each species have reached the size of maturity and have had the opportunity to spawn at least once. At first glance this bill seems great after all it makes sense that if we let juvenile fish mature and spawn at least once we will always have plenty of fish. Or does it?

To understand how this bill will affect North Carolina’s fish stocks, you first have to understand the biology of the marine fishes these changes will impact. While the language in the bill suggest the size limits would apply to all juvenile fish, it is interpreted by managers to be the L-75 for females, which is the length at which 75% of female fish of a particular species reach maturity. If size limits were set based on the L-75 for females, there is the potential to severely reduce the ability of many marine fishes to reproduce. For most, if not all species of fish that these size limits would apply to, the females grow to be significantly larger than males, which means their L-75 may exceed the maximum length of a fully grown male. In species where this is the case, the larger size limits would virtually eliminate the harvest of male fish, forcing fishermen to remove nothing but females from the stock, 75% of which would be sexually mature.

Harvesting nothing but females from a stock could quickly decimate spawning stocks, resulting in overfishing and more regulations.

Supporters of this Bill would argue that by allowing 75% of females to spawn once, we will increase production, but this too is problematic for several reasons. For starters, the length of a fish is not an accurate way to determine if a fish has had

the opportunity to spawn. Many species exhibit rapid rates of growth in the summer when water temperatures are high and food is readily available, but do not spawn until late fall or winter. This means that most fish of those species will reach the minimum size and be vulnerable to harvest, months prior to their first spawn.

Another concern associated with increased size limits is that many juvenile fish will become victims of discard mortality, preventing them from ever reaching the minimum size limit or maturity. Studies have proven that a percentage of all fish caught and released die (dead discards) and that as size limits increase, so do the numbers of dead discards.

Simply put, as anglers are forced to release more and more fish in search of a keeper, many more juveniles will die from discard mortality, meaning far less than the assumed 75% will ever reach maturity. Even if we were to assume that increased size limits would allow a significant number of fish to reach maturity and spawn at least once, studies have shown that first time spawners are not as successful at spawning as older females who have spawned multiple times. To make matters worse, most of the first-time spawners will be harvested prior to the next spawning season, as these will be the only fish large enough to harvest between spawns. By reducing the recruitment of juvenile fish into the spawning stock and increasing the harvest of mature females, HB-483 may put many fish stocks in danger of collapse.

While regulations are certainly necessary to sustain North Carolinas fish stocks, blanket approaches such as this clearly will not work for every species. Management measures should be developed based on the life history of each individual species and should be done through the Fishery Management Plan Process, not fishy legislation like HB-483.

Glenn Skinner, NCFA Executive Director

north carolina fisheries association

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JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN JOIN Membership Matters: JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN

H

ere at the North Carolina Fisheries Association, we are happy to have our newest affiliate group, the North Carolina For-Hire Captain’s Association, join us on our quest to protect and serve the fishing families of North Carolina.

If you too would like to join us on our quest and become a member of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, flip to page 46, fill out our application, and mail it to us with your payment. You can also call our office at (252) 7266232 to join. We accept checks, cash, and all major credit cards.

Membership sign-up is currently unavailable on our website, due to reconstruction, but feel free to check out what we’ve got so far at www.ncfish.org.

As always, with your membership, you will receive our

weekly newsletter every Friday via mail, email, or fax. With your membership, you will also receive this bi-monthly Tradewinds publication at your mailing address. While supplies last, we are still offering free North Carolina Fisheries Association sweatshirts to new individual members who sign up at this time. Get yours while you still can!

If you are a member of the North Carolina Fisheries Association and would be interested in submitting a photo or article for Tradewinds, being our “Marketplace” feature, or “Captain’s Spotlight” feature, please email me at nikki@ ncfish.org or Aundrea at aundrea@ncfish.org. Send in your fishing photos for future issues of Tradewinds or for a chance to have it as our Facebook page’s cover photo.

We’d love to hear from you and get to know all of our members more personally. Help us showcase your community’s fishing heritage!

Nikki Raynor

From your Editor Thank you to each and every one of you for your support in this new venture!

I hope that you are satisfied with the story qualities that are provided in this publication. My main focus and purpose for taking on this task is to keep our fishermen informed, educate the public and to show that you (whether you are a fisherman or a consumer) are an ESSENTIAL part of our industry!

If there is a question, subject or interest that you may have and would like to see in this magazine, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I will try my best to get the question answered, story written or interest directed to the proper people that will supply that information for you.

With your continued support, we can show that we are using conservative, sustainable practices to keep our industry going for the years to come.

Thank you Again!!!

Aundrea O’Neal 252-503-8302 Aundrea@ncfish.org Tradewinds@ncfish.org 6

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NCFA Legislative Affairs, Jerry Schill

A word from Jerry ...

P

A TRIBUTE TO WALTER JONES

am and I attended the funeral for Congressman Walter B. Jones, Jr. on February 14th. It was a fitting tribute to a great man and true friend of commercial fishermen.

It’s interesting to read the way the news media has covered Walter’s legacy compared to what was said at the two hour service on Thursday. The homily and eulogies offered were very accurate, but the news media, while not incorrect, missed what I think are the most important of his attributes.

Regardless of the circumstances when seeing Walter, to discuss fisheries, at a political event or at the Craven-Pamlico Christian Coalition or the God and Country Christian Alliance, he would quickly ask, “how is Pam”? That was typical Walter, always interested in knowing how others were doing.

Walter Jones, Jr. was a member of the NC House when we first met. Although I was hired by the North Carolina Fisheries Association in August 1987, it was sometime the next year when we met in Raleigh. We didn’t talk much about fish then because there wasn’t much going on legislatively at the state level regarding fisheries. When we did chat it was mostly about his Dad, Walter Sr., who was in Congress at the time and chaired the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee.

His Dad, Walter Sr., died in 1992 at the age of 79 while in office. Walter Jr. was elected to Congress in November 1994 and also died in office at the age of 76. His Dad served in Congress for 26 years and Walter Jr. served for 24 years.

Most of the news coverage since his death has been about wanting to change the name for french fries to freedom fries, the “maverick” that changed his position about the Iraq war and his efforts to honor and remember those members of the military who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and their survivors. Only one reporter nailed it in my opinion, and that was Eddie Fitzgerald of the New Bern Sun Journal as he extensively quoted words from the homily given by celebrant Very Rev. Justin Kerber, who knew Walter very well. Father Kerber pastored Saint Peter Catholic Church for 15 years, from 1998 to 2013.

Anyone that knew Walter was fully aware of his belief in his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and he wasn’t afraid to

proclaim it. And he did so everywhere! What Father Kerber said was something that many may not know, and that is he was an unapologetic convert to Catholicism, attending Mass faithfully, many times on Saturday evening in Greenville and Sunday morning in Farmville. He may have been an independent thinker, but not when it came to matters of faith. His faith, actually, is what drove his perceived streak of independence away from the partisan side of politics. As was stated over and over and over again at his funeral and in numerous interviews, he just wanted to always do what was right and he used his faith as a guide to get him there.

If there was one word that was used very often to describe him, it was INTEGRITY. We might question his vote on occasion, but nobody could ever question his integrity! Walter used his faith in all matters, including looking out for the best interests of commercial fishing families everywhere.

There were six eulogies offered at the end of Mass, including Governor Roy Cooper and Walter’s Chief of Staff, Joshua Bowlen. His staff were always very helpful, in particular Josh who got his legislative feet wet in the 90s with some fishing issues and continued after taking the Chief of Staff role. When Josh gave his eulogy, he mentioned Walter’s concern for commercial fishermen.

Walter was the Keynote Speaker at the first God and Country Banquet in New Bern in 1994, and followed in 1995, 1996 and 1997. Every time he spoke was never afraid to invoke God in the name of Jesus. In the 90s he attended the March for Jesus in New Bern as we marched in prayer and song and talking to residents along the way.

He took that same passion and faith and put it in practice for his constituents including commercial fishermen and the entire working class.

He truly was a humble servant. I have never met a more humble person in politics and doubt that I ever will. Most of us are capable of being humble, but humility was in Walter’s being. It’s who he was.

There was a recent newspaper editorial about Walter that says we need a whole lot more of Walter Jones’ in Congress. Since it was Walter’s faith that drove his decisions, we can only assume the News and Observer was referring to his devout Christian faith and love for commercial fishermen when they wrote their editorial on February 13th, “Don’t just praise Rep. Walter Jones----emulate him”.

Amen to that! north carolina fisheries association

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NCFA would like to thank all of those who contributed seafood donations to the 2019 Legislative Dinner, once again this was a very successful event!

Wanchese Fish CompanyGarland Fulcher SeafoodWilliams SeafoodBeacon 1 SeafoodT.A. Taylor & Son SeafoodFresh Catch SeafoodEtheridge SeafoodBlue Ocean MarketNixon SeafoodFulcher’s Point Pride SeafoodLocal’s Seafood-

O’Neal’s Sea HarvestNewman SeafoodB & J Seafood High Rider SeafoodHolden Beach SeafoodF/V Old Man- Gary & Danny Galloway F/V My Girls- Timmy Hewett Basnight’s Lone Cedar Restaurant- Vicki Basnight Mickey’s Sales & Service Fred Mill’s Construction- Fred Mills

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Brown’s Island 8- Mullet Courtesy, State Archives of North Carolina

This is the 8th in a series of Charles A. Farrell’s photographs from Brown’s Island, in Onslow County, N.C., in 1938.

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Boat, Seines & Net Spreads B

OCTOBER 19, 2017 / DAVID CECELSKI

riant Gillikin leaning on a mullet boat by a dune on the ocean side of Brown’s Island. A cotton seine, with the warp folded on top, rests in the stern, so that the boat is ready for launching at the lookout’s cry of “Boat, bo-at, bo-at!” The old fisherman is wearing worn denim trousers, blanched by exposure to sun and saltwater, and a fedora. A long wooden beam, one of two used to carry the boat into the surf, rests at his feet.

Behind the boat are net spreads, typically made of ash, with a smaller net, probably a gill net for spot fishing, draped over the spread on the far left.

The fishermen doused their cotton nets with lime every day to discourage rot from saltwater and sun exposure, but with the same purpose in mind also dried them on the net spreads on down days.

The fishermen’s nets may have been knit by hand in Otway or may have been factory made; the late 1930s was just at the cusp of a widespread change from handmade to factory-made fishing nets in the mullet fishery.

If handmade, the seine had been knit, Henry Frost, an 80-year-old mullet fisherman at Bogue Banks, told me, by “the mothers and grandmothers in their homes in the wintertime.”

The mullet boat on which Briant Gil-

likin is leaning is clinker (lapstreak)-built, made of local juniper, double-ended (pointed at bow and stern) and roughly 26 feet in length.

She is lightly built, but strong: designed to be light enough for a crew of men to pick up and move quickly down the beach and into the surf, but strong enough to crash through breaking waves and carry a 350 to 450-yardlong seine and a crew of five or six men.

Watermen had long used boats of similar design and construction when they needed to work on the ocean side of the state’s barrier islands. As early as the 18th century, they used them as pilot boats, carrying local pilots to seagoing vessels waiting offshore.

Fishermen later used such boats for whaling on Shackleford Banks, a barrier island to the east, and for dolphin hunting between Hatteras Island and Bogue Banks. Similarly, U.S. Lifesaving Service and U.S. Coast Guard crews used boats of this design to reach shipwreck victims in the surf.

Though professional boatbuilding shops in New England built boats of this kind in large numbers, a slight casualness of construction betrays that this boat was local built, probably in a fisherman’s backyard in or around Otway.

Note the varying widths of the planking, particularly low and forward.

When asked to evaluate this boat’s seaworthiness, Mike Alford, the retired curator of traditional workboats at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort, N.C., stressed nonetheless that the boat was a well-built and highly functional craft. She was as sturdy and handy as the finest of the U.S. Coast Guard’s boats, he said, just not made to look as pretty.

Tomorrow- striking mullet Reprinted with permissions from David Cecelski north carolina fisheries association 11

Striped Bass Yellowfin Tuna

N.C. Seafood What’s In Season SPRING

SUMMER

Blue Crab (Soft) Bluefish Clams Grouper Kingfish Mahi-mahi Tilefish Tuna

Blue crabs (Hard & Soft) Grouper Spanish Mackerel Mahi-mahi Shrimp Snapper Tilefish Tuna

FALL

Black Sea Bass Blue Crab (Hard) Clams Croaker Flounder King & Spanish Mackerel Mullet Oysters Shrimp Striped Bass Yellowfin Tuna

WINTER

Flounder Oysters Clams Striped Bass Sea Trout Spotted Bluefin Tuna Bluefish Black Sea Bass King Mackerel Sea Trout Gray Croaker

The website www.fishwatch.gov provides links to information on the benefits of consuming seafood, including a comprehensive analysis by Harvard School of Public Health. It concluded that eating about 2 grams per week of omega-3 fatty acids in fish, equal to about one or two servings of fatty fish a week, reduces the chances of dying from heart disease by more than one-third.

Croaker

The website www.fishwatch.gov provides links to information on the benefits of consuming seafood, including a comprehensive analysis by Harvard School of Public Health. It concluded that eating about 2 grams per week of omega-3 fatty acids in fish, equal to about one or two servings of fatty fish a week, reduces the chances of dying from heart disease by more than one-third.

Eating fish weekly can reduce the risk of stroke, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic conditions.

How to choose your seafood

Whole & Dressed Fish

• Bright, shiny eyes • Bright red gills, if present • Firm, elastic flesh • Scales adhering tightly to skin • Smooth, glistening skin • Mild scent • Bright red bloodlines

Live Shellfish

• Tightly closed shells; if open, they shut when tapped • Moist, intact shells • Mild scent

Raw Shrimp Fresh Cut Fish

• Firm, elastic • Translucent color • Moist appearance • Mild scent

• Translucent shells with grayish green or tan coloration • Moist appearance • Firm flesh • Mild scent

Eating fish weekly can reduce the risk of stroke, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, and other chronic conditions.

How to choose your seafood

Whole & Dressed Fish

• Bright, shiny eyes • Bright red gills, if present • Firm, elastic flesh • Scales adhering tightly to skin • Smooth, glistening skin • Mild scent • Bright red bloodlines MOREHEAD CITY, NC 600 Arendell Street phone: 252-726-6620 fax: 252-726-7499

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John’s Creek Diary “Daffodil Spring”

I

Madge Guthrie (Mailboat-Spring 1991 V2N1 Reprinted with permissions page 7)

just walked around the comer of the house and caught a whiff of a “memory comes with scale or fin! fragrance” -- what was it? I back-track and catch it again -- it’s daffodils! I Speaking of those netspreads remind me ... We kids played constantly look down and there’s a big bunch bloomed-out like a big bouquet. Spring on the shore until the menfolk went to the house for dinner. Then when all is here -- at least the time that fools you into putting away winter clothes and was clear we would run and do flying leaps into the nets and sink slowly opening all the windows, only to find the next day bone-chilling cold! to the soft sand. We’d walk-the-spreads and fall off ... giggling but keeping But now Spring has stopped teasing and along with the daffodil comes watch on the path for the men folk on their way back to work. I remember wisteria swaying gracefully in an oak tree; oak leaves, dry and brown, raining one time I fell on someone under the net. I’m not sure who was scared the from the oak draped sky; roses are budding out, and dogwoods are be-comworst when we both yelled! By now we’re sandy from head-to-toe so when The "landing" is calling me ing clouds of white overnight. Someone in the distance is checking- out a we hear the menfolk coming for sure, we frantically brush ourselves off and grass cutter, birds are singing and the work indoors will just have to wait. try to pull the nets back in place. (The men could sure do some fussing if The grand young’uns and I go out, to the back porch (“pizer” as it used we really made a mess!) to be) and their engrossed in a pile of toys while I By then we’d be up the shore pulling boats, just stop for a minute on the glider while the warm playing house, or collecting tadpoles in mayonsunshine does its magic. naise jars from the shallow rain water holes, or I “catnap” and a sudden cool breeze reminds searching to see if we could find a clam to “bust” me of the cold Easter of ‘36 when I had a beautiful on a rock and eat! Simple pleasures ... orchid or­gandy dress with full skirt, big sash, laceThe grand kids are still busy ... and the daffotrimmed and all capped -off with shiny white shoes dil-laden spring air makes for one more special for Easter Sunday. But it was cold that Sunday and memory. Remember the first spring when childI was made to wear my winter coat over all that finish thoughts had passed away and more serious ery! (I’d have rather froze-to-death!) But just inside ideas had taken their place? At Christmas that the church door I flung that coat in to the fartherest year I was curiously “un-enthused” over my doll corner, told Mother it was too warm and then sat which ended-up as a bed ornament. The whisclose against her to keep from shivering. I wonder pered conversations with my girlfriends had I just walked around the comer of the house and caught a whiff of a if I really fooled her or if she knew “pride’s neither changed drastically.

Coloring books and catalog "memory fragrance" -- what was it? I back-track and catch it again -- it's hot not cold ...” paper dolls had daffodils! I look down and there's a big bunch bloomed-out like agiven big way to teenage novels. By Back to the glider ... the cool breeze passed by boys more than a pal or a nuibouquet. Spring is here -- at least the time thatspring fools you intobecame putting away and somewhere in the corner of my memories I’m sance -- not that day we’d ever let them know! winter clothes and opening all the windows, only to find the next humming “Welcome Sweet Springtime” -- I do declare I hear “Miss Sudie” cold! My parents agree to let me walk to the East’ard with a crowd girls bone-chilling ... boatsofand skiffs float lazil playing it on the old upright piano in the school auditorium, and I’m back to and boys. We all come and go together ... but home by nineworking was the last contentedly on the Buton now stopped teasing daffodil comes the late 30’s. The schoolhouse windows are pushed all the way up theSpring has word I heard as Iand leftalong the with yard.theWe’d walk all over everywhere ... somepainting bottomed-up skiffs wisteria swayingtimes gracefully in an oakmiles tree; -walking, oak leaves,laughing, dry and brown, south’ard side and I can hear the ocean’s roar. for several singing, and talkingrun all of thecroakers way. It -- or anythin raining from the oak draped sky; roses are budding out, and dogwoods are Bumble bees are bussing in and out and somewhere nearby somebody was during “daffodil time” the first boy walked me home (alone) and stayed of white Spea is roasting oysters for lunch (I smell ‘em ...). Education has just lostbe-coming another clouds awhile --- I’ll never forget that person so long as I smell daffodils. overnight. Someone in the distance kids round for awhile ... I want out!

Little hands present is checking- out a grass cutter, birds men I remember the water fountains along the outside wall of the schoolhouse me with a “Ninja Turtle” are singing and the work indoors will all w with the coolest, freshest water anywhere ... and especially so onjust a warm toy and a “Nanna, I’m have to wait. the afternoon. These were the same fountains that my first “crush” tied my pighungry!” ... So its back walk tails to ... to theand BEST of today The grand young'uns I go out, to ... wat the “landback porch ("pizer" it used to those I can’t do anything but fidget ... Spring Fever is in full bloom!! The but oh,aswhat joys back be) and their engrossed a pile of and ing” is calling me --- wet, warm sand for bare feet... boats and skiffs float days ofinyesterday som stop for a minute lazily a little ways offshore and fishermen are working contentedlytoys on while their I just “daffodil springs”onbring scar the glider the warm netspreads and others are scraping and painting bottomed-up skiffs along thewhile back to sunshine me here on we'r magic. John’s Creek. shore ... getting ready for the spring run of croakers -- or anything does else its that men

The “landing” is calling me - wet, warm sand for bare feet

I "catnap" and a sudden cool breeze reminds me of the cold Easternorth of '36 carolina fisheries association 13 made a mess!) when I had a beautiful orchid or- gandy dress with full skirt, big sash, lacetrimmed and all capped -off with shiny white shoes for Easter Sunday. But

ours (The

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The North Carolina Fisheries Association Welcomes A New Affiliate!

The North Carolina Fisheries Association is proud to represent the recreational fishing industry through our new affiliate: The North Carolina For-Hire Captain’s Association. Though we have always prided ourselves in representing all fishermen, we are honored to represent this fine group.

While the North Carolina For-Hire Captain’s Association got started in Brunswick County, they want to bring equal representation for North Carolina’s entire for-hire industry.

They are proud to be an affiliate of the North Carolina Fisheries Association.

NCFHCA: President: Ryan Williams: (910) 263-3097 Vice President: John Dosher: (910) 448-0536 Secretary/Treasurer: Cain Faircloth: (910) 367-2998

north carolina fisheries association 15

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What to Know & Where to Go… Hatteras Village Offshore Open Week of May 13-May 19, 2019

Celebrating its 25th year in 2019, the Hatteras Village Offshore Open continues to be one of the most popular fishing tournaments of the year along the southern Outer Banks, and is a fantastic chance to discover how incredible fishing off the Hatteras Island coastline can be.

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Annual Fish Fry May 18th, 2019, 11am-Until Wheatly Boys Tire & Auto 760 Hwy 70, Otway

20th Annual Ocrafolk Music & Storytelling Festival June 7-9, 2019 Ocracoke Island

The 20th annual Ocrafolk Music and Storytelling Festival will be held in the heart of the village of Ocracoke Island, NC on June 7-9, 2019. The celebration features musicians, storytellers, artisans, and characters of Ocracoke Island and beyond. In addition to weekend performances, events include food, kid’s activities, workshops, a traditional Ocracoke square dance, and a Sunday morning gospel sing.

Performers include Molasses Creek (your hosts), Donald Davis, the Steel Wheels, Mipso, Kaira Ba, Aaron Burdette, Chatham Rabbits, Beleza, Craicdown, Noah Paley, Bill Harley, Martin Garrish, Coyote, The Wilders, Paperhand Puppets, Mahalo Jazz, Warren, Bodle & Allen, Bob & Jeanne Zentz, Green Grass Cloggers, John Golden, Rodney Kemp, Jef the Mime, Ballet Folkorico de Ocracoke, and more!

Ocrafolk Festival is produced by Ocracoke Alive, a community non-profit committed to enriching the Ocracoke Island community by encouraging and sponsoring cultural, artistic, educational, and environmental activities. Proceeds from Ocrafolk Festival support critical student and community programs.

Ocrafolk Festival Early Bird Tickets are available through April 30 as well as general information about the weekend

12th Annual Kent Hood Memorial Core Sound Hunting Rig Competition June 15, 2019, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Harkers Island, NC

north carolina fisheries association 17

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Henry Daniels Inc. F/V Joyce D

Captain Bryan Daniels

By: Bill Hitchcock

Y

ou have belief in your ability to catch fish. The accentuation here is in your ability to catch fish. It is the act of fishing in which you hold your belief.

Your faith in catching fish is a different story. Here the emphasis is not in the doing, or the act of fishing, but rather in the catch itself, the end result.

The difference between belief and faith are the same difference between cause and effect. The cause is the act of fishing.

The effect is the catch.

What would happen if you had no belief in fishing? This is the cause, the act of fishing. Your belief, or rather your lack of belief in fishing may or may not have anything to do with your potential to catch fish. It would, however, eliminate any chance to catch fish if you didn’t go.

Now, what would happen if you had no faith in fishing? You could still go fishing, but you had zero confidence that the act of fishing would produce any positive results.

Belief in fishing will totally absorb and engross you in the process of fishing. Eventually your belief will lead to frustration and befuddlement over the end results.

Faith in fishing is a different story. Absolute faith in a successful end result affects not only the process of fishing but all involved in it as well!

Faith becomes the cause which produces the positive effects resulting in a successful catch. Faith becomes like the lead car during a stock car race. All of the like kind attributes (the other cars) which produce the catch just sort of draft in behind the lead car of faith and get carried across the finish line.

Nothing happens without absolute faith.

D. Elton Trueblood said, “Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”

We can believe that we can fish but that doesn’t mean we will catch anything. We must have faith, absolute and total faith in producing the desired end result, the catch.

This same belief and faith applies to our relationship with God. You can believe that there is a God. That’s good, but the devils also believe, and as James tells us, they tremble too!

(James 2:19).

In our faith in God lies our justification and salvation!

“Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5a).

Our faith in God allows us to overcome adversities of the world!

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

“Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Ephesians 6:16).

Faith is a gift. It is not something of our own design or making.

Jesus Christ is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). By “finisher” it means that Christ makes our faith perfect.

Faith is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22). Our faith is quickened and stirred to life by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that intercedes and mingles with our own spirit (Romans 8:26).

God is looking for the faithful!

“Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.” (Psalm 101:6) “O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the truth?” (Jeremiah 5:3) This is what’s so fascinating about that passage in Jeremiah.

The Hebrew root word, “emuwn” from which, “truth” is derived from is more often than not transliterated as, “faith”. We could re-write the passage as follows, O Lord, are not thine eyes upon the “faithful”?

It would do us all a great benefit to pause and think upon the substance and significance of the similarities between God’s truth and our faith in Him. After-all, to be saved we are to put our faith in God’s truth, Jesus Christ.

“For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” (Revelation 17:4b).

God looked for you. God called you. He chose you, the elect, and the faithful. You can believe in God but that won’t produce the desired effect of salvation. Residing in belief will eventually frustrate and discourage you. But you are the faithful! Faith is the “substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It’s the box full of fish before ever leaving the dock. Faith has already arrived while belief is trying to figure the way out.

So here is what we are to do. Set aside every, “weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us”. We are to do so in complete faith.

Run to the fishing grounds in faith. Run to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior in faith. Jesus Christ died on the cross in total faith in God and His complete ability to redeem and save, not himself, but you!

Abraham, “staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20) The just shall live in faith. Choose God in faith and live! north carolina fisheries association 19

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Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center

Core Sound Makes Plans for Summer 2019 “At the End of the Road,” Harkers Island

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hile building repairs onsite at Harkers Island begin with a new metal roof (thanks to hundreds of donations) scheduled to arrive May 20, events and programs will continue!

Events at the Museum will be held outside, under the Jean Dale shed and/ or under tents, while 806 Arendell Street programs will happen on the porch and upstairs at our “home away from home” location.

During the summer months our downtown Morehead City location will be more important than ever with expanding gift shop operations (more artists, more carvers), carving demonstrations, quilt days, “Porch Talks,” art classes and storytime for preschoolers!

Many thanks to everyone who has supported the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center during our storm recovery and now our rebuild. We are looking forward to “being home again” later in the year, but for now, we have a wonderful summer of programs and events to keep the work moving forward!

Sat, May 25th Memorial Day Weekend Marks the Beginning of Our Summer Season at 806 Arendell St – Morehead City Weekly programs now through Labor Day Weekend ~ Come see us!

Monday – Local Artist & Crafters Tuesday – Core Sound Quilters Wednesday – Carving the Old Way Thursday – Porch Talks w/ writers, artists, historians and storytellers Friday – Kids’ Activities Sat, June 15 Rig of Three / Decoy Carving Competitions Shell Point / CSWM&HC Competitions, demonstrations and plenty of fun.

For details, go to www.coresound.com Sat, July 6 Core Sound All-American Shrimp Fry Lunch 11 – 3, CSWM&HC, Harkers Island Honoring Active Military and Veterans as Our Special Guests If you would like to sponsor plates, please call 252.728.1500 Fri, Aug 2 US Coast Guard Reunion – Dinner & Program, CSWM&HC, Harkers Island Details to be announced; special guests and time to visit!

Sat, Aug 17 Diamond City Homecoming CSWM&HC, Harkers Island A day to bring together the families of Shackleford Banks who migrated to Salter Path, Promise Land and Harkers Island ~ Down East to celebrate the120th Anniversary of the Storm of ‘1899 that drove their Shackleford Banks ancestors to higher ground. Plans include: Service at Wade’s Shore Cemetery, family exhibits/displays, lunch, afternoon program and Community Sing to finish out this wonderful day!

Fri, Aug 23 Taste of Core Sound Summer Edition, CSWM&HC Special Guest Chef: Bill Smith, Crook’s Corner will help celebrate Taste of Core Sound’s return home for this summer celebration of fresh local seafood, produce and old-school cooking traditions served family style!

Sat, Sept 21 Core Sound Family Fun Day, CSWM&HC, Harkers Island Join kids, parents and grandparents for a day of fun and learning; dig for fossils, build a boat, see an alligator, paint a fish and more … Fun begins at 10. Free lunch for the kids.

Sat, Oct 19 Core Sound Shrimp-Off ~ Cooks vs Chefs, Crystal Coast Civic Center, MHC Celebrating everything shrimp! Shrimp cooked anyway you like it by hometown cooks and visiting chefs from across North Carolina! Shrimp tales, shrimp art, shrimp, shrimp, shrimp! Special Guests – Music – All kinds of shrimpy things … Details to be announced soon!

Fri/Sat, Nov 1 & 2 Core Sound Christmas Season Begins …

Our Annual Crabpot Tree Sale 806 Arendell St, Morehead City & CSWM&HC Museum, Harkers Island Dec 6-7-8 Core Sound Christmas & Waterfowl Weekend “At the End of the Road” ~ Harkers Island Please check FB and www.coresound.com often for event updates.

For ticket information please call 252.728.1500.

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Wheatly Boys Tire & Automotive, LLC 760 Hwy 70E, Otway Beaufort, Wheatly Boys Tire & Automotive, LLC NC 28516 760 Hwy 70E, Otway Beaufort, “Eddie Bo” Wheatly, Partner 252-729-2921 NC&28516 Wheatly Boys Tire Wheatly Automotive, BoysLLC Tire & Automotive, LLC Eddie Wheatly, Partner 252-729-2191 “Eddie Bo” Wheatly, Partner 760 Hwy 70E, Otway760 Beaufort, Hwy252-729-2921 70E, Otway Beaufort, Eddie Wheatly, Partner 252-729-2191 NC 28516 NC 28516 We carry all fuel and petroleum products.

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NC Shellfish Aquaculture Suffers Losses of Nearly $10 Million from 2018 Storms JANUARY 24, 2019 MARISA INCREMONA North Carolina Sea Grant collaborated with partners from NOAA and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services to tally damage from hurricanes Florence and Michael in 2018.

Contact: Chuck Weirich, 252-222-6314, chuck_weirich@ncsu.edu Katie Mosher, 919-515-9069, kmosher@ncsu.edu

H

urricane Florence and Tropical Storm Michael brought combined damages of nearly $10 million to North Carolina’s shellfish aquaculture industry, with significant impacts to facilities, gear and

crops.

The tallies as of late 2018 are from surveys conducted by North Carolina Sea Grant, with partners at the N.C. Department of Agriculture, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new total updates an earlier estimate as growers continue to provide data.

Hurricane Florence brought record-setting rain not only to the coastal region but also inland, causing a flush of freshwater into estuaries — and into shellfish farms — that continued for weeks. This inflow of fresh water reduced salinity and dissolved oxygen levels, leaving poor conditions for growing oysters and clams. Powerful waves and storm surge damaged docks, waterfront buildings and gear, and also had severe impacts at shellfish hatcheries and nursery operations.

“All 47 farms that reported had significant damage, and a few farms had catastrophic losses,” notes Chuck Weirich, North Carolina Sea Grant’s marine aquaculture specialist. The tally includes some farms that had fared well through Florence, but had damage in October when Michael came through with tropical storm winds, driving waves and rain.

Weirich worked first-hand with growers to gather damage estimates using a web-based form developed by NCDA. The NOAA team then assessed the data and mapped the extent of loss in specific counties. The tally shows that storms such as Florence and Michael can bring devastating impacts to shellfish farms in coastal waters across the state.

For example, Carteret County had 19 shellfish aquaculture businesses reporting losses, the highest for any county, and also most impacts to

total farm acreage at 89. Pamlico County had the highest dollar losses, with $1.8 million in property damage and $2.06 million in lost product.

Weirich will be presenting the findings at several upcoming events, including the N.C. Aquaculture Development Conference, the N.C. Oyster Summit and the regional Oysters South meeting.

Sea Grant, NCDA, and NOAA are among partners in the North Carolina Shellfish Initiative that was announced in August 2018, just weeks before Florence hit the state. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, N.C. Department of Commerce, N.C. Coastal Federation, and the N.C. Shellfish Growers Association are also partners in the initiative, which supports increasing shellfish stocks and their impact to coastal communities and the environment through aquaculture, restoration of wild stocks, and protecting water quality.

“Aquaculture is of particular interest,” Weirich explains,” as the state has seen an increase in water column leases that allow growers to use culture gear such as cages to produce single oysters for the coveted half-shell market.”

This helped push the farm gate value of the N.C. oyster aquaculture industry over $1 million for the first time in 2016. In 2017, that value doubled to over $2 million. The state also has a rich history of farming hard clams and Sea Grant currently is leading research to look into the potential for adding N.C. native sunray Venus clams and bay scallops as cultured species.

Editor’s Note: This post has corrected the reference of Michael as a tropical storm, not a hurricane.

Reprinted from Coastwatch, a publication of North Carolina Sea Grant. north carolina fisheries association 23

Fish and CHPPs By: Anne Deaton “Fish and CHPPs” (said like chips) - these two things have long gone together, but it’s not just a good seafood basket. Fish need healthy habitat, including good water quality to survive and thrive. The CHPP, which is an acronym for Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, is required by the Fishery Reform Act (G.S. 143B-279.8) and is developed, implemented, and reviewed every five years by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to ensure that habitat and water quality conditions are protected and improved to help coastal fisheries. The plan, which is on its third iteration, summarizes information about the status of our coastal habitats, states what could negatively impact them, and recommends actions for their protection and restoration. The Marine Fisheries, Coastal Resources, and Environmental Management commissions are required to approve and implement plan recommendations.

North Carolina is fortunate to have an expansive coastal estuarine system, barrier islands, and coastal oceans that support a diversity of fish and habitats. The productive waters that support commercial and recreational fisheries are part of North Carolina’s cultural heritage and fuel the economy, including coastal living and tourism. However, lately, people are increasingly asking if poor habitat and water quality conditions are impacting fish populations. If fishing efforts have declined and fishery management measures have increased, why are fish populations still low? And most importantly, what can we do to help?

The health and integrity of coastal habitats are key to sustaining our valuable coastal ecosystems and the wealth of benefits they provide us. There are six basic coastal habitats described; wetlands, shell bottom, submerged aquatic vegetation or seagrass, ocean hard bottom, soft bottom, and the water column. Literature summarized in the CHPP indicates that we have less acreage of certain habitats than occurred historically, particularly wetlands, oyster reefs, and submerged aquatic vegetation.

Wetlands are a highly productive and critical nursery habitat for estuarine-dependent fish, but it is estimated that currently, only about 50 percent of North Carolina’s original wetlands remain. Filling for development, shoreline erosion, and shoreline hardenings, such as bulkheads, contribute to wetland loss. In 2015, there were estimated to be 590 miles of bulkheaded shoreline along our estuaries, with 97 percent of those having no wetlands between the water and the structure.

Shell bottom habitat, also known as oyster beds, reefs, rocks, or shell hash, has declined by as much as 90 percent since the 1800s due to overharvest, disease, and poor water quality (sedimentation and hypoxia). Due to shell bottom enhancing the health of the entire ecosystem, by filtering pollutants from the water, reducing shoreline and wetland erosion, and providing complex habitat structure for fish, this large loss of habitat, along with the loss of wetlands, reduces the overall resilience

DMF employee blowing shell off a barge to form an oyster reef.

Example of raingarden – a shallow depression that catches rainwater and where wet tolerant plants can grow.

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of the estuarine system and fish populations.

Seagrass, also called submerged aquatic vegetation, is a sensitive habitat that needs clear waters and stable environmental conditions.

The underwater grasses add an additional structured habitat in the estuaries that support unique species and allow young fish to move safely throughout the system. It is most abundant in sounds behind the barrier islands but also occurs in the western tributaries of Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. The long-term loss of seagrass habitat is less certain, but anecdotal information and mapping indicate there has been a significant reduction in submerged grasses in the low salinity rivers like Neuse and Tar-Pamlico. High salinity grass beds have been more stable.

Globally, the extent of seagrass has seen an accelerating rate of loss, from about 1 percent per year before 1940 to about 7 percent per year since 1990. Preliminary data from North Carolina indicate a similar declining rate in some coastal areas. The greatest threats to submerged grass beds are nutrient over-enrichment and sediment loading which decreases water clarity and the ability of the plants to get sufficient light for growth and survival. Changing temperatures, salinity, turbidity, and wave exposure that may occur with climate change could significantly impact this habitat, with unknown consequences on dependent fish, like spotted seatrout, red drum, blue crab, and shrimp.

The water column is the habitat where all fish live and its condition influences not only fish but all other aquatic habitats, particularly oyster reefs and submerged aquatic vegetation. Assessing the condition of coastal waters and determining the sources of pollutants found in water is complex. Water quality can be impacted by direct discharges from municipal and industrial wastewater treatment facilities or from stormwater runoff that originates from multiple sources. Stormwater runoff is considered the primary cause of water quality degradation along the coast; large amounts of stormwater entering estuaries can cause a rapid change in environmental conditions like salinity, and dissolved oxygen, stressing juvenile fish and transporting sediment and pollutants that harm oysters and seagrass. Whether the runoff originates from a neighborhood, golf course, animal operation or agricultural field, the water is likely transporting some amount of elevated nutrients from fertilizer and animal waste; toxins from pesticide applications and fuel products on roadways; sediment from unvegetated shorelines and ditches; and bacteria from animal waste and septic drain fields can also lead to declining water quality. An increasing amount of developed land (for example, impervious footprints like buildings and driveways that cannot absorb rain) leads to increased runoff during storms, because the water does not have the opportunity to be filtered by natural vegetated upland or wetland buffers before reaching coastal creeks and rivers.

Direct discharges of treated effluent from wastewater treatment plants can also degrade water quality. Although designed to remove pollutants, equipment failures or sewer line breaks can result in pollution entering coastal waters. In addition, some chemical compounds are not removed by standard wastewater treatment. Medications and plastic compounds that pass from humans to wastewater can be passed into surface waters. Some of these compounds are endocrine disruptors, meaning that they affect processes related to growth and reproduction and some can be cancer-causing in humans and animals. In addition to direct discharges, endocrine disrupting compounds used on lawns, farms, and roads can enter waters through stormwater runoff.

As you can see there are a large variety of sources and threats that contribute to habitat and water quality degradation which make it difficult to address. The 2016 Coastal Habitat Protection Plan selected several key priorities to focus efforts.

One key implementation priority of the CHPP is to restore oyster habitat. Oysters are not only an important fishery, but they also provide critical habitat for over 40 fishery species, and as previously discussed provide valuable ecosystem services such as water filtration and shoreline stabilization. These services have been valued at $2,200 to $40,200 per acre per year. Due to their recognized value, plans are underway to create additional oyster sanctuaries in Pamlico Sound that are closed to harvest providing these services and allowing the oysters to reproduce spat that is dispersed by currents and will settle onto hard shell and rock substrate, increasing the number of oysters and expanding the reef habitat. The Division of Marine Fisheries, through increased legislative funding and partnering with N.C. Coastal Federation, has constructed approximately 30 acres of new oyster sanctuary habitat in the past two years and plans to build 10 more acres in 2019. Additionally, over 600,000 bushels of cultch material were put out in the past two years to provide hard substrate for oyster spat settlement to build future reefs that will create habitat, provide ecosystem services, and enhance the harvestable population.

Another CHPP priority is encouraging the use of living shorelines where erosion control is needed, rather than bulkheads. Living shorelines are an alternative technique to shoreline protection that includes a living component, like marsh plants and oysters, sometimes in combination with a rock. The rock or oyster shell material is able to reduce wave energy allowing marsh grass to survive and stabilize the shoreline. Research in North Carolina has shown that living shorelines support a higher diversity and abundance of fish

Sedimentation:– turbid water and sediment source from large clearing and ditching

Example of well-designed vegetated swale – gradual slope, vegetated.

north carolina fisheries association 25

and shellfish than bulkheaded shorelines, effectively deter erosion, and resist storm damage. Researchers at Rachel Carson National Estuarine Research Reserve monitored multiple living shorelines and bulkheads before and after Hurricane Florence to determine if these “softer” structures would be durable and effective under hurricane conditions. Results found the structures were highly successful in minimizing shoreline loss and allowing marsh to survive, in addition to having little damage to the structure. In contrast, many bulkheads collapsed, had large sediment washouts, and required costly repairs.

Living shorelines offer a way to offset wetland loss, create new intertidal oyster reefs, and increase nursery habitat for fish, shrimp, and crabs while protecting waterfront property. The Division of Coastal Management can provide more information regarding use of living shorelines.

By maintaining a narrow band or buffer of marsh grass along the shoreline, some pollutants in stormwater runoff can be trapped and filtered, improving water quality. Increasing wetlands not only improves water quality, but also reduces flooding impacts, provides juvenile fish habitat, and protects upland structures from erosion. The plants also absorb carbon dioxide from the water and air. Together these services make the coastal ecosystem more resilient to changing weather patterns. Economic studies estimated that coastal wetlands in the United States provided up to $23 billion per year in just storm protection services. Choosing to install a living shoreline for erosion control is one way a waterfront property owner can help improve conditions for fish.

Reducing sedimentation in tidal creeks, particularly in nursery areas, is another key implementation action needed to improve water quality. Excessive suspended sediment can silt over existing oyster beds and seagrass, smother invertebrates, clog fish gills, reduce survival of fish eggs and larvae, reduce recruitment of new oysters onto the shell, and lower overall diversity and abundance of marine

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life. Because pollutants such as toxins, bacteria, and nutrients bind to sediment particles and are transported together into estuarine waters, preventing sediment from entering coastal waters could reduce loading of other pollutants as well. Studies in North Carolina indicate that relatively high sedimentation has occurred in the past and research is underway to investigate the impact this has on fish and habitat productivity. Sediment-bearing runoff can be retained on site by selecting from a large menu of possible best management practices including upland vegetated buffers, infiltration systems, rain gardens, and grassed swales to name a few. The Division of Energy, Minerals, and Land Resources, within the Department of Environmental Quality, can provide more information to homeowners and developers regarding stormwater solutions, the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Soil and Water Conservation Districts can provide technical assistance and grant funding to farmers.

There are many water quality improvement strategies that can be implemented. Some of these can be done by homeowners on an individual basis, others at a local community level, and others at a state level. We all contribute to water quality problems in some way, and we can all be part of the solution. The choice is ours.

Written By: Anne Deaton Habitat and Enhancement SectionNC Division of Marine Fisheries For more information and references please see the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, see http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/habitat/CHPP or contact Anne Deaton (anne. deaton@ncdenr.gov) or Jimmy Johnson (jimmy.johnson@ncdenr.gov).

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Captain Bob’s Barbeque & Seafood 310 Ocean Highway South, Hertford, NC | (252) 426-1811 Bobby Lane, the owner of Captain Bob’s Barbeque & Seafood (310 Ocean Highway South, Hertford, NC) has a long family history in the commercial fishing industry. Bobby’s great-grandfather, grandfather, and father were all commercial fishermen. In addition to running his restaurant business, Bobby is also a commercial fisherman. Bobby decided to open his restaurant in 1984, with the help of his wife Sharon. The inspiration to open his restaurant came from always having access to fresh, wild-caught seafood. Bobby knew that people wanted access to delicious cooked seafood, and by opening his restaurant, he was able to supply that demand.

Though Captain Bob’s Barbeque & Seafood started out selling seafood, Bobby started selling fresh pit-cooked barbeque shortly after opening. All these years later, Bobby is still selling mouth-watering meals to satisfied customers every day of the week. In addition to his restaurant, located just off US 17 South in Hertford, NC, Bobby also owns and operates four catering trailers. He caters events hosting from 50 to 500 guests in cities northeastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia for casual as well as formal settings.

The flounder and white perch served at Captain Bob’s

restaurant comes directly from the Albemarle Sound, just south of their restaurant location. It doesn’t get fresher than that! On occasion, other fresh-caught fish may be advertised on their specialty board (located at the cash register). All of their seafood can be grilled, broiled, blackened, fried, or steamed.

Captain Bob’s also takes tremendous pride in their barbeque. They slowly cook hog shoulders over charcoal in specially-designed cookers to produce the exceptional barbeque that all of their customers love and come back for time after time. For their catering and restaurant operations, they utilize two cookers as needed that can cook up to 150 hog shoulders simultaneously. (Nearly 3,000 pounds of barbeque!) They also barbeque ribs and chicken! Upon request, they can smoke a pig for you on their cookers.

At Captain Bob’s you’ll be able to partake in their fresh seafood buffet every Friday night and their delectable country buffet every Saturday evening. If you’re nearby or far away, it’s worth making the trip to Captain Bob’s.

They have a saying: “The Only Two Places To eat…. HOME & CAPTAIN BOB’S”. You don’t want to miss out on their honest-to-goodness fresh country cooking! north carolina fisheries association 27

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CAPT’S

SPOTLIGHT CAPTAIN MICHAEL SADLER F/V JENNIFER G. ENGELHARD, NC

Name of Boat:F/V Jennifer G. Homeport: Engelhard, NC Captain: Michael Sadler Builder: Gloucester Year: 1988 Length: 42 feet Hull Material: Fiberglass Beam: 14 feet Draft: 3.5 inches Engine: 6CTA 430 HP Cummins Gear: Twin disc 2.5:1 Top Speed: 20 Knots Propeller Size: 30x27” Five blade Ice/Fish Capacity: 7,500 lbs. of shrimp, 200+ boxes of fish.

Electronics: VHF, Hailer, CB, Depth sounder, radar, 2 Furunon GPS’, and a computer with wind plot.

I

am a 3rd generation fisherman, born and raised in Swan Quarter, NC. My grandfather, Charlie Sadler, and his family were some of the earliest fishermen to settle there. My dad, Larry Sadler, and his brothers all chose fishing as their occupation. One of their sisters married a fisherman, and the other married a seafood dealer. Growing up, being a fisherman was all I knew. I say “fisherman”, but what I really mean is “shrimper”. My dad loved shrimping, and that was how he supported his family. From the time I was born until my late teens, our family would travel back and forth to Georgia for my dad to shrimp.

Somewhere around the age of twelve, dad would allow me to join him on the boat.

Once I had my first taste of the REAL “Salt Life”, I became addicted. In my mid-teens, working on the deck of my dad’s shrimp boat became my full-time job during summer vacation from school. During the school year, I would gillnet and oyster, as well as pack fish at my uncle’s fish house to make money. I continued to work with my dad after my school years up until I got married in 1986, at which point he helped me get started on my own.

Today, my wife Jennifer and I own the F/V Jennifer G. We have owned boats before her as well as alongside her, but she is the one that has stayed with us since 1996. She was built in 1988 for gillnetting, but we use her for so much more. We shrimp from Pamlico Sound all the way to Brunswick, Georgia. We gillnet to Chincoteague, Virginia. We also use her for crab potting, oystering, and green sticking. She’s not perfect for any one thing in particular, but she has diversity, and if I had to recommend something to new fishermen it would be to be diverse.

Commercial fishing has been good to my family. We have had our struggles at times, but we’ve been blessed more than we deserve. We raised two children from fishing. Both of our children have gone on to earn college degrees and are self-sufficient. Our son, Michael Dean, is married to Lindsey. They own their own business and have given us two grandsons, Grady and Graham.

Our daughter, Jenna, is a LPN. She works full-time and is also working on earning her RN degree.

I’ve been shrimping and fishing for some 42 years. For most of my life, I attributed my hard work ethic as to why my family and I prospered and were able to have the life we’ve had. I was badly mistaken in my way of thinking. Five years ago, I gave my life to Jesus Christ and I now know the real reason why we have been so blessed.

I try to be the best Christian that He wants me to be, yet I fail Him daily. He never fails me though.

With Him, I will someday be that true Christian, fishing for souls instead of fish.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:19 Blessed by God, Michael Sadler north carolina fisheries association 29

Talk on the Dock SHARON PEELE KENNEDY:

WHAT’S FOR SUPPER H

atteras native Sharon Peele Kennedy has a clear message about how to best cook seafood: keep it simple! Currently writing her third cookbook and host of the radio show “What’s for Supper,” Kennedy explained to Susan West in a 2014 Coastal Voices interview that the “indescribably delicious” flavor of fresh North Carolina seafood needs no gussying-up.

“I emphasize seafood done simply,” Kennedy cautioned. “Don’t cover your fish and shrimp with cheeses and sauces to where you can’t recognize that beautiful seafood that you’ve paid a premium dollar for - jazz up your potatoes, your rice, or your pastas, but not your seafood.”

Kennedy’s cooking philosophy can be boiled down to “less is more.” A common mistake is to overcook seafood, she noted, which can make boiled shrimp chewy and baked fish dry and leathery. Poking and prodding a piece of fish while frying can interfere with the cooking process.

“When people fry fish, they want to put the fish in the skillet, then move it,” she explained. “It’s very important to just let it sit there and form its own barrier so that when you turn it over, it’s got that nice crust. When you move it, you pull the breading off and it starts to steam.”

Sharon Peele Kennedy draws heavily on her coastal roots. For example, she shares how to bake red drum, known as “old drum,” probably the most iconic dish of the Outer Banks. Old timers preferred the largest drum, man-sized and scaled with a garden hoe.

Today legal-size red drum must be between 18 and 27 inches.

“You slice potatoes super thin, and toss them with some onions and flour,” Sharon says. “Put them on the bottom of your pan and lay your fish on top – boneless or bone-in sides, skin off.” She noted that traditionally folks kept the bone in for better flavor, which is her preference.

“Then fill the pan with water just up to the fish, cover it with foil, and bake an hour, hour and a half.” A common mistake is to add too much water, she warned, which subtracts from the flavor. Also refrain from adding too much salt, as “there’s enough natural salt so that as things cook, the salt will come out into the pan.”

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While the dish is baking, Kennedy fries out salt pork and then pours a bit of the grease onto the fish. She saves the crispy crumbles of pork to sprinkle on top of the finished product. She notes that today’s health conscious cooks can substitute olive oil for pork fat.

“Having the baked fish is the prize itself, no matter if you use grease or olive oil.”

Kennedy learned the art of simplicity from her parents and grandparents. Her father, Maxton Peele, was a commercial longhaul and pound net fisherman.

“Garlic, dill, and nutmeg never went into a pot of what he was cooking, I can tell you that!” she exclaimed.

“My father would make these things called fried biscuits – he’d put them on a medium-hot cast iron skillet and fry cook ‘em. They’d rise, and the crust was insane—crunchy and salty and good. I’d hear that boat coming in, and I’d run to meet it - just get a piece of that fried biscuit.”

A couple of her favorite childhood dishes have become taboo, as they feature sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon which are now federally-protected under the 1973 Endangered Species Act. “Dad made the best turtle hash,” Kennedy reflected. “I know it’s not a popular thing to talk about, but we had to eat and survive, and turtle was one of our wintertime sources of protein on the Outer Banks.” She emphasized that sea turtles were not targeted, but when the occasional loggerhead was landed, it would be quartered and shared among families.

Tuna, mahi, and wahoo are menu rock stars in seafood restaurants today. But on the Outer Banks and Down East, fishermen did not target these blue-water fisheries. Folks preferred the humble spot, croaker, mullet, and bluefish found in nearshore and sound waters.

“We never really ate offshore fish,” Kennedy noted. “The first time I ever ate swordfish was when I worked at Captain Peele’s restaurant, and Miss Grace and them were serving grilled swordfish. She let us taste it and I did not like it because it had a weird tang to it at the end.”

Few people along the coast of North Carolina ate shrimp back in the day. The crustaceans, called “bugs” by fishermen, were considered a nuisance and were used to fertilize gardens. Market demand for shrimp began to grow in the 1950s, and local tastes changed as well.

“We got to where we were eating shrimp in the summertime,” Kennedy recalled. “Stewed shrimp has become a favorite.” She shared her recipe for stewed shrimp with pie bread.

“You lightly flour your shrimp or just sauté them, let them brown,” she said. “Take the shrimp out of the pot and put your onions and potatoes in there with a little salt and pepper. Cover that with water and cook real slow. While that’s cooking, you make either pie bread or cornmeal dumplings.”

Kennedy explained that pie bread is pastry made with flour, water, and a little bit of oil, rolled out and cut into small pieces.

Dumplings are made with corn meal, flour, and water. She prefers the more delicate pie bread for stewed shrimp. She cooks the pie bread separately in boiling water so that it doesn’t get slimy from the stew.

“Then add your shrimp and pie bread to the stew and simmer another ten minutes or so.”

Sharon Peele Kennedy is part ambassador, part preacher when it comes to spreading the word about North Carolina seafood. She’s been a long-time board member of NC Catch, the umbrella organization supporting regional seafood-branding “catch” groups: Carteret Catch, Brunswick Catch, Outer Banks Catch, and Ocracoke Fresh. She demonstrates how to cook seafood at the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum, and has also demonstrated at Farm Aid, the North Carolina State Fair, and the Outer Banks Seafood Festival.

“I went to the State Fair with 150 pounds of shrimp for an NC Catch cooking demonstration,” Kennedy recalled. “And I had ten pound of potatoes, five pounds of onions and some salt meat. I carried the potatoes and onions and cornmeal because I knew we were going to be neighbors with House Autry breader mixes. I wanted to woo them with a pot of my stewed shrimp - maybe they’d like to sponsor one of our CATCH groups.”

Kennedy planned to steam shrimp for the general public, but she found that the shrimp went fast. Passers-by would snag a sample and go on their way, not bothering to stop and learn about seafood.

“In the meantime, my first batch of stewed shrimp was ready,” she said. “Matchstick potatoes, little dumplings, and chopped shrimp in two-ounce proportion cups with a tiny spoon.” She offered it to the public and folks were mesmerized, never having eaten anything like it before.

“They wanted to know what kind of broth was used, what did we put in it? People commented about how delicious it was and pulled other people in to taste it. They went bananas for stewed shrimp!

Within three hours, we’d gone to SAM’s Club for 3,000 spoons and two-ounce cups, and we ran out on the third day. I kept saying ‘We’ve got a friend in Jesus,’ because we stretched 150 pounds of shrimp to feed 3,000 people!”

Sharon Peele Kennedy does not need to practice Lent in order to give up red meat for seafood. “I go veggie if there’s no seafood to get,” she declared. But she is one of a handful of native-born Catholics on Hatteras Island, where the Methodist and Assembly of God churches have long held sway. Her grandmother helped start Catholic services before Sharon was born.

“My grandmother named our church, Our Lady of the Seas,”

Kennedy explained. “She held the first Catholic mass on Hatteras Island in her living room, using an ironing board as the alter.” A priest came by boat from Elizabeth City to hold mass on Saturdays. Her grandfather, a Frisco native who had moved his family from New York to Hatteras during the Depression, did not share his wife’s faith. In fact, he was a preacher at the Lighthouse Assembly of God Church.

Although the transition from big city life to the Outer Banks was rough on her grandmother, having left “taxis, meat markets, and opera houses for sand dunes and sand spurs,” her mother Juanita Peele took to banks life like a fish to water. She had no qualms about “scrubbing clothes, wringing chickens’ necks, and cooking on the wood fire.” Her mother married a fisherman, and Sharon and her siblings were raised with a large garden, chickens and ducks, and of course all the seafood they wanted.

Today’s lifestyle is far busier and costlier, so the average working family does not have time to grow, process, and slow-cook their every meal. Kennedy’s radio program “What’s for Supper” came about from conversations she’d have in the grocery store with friends and neighbors who were seeking her advice about what to cook after work, and how to cook it.

“I was running into people who’d say, ‘Oh, what are you cooking for supper?’ I’d find myself helping people put their meals together.”

One winter she called a local radio station and pitched an idea for “What’s for Supper” to “give people a little suggestion of what they could cook that night.” That was ten years ago and she’s still going strong, heard regularly on Beach 104 and Water Country 94.5 at 4:35pm – just in time for supper.

“I dedicate all of the shows to seafood because our local fishing communities have been put at an unfair disadvantage by many unnecessary and unfair regulations. I want to encourage people to go into seafood markets ask for North Carolina caught seafood, and support our local fishermen and women,” Kennedy said.

“Most people don’t think about stopping to a seafood market,” she added. “They go to their regular supermarket and get chicken, beef, or pork. If I could suggest, hey, get a half a pound of scallops, a half a pound of fish, some taters, and onions, and you got dinner and plus all the health benefits of the seafood!”

She noted the irony of today’s regulation-heavy fisheries that makes it hard for fishermen like her brother, Michael Peele, from setting aside a mess of fish for friends and neighbors because commercially-landed product needs to be sold to a licensed dealer and accounted for in a trip ticket.

“Dad would take a bucket of fish around the village and give it to the elderly people for supper,” Kennedy reflected. “That was a Hatteras Island tradition.”

Barbara Garrity-Blake www.raisingthestory.com Living at the Water’s Edge (UNC Press) P.O. Box 91 Gloucester, NC 28528 (252) 342-8028 north carolina fisheries association 31

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Get involved Become a member in your community CONTACT : North Carolina For-Hire Captain’s Association President: Ryan Williams 910-263-3097 Albemarle Fisherman’s Association Terry Pratt 252-339-7431 Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association Wayne Dunbar Hwd0123@gmail.com 252-670-7467 Oz Hudgins Home: 252-745-7424 Mobile: 252-571-2002 Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley Styron qualityseafood@clis.com Office: 252-225-0073 Mobile: 252-342-8821 Brunswick County Fishermen’s Association Randy Robinson fishmancsx@gmail.com 910-209-3463 Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Hardy Plyler hplyler@gmail.com 252-588-0512

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AROUND THE COAST Affiliate News Albemarle Fisherman’s Association

Terry Pratt~“The “There’s there’s guysmore haverock beenthan getting theirever crabbeen, pots so arehas ablebeen to catch sowater long as open up,they fishing real their slow,limits, but the hasit’s finally and they can fish.” cleared up from all of the hurricane runoff.”

Brunswick County Fisherman’s Association Brunswick County Fisherman’s Randy Robinson~ “The shrimpers areAssociation at the dock

Randythe Robinson~ trout Carolina. and red drum getting boat ready“Speckled to go to South About fi30 shing has be fabulous, shrimping has moderate, miles offshore the King Mackerel arebeen showing up. the guysfishing are catching big to NCpick green Inshore is starting up. tails The and inletthe is incrabbers pretty are still pulling in crabs.

Lockwood River good shape, funding on the Holden Folly Beach sidehas is low, but shoaled up have and we’re to get some assistance from for now we 8’ on hoping low tide.” our legislators to get it opened back up.”

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley few shrimp are in the ocean, CarteretStyron~ County“AFisherman’s Association

there’s a sign of grey trout, sea mulletnetting and blue fish. The Bradley Styron~ “Flounder pound is winding boys are doing good crabbing, and the price has been down, it hasn’t been a good season for us. It’s been good.

We are getting prepared for our Annual Carteret a very slow season, shrimping is off and some of our County Fisherman’s Association fishtofry.” shrimper’s have actually gone back crabbing or to

whatever else they can do to try to make a living. Things Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association haven’t been good for fishermen since Hurricane Wayne Dunbar~ “Everybody’s crabbing and that’s Florence.” pretty good and the price has been pretty good also.”

Pamlico Fisherman’s Association OcracokeCounty Working Waterman’s Association Wayne Dunbar~ Ocracoke Fish House~ “Not available Hardy Plyler at time of print..”

“We are preparing for a busy Easter weekend. Gill Netting in the sound for blues, trout. Crabber’s have Ocracoke Waterman’s Association done pretty Working good and the price has been good. Hoping Ocracoke Fish House~ Hardy Plyler for Spanish to show up soon, been seeing a few.”

“We’ve had a good flounder pound net season, even though got a lateFor-Hire start. The Captain’s retail market has had North itCarolina Association a goodWilliams~ season all fall. are looking forward to our Ryan “TheWe water temperature is between Annual Oyster Roast on December 29, from 2pm-until.

64-66 degrees and we’re getting close to King Mackerel We’dCobia like toshowing welcome and upeveryone any day.”to come on out and enjoy some oysters and socializing.”

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If you would be interested in submitting an Wilmington, NC 28401 article for Tradewinds, being our featured NC Seafood Suppliers “Marketplace’ or “Captain’s Spotlight,” please email 910-899-2508 aundrea@ncfish.org. Send in your fishing photos for future issues of TradewindsRetail/Wholesale or for a chance to have it as 910-769-1554 our Facebook cover photo. I’d love to hear from you and would love to learn more about our members. Help us showcase www.seaviewcrabcompany.com your community’s fishing heritage. ~Aundrea O’ Neal

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A WORD FROM: BLUE WATER FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION PO Box 51828, Boston, MA. 02210

I write tonight as I sit aboard the F/V Provider II. We are locked, loaded and ready to start our month, though I contemplate the weather. Southwest winds 20-30 knots and a reunited crew are a tough way to start a month. My patience is running thin. I’ve already been at the dock a day longer than I originally anticipated.

We continue to struggle through this winter. The wind has been relatively bearable, and we’ve been able to spend a lot more time offshore than past winters. Setting gear, as opposed to sitting at the dock, has been a positive. Don’t worry though, we’ve also had plenty of opportunities to set and haul through more than just a few gales. I tell our federal observers that we fish through the gales so we can afford to run home from the storms.

One of the biggest challenges we face however is price.

While our US pelagic long line vessels patiently work through the regulatory process in order revitalize our fishery, foreign imports flood our domestic seafood market. Most of this product is caught with tremendously less sustainability than the sustainable efforts of our domestic PLL vessels.

The Blue Water Fisherman’s Association (BWFA) has invited

government officials to meet with us at this year’s BWFA Annual Meeting (April 3rd, 4th, and 5th) in Alexandria Va. We will be looking for ways to better monitor, identify and enforce what is being imported into the US and flooding our domestic seafood market.

Nations are not supposed to be permitted to share our domestic seafood market unless they harvest those fish at the same sustainable levels that our US PLL vessels are required to. This is hardly the case. Fish that are being red-flagged from importation into the European Union are being rerouted and dumped onto our US domestic seafood market, consequently causing the collapse of said market.

You can help!

Remember: “When you buy seafood, domestic means sustainable!”

Sincerely, BWFA-President Marty Scanlon

I want to hear from YOU!!

Send your letter to the Editor and get in a future issue of TRADEWINDS!!!

Tradewinds@ncfish.org Or

Aundrea@ncfish.org

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BDTRP Regulations (Bottle Nose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan (TRP’s) Regulations) North Carolina – marine waters within 3 nautical miles of shore or the 72 COLREGS demarcation line.

South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida’s east coast – marine waters within 14.6 nautical miles of shore or the 72 COLREGS line, south to the fishery management demarcation line between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

Gillnet Restrictions for Northern NC State Waters Small mesh (≤ 5 in): • From May 1 - Oct. 31 – Fishing prohibited unless net length is less than or equal to 1,000 ft (304.8m) Medium mesh (> 5 to < 7 in): • From Nov. 1 - Apr. 30 – At night, fishing prohibited; provision expires on May 26, 2009.

Large mesh (≥ 7 in) : • From Apr. 15 - Dec. 15 – Fishing prohibited.

• From Dec. 16 - Apr. 14 – At night, fishing prohibited without tie-downs.

Gillnet Restrictions for Southern NC State Waters Medium mesh (> 5 to < 7 in): • From Nov 1 – Apr 30 – At night, fishing prohibited; provision expires on May 26, 2009.

Large mesh (≥ 7 in) : • From Apr 15 – Dec 15 – Fishing prohibited.

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“ Red Right ….…”

Guards for Exposed Hazards A recent fatality of one of our NC fishermen has prompted me to republish this article from last year. It saddened me to hear about this crewman’s fatal accident and it was a grim reminder of the dangers involved in commercial fishing.

The machinery on your boat is hazardous to your health. Every industry has its own share of dangerous equipment and commercial fishing is no different.

When we exam a vessel for safety on deck, we are looking for pulleys, winches and gears that have no protective guards. On/off switches that are too close to the power winches, as this heavy-duty equipment when running can easily inflict serious injury or in this case instant death. In the engine room there are various exposed moving parts and very hot surfaces. In general, we are looking for machine guards, exhaust pipe insulation, exposed electrical hazards and fall risks.

Every vessel has its own specialized equipment. The Captain is responsible to ensure his crew is safe from the potential hazards.

You cannot eliminate risk but certainly steps can be taken to mitigate the dangers of exposed machinery.

There have been numerous studies done of the non-fatal injuries in the commercial fishing industry. No surprise that the hand and wrist injuries are consistently the highest percentage. But as you all are aware; one simple mistake can result in a fatal tragedy. Please look over your own work equipment, and ask yourself are these areas safe for the crew to work and if not, what can be done to reduce the hazard.

Stay safe and Return…

- Phil Amanna, Coast Guard Auxiliary - Barry Everhardt, Coast Guard CIV, CFVS

north carolina fisheries association 41

RADIO USE IN AN EMERGENCY Radio Use in an EmergencyMariners have used a variety of methods to signal distress over the many centuries that people have been going to sea in boats. These days, your first distress signal in the case of an emergency will most likely be made by two-way radio. However, as common as radios are on boats, you might be surprised at the number of poorly executed emergency calls received by the Coast Guard. This excerpt from Beating the Odds: A Guide to Commercial Fishing Safety*, by Jerry Dzugan and Sue Clark Jensen, explains how make an emergency radio call that will be heard, understood, and able to be acted upon.

Having and using marine radios is an integral part of fishing and an invaluable aid in an emergency. Radios should have a backup battery supply in case power fails.

Radios also should have the capacity to reach search and rescue resources.

Emergency Frequencies Emergency marine radio calls are made on VHF channel 16 (156.8 mHz) or SSB 4125 kHz. Emergency Calls There are three internationally recognized radio signals used for marine emergencies: Mayday, PAN-PAN, and SECURITY. All three have priority over other radio traffic.

Mayday calls also have priority over all other emergency signals. They are to be used only when a vessel or life is threatened by grave and imminent danger, and a request is made for immediate assistance. To transmit a Mayday, make sure your radio is on and you transmit on channel 16 VHF or 4125 kHz SSB. Then state: 1) MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY. 2) Your vessel name and call sign three times.

3) Position (latitude and longitude, and loran are preferred).

4) Nature of distress (fire, grounding, medical emergency, etc.).

5) Total number of people on board (P.O.B.).

6) Amount and type of survival gear on board (immersion suits, liferafts, EPIRB, flares, etc.).

7) Vessel description (length, color, type, etc.).

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8) Listen for a response.

If there is none, repeat the message until itis acknowledged or you are forced to abandon ship.

If time permits, provide the Coast Guard with any additional information they request. They are often unable to begin a search until they have specific details about the nature of the emergency.

If you hear a Mayday call and it is not answered, you must answer it and log the details of the call. When you can be reasonably sure you will not interfere with other distressrelated communications, advise the vessel in distress what assistance you can offer.

Mayday Relay: All vessels that are required to have radios (such as fishing vessels) are required to relay Maydays that are heard but go unanswered. To relay an unanswered Mayday, make sure your radio is on and you transmit on channel 16 VHF or 4125 kHz SSB. Then state: 1) Mayday relay, Mayday relay, Mayday relay.

2) Your vesselâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s name and call sign.

3) Name and call sign of vessel in distress.

4) Location of vessel in distress.

5) Nature of problem with vessel in distress.

6) Degree of assistance needed.

7) Listen for acknowledgment.

8) Transmit additional requested information.

PAN-PAN (pronounced pahn-pahn) calls are for very urgent messages concerning the safety of a boat or persons.

Examples include urgent storm warnings by an authorized station, and loss of steering orpower in a shipping lane. To transmit a PAN-PAN message, make sure your radio is on and you transmit on channel 16 or VHF 4125 kHz SSB. Then state: 1)PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN, PAN-PAN all stations.

2) Your vessel name and call sign three times.

3) Nature of urgent message.

4) Position (latitude and longitude, and loran are preferred).

5) Total number of people on board.

6) Vessel description (length, color, type, etc.).

SECURITY (pronounced say-cure-i-tay) calls are the lowest priority emergency calls and are used to alert vessel operators to turn to another station to receive a safety message. SECURITY warns nearby vessels of a possible hazard.

DSC, Digital Select Calling/Rescue 21 Did you know that by lifting a plastic cover and hitting the red button on some radios you can send a distress message from your vessel that automatically gives your position?

The distress signal is stronger and may be heard where a Mayday may not get picked up. VHF and SSB radios that are GMDSS (Global Marine Distress & Safety System) compliant have this capacity in most of the contiguous United States.

Your radio must have GPS capacity or be wired into GPS and take the following steps.

Since fishing vessels must carry a marine VHF and/or SSB

radio and have a Ship Radio Station License, you already have a Digital Selective Calling and Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number. If you do not have this number go to: http://www.boatus.com and follow the DSC and MMSI tutorial video available at http://www.boatus.com/foundation/ dsc/player.html. You must program your MMSI into your DSC capable radio so that other vessels may be able to access your vesselâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s information. For non-emergencies this will also allow you to give digital written messages privately to other vessels that have shared their MMSI number with you.

Remember, however, that you cannot access DSC features without an MMSI number and being registered. *Reprinted with the authorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; permission. This book and other marine safety information may be found at https:// www.amsea.org.

north carolina fisheries association 43

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quota of up to 9.55 million pounds will continue At their March 2019 meeting, the Council and Atlantic distributed according to the current allocations. In ye States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, when the coastwide quota exceeds 9.55 million poun Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) identified the additional quota amount beyond this trigger would preferred alternatives for the Summer Flounder distributed by equal shares to all states except Mai Commercial Issues & Goals and Objectives Amendment to Delaware, and New Hampshire, which would split 1% the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery the additional quota (Table 1). The total percenta Management Plan. The commercial quota allocation is allocated annually to each state is dependent on h At their March 2019 meeting, the Council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) idenproposed be modified described below. much quota beyond pounds, if a tified preferred alternatives for the to Summer Flounderas Commercial Issues & Goals and Objectives Amendment to theadditional Summer Flounder, Scup, and9.55 Blackmillion Sea Bass

Council & Commission Meetings

Summer Flounder Commercial Allocation Modifications

Fishery Management Plan. The commercial quota allocation is proposed to be modified as described below.is available to be distributed in any given year. T Summary of Allocation Changes Summary of Allocation Changes allocation system is designed to provide for more equita The Council and Board versionselected of Alternative 2C, which modifies commercial quota in yearsstock when biomass the annual is relativ Theselected Councila modified and Board a modified versiontheofstate-by-state distribution of allocations quota when coastwide commercial quota exceeds the specified trigger of 9.55 million pounds. Annual coastwide commercial quota of up to 9.55 million pounds will continue be Alternative 2C, which modifies the state-by-state higher,thewhile alsoquota considering the historic importance distributed according to the current allocations. In years when the coastwide quota exceeds 9.55 million pounds, additional amount beyond this trigger allocations in years when would be distributed bycommercial equal shares quota to all states except Maine, Delaware, andthe Newannual Hampshire, which would 1% of additional the split fishery tothe each state. quota (Table 1). The total percentage allocated annually to each state is dependent on how much additional quota beyond 9.55 million pounds, if any, is available to be distributed in any given year. This allocation system designed to provide for more equitable distribution of quota stock biomass is relatively higher, while alsoalternative considering the Tableis1: Modified version of Alternative 2C adopted bywhen the Council and Board as the preferred forhistoric importance of the fishery to each state. commercial allocation.

Table 1: Modified version of Alternative 2C adopted by the Council and Board as the preferred alternative for commercial allocation.

Allocation of baseline quota ≤9.55 Allocation of additional quota mil lb beyond 9.55 mil lb ME 0.04756% 0.333% NH 0.00046% 0.333% MA 6.82046% 12.375% RI 15.68298% 12.375% CT 2.25708% 12.375% NY 7.64699% 12.375% NJ 16.72499% 12.375% DE 0.01779% 0.333% MD 2.03910% 12.375% meaning that once revised allocations are implemented ImplementationVA Timeline and Expected 202121.31676% Allocations 12.375% the "additional quota" in the implementation year would The amendment Marine NCwill be submitted to the National 27.44584% 12.375% be approximately 2 million pounds. Table 2 compares how Fisheries Service for final approval.

Once approved, these Total 100% 100% State

an 11.53 million-pound coastwide quota would be distributed currently, versus how it will be distributed once revised allocations take effect.

The amendment will be submitted to the National Marine Fisheries Service for final approval. the Once approved, these revised allocations may be effective as early proposed initialbe commercial quota for 2019-2021 as January 1, 2020The but would more likely effective January 1, 2021. (prior to deductions for2019-2021 overages) (prior is 11.53 million pounds, The proposed initial commercial quota for to deductions for overages) is 11.53 million pounds, meaning that once revised allocations are implerevised allocations may be effective as early as January 1, 2020 but would more likely be effective January 1, 2021.

Implementation Timeline and Expected 2021 Allocations

mented the “additional quota” in the implementation year would be approximately 2 million pounds. Table 2 compares how an 11.53 million-pound coastwide quota 2: Current allocation of an 11.53-million-pound quota compared to proposed distribution under revised allocation would be distributedTable currently, versus how it will be distributed once the revised allocations take effect. system, once implemented.

Table 2: Current allocation of an 11.53-million-pound quota compared to proposed distribution under revised allocation system, once implemented.

State

Current (status quo) state allocation percentages

Status Quo distribution (lb) of a 11.53 mil lb quota

Revised allocation percentages under a,b 11.53 mil lb quota

ME NH MA RI CT NY NJ DE MD VA NC Total

0.04756% 0.00046% 6.82046% 15.68298% 2.25708% 7.64699% 16.72499% 0.01779% 2.03910% 21.31676% 27.44584% 100%

5,484 53 786,399 1,808,248 260,241 881,698 1,928,391 2,051 235,108 2,457,822 3,164,505 11,530,000

0.09663% 0.05762% 7.77432% 15.11491% 3.99459% 8.45891% 15.97798% 0.07198% 3.81404% 19.78123% 24.85779% 100%

Revised allocation distribution (lb) in pounds of 11.53 mil a lb quota 11,142 6,644 896,379 1,742,750 460,576 975,313 1,842,262 8,299 439,759 2,280,776 2,866,103 11,530,000

1

a Initial 11.53 mil lb. quota for 2019-2021 is proposed by the Council and Board and pending implementation by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Quota level is prior to any deductions for past overages. b Percent allocation by state varies with overall coastwide quota in any given year; the revised percent allocations listed here will not apply to all future years.

Additional Resources Additional Resources • Summer Flounder Issues and Goals andIssues Objectives Action Page  Commercial Summer Flounder Commercial and Amendment Goals and Objectives Amendment Action Page Questions or comments? Contact Kiley Dancy at • March 2019 Council and ASMFC Board Meeting Summary  March 2019 Council and ASMFC Board Meeting Summary Summer Flounder (302)-526-5257 or kdancy@mamfc.org.

• Amendment Public Hearing Document Commercial Allocation Modifications  Amendment Public Hearing Document

north carolina fisheries association 45 Questions or comments? Contact Kiley Dancy at (302)-526-5257 or kdancy@mamfc.org.

States Marine Fisheries Commission's Summer Flounder, At their March 2019 meeting, the Council and Atlantic Scup, and Black Sea Bass Board (Board) identified

coa of quo dist whe the

NORTH CAROLINA FISHERIES ASSOCIATION, INC. P.O. Box 86 101 N. 5th Street, Morehead City, NC 28557 www.ncfish.org 252.726.NCFA (6232)

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TRED’n WATER BY TRED BARTA

I

“The Truth as I see it”

have been deeply involved in fishing for over 50 years. Half a century is a pretty long time. The first half of my career, I was based at Oaklands Marina, writing, lecturing, and fishing at Shinnecock Inlet located in South Hampton, Long Island. The sportfishing boat marina was right next to the entire Shinnecock commercial fleet, and as a result of this, I grew up as if there was no difference between commercial fishing and sportfishing.

Both groups went to the ocean for different reasons. The commercial guys went to earn money, support their families, and bring fish to the world. Sportfishing guys went out for the fun of the adventure and to bring food back for their freezer. Until I was about 35 years old, I never saw the politics that exist today.

After looking at everything on the table, I truly believe the National Marine Fisheries is a corrupt organization that is at the very root of not only our conservation problems today, but also the number one reason why commercial fishing is disappearing as a viable way to make a living. Not all who work for the Marine Fisheries are bad people. I know so many of them. Many Marine Fisheries employees are my dear friends, they honestly believe in their soul that they are there to protect the resource for the American public. Despite the individuals who work there, the organization itself, in my opinion, is corrupt. The corruption comes so strongly from the “higher-ups” running the organization. The culture is so embedded throughout the organization that there is no accountability.

So why am I writing this article? I’m doing so with hope that the Marine Fisheries employees start giving the commercial fishermen a little slack, wherever they govern the waters. I hope this article opens our officers’ minds to question the organization they work for, and to reconsider how they enforce.

If you are a commercial fisherman, you are not an employee of anyone. You are your own boss and your line of work is very physically and mentally demanding. You have likely worked your whole life to buy boats, nets, and equipment so that you can chase whatever seafood is in season to earn a meager living. Every single law, legislation, closure, and harvest limit affects your life directly and immediately. As a commercial fisherman, these decisions have the ability to bankrupt you and ruin your life. No matter how hard you have worked, saved, invested, or reinvested in your equipment, a wrong decision by the Marine Fisheries (which may not even be based on legitimate science) can cause you to lose your house and make it impossible for you to send your kids to school.

When the American public cannot buy local fish or fish caught in the USA, they import the same fish from overseas.

Those countries have little to no regulations and literally target species in their spawning grounds.

As the United States gorges itself on irresponsibly caught seafood, the species are hurt forever, and the United States commercial fishing business and its people are decimated. It’s sad, but it’s true.

I beg and plead with every Marine Fisheries officer who works both the East and West Coast of this great nation to start giving commer-

Written by: Capt. Tred Barta

cial fishermen a break, because it’s the laws and regulations from the organization you work for that are putting them out of business.

The world is still eating fish, and most of the fish that you buy at grocery stores on both coasts is now imported. I beg you to see the personal side to those you regulate. They are being regulated out of business, and they’re losing everything.

I must say with all of my heart, I truly believe that the men and women of Marine Fisheries are good people, they did not get into their line of work to persecute hard-working families, but they may be doing just that without realizing it.

It is very hard to change government, we can see this just by watching the news, but you the regulators can change the organization.

My name is Tred Barta and that’s the way I see it.

A MAN OR

A MINDSET?

TRED BARTA KNOWS NO LIMITS.

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