Tradewinds - December 2018-January 2019

COMPLIMENTARY

December 2018/ January 2019

WWW. NCFISH.ORG

A Publication of North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc.

Kyle Dixon Wildlife Art

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.

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

Brent Fulcher-252-514-7003 Chairman Glenn Skinner-252-646-7742 Executive Director Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Treasurer 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 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. ©2018-2019

December 2018 /January 2019

From the Chairman.................. 4 From Glenn Skinner................. 5 Nikki Raynor............................. 6 From the Editor........................ 6

contents 23

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Special Hurricane News.......... 6 A Word From Jerry................... 7 NFCA Annual Meeting...........11 Missing Redfish...................... 13 Brown’s Island Boys.......... 14-15 Bill Hitchcock.......................... 17

AFLAC for Members...........................................29 Ballot Box Biology......................................... 30-31 The Graying of the Fleet.....................................33

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

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

Did You Know?....................... 41

Mailboat Christmas Story....... 21

AMSEA................................................................37

Talk on the Docks.............. 42-43

Marketplace............................ 23

NOAA..................................................................38

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

FEATURE STORY

Councils & Commissions....................................39

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.

Core Sound Waterfowl Museum........... 19-20

If You Can’t Hatch Them, You Can’t Catch Them............. 24-26 Captain’s Spotlight................. 27

On the Cover:

Kyle Dixon, Wildlife Artist The Christmas Goose

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featuring Santa Cliff Snider

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Davis Fuels ............................................ 36 Fulcher’s Seafood................................... 10 Gordon’s Net Works................................ 22 H and R Repair....................................... 16 Hardison Tire .......................................... 36 Henry Daniels F/V Joyce D................... 18 Homer Smith Seafood............................ 16 Hurricane Boatyard................................. 36 Locals Seafood....................................... 38 Murray L. Nixon Fishery, Inc. ................. 40 N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.......... Back Cover Ocracoke Working Watermans Assoc.... 11 Offshore Marine...................................... 18 O’Neal’s Sea Harvest.............................. 44 Pamlico Insurance.................................. 10 Potter Net and Twine.............................. 44 Powell Brothers Maintenance................. 32 Quality Seafood...................................... 29

R.E. Mayo Seafood................................. 10 Robinson & Stith Insurance.................... 12 Rocky Mount Cord Co............................ 44 Salt Box Joint.......................................... 11 Seaview Crab Company......................... 35 Ted & Todd’s Marine Services................ 26 The Clement Companies........................ 32 Tred Barta............................................... 47 Walker Marine......................................... 13 Wanchese Fish....................................... 20 Wanchese Trawl..................................... 20 Wells Fargo Bank.................................... 12 Wheatly Boys............................................ 8 Wheatley, Wheatley, Weeks, Lupton & Massie............................................... 5 Wilheit Packaging................................... 29

north carolina fisheries association

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A word from the chairman ...

GIVE THANKS!

T

he commercial fishing business is just like any other business in one way. Whether you’re a fisherman, a seafood packer, dealer, trucker or retail market, you have plenty to think about 365 days a year. Many times, our thoughts are on the negative aspects or the problems associated with how we provide for our families. Right now it’s hard to get the weather out of our heads, recent hurricanes in particular or just the weather in general.

Having a positive attitude is a good thing any time, but this time of year, most important as we think of family and friends and the holiday season. Thinking positively helps maintain our mental health while offering a ray of hope for all of those around us, including family, friends and our customers.

We don’t have to work very hard to come up with reasons for giving thanks. The storms wreaked havoc on the coast for sure but the vast majority of us can be thankful that our losses are only monetary or inconvenience.

For those that are still going through some very tough times

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economically, we can be grateful to the Governor, the staffs at DEQ and DMF and the General Assembly for passing a relief package that totals $11.6 million for commercial fishermen. When you’re giving thanks, be sure to add your friends and neighbors all over this great state, as those funds are made possible by all of our citizens.

We also can be thankful for the last couple of rounds of appointments to the Marine Fisheries Commission. We’re not quite where we need to be, but we’re certainly headed in the right direction.

The North Carolina Fisheries Association is most grateful to all of you who provide financial and/or moral support. NCFA is also helping fishing families that may be having difficult times through our Maritime Angels project during this Christmas season.

On behalf of our Board of Directors and Staff, I would like to offer our thanks to you and your family and our wish for a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Give thanks! Christmas may be only a day to some, but for us it’s a season!

Brent Fulcher, Chairman

A thought from Glenn ...

CELEBRATING THE HOLIDAYS AFTER THE STORM

A

s hard as it is to believe, once again the holiday season is upon us. While I have always looked forward to the holidays, this year I am especially excited to see them arrive. For me, the holidays have always been about family.

After all of the struggles 2018 has brought, I have a renewed appreciation for both my immediate and extended family.

This year has been a tough one no doubt, but it has helped me realize how trivial many of my day to day problems really are. When Hurricane Florence took away most of the “necessities” of modern life, I (like most) had to lean on family and friends to help me get through the storm; as it turned out, that’s all I really needed. Life didn’t stop when the electricity, cell phones, and internet stopped working, but it did slow down a little, and for that I am grateful. For a brief period in time, conversations and board games took the place of the internet and tv. People actually visited each other instead of merely texting “how r u doing?”. For the first time in a long time, I actually appreciated the simple things, like having a roof over our heads and sitting down as a family to have a hot meal.

While life has returned to normal for the most part, things still seem different somehow, and I believe it’s because I realized how much I really have to be thankful for. This year more than ever, I am looking forward to spending the holidays with my family. I hope everyone can find a way to look past the doom and gloom and find something to be truly thankful for this holiday season. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Glenn Skinner

north carolina fisheries association

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JOIN JOIN JOIN JOIN JOIN

TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN

TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN TODAY JOIN

Membership Matters:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of our NCFA members and loyal Tradewinds readers! The North Carolina Fisheries Association’s next annual meeting will be held January 21, 2019 from 10am –3pm at Capt.

George’s Seafood Restaurant, located at: 705 S. Croatan Hwy, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948 It’s important that all members try to attend the meeting or assign proxies to attending members, as it takes a minimum of 50 people (either in attendance or by proxy) to conduct business. This is the one and only meeting each year where ALL members, including half percenters can vote on issues and give direction for the organization. Your voice matters, so please mark your calendars for this important event! Email

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

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proxies to: nikki@ncfish.org.

We will be hosting a Member Meet & Greet the day prior to the annual meeting on January 20, 2019 at Capt. George’s Seafood Restaurant from 4pm –7pm. All NCFA members are invited to come out for fellowship and camaraderie. Hors d’oeuvres and lite appetizers will be provided by the NCFA. If you are not currently a member of the North Carolina Fisheries Association and would like to become one, please visit our website ncfish.org/join-ncfa/ Alternately, you can call or visit our office at (252) 726-6232. We are located at: 101 N. 5th St., Morehead City, NC 28557.

Thank you to all of our NCFA members for your continued support.

Nikki Raynor

SPECIAL HURRICANE NEWS The General Assembly began their latest special session on Tuesday at noon. Glenn Skinner & Jerry Schill were in Raleigh on November 27 & 28th (Tuesday & Wednesday) speaking to legislators and attending meetings about hurricane relief. S-823, “Hurricane Florence/Supplemental Act” was discussed by the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Rules Committee where it passed given favorable reports unanimously. You can see the current bill here: https://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2017/Bills/Senate/PDF/ S823v3.pdf There is $10 million in the bill for commercial fishing assistance.

The bill then passed the full Senate on Tuesday afternoon.

The House Appropriations Committee discussed the bill on Thursday and gave the bill a favorable report.

When the House went back into session at 2:00pm on Thursday, the bill was immediately put on the day’s calendar. After a short discussion the House approved the bill unanimously. It then was sent to the Governor for his signature which is all but guaranteed.

It was noted in both Senate and House, that if further needs can be clarified those needs can be addressed next year during the long session.

NCFA Legislative Affairs, Jerry Schill

A word from Jerry ...

MID TERM ELECTIONS ARE HISTORY (ALMOST) NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Every two years there are quite a few changes in the North Carolina Senate and House. With the results of the 2018 general election, there will be changes other than just a few names, as Republicans have maintained their majority in both houses, but have lost their “super majority”. That means that Governor Cooper’s veto power may actually mean something. It could result in a longer “long session” in 2019, especially when it comes to the debates on the budget.

(As of this writing, the election results have not been certified.

There are several possible races subject to a recount.)

Nine incumbents lost in the general election: eight Republicans and one Democrat.

CHANGES ON THE COASTAL REPRESENTATION: * Senator Bill Cook retired. Rep. Bob Steinburg ran for that seat and won. * House District 1 will be represented by Ed Goodwin, Republican from Edenton. * Rep. Beverly Boswell was defeated in the primary by Republican Bobby Hanig. He won on Nov. 6th. * House District 16 will be represented by Carson Smith, Republican from Hampstead. This seat was once held by Chris Millis.

In addition to updating our various contact lists for legislators, next year brings the introductions with the new legislators and building relationships.

CHRISTMAS IS A SEASON… NOT JUST A DAY… We pray that your Christmas season will be filled with joy as you are surrounded by family and friends. Most of all, remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

HURRICANE RELIEF: Glenn Skinner and I have been attending meetings with DEQ, DMF and in the General Assembly working on relief for commercial fishermen. In addition, Governor Cooper has written a letter to the US Secretary of Commerce seeking a federal disaster declaration for North Carolina fisheries. NCFA has been actively working at the state and federal levels for hurricane relief.

CONGRESS: Democrats are now in the majority in the House.

In the Senate, Republicans have maintained their majority status. north carolina fisheries association

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Kyle Dixon Wildlife Art 141 Lewistown Road Beaufort, NC 28516 (252)-723-6167 www.kyledixonnatureart.com

The Artist A self-taught artist, Kyle Dixon grew up in a family of outdoorsmen and in the shadow of the Cape Lookout Lighthouse where he spent most of his childhood fishing, swimming and discovering nature and was inspired by the beauty of North Carolina, its people, wildlife and history.

Kyle developed a love of art at a young age and has dedicated his talent to preserving a quickly fading lifestyle whether it be the wild ponies of the Outer Banks, the waterfowl that once filled the skies along the coast or the people and industries that make North Carolina a great place to call home.

Kyle has worked as a graphic artist since 1986 creating designs, ads and logos for some of the largest events and organizations in the country. Several years back Kyle turned his focus to the Wildlife and natural beauty of North Carolina and through his work has raised thousands of dollars in the name of conservation.

He has won several awards for his work over the years including a best of show in 2006 and 2013.

His work has also been featured in the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission Calendar several times as well as numerous magazine covers and articles. He was also honored to be selected as a judge for the 2016 North Carolina Duck Stamp

“Guarding the Harbor”

competition in Little Washington NC. Kyle is a founding member of the North Carolina Wildlife Artist Society, a member of the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum, Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild and Ducks Unlimited.

From 2004 to 2014 he and his brother Buddy (An awarded winning taxidermist) co-owned and operated Call of the Wild Wildlife studio in their home town of Beaufort NC. Since closing the Gallery/Gift Shop portion of Call of the Wild Kyle has had more time to focus on his painting.

He and his wife Kimberly also own and operate Weathervane Studio in Beaufort, NC. Kyle’s work can be found in private collections throughout the country.

“Susan Rose Trawler”

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NCFA ANNUAL MEETING WILL BE HELD JANUARY 21, 2019

NCFA ANNUAL 10 AM- 3:00 PM MEETING JANUARY 21, 2019 Capt. George's Seafood Restaurant 10 AM- 3:00 PM 705 S. Croatan Hwy Capt. George’s Seafood Restaurant Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948 705 S. Croatan HwyKill Devil Hills, NC 27948

IT’S IMPORTANT THAT ALL MEMBERS TRY TO ATTEND OR ASSIGN PROXIES TO IT’S IMPORTANT THAT ALL MEMBERS TRY TO ATTEND OR ASSIGN PROXIES TO ATTENDING MEMBERS, AS IT TAKES A MINIMUM OF 50, EITHER IN ATTENDANCE OR BY ATTENDING ITONE TAKES A MINIMUM OFWHERE 50, EITHER IN ATTENDANCE PROXY, TO CONDUCTMEMBERS, BUSINESS. THISAS IS THE AND ONLY MEETING A YEAR ORMEMBERS

BY PROXY, TOHALF CONDUCT THISAND IS GIVE THE ONE AND ONLY MEETING ALL INCLUDING PERCENTERS,BUSINESS. CAN VOTE ON ISSUES DIRECTION THE ORGANIZATION. A YEARFOR WHERE ALL MEMBERS INCLUDING HALF PERCENTERS, CAN VOTE ON

ISSUES AND DIRECTION THE ORGANIZATION. EMAIL PROXIES TO: GIVE NIKKI@NCFISH.ORG or Fax FOR to: 252-726-6200

We will have a "Member Meet & Greet" on January 20, 2019 @ Capt. George's Seafood EMAIL PROXIES TO: NIKKI@NCFISH.ORG or Fax to: 252-726-6200 Restaurant from 4PM-7PM. (Hors d'oeuvres and Lite Appetizers will be offered by NCFA)

We will have a “Member Meet & Greet” on January 20, 2019 @ Capt. George’s Seafood Restaurant from 4PM-7PM. (Hors d’oeuvres and Lite Appetizers will be offered by NCFA)

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Missing Redfish T

Robert Fritchey

he red drum was the most hotly contested fish in the Gulf of Mexico. Plentiful in the coastal marshes, the iconic species was a culinary staple that local commercial fishermen had long harvested for seafood markets and restaurants. Handsome and a dogged fighter, the “redfish” was also a popular target for recreational fishermen.

In the late 1970s, a few anglers in Texas organized the non-profit Gulf Coast Conservation Association to win exclusive access to the species. GCCA’s 1981 “gamefish” victory in the Texas Legislature inspired sportsmen across the Gulf to pursue the same goal.

The redfish spent part of its life cycle in the inshore waters of the states, and even more time in the offshore waters controlled by the federal government. Both sport and commercial fisheries traditionally occurred near shore and were therefore managed by the states, until the 1980s when commercial purse seiners began to target the species offshore and the federal government became involved.

Federal fisheries are to be managed by regional panels of scientists and stakeholders but the redfish was controversial enough to have attracted the attention of the U.S. Congress, Secretary of Commerce, even the President of the United States. Along the way, but for a modest commercial fishery in Mississippi, everyone harvesting wild redfish for the market was out of business.

As inimical as its intervention proved for commercial fishermen, coastal communities and consumers, the federal government’s involvement enabled an unprecedented overview of the entire Gulf of Mexico’s red drum population: It uncovered

something astonishing—the species had begun to go missing years before Cajun Chef Paul Prudhomme blackened his first redfish.

With 245 pages, more than 30 black and white photographs, charts and tables, and an extensive bibliography, Missing Redfish (ISBN 978-0-9963882-6-9) is available from Amazon for $17.95.

The e-book, with most photos in color, can be downloaded from Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook Press, and Apple iTunes for $9.99.

north carolina fisheries association 13

Brown’s Island 6 The Boys OCTOBER 17, 2017 / DAVID CECELSKI

Y

oung fishermen in camp at Brown’s Island. A pair of heavy ash push-poles or long oars rests against the tar paper-and-slat roof of one of the camp cabins. On the far left, behind the young man in bib overalls and a pith helmet, a line of cork floats dangles from a nail. A cooking pan hangs on the wall behind him, and a washbasin sits on a shelf next to the cabin door.

The two men standing to the right of him are wearing what appear to be Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) uniforms. The young man in the middle has on hightopped Wellingtons, rubber boots popularly known as “willies.” On the far right, laundry dries on a line behind the fellow in the captain’s hat.

This is the 6th in a series of Charles A. Farrell’s photographs from Brown’s Island, in Onslow County, N.C., in 1938. An earlier version of this story appeared in Southern Cultures, a quarterly journal published by the UNC Center for the Study of the American South.

Charles Farrell did not identify any of these young fishermen by name. However, descendants of the Gillikins and

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Courtesy, State Archives of North Carolina

A mullet camp on Shackleford Banks, N.C., ca. 1880. George Brown Goode, ed., The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United States, 5 secs.

(Washington, D.C.: Commission of Fish and Fisheries, 1884-87), sec. 5, vol. 2

Lawrences who fished at Brown’s Island gathered not long ago at a community supper at Harkers Island, N.C., and inspected the photographs with me.

They identified two of the fishermen in this photograph with some certainty: the young man second from the left as M. T. Gillikin, and the one on the far right possibly as James Lawrence. James Lawrence died a few years later in the Second World War. That younger generation of Gillikins and Lawrences continued a long tradition of mullet fishing at Brown’s Island.

Charles Farrell noted that the Gillikins, in particular, had fished for mullet and spot on the island “from time immemorial.” In earlier days, the fishermen often lived in round huts that they built with conical roofs and thatched with salt marsh rushes,

but in most other ways the operation of the mullet fishery had changed little over the years.

“A great legend has grown up around these people,” Farrell noted on the back of this photograph’s original print. He wrote that the great-great grandfather of these young Gillikins was “the Paul Bunyan of the Carolina Fisherfolk.”

Farrell could only have been referring to Decatur Gillikin, a mythic figure in Down East lore. If you believe the stories told about him, Decatur Gillikin could row a boat faster, lift nets heavier, and catch more fish than any man alive, before or since.

Reprinted with permissions

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Spiritual Spiritual Blessings Blessings InIn HeavenlyPlaces Heavenly Places By: Bill Hitchcock

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3) Isn’t that exciting? God isn’t going to bless us, He has already done it! Notice the Apostle Paul says, “who hath”. That is in the past tense. So we don’t have to wait to die or for some miraculous event to happen to receive them. Those who have received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior have already received God’s spiritual blessings!

And what exactly is this benefi benefit? t? It is spiritual blessings, ALL spiritual blessings, not just some. All spiritual blessing in, “heavenly places”, or more accurately put, all spiritual blessing that are of heaven. “Heavenly places” is not a reference to a location, but rather a reference to the type of blessings that they are.

So, God has blessed us, each of us, individually. He didn’t give some blanket blessing to the world in one fell swoop. No, God receives each of His children, one at a time, and blesses them as the individual miracle that He created them to be.

What are these spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ? We know that the fruit of the Spirit include love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance (Galatians 5:22-23).

But we have to broaden our range of view and increase our fifield eld of vision to begin to see and “comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height” (Ephesians 3:18), the scope of the spiritual blessings that we have

already received from Jesus Christ. These blessings include redemption, salvation, grace, mercy, forgiveness, forbearance, the Holy Ghost, and the very word of God itself. That Bible you hold in your hands is nothing but one big spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ!

Spiritual blessing don’t necessarily come in a pleasant hue either. Chastisement, judgment, justice and equity are spiritual blessings from God too. Being obedient to these gifts will always keep us in righteousness and on course to God. “Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11) God so willed all of these spiritual blessings for His children.

They are His gifts for His chosen. Spiritual blessings aren’t always pleasant, but they are always for our good. All are meant to refi refine ne and steer us to Him. Realize that we have all of the heavenly and spiritual blessings now. Realize that all of these blessings are gifts, created by God, made for our benefi benefit.t. All too often we take certain things for granted, we assume that many things have always been, not realizing that each and every thing comes from God, made with a specifi specificc purpose.

The fifish sh that we catch, sell and eat are a blessing. We should thank God each and every day for the opportunity to be commercial fifishermen, shermen, even when the opportunity looks more like adversity. God’s blessings are always for our good. north carolina fisheries association 17

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Weather Has Always Ruled Around Here…

When Core Sound Froze Over - Bessie Willis Hoyt And other frigid recollections of Outer Banks winters, including a 1917 Christmas journey by mailboat to Davis. From, The Mailboat Christmas (1990) Our Christmas Memories

At the End of the Road,” Harkers Island

F

or nearly one hundred years old timers on the North Carolina coast have used the expression “as cold as the night the Crissie Wright went ashore” to denote an extremely cold spell of weather.

They refer to the night of January 11, 1886 when a three-masted schooner, eighty-four days out of Rio de Janeiro, was beset by a bitter gale off Cape Lookout. The Crissie Wright was bound for New York, her home port, with a cargo of phosphate. She had tried to find refuge there but was driven by the fierce wind off Shackleford Banks after she had suffered damage and could not be steered. Awash in the huge breakers, the schooner was powerless.

Captain Zeb Collins, and his first mate were swept overboard. The cook and the other four crew members lashed themselves to the masts.

Fierce winds almost blew them breathless.

The Crissie Wright came shore stern first and began to take on water. Watchers from the whaling village, Diamond City, built a fire on the beach but were unable to reach the ship. They gazed in horror at the scene being enacted before their eyes. There were no life-saving facilities at the time. The freezing bodies of the men fell to the deck, the cook being on the bottom. Feebly they managed to pull a sail over their freezing bodies. At dawn the whalers rowed a dory to the foundered ship, but all except the cook, were frozen stiff. He lived only a year after being thawed out, going insane from the night’s ordeal. The temperature never fell below eight degrees but that was low enough to coat the ship’s rigging, masts and decks with a thick layer of ice.

Twice since then the weather has been colder and for a longer period, but the stark horror of the plight of the Crissie Wright remains stamped in memory and legend.

In the bitter winter of 1898 Core Sound froze over. The weather had been so very cold all winter that fishermen had been unable to get food from the water. Near famine conditions existed. It was a time of depression. The fishing village of Davis in east Carteret County is almost an island and until bridges and roads were built could be reached only by boat.

With the Sound frozen over no food could be brought in. Many became ill and some died from starvation. An old black man, Uncle Moses Davis, who was deeply religious, asked the people to gather at the Oyster Creek to hold a prayer meeting. After asking God to look down on them and placing themselves in His Hands, they spotted a black column of smoke on the Outer Banks. After being chided by Uncle Moses, three men set out across the frozen three-mile stretch, pulling a skiff behind them. They found survivors of a ship, the Pontiac, huddled on the beach. Their ship was loaded with molasses and grain which proved to be a life saver for the hungry village.

They were events before my time, but I vividly recall the second time the Sound froze in the winter of 1917. I was an impressionable girl of eleven and the scenes of that winter are etched like photographs in my memory.

It was my mother’s custom to take us from our home in New Bern to Davis as soon as the Christmas holidays began. She would pack our lunch and belongings. take the train to Morehead City and there catch

the mailboat which plied between Morehead City and Ocracoke. Safe inside the cabin with teachers returning home, drummers (salesmen) and coastal Christmas shoppers, Mama opened the boxes. We would gather (Continued on page 20)

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(Continued from page 19)

around her to eat baked sweet potatoes, chicken, ginger cakes and big sourdough rolls. Sometimes we would have a bowl of collards. Mama didn’t know about sandwiches.

The cabin was usually full of people who occupied the seats on either side while the children sat on the floor. A small portable kerosene heater stood in the center. When waves rocked the boat, someone would steady the heater with his hands. The boat stopped along the way at fishing villages to put off freight and passengers.

At Davis, we walked the long wharf to the store, which doubled as a post office. Then we tugged our suit cases around the shore and down the road to my grandparent’s home. Kitchens at Davis were large and warmed by an iron stove. Rocking chairs added comfort, and around that stove we sat and talked. The bedrooms had never been heated and jumping into an ice-cold bed was an ordeal.

Older people and children undressed around the stove. With our blackribbed stockings still on, and pulling off only our dresses, we snuggled and burrowed into the thick feather beds and were soon fast asleep. So many quilts were piled on us that we couldn’t turn over.

Davis was Isolated. Each night the weather got colder and soon the Sound began to freeze. It was three miles wide with a deep channel but in a week the ice was so thick that the daily mailboat could not come. Papa had arrived on the last trip. With no roads or bridges linking Davis to the outside world, all communication was cut off.

Most people bought flour by the barrel and lard by the fifty-pound stand, but many were caught with low supplies. The severe cold had penetrated the dirt hills where sweet potatoes were stored, and they began to rot.

Every garden had rows of collards but they were frozen stiff and had to be cut with an axe. The salt meat was dwindling and staples in the two small stores were getting very low. The butter and jelly which were kept in wooden tubs gave out.

Those who became sick had to be doctored with home remedies and

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patent medicines from the store. No deaths occurred and no babies were born during the big freeze.

The marshes where wild fowl fed were frozen, and ducks and geese came up in the gardens searching for food. Some said they could be killed with sticks; in any event, we had stewed ducks every day. My uncle said he was afraid that if he opened his mouth too wide he would quack. Every night the grown folks sat around a tub in the kitchen and picked mallards, red heads and black heads. Often there were geese. The supply of feathers for beds multiplied fast.

Two large black bears came out of Oyster Creek swamp looking for food and promptly became food for those tired of duck. The two men who killed the bears hung them on a strong tree limb for several days while people walked several miles to see the large animals. Then the bears were skinned and cut up. After the two hunters had taken what they wanted, they sent out word for folks to come and share the meat. My grandma got her part and stewed it all day. The black meat was stringy and tough, but we ate it.

John’s Creek Diary A Special “Holly Christmas” Madge Guthrie December: Early 1930’s, The Mailboat Christmas (1990) Our Christmas Memories

A

fter Thanksgiving “Christmastime” begins in earnest. Catalogs are quickly closed when I enter the room; I can no longer haul-out the bags and boxes in the closets; Mother gets off the mailboat with packages that disappear somewhere in the house. I hear the sewing machine after I’ve gone to bed and see beautiful scraps of cloth in the trash (but no new clothes to be seen anywhere). I hear Mother and Daddy speak of wishing there was more money and that if “times were better” (I don’t understand -- everything seems pretty nice to me!) Fruitcakes have been baked and stored on bedroom shelves because it stays cold in there.

Real Christmas is stressed to me. Mother tells me so simply and gloriously of Baby Jesus, of why He came, who He really was and how He loved us. We go out on clear nights and look at the stars while she points out the constellations and we select an especially bright one to be our Christmas Star. She drew me pictures of angels while she explains the wonders ... She drew stars, bells, crowns, little animals and so much more to “bring to life” the real gift of Christmas. After awhile “Santa” would get “honorable mention” as a symbol of giving.

This year I get to glory in two Christmas “doings.” My aunts and their beau’s bring home a cedar tree they had cut in the woods and set-it-up all big and beautiful in Mama’s parlor. The little clip-on candleholders are my favorites and they even let me clip several on. Then we put in the real candles. When it gets dark Mama takes me in and lets me see a few of them lit. My! how those little flames flicker and gleam and the glass balls seem to dance in the reflections.

(Remember we had no other light than the flames.) I also know why Mama would always bring along a pitcher of water; and why after a few minutes of watching candles glow we put them out. Then we sit and rock while we talk and sing about about Christmas for a good while. (Mother lingers to make sure there’s no spark that might catch fire.) Now it’s off to upstairs where mother says I can spend the night in a foot-deep feather bed. I settle down to where I can barely see out, then drift off to a slumber reserved for such as we.

Today Mother says we can go out to look for our own tree. Daddy has work to do but I’m sure we’ll do just fine. BUY a tree! Never heard of such a thing! We wouldn’t spend precious Christmas money like that. Anyway, Mother and I look all over “the Hill,” down through the lanes and woods, but none of the tree “suit our fancy.” It has to be “just-right” ... So off to the “Sand Hole” we go, deciding we want something different. We find it there -- a holly tree, the perfect size and shape. We bring it home and set it in a bucket of wet sand in the corner of our living room. Mother covers the bucket with large hunks of green ground-moss.

My! I have the grandest tree anywhere. It’s just full of berries and I don’t think it needs ornaments, but we tie on tiny red bows and add a scattering of gold and silver bells with a star to crown the top. It’s so pretty!

After dark I keep shining a flashlight on it for “just one more look.” I can just burst with pride and happiness. Neighbors brag on how outstanding it is, and some go looking for their own holly, but far as I know, we have the only one.

These happy days pile into the night before Christmas. The days are so short

now that supper is eaten early to make use of daylight. Then the lamps are lit and we talk and laugh while Daddy cracks some extra pecans while I pick-out the meats. Mother reads aloud for us until sleep sneaks in and begins to settle so very softly that we hardly realize what is happening. Daddy begins turning down the lamps. Excitement and expectation has become a pleasant tiredness -- then deep sleep. Then I slowly stir and find I’m in my own bed.

But I think I hear angel music. I listen real hard and I can hear voices outside.

I quietly slip out of bed, tip-toeing to the front-room windows. Out there in the cold moonlight are Christmas carolers. They softly sing “Silent Night” and part way through “Little Town of Bethlehem” they begin moving down the lane to teh main road. Now I realize Mother is standing beside me. We silently hug each other and start back to bed. Just as we get beside my special tree, Mother pauses and turns the flash beam under that tree. There sleeps the most gorgeous baby doll ever! “Baby Buttercup” with all her layette on either side of her in her own box beneath the cellophane. I take an awe-struck look and Mother does the only mean thing I ever know of her doing -- she turned off the flashlight and says “That’s enough ‘till daylight.” I don’t know what time it is, but it will be an eternity until daylight. (There were other gifts but only “Baby Buttercup” remains in my mind’s eye until this day.)

Daylight finally arrives and I grabbed “Baby Buttercup” and hurriedly, but gently, tore away the cellophane and took her close. (Remember the fragrance of a brand new rubber babydoll?) Even by the “crack of dawn” Mother is already in the kitchen and I catch a “whiff” of sweet potatoes baking, mingled with that of lightrolls. She’s washing collard greens and putting them in a pot where the “streak-of-lean/streak-of-fat” is already boiling . There’s always a corned ham in the middle of the ktichen table cooking the afternoon before. A FEAST is in the making!

Gifts are shared, the Christmas Story requoted, so that by the time the sun clears the oak-scrub tops, all the neighbor’s kids (me included), are excitedly running from house to house sharing in the excitement of one another’s goodies. By noon we’re settling down to the good fortune of “Mother’s Christmas Dinner.”

There’s roast chicken, corned ham and collard greens, corn pudding, sweet ‘tater pudding, cranberry sauce, dressing, ambrosia (orange, pineapple, and coconut), green beans and baked squash (canned from last summer’s garden).

Pound cake, potato pie and red jelly cake complete the feast. Only at Christmas do we enjoy all these wonderful dishes, especially the fruit and sweets.

Since there’s just the three of us (I was an only child.), we only put a “dent” in all that food. Besides I have sampling to do at Mama’s and a couple of aunt’s houses. Visiting and eating goes together.

I wouldn’t have had “times any better.” Christmas on John’s Creek is like every other day along the creek bank ... simple and special ... filled with friends and family and love for each other ... and most of all remembering the One whose birthday Christmas brings.

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per customer requests all over US via Fed-Ex. B & J strives to educate each and every customer on the value of Fresh Local Seafood. Most consumers enjoy Fresh Local Seafood, but don’t always understand the effort and sacrifice that most commercial fishermen endure to put it on their plate. While shopping at B&J, shoppers are exposed to a wide variety of free cooking recipes, Industry literature, and the TV playing a Seafood Cooking demonstration or an Educational video on Seafood Harvest. B & J Staff is always striving to educate on the health value from consumption along with the economic importance to Eastern North Carolina. north carolina fisheries association 23

IfIf You You Can’t Can’t Hatch HatchThem, Them, You YouCan’t Can’tCatch CatchThem Them

By: Jess Hawkins

D

uring the last 10 years the public debate about the status of fifisheries sheries resources in North Carolina has been intense and controversial. Some fifisheries sheries and natural resource nonprofi nonprofitt groups have argued that our resources are not being managed sustainably and that those resources are at such low levels signifi significant cant action is needed now to revamp North Carolina’s fifisheries sheries management system. In recent years, our legislative and executive leaders have discussed whether such substantial actions as gamefi gamefish sh designation, redefifining ning commercial fifishermen, shermen, closing North Carolina’s inside waters to shrimp trawling are needed. Often lost in such discussions is what effects water quality and habitat are having on our fifisheries sheries resources.

First, some facts that might help the reader realize the importance of water quality and habitat on fifisheries sheries resources in North Carolina. Our state has more estuarine habitat, 2.3 million acres, than any state in the USA. We have the largest estuary (brackish wa-

ter), Pamlico-Albemarle Sound, of any one state. Pamlico-Albemarle Sound is second in size only to Chesapeake Bay, but the Bay is a part of at least five five 24

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states or government jurisdictions. Our estuarine waters are bordered by hundreds of thousands of acres of critically important salt marsh which produce more food energy per acre than any known type of habitat.

Much of North Carolina’s estuarine waters are separated from the Atlantic ocean by barrier islands (over 300 miles), which restrict the flflow ow of water in/out of our estuaries, punctuated only by a few openings called inlets. Pamlico-Albemarle Sound is essentially a large lagoon with a handful of flflushing ushing points. Many of our fifish sh and shellfi shellfish sh species depend on the estuaries to complete their life-cycle. As much as 90% of North Carolina’s commercial seafood landings depend on species that are estuarine dependent, with 60% of the recreational landings dependent on estuaries. Some of our coastal waters serve as spawning areas for such species as red drum and speckled trout. The state’s waters also serve as important nurseries for such species as brown shrimp and blue crabs. North Carolina is second only to Florida regarding the amount of coastal sea grasses, a very important fifish sh habitat. Our state has several large rivers that function as spawning areas for species such as striped bass that migrate from the ocean into freshwater to spawn (anadromous).

North Carolina is located in a key geographic location, where the cold Labrador Current meets the warm Gulf Stream. This strategic positioning allows North Carolina to serve as habitat for many semi-tropical species such as grouper and snapper and cooler water species such as tautog. The North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan (chpp-2016) stated that the combination of fifish sh species richness, the extensive estuarine and marine waters, and the diversity of fifish sh habitats makes North Carolina coastal fisheries fisheries among the most productive in the USA. Bad water quality and detrimental impacts to fifish sh habitats can affect fifish sh productivity in many ways. Scientists use fifish sh as indicators of poor water quality, much like the “canary in the coal mine” concept we older folks were told about as youth. Poor water quality and loss of habitat can impede fifish sh spawning success, depress the number of small fifish/shellfish sh/shellfish surviving (recruitment), and prevent proper growth. These factors can also cause fifish sh to migrate from important habitat areas, making them more susceptible to predation. Sometimes if the changes in water quality occur quickly/ intensely or the fifish sh cannot move, the resources die.

Water quality and habitat are not only critical for our billion dollars per year commercial and recreational fifisheries, sheries, but also for tourism, the main economic driver for coastal communities. A recent prominent example can be seen along the Gulf Coast of Florida, where fifisheries sheries and tourism have been substantially impacted by an ongoing red tide algal bloom. We have seen similar events in North Carolina in the recent past. North Carolina’s rivers would turn green in the 1970’s and 1980’s due to algal blooms caused by high nutrient levels (eutrophication) in the waters. Fish kills were substantial in our rivers. As much as 70% of the young fish fish in the Pamlico River had diseases and sores that were suspected to be caused by eutrophication.

The situation was so substantial that the Governor created special teams to respond to the fifish sh kills and algal blooms. The water became so degraded that the Director of the Division of Marine Fisheries declared the Pamlico River as “commercially dead” in 1989.

Measures such as nutrient sensitive waters and runoff buffers were implemented in the late 1980’s and 1990’s which helped decrease the frequency of algal blooms.

However, in spite of these measures nutrient levels in rivers such as the Neuse River are increasing, mainly due to non-point runoff and have been increasing for 20 years (Sea Grant 2017). Fish kills still frequently occur and are a major problem for those estuaries. Sores in some species of fifish, sh, such as menhaden which is an important forage fifish, sh, commonly occur.

Low oxygen events (hypoxia) still are frequent and extensive in our major rivers, sometimes

killing fish or making them migrate.

We have over 400,000 acres of shellfish waters closed to harvest due to water quality impacts (CHPP 2016). In March 2017 an additional 2,000 acres were closed due to impaired waters.

Prime historically producing shellfish areas, such as Newport River (known for its Mill Creek oysters), are being lost to shellfishing due to bad water quality. Even areas such as the Outstanding Resource Waters in Bogue Sound are experiencing more frequent closures due to pollution. Our closed shellfishing waters and the temporary closures will be a major issue with regards to North Carolina’s 20 year effort in restoring our oyster resources, its fisheries and oyster mariculture businesses. Researchers have estimated that over the last 30 years the value of the clam/oyster fisheries has dropped $10,000,000 annually due to the increased shellfish closures (Malin 2009). Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972 and 1977 to help prevent losses of such uses as shellfishing in our public trust waters.

Striped bass is a recreationally and commercially important species; North Carolina’s largest population uses the Roanoke River to spawn. Fisheries conservation for the Albemarle/Roanoke River striped bass stock did not make measurable progress until desirable water flow rates from Kerr Reservoir (has several dams) were negotiated by the state with the federal government to help striped bass spawning. That population was declared restored in 1997 and currently is not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. An opposite picture evolves in the Cape Fear River, where a total harvest moratorium was put in place over 10 years ago, but the population is still depressed. The Cape Fear River has many dams in the lower reaches which impede migration to historical spawning grounds.

The Cape Fear River has an estimated 191 dams/impoundments in its basin (CHPP 2016).

River herring, another anadromous fish, used to support one

of North Carolina’s largest fisheries and one on the largest in the USA. Due to habitat loss, water quality degradation and high fishing pressure, river herring landings began to decline in the late 1980’s (NCDMF 2018). Fisheries restrictions imposed in the 1990’s The North Carolina and the 2000’s in the Coastal Habitat major harvest area Protection Plan (chppof Albemarle Sound/ 2016) stated that the Chowan River were combination of fish not effective in stopspecies richness, the ping the population decline and statewide extensive estuarine and harvest was stopped marine waters, and the in 2007. The popdiversity of fish habitats ulation still has not makes North Carolina recovered over 10 coastal fisheries among years later. Populathe most productive in tions in our other mathe USA. jor rivers remain low, even though harvest was minimal to nonexistent from 1978 to 2007. River herring populations are depressed coastwide in the USA and harvest moratoria have been enacted in many states. However, some states are seeing some of their populations restored, citing their efforts in removing spawning migration obstructions (dams/culverts), coupled with fishery restrictions.

The Chowan River, the most important river herring spawning area has nearly 38% of its tributaries obstructed by dams/culverts(CHPP 2016).

(Continued on page 26)

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Photo Credit: http://www.carolana.com/NC/Transportation/nc_watersheds.html

(Continued from page 25)

One last example of water quality/habitat impacts involves our sea grass beds. Sea grasses serve as critical nurseries for many young fish/shellfish and are important feeding habitat for numerous species. Their importance led our state to restrict habitat altering activities such as channel dredging and bottom disturbing fishing gears around identified grass beds. Vast areas along the Outer Banks are closed to oyster dredges and trawls due to the presence of high salinity grass beds. Additionally, submerged vegetation is vulnerable to water quality effects, particularly high nutrient runoff and Patchy seagrass beds in Back Sound, near Beaufort NC. Image credit: NOAA. suspended sediments. North Carolina also has brackish water grasses that are primarily found in the bays and rivers bordering western Pamlico/Albemarle Sound. Vegetation beds that used to line the banks of the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers during the 1960’s and 1970’s have essentially disappeared. Total submerged vegetation has decreased by as much as 50%, primarily due to the losses of brackish water grasses (CHPP 2016).

One species almost completely dependent on submerged grasses is bay scallops. These shellfish primarily occur in high salinity grasses, using the beds for protection from predators and their larvae for attaching to grass blades right after spawning. North Carolina was a leading location for bay scallop harvest as recently as the late 1980’s; with numerous processing houses located near the state’s most productive beds (Carteret County). A red tide bloom decimated the scallop resource in 1987 and it has never recovered. Scientists think that excess predation by rays contribute to the depressed population levels, but whether this is the primary factor affecting the lack of scallop recruitment or other factors such as suitable/adequate habitat are influencing the population is still unknown. What is clear is that North Carolina no longer has a healthy resource that used to support coastal communities, provide a wonderful seafood item to consumers and historically were an important component of North Carolina’s coastal ecology.

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These are just a few examples of the importance of habitat and water quality to our fishery resources. When citizens hear narratives about the imperiled seafood stocks in North Carolina or when they enjoy our wonderful seafood at a restaurant or at home, I hope they realize what an important role water quality and habitat play in the health of North Carolina’s fishery resources.

− Jess Hawkins has a Master of Science in Biology. He was the former Chief of Fisheries Management with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries. He is currently an instructor with the Duke University Marine Laboratory and North Carolina State University CMAST Laboratory teaching Marine Fisheries Ecology.

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been living here for the past 11 years. I’m ’m originally from Long Island, NY but I moved to Beaufort, NC as a teen and I’ve fisherman, but he supports the industry a first-generation commercial fisherman. My dad, Tred Barta, is not a commercial offshore tuna fishing nonstop throughout and has always been big into fishing. He taught me a lot growing up. We went with my career as a commercial fisherman my childhood and teenage years. The experience has helped me tremendously to choose this path in life.I started fishing today, and I would say that growing up on the water influenced me in a major way “commercial fishing” are two very different commercially around the age of 18 or 19. Though the two are similar, “fishing” and At the age of twenty, my wife Nikki and things. I started out with a ten-foot aluminum john-boat catching oysters and clams. pregnancy that I bought my first skiff.With I had our son, Skyler. This kicked me into high gear. It was some time during her of fish. I would bring a buddy with me my skiff, I was able to start crabbing as well as use gillnets to catch various species good catch. There were also nights when and we would pull nets in by hand. We’d stay up all night picking fish if we had a nd, so pretty much whatever is in season we wouldn’t catch anything other than twigs, branches, and grass. I fish year-rou nd as much as possible, for safety, but I is what I try to catch; shrimp, crabs, oysters, and fish. I try to work with a deckha I run now. In more recent years, I invested work alone sometimes too.By 2014, I had saved up enough to buy the boat that to get where I am now, and the gear is very in my net reel, my trawl, and my skimmer frames. It has taken around ten years I could help it. My fishing expensive, but fishing is what I love, and I wouldn’t choose to do anything else if d by older fishermen who have been buddies have also played a big role in showing me the reins. The wisdom imparte someone looking to enter the commercial in the business for 20 or 30+ years is invaluable to me.If I had to give advice to Be willing to learn how to catch all of the fishing industry, it would be to just be ready to work! Versatility is also important. learn too much. different types of seafood that are in season throughout the year. You can never

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BALLOT BOX BIOLOGY or WE’RE SUPPOSED TO VOTE ON WHAT?!

By: Robert Fritchey

F

ishery management is a science and an art that’s best left to those with knowledge and experience. Yet special interests are increasingly pressuring voters in coastal states to weigh in on complex fisheries-related issues.

That’s because the experts with knowledge and experience are usually employed by state or federal agencies. And as public employees, they’re expected to manage and allocate our fishery resources in a manner that maximizes their benefits to the public So the special interests that are trying to win more than their fair share of our resources must find a way around those experts. Like a kid begging Mommy because Daddy won’t allow, they try the politicians first. Legislators sometimes do give in, but if they don’t, special interests may take their case directly to the people.

In more conservative states—like Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina— they usually can’t put a proposal on the ballot without the legislature’s approval. But in other states—like Florida, California and Washington—individuals or organizations can put virtually anything before the voters simply by obtaining a required number of signatures on a petition.

Either way, once the general public becomes the “decider,” look out.

FISH PROPAGANDA

It’s not easy for anyone to admit their ignorance but the fact remains that few people possess the knowledge or experience in fisheries to make the sort of decisions that they’re being asked to make. But not to worry! The special interests will tell them all they need to know.

“Campaign rhetoric” is a euphemism for “propaganda”; both are intended to yield a specific outcome.

In fisheries disputes, that desired outcome almost always has to do with “allocation,” the subset of management that determines who gets what portion of a publicly owned fishery. Special interests such as the recreational fishing industry almost always want a bigger piece of the pie. But rarely, if ever, is “allocation” clearly spelled out on a ballot.

There’s more than one way to skin a commercial fisherman.

NET BANS

In 1990, recreational fishermen prodded California’s voters to ban the use of commercial fishing nets off their state’s southern coast, and in 1994 anglers convinced voters in Florida to amend their constitution with a statewide net ban.

Yet recreationists and other anti-commercial interests aren’t always victorious, as evidenced in some coastal states that have a long tradition of settling fisheries-related disputes at the ballot box.

Oregon residents, for instance, have voted on fisheries issues more than 20 times since 1909.

Earlier disputes there tended to redistribute the catch among competing interests within the commercial industry, but since the 1960s initiatives in both Oregon and neighboring Washington have sought primarily to re-allocate fishery resources from traditional seafood producers and consumers to the burgeoning recreational sector.

In 1964, Oregon voters rejected a sport-sponsored referendum that would have eliminated all netting on the Columbia River system, and as recently as 1992 they nixed “Oregon Ballot Measure 8.” Measure 8 sought to limit the harvest of salmon from the Willamette—a tributary of the Columbia that flows through Portland—to “the most selective gear possible,” presumably the rods and reels of the initiative’s sport-fishing proponents.

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Measure 8 was characterized by commercial fishermen as “wordsmithing, not science,” and by professional fisheries managers as “an effort to simply redirect catches to sport fishermen, not increase escapement,” (which represents the total number of fish that survive long enough to spawn).

Mainstream environmental groups such as the Oregon Rivers Council and Sierra Club opposed the measure, and voters ultimately defeated it by a 60- to 40-percent margin. Even if it had passed, noted a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, commercial fishermen and consumers might have gotten the last laugh: If they’d been forced to challenge the measure in court, gillnetters might very well have demonstrated that their gear was the more selective!

Washington voters have also settled their share of fishery disputes. In 1934, they faced Initiative 77, which was described at the time as “one of the biggest fish fights in Washington State’s history.” I-77 eliminated fishwheels, traps, haul seines and set nets from the Columbia River. Since such gear was operated at fixed locations that were mostly controlled by large canneries, I-77 had a populist appeal as it re-allocated the harvest to family fishermen using the sort of portable gear that’s currently in the sportsmen’s sights.

In 1995, Washington voters declined to approve Ballot Initiative 640, a sweeping and cleverly worded measure that would have established a stringent set of standards for the survival of bycatch taken in both salmon and non-salmon gear. Though it primarily targeted the Columbia’s salmon gillnetters, the state’s ocean-going salmon trollers, groundfish longliners, shrimp and groundfish trawlers, and possibly even crab pot fishermen could also have been taken out as collateral damage.

Playing off the fish-crisis Zeitgeist of the time, the measure’s promoters—which included sport-fishing magazines, charter-boat owners, tackle shops and sportsmen’s groups—amalgamated themselves under the environmentally appealing moniker, “Save Our Sealife,” and worded their initiative to capitalize off the Marine Fish Conservation Network’s recent elevation of “bycatch” to an issue of national urgency.

The wording of ballot initiatives is often convoluted, and that of I-640 was necessarily so: Seattle’s airport had brass salmon inlaid into its floor, and residents of the Pacific Northwest were as proud of their region’s fishing heritage as any in the nation. Their comparatively heightened environmental awareness, combined with their long tradition of settling fishing disputes at the ballot box, made for unusually sophisticated voters who weren’t as likely to approve the sort of blanket net bans that the sportsmen were pulling off in other parts of the country.

To win over voters, both sides tried to simplify the issue.

SAVE OUR SEALIFE

The initiative’s proponents touted I-640 as a “conservation” measure and a panacea for all that ailed the state’s fisheries, marine mammals, seabirds, and economy.

The Seattle-based Fishing and Hunting News, which stridently railed against commercial fishing, served as the unofficial organ of the Save Our Sealife Committee. In a May 1995 article, editor Skip Knowles painted a scenario for Washington in the year 2010: Having banned nets 15 years earlier, the citizens in his futuristic Washington state enjoyed a utopian life of universal sport-fishing pleasure and prosperity, as visiting anglers poured money into the salmon paradise, and charter-boat and other tourism-related services thrived.

In a June issue, Knowles wrote, “We’ve got to stop the strip miners [net fishermen] while there’s still something left,” as he pressed his readers to help obtain

the 185,000 signatures required to put I-640 on the ballot. (Save our Sealife eventually paid professionals 50 cents a signature to do so.)

Donors to the I-640 campaign included individual anglers, corporate members of the sport-fishing industry, and the Columbia River Alliance. Save our Sealife’s biggest backer, the Alliance was an Oregon-based coalition of hydropower companies and their greatest consumers of electricity—aluminum smelters—as well as farm irrigation associations and barge operators.

Such industrial interests would clearly have benefited from I-640’s elimination of commercial fishing by defusing the political pressure and lawsuits that forced costly retrofits of dams, turbines, and water diversions needed to protect salmon runs. But the alliance of such “strange boatfellows” with the crusading “conservationists” provided many voters with all the clarity they needed, especially after it was condemned by regional environmentalists and widely reported in the media.

“They’ve tried to put the onus on the fishing industry to hide the culpability of their own industries,” William Arthur, regional director of the Sierra Club Northwest, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, after a Labor Day rally where environmentalists joined commercial fishermen in opposing I-640.

Jim Baker, the Sierra Club’s Northwest salmon campaign coordinator, called the initiative “repugnant” to environmentalists because commercial fishermen were their key allies in the battle to protect habitat while the initiative’s supporters had openly “courted” those industries that were largely responsible for ravaging the Columbia River Basin’s most troubled salmon runs. “Initiative 640 saves our sea life in rhetoric only, not in reality,” Baker declared.

A widely distributed joint statement by seven leading environmental groups similarly negated claims that the salmon would be “saved” by the measure: “It does not promote salmon conservation.” Furthermore, I-640 sowed division among sport and commercial salmon fishing groups at a time when they sorely needed to unite against habitat damage from dams and other industries that affected salmon-producing watersheds, read the statement by The Wilderness Society, American Rivers, Sierra Club, Friends of the Earth, Washington Toxics Coalition, Puget Soundkeeper Alliance, and Greater Ecosystem Alliance. “We believe it is better to work together to protect fish habitat and restore fish runs for both sport and commercial fisheries.”

In a similar vein, the director of Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife said that working to protect and improve salmon streams would eventually yield more fish for harvest than shortsighted and expensive re-allocation efforts, for which he was ridiculed by the editor of Fishing and Hunting News: “Every time he opens his mouth, some…habitat puffery falls out.”

NOT ONE SALMON SAVED

“Salmon for Washington,” which seafood interests organized to defeat Save Our Sealife’s initiative, developed the slogan, “20,000 Jobs and Not One Salmon Saved,” to emphasize that the initiative failed to address the root causes of the salmon decline while negatively impacting fishing families and the state’s economy. I-640, said its opponents, would trim $250 million from the state’s economy, each year; of the 20,000 lost jobs, 5,000 to 8,000 would be harvesters, and the rest in support industries.

The League of Women Voters opposed I-640, claiming that the initiative process was being abused by special interest groups on an issue that would be better addressed by existing agencies and the legislature.

On November 7, 1995—the day before voters in Florida would overwhelmingly approve a similar measure by about 70 to 30—Washington residents rejected the sportsmen’s net-fishing ban 57 percent to 43 percent.

“CONSERVATION?” IF YOU SAY SO

In 1928, sport-fishing interests in Oregon petitioned for statewide referendums that called for the exclusion of commercial salmon fishermen from four major rivers. As the recreationists fished for votes among the non-angling public they claimed that the measures were warranted on the basis of “conservation.”

While members of the public generally swoon at the word, an astute journalist at the Oregon Voter Digest—which provided a monthly analysis of public affairs within the state—spotted the difference between the conservation and the monopolization of a public resource and, a few days before the vote, wrote an article that included, “The catch word of ‘conservation’ is employed to give respectability to what really is a bold attempt to seize…a fishing preserve.”

“NOT 1 SALMON SAVED, VOTE NO 640.” (Brad Matsen photo) Thanks in part to that publication’s clarification, Oregon’s voters defeated those measures back in the 1920s and can still enjoy wild-caught salmon from their own back yard.

But the fights aren’t over in the Northwest, on the Atlantic Coast, or in any other coastal region where publicly owned fishery resources are still shared with the public. Unfortunately, when the propaganda starts to fly, voters in the future can’t expect the same sort of clarification that media and environmental groups may have provided in the past.

ON YOUR OWN

When President Donald Trump chides mainstream media for opposing the public interest, more and more Americans are nodding in agreement. So might you, at least if you believe that maintaining domestic production of seafood is in the public’s interest.

Journalists used to say, “It’s our job to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” But as a veteran anchorman told a media gathering in New Orleans, in the mid-1990s, “The trouble is, we in the media have become the comfortable.”

The upshot is that many in the media can’t resist afflicting the afflicted—the family fishermen—by giving a journalistic edge to the comfortable—the entitled anglers and their corporate backers who are hogging the public’s finfish.

Nor can voters who must weigh in on future disputes over allocation necessarily expect 21st century “enviros” to put the interests of the public and fishery resources before their own. Suffice it to say, for now, that the Establishment environmental groups are “non-profits,” which means that somebody has to give them money.

Do expect smear campaigns, heavy on fault-finding, simplistic slogans and sound bites, heart-rending images, claims of crisis and paucity, all wrapped up with the promise of utopia once those terrible commercial fishermen are gone.

The sense of urgency that such campaigns create can tempt well-meaning voters to pull the lever in favor of a proposal that, at the moment, at least appears to be environmentally good and noble. Adding to their temptation is the emotional gratification to be gained, without having to make the slightest sacrifice or alteration in their own behavior. But it’s easier to resist the urge when they do the research, find out who’s driving the initiative and what they have to gain.

Of course, not all constitutional referendums are necessarily bad, but wildlife and fisheries management is complicated. Simplistic and shortsighted solutions to real or made-up “problems” can often result in outcomes that turn out to be exactly opposite of those that had been promoted. And once a law’s been passed, or an amendment has been added to a state’s constitution, it next to impossible to reverse.

So, left on their own, in nearly every case, voters should follow the example of those in the Northwest, and throw the stinkers back.

Then, when the dust settles and the experts on the panels and commissions charged with managing our resources get back to work, voters will likely find that the so-called crisis has evaporated, life goes on, and everyone continues to share our publicly owned resources.

Tagged on: Sustainable Fisheries; Allocation; Net Bans; Referendums; Constitutional Amendments; Salmon; Washington; Oregon; Propaganda Reprinted with permissions. www.newmoonpress.com

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The Graying of the Fleet – East Carolina University Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) Debra A. Kosko DNP, MN, FNP-BC

Prevention is the Best Medicine; Get your Flu Shot!

Hurricane Florence devastated eastern North Carolina. As many continue to dig out and pick up the pieces, the thought about getting a flu shot is probably last on the list. However, preventing the spread of a devastating illness that killed 253 North Carolinians last year is what we should be thinking about.

Influenza is caused by a virus like the common cold, but it is not a cold because it kills. Everyone 6 months of age and older should receive a flu vaccine every year. The greater number of people vaccinated means less spread of the infection. And it is especially critical for our older fishers, age 65 and above, to be vaccinated because they are at greatest risk for life-threatening influenza and death.

Fluzone High-Dose is the flu vaccine licensed specifically for people 65 years and older. As we age, our immune systems that fight infection weakens. This vaccine provides greater stimulation to the immune system so the vaccine is more effective. In fact, Fluzone High-Dose is 24% more effective at preventing influenza in those 65 and older than the standard flu vaccine. As with all flu vaccines, Fluzone High-Dose is not recommended if you have ever had a severe allergic reaction to the vaccine.

Vaccination is still the most effective way to prevent influenza.

Other prevention measures include: wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, if you are sick, do not fish that day.

If you become ill with high fever and extreme fatigue, see your provider immediately because there is an antiviral medication for those with influenza that can decrease the length and severity of the illness if taken within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms.

Is it too late for the flu vaccine? NO! Go out today and get your flu shot today and take your family so everyone is protected.

GWEP is a collaboration of the ECU College of Nursing, Brody School of Medicine, and the PA Program to provide health screening for mature fishers and their families in eastern North Carolina. We extend our best wishes during recovery and can be reached by phone or email: koskod@ecu.edu; 252-744-6421.

References: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fluzone High-Dose Seasonal Influenza Vaccine, https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/qa_fluzone.htm North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, https://flu.nc.gov/

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Get involved Become a member in your community CONTACT : 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 34

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AROUND THE COAST Affiliate News Albemarle Fisherman’s Association Terry Pratt~“The guys have been getting their crab pots up, fishing has been real slow, but the water has finally cleared up from all of the hurricane runoff.”

Brunswick County Fisherman’s Association

Randy Robinson~ “Speckled trout and red drum fishing has be fabulous, shrimping has been moderate, the guys are catching big NC green tails and the crabbers are still pulling in crabs. Lockwood Folly River has shoaled up and we’re hoping to get some assistance from our legislators to get it opened back up.”

1515 Marstellar Street Wilmington, NC 28401 NC Seafood Suppliers 910-899-2508 Retail/Wholesale 910-769-1554

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Bradley Styron~ “Flounder pound netting is winding down, it hasn’t been a good season for us. It’s been a very slow season, shrimping is off and some of our shrimper’s have actually gone back to crabbing or to whatever else they can do to try to make a living. Things haven’t been good for fishermen since Hurricane Florence.”

Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association Wayne Dunbar~ “Not available at time of print..”

Ocracoke Working Waterman’s Association Ocracoke Fish House~ Hardy Plyler

“We’ve had a good flounder pound net season, even though it got a late start. The retail market has had a good season all fall. We are looking forward to our Annual Oyster Roast on December 29, from 2pm-until.

We’d like to welcome everyone to come on out and enjoy some oysters and socializing.”

www.seaviewcrabcompany.com

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association Proud Affiliate of the North Carolina Fisheries Association

north carolina fisheries association 35

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MOB Alarms Round Up We are constantly telling folks that wearing a life jacket or other personal flotation device (PFD) greatly increases your chance of survival should you fall overboard. Of course, that depends on someone knowing that you fell off the boat in the first place. Unfortunately, you can’t always count on your shipmates to see you fall. Between 2000 and 2016, 204 commercial fishermen died from falls overboard, nearly 60% of those events were not witnessed. That’s where man overboard alarms come in. We’ve prepared a survey of some of the different devices and technologies available. Visit https://amsea.org for links to the manufacturer websites for the products discussed.

SIMPLE MOB ALARMS

These devices are designed to alert crew onboard that a shipmate has fallen into the sea. Three examples of these devices are the Clipper MOBi Man Overboard Indicator, from Clipper Marine Instruments, and Emerald Marine Products’ Alert 2 and Alert 418 Man Overboard Alarm Systems. These systems utilize small radio transmitters worn by crew members, that communicate with a dedicated, onboard receiver. These devices sound an alarm when a transmitter is no longer within range of the base station or the device is immersed in water. The Alert 418 receiver displays the signal strength of the transmitter. That’s information that may be of help when trying to locate a man overboard, as one can steer in the direction which the signal strengthens.

SMARTPHONE APPS

Anymore it seems that there is a smartphone app for everything and man overboard events are no exception. Weems & Plath CrewWatcher and SeaTags Wristbands are both examples of MOB devices that use your smartphone or tablet’s GPS and Bluetooth capabilities. Both units can sound a MOB alarm, record a MOB event waypoint, and provide a compass bearing to the spot where the event occurred.

With both systems, users download the manufacturer’s app to their device and pair small beacons with the device. The on deck crew wear the beacons and if one is out of range or immersed in water, an audible alarms sounds and a waypoint is recorded. A compass bearing displays on the device to guide the helmsman back to the point where the unfortunate crew fell overboard.

These devices are economical, but come with limitations. The Bluetooth signal is limited to a distance of 15 meters or about 49 feet.

Steel or aluminum decks and hulls interfere with the signal and will require more power from the beacon, reducing battery life. In addition, these devices only record the waypoint of the MOB event. It’s up to the helmsman to compensate for any drift due to wind or current. However, for smaller boats, and particularly if constructed from wood or fiberglass, these types of devices may provide an economical MOB alarm system.

AIS

Would you like to see the position of the man overboard in real time? A number of devices can transmit a signal to your boat’s AIS receiver and to any other AIS receivers in the vicinity. Devices from Kannad Marine and the McMurdo Group are worn by crew on deck. They can be manually activated or installed on an inflatable life vest to activate upon inflation.

These devices transmit a MOB alarm and the latitude and longitude of the man overboard. For a boat equipped with AIS, this allows the helmsman to steer directly to the victim for the swiftest possible rescue.

However, AIS was developed for traffic identification and collision avoidance, not search and rescue operations. With that in mind, Yachting World, tested the performance1 of several of AIS devices and found that performance depended greatly on the AIS receiver. Older receivers may simply display the device’s ID number with no indication of a man overboard event. What’s more, not all AIS receivers are capable of sounding an audible alarm. If you plan to use an AIS device, be sure to check that it will operate correctly with your boat’s AIS receiver. If your boat’s receiver lacks alarm capabilities, read on!

AIS & DSC-VHF

AIS MOB devices from Ocean Signal, ACR, and Marine Rescue Technologies combine AIS transmissions with a MOB alert to your boat’s DSC equipped VHF radio. These devices must be paired to your radio and do not send a message to all stations in the vicinity. If your boat lacks an AIS receiver, Briartech’s ORCAdsc Transmitter will transmit the alarm to your DSC equipped VHF radio, minus the AIS capabilities.

WIRELESS ENGINE STOP SWITCH

All of the devices discussed so far depend on someone on board to respond to the man overboard alarm. But, what if you fish alone? Several manufacturers offer wireless devices designed to stop your boat’s engines in case you fall overboard. These devices rely on a dedicated base station to shut down the engines when a beacon worn by the helmsman is either out of range or immersed in water.

Autotether, Propeller Guard Technologies, and Fell Marine offer devices that shut down gas outboard and inboard/outboard engines by either interfacing with the boat’s MOB lanyard switch or by interrupting the ignition circuit. Both Autotether and Propeller Guard Technologies offer support for diesel inboard engines, as well.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of devices currently on the market to meet the needs of different commercial fishermen. Paired with a suitable PFD, a man overboard alarm can significantly improve the chances of rescue and survival should you or one of your crew fall overboard.

AMSEA does not endorse individual products or manufacturers.

1 Tested: AIS MOB devices – help your crew to save your life if you should go overboard, https://www.yachtingworld.com/features/tested-ais-mob-devices-helpyour-crew-to-save-your-life- 69914/2#FJsBCxogpHplVW5r.99

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2019 Marine Mammal Authorization Program Most commercial gillnet, seine, trawl, and trap pot fisheries are listed as either category I or II fisheries under the Marine Mammal Protection Act (www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/final-list-fisheries-2018). Under the Marine Mammal Authorization Program, all category I or II commercial fishing vessels operating in state or federal waters are authorized to incidentally injure or kill a marine mammal during the course of their commercial fishing practices. However, they must carry onboard their vessel a Marine Mammal Authorization Certificate and report all fishing-related marine mammal injuries or deaths within 48 hours of returning to port. A copy of the certificate and reporting form are available at mmap.sero.nmfs.noaa. gov. In addition, as a Category I or II fishery, fishing vessels are required to carry a fishery observer if selected by NOAA fisheries. For more information, please call the Marine Mammal Authorization Hotline at 727-209-5952 or visit mmap.sero. nmfs.noaa.gov.

CARTERET CATCH

MAKE MINE LOCAL carteretcatch.org

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Council & Commission Meetings

SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 4, 2018 SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER

Oct 1-4,2018

Oct 1-4,2018

4,

2018the major issues The following summary highlights SEPTEMBER 30-OCTOBER 4, discussed and actions taken at the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s rescheduled The following highlights the South major issues 2018 Septembersummary 2018 meeting in Charleston,

discussed and actions taken at presentations, the South Atlantic Carolina.

Briefing materials, and comments are available on the Council’s Fisherypublic Management Council’s rescheduled website at: meeting in Charleston, South 2018 The September following summary highlights the major issues http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/ Carolina. Briefing materials, presentations, and discussed and actions taken on at the theCouncil’s South Atlantic public comments areReports available Final Committee contain more details of what was Fishery Management Council’s website at: accomplished for each committee andrescheduled are located on the September 2018 briefing page. In addition, the Summary http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/ September 2018 meetingbook in Charleston, South of Motions on the Council’s website includes all motions from

The following summary highlights actions taken and issues considered at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Themeeting following summary highlights briefing actions taken and October 2018 in Cape May, NJ. Presentations, materials, considered and webinar recordings are available on the Council at the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management C website atOctober www.mafmc.org/briefing/october-2018.

2018 meeting in Cape May, NJ. Presentations,

Oct 1-4,2018

The following summary hig

materials, and webinar recordings are available on the considered at the Mid-Atlant Some Topics Includeat : www.mafmc.org/briefing/october-2018. website

October 2018 meeting in Cap materials, and webinar recor Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment Some Topics Include : website at www.mafmc.org/b Spiny Dogfish Specifications

meeting. Read further detailspresentations, and see images and other Carolina. the Briefing materials, and links at the September Council Meeting Round-up Story Final Committee Reports2018 contain more details of what was public comments are available on the Council’s Map: accomplished for each committee and are located on the website at:https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c September 2018 briefing book page. In the Summary 706c1054d4f401c8206d8cb1f470dde Theaddition, Meeting Summary of Motions on the Council’s website includes all motions from is also available at: http://safmc.net/safmc-meetings/council-meetings/

Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management Risk Spiny Dogfish Specifications Assessment

Industry-Funded Monitoring Amendment South East Regional Office (SERO) Party/Charter Reporting Requirement

Some Topics Include :

Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries Management Risk HMS Permits and Law Enforcement Issues Assessment Spiny Dogfish Specifications

http://safmc.net/download/Oct2018_SAFMC_Meeting_Summ 2020-2024 Strategic Plan the meeting.

Read further details and see images and other ary_Final.pdf South East Regional Office (SERO) Party/Charter Rep links at the September 2018 Council Meeting Round-up Story FinalMap: Committee Reports contain more details of what wasRequirement Industry-Funded Monitoring https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c th accomplished for each committee and are located on the ASMFC-Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission-77 Annual Meeting Oct 22-25, 2018 706c1054d4f401c8206d8cb1f470dde The Meeting Summary HMS Permits and Law Enforcement Issues to Fishe Ecosystem Approach September 2018Spiny briefing book page. In addition, the Summary is alsoSummary available at: Dogfish State Allocations (in pounds) for the 2019-2021 Fishing Seasons http://safmc.net/download/Oct2018_SAFMC_Meeting_Summ Assessment of Motions on the Council’s website includes all motions from 2020-2024 Strategic Plan Northern ary_Final.pdf the meeting. Read further details and see images and other

Region

NY

NJ

DE

MD

VA

NC

South East Regional Office (S links at the September(ME-CT) 2018 Council Meeting Round-up Story Possession Map: 6,000 To be specified by the individual southern region states Requirement Limit th Annual Meeting Oct 22-25, 2018 ASMFC-Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission-77 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal/index.html?appid=c Allocation 58% 2.707% 7.644% 0.896% 5.92% 10.795% 14.036% 2019/20 11,903,243 555,716 The 1,568,900 183,893 1,214,957 2,215,484 2,880,640 706c1054d4f401c8206d8cb1f470dde Meeting Summary Permits and Law Enforc Summary Spiny Dogfish State Allocations (in pounds) for the 2019-2021 FishingHMS Seasons 2020/21 13,453,004 628,069 1,773,165 207,835 1,373,141 2,503,932 3,255,689 is also available at: 2021/22 15,904,236 742,507 2,096,248 245,704 1,623,336 2,960,166 3,848,898 Northern The Spiny Dogfish Management Board met to consider the 2018 stock assessment update; specify the2020-2024 commercial quotas Strategic Plan http://safmc.net/download/Oct2018_SAFMC_Meeting_Summ for 2019-2021 fishing seasons; discuss the and consider nominations NYfederal trip limit;NJ DE to the Advisory MDPanel.

VA NC Region ary_Final.pdf ATLANTIC STRIPED BASS MANAGEMENT BOARD (OCTOBER 23, 2018) (ME-CT)

Meeting Summary Possession The Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board met to discuss the Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) recently released 6,000 To be specified by the individual southern region states Limit

by NOAA Fisheries and develop a recommendation for submission to NOAA Fisheries.

WEAKFISH MANAGEMENT BOARD (OCTOBER 24, 2018) Allocation 58% Board met 2.707% 7.644% 0.896% th on trends 5.92% 10.795% 14.036% The WeakfishStates Management toFisheries review a report Commission-77 by the Technical Committee (TC) in commercial discards and 22-25, 2018 Annual Meeting Oct ASMFC-Atlantic Marine 2019/20 11,903,243 555,716 1,568,900 183,893 1,214,957 2,215,484 2,880,640 annual state compliance with the FMP. The TC used state and federal trip-level harvest and observer data to determine whether weakfish discards have increased in 628,069 recent years. The TC noted single-year increases of commercial trips reporting 3,255,689 2020/21 13,453,004 1,773,165 207,835in the percentage 1,373,141 2,503,932 100 pounds or more of weakfish for Virginia in 2016 and North Carolina in 2017. However, no long-term trends were evident for Summary Spiny Dogfish Allocations (in pounds) for the1,623,336 2019-2021 Fishing Seasons 2021/22 15,904,236State 742,507 2,096,248 245,704 2,960,166 3,848,898 these or other states. Visit www.asmfc.org/ to find out more.

The Spiny Dogfish Management Board met to consider the 2018 stock assessment update; specify the commercial quotas carolina 39 for 2019-2021 fishing seasons; discuss the federal trip limit; and considernorth nominations to thefisheries Advisory association Panel.

Northern

ATLANTIC STRIPED BASS MANAGEMENT BOARD (OCTOBER 23, 2018)

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“ Red Right ….… ” DON’T LEAVE MONEY ON THE TABLE. I decided that it just didn’t seem appropriate to write about a safety item for this edition given we are still in the immediate aftermath of Florence. Many of you were hit hard and insurance doesn’t cover everything (it never does).

I went over to the FEMA temporary office, set-up in Beaufort, to ask a simple question. Well, when it comes to a government agency a simple question has no simple answer. After about 30 minutes of waiting and then bounced between various desks, I left somewhat frustrated with no real answer. The folks running the office were very pleasant but the red tape they have to deal with was just overwhelming.

However, within a few days I received follow-up calls that really provided worthwhile information. I highly recommend contacting FEMA and/or visiting one of their temporary offices. You may be surprised to learn about some program, small business loan, or grant money that fits your particular need. Don’t let rumors, street talk and past experience dissuade you from at least asking that simple question.

Best of luck to all of you, as we slowly recover from Florence!

- Phil Amanna, Coast Guard Auxiliary

DID YOU KNOW?

•

There are 9,115 miles of total estuarine shoreline in the Albemarle-Pamlico region.

8,136 miles are unmodified natural shorelines based on 2006-2010 shoreline data.

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Carteret County has 1,738 miles of estuarine shoreline, the longest in the Albemarle-Pamlico region. Currituck and Dare County are also medalists, with 1,106 and 969 miles respectively.

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With more than 3,000 square miles of open water, the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary is the second largest estuarine complex in the lower 48 states.

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North Carolina has greater acreage of submerged aquatic vegetation than any state on the Atlantic coast except Florida, and 99% of that acreage is in the Albemarle-Pamlico embayment. In APNEP’s latest survey (2006-2008) 138,000 acres were visible from the air, and nearly 200,000 acres are estimated to exist.

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The Albemarle-Pamlico estuary includes eight major sounds – Albemarle, Pamlico, Back, Bogue, Core, Croatan, Currituck, and Roanoke.

•

Wind off the Albemarle-Pamlico sound averages 9-10 mph.

http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/apnep/fastfacts north carolina fisheries association 41

Talk on the Dock THESE NETS AIN’T GONNA HANG THEMSELVES!

JAMES GORDON SALTER You can find James Gordon Salter on most days standing before a gillnet in his father-in-law’s shady yard across from the Straits United Methodist Church. One end of the net line is attached to a trailer winch nailed to a pecan tree.

“I’m too old to grab and pull by hand,” said the 66-year-old on an overcast November afternoon. “Used to use a hammer handle, but a fisherman brought me that winch.”

Scattered in the yard were piles of gill nets, boxes of corks, leads, and lines. Leaves, sticks, and twigs - remnants of hurricane Florence - were everywhere. Hurricane season put James Gordon more than two thousand yards behind in his work.

“I’ve been telling some of the fellas I’m making camouflage nets now, adding oak leaves and pecan limbs in so the fish can’t see them,” he joked. “See that little route where I walk and stomp down the grass? I came out here one day and there were white caps in it!”

James Gordon has hung net at the Straits site for only one year, but there was indeed a rut in the ground where he walks back and forth along the net line.

“Curtis Guthrie from Harkers Island said I have run a marathon, six inches at a time,” he said, bending over to straighten the net while putting his hand over his breast pocket so his spare needles didn’t fall out.

A rope hung parallel to the cork line held a short length of PVC pipe that James Gordon slides along to help him space his ties. The pipe is marked in multi-colored stripes in intervals that denote mesh sizes for flounder, spot, mullet, trout, and mackerel nets.

“This is my scale,” he explained. “It’s what I hang the net by – this color is for six inch stretched marsh, that one is five and three eighths - the marsh size of the net determines what kind of fish you catch.” The word “mesh” is often pronounced “marsh” or “mash” along coastal North Carolina.

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James Gordon put the finishing touches on his second net of the day.

“I’m putting a head line in it. That goes from the cork line to the lead line so you can pick up your cork line and not tear your net up.”

He explained that he makes the top line – or cork line – as tight as possible so it doesn’t stretch when pulled.

“You leave your bottom rope or lead line thirty inches longer than your cork line, so when you pull up your lead line, your cork line don’t twist up.”

James Gordon surveyed his completed net and decided to start a third one. He picked up a bundle of pre-woven monofilament netting in pink. The netting, which was manufactured in Vietnam, also came in blue, green, and white.

“Some people say the pink catches better than the green, some say the blue catches better or the white. Just different preferences,” he explained.

Net makers too have different preferences, right down to the types of knots they tie.

“I tie with a back hitch,” James Gordon noted. “I put two half hitches and then one behind it to lock it in so it don’t slide so bad.

Some people tie with three half hitches, or a rolling hitch.”

Fewer and fewer people practice the art of hanging net. James Gordon called his work “play” because his customers are mostly family and friends.

“When a truck stops here or blows the horn, my heart stops,” he said. “I’m afraid someone’s coming after me to do something!”

The net mender’s work has changed with the times. He’s branched out to assist some of the fishermen trying their hand in oyster aquaculture.

“I helped a fella in Gloucester make oyster sacks. He showed me how.”

James Gordon said he’s had many jobs, including at UNC In-

James Salter

Photo by Barbara Garrity-Blake

stitute of Marine Sciences, the state Division of Marine Fisheries, and almost 30 years at Cherry Point.

“My daddy told me if I ever worked on a dredge boat or as a commercial fisherman he was going to kill me.”

These days he sticks mainly to his net mending and hanging.

“If it’s got a tear I repair it,” he said. He even dreams about hanging net. “Night before last I hung net all night long. Woke up yesterday and my hands were swollen!”

His father, Lennie Salter, was a commercial fisherman. He taught James Gordon how to work with nets.

“When I was seven or eight years old, Daddy put me on an old wooden fish box in our yard, and put me on one side of the line,” James Gordon recalled. “He was left-handed and I was right-handed. He told me to copy everything he did.”

Before the modern era of ready-to-hang, pre-woven monofilament mesh, fishing families wove their own nets out of cotton.

A stand of net might be strung through the center of a house, attached on either end to a nail in the window sash.

During the winter, James Gordon’s father wove nets by the wood stove using a hand-carved cedar fid to help him gauge the mesh size.

“Daddy used that fid to measure half a marsh.”

When the fishing season began, net mending took place as part of the work day.

“We went to the Cape to set nets, and on the way back we’d have to dip those nets in lime to keep them from rotting. Somebody would be on the back of the boat mending nets and patching holes, what time the other one drove the boat home. Most of the time when we got home the nets were pretty much mended.”

The shoreline along Harkers Island was once draped in white cotton nets that fishermen hung on wooden frames called net spreads.

“Net spreads were posts in the ground with a rack across the top about three-foot high. We’d put the cotton nets across that

and let the sun dry them so they wouldn’t rot.”

Although nylon multifilament nets made an appearance when James Gordon was a boy, it wasn’t until the early 1970s that he saw his first monofilament net.

“I thought I had died and gone to heaven,” he exclaimed.

“Monofilament would catch as good in the daytime as it did in the nighttime because the fish can’t see the net – it disappears in the water!”

Although James Gordon has built himself a trawl net or two, he mainly worked on gill nets. The gill net, he maintained, is a selective gear that gets a bad rap. He bemoaned the fact that fishermen also get a bad rap in the public eye, while most seafood consumed in the United States is imported.

“If it’s raised in a pond it’s not seafood,” he declared. “It’s pond food!”

James Gordon’s favorite seafood is fried hard crabs with brown gravy.

“Mama use to take a glass Pepsi bottle and roll it across the crabs to smash their backs a little,” he explained. “Lightly fry them. Take an onion and some flour to make a gravy. Then put the crabs back on the gravy and let them stew.”

As fall turns into winter, James Gordon Salter will surely be standing between pecan trees, hanging net in preparation for the upcoming fishing season.

“Somebody asked me how I can be out here all the time doing this. Well, these nets ain’t gonna hang themselves!”

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

Talk on the Dock-NCDMF Director Steve Murphey-To young fishermen: Welcome to the process!

Oct/Nov 2018 issue was written by Barbara Garrity-Blake, Photo credits: Barbara Garrity-Blake.

• Rope,Tools, Cables, Chains & Crosby Fittings • Treated Lumber and Piles • Seawall Materials • Floats & Floating Dock Hardware • Galvanized/Stainless Steel Hardware • Hydraulic Hose Assemblies 1/4” thru 2” MOREHEAD CITY, NC 600 Arendell Street phone: 252-726-6620 fax: 252-726-7499

BEAUFORT, NC 559 Hwy 70, Radio Island

Located at the Beaufort Drawbridge

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Potter Net and Twine Marine and Net Supplies Virgil Potter, Owner

Hwy 304

Bus (252) 745-5709

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Res (252-745-4341

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

NCFA MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION

If you enjoy fresh North Carolina seafood and you support the hardworking fishing families that put it on the plate, become a member today!

MEMBER INFORMATION Name: Mailing Address: City, State, Zip: Email: Primary Phone: Other Phone: Website:

COMMERCIAL MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES Commercial Fisherman Dealers, Packers & Processors

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Half Percent Contributor - ½ % of Gross Stock of Catch

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Half-percent contributors pay dues based on gross stock of their catch allowing fishermen to pay dues based on a small percentage of their profit. For example, for $1,000 in stock you would pay $5. Participating fish houses deduct the ½%, match it and send it to NCFA. Fishermen and boat owners may contribute a ½% dues without a matching contribution and fish houses may contribute with only a few fishermen.

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Thank you for joining the North Carolina Fisheries Association!

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TRED’n WATER BY TRED BARTA Thoughts From A Master Predator

C

ommercial fishermen harvest the sea, its tributaries, and marshes so they can feed the people of the world. The people of the world have eaten from the sea way before even Christ came to this earth. There are many references from the Bible telling us that God created the fish, the birds, and the game for man to rule over and harvest for sustenance. That’s exactly what we do today when we buy or harvest our own fish, shrimp, crabs, clams, and mussels. Commercial fishing, although often severely criticized for “overharvesting” every year, actually leaves our fishery in the same shape or sometimes even better shape than it was the previous year. Commercial fishing is ingrained in humans for survival; it has always been a part of life for man, and will be here until the end of times, just as our American farmers, beef growers, and pork growers.

It is so often that the general the public assumes commercial fishermen are harming our salt water ecosystem. In actuality, climatic conditions affect harvests due to the change of migration patterns. Sometimes God brings us nonstandard temperatures and weather, these conditions and circumstances are beyond the control of men. As an avid hunter and fisherman, I love God’s wild creatures. Don’t think for one second that commercial fishermen don’t love nature as much as any man alive.

Commercial fishermen not only harvest, but they respect their harvest very much. Without being sensible, they would not have a renewable resource, which in turn would literally render them out of business. I just don’t understand how any man, woman, or child could not respect the hard, backbreaking work that a commercial fisherman endures to feed his or her family. I cannot comprehend how anyone could not understand the legitimacy of commercial fishermen and their right to harvest God’s bounty. Anyone who is foolish enough to violate a commercial fisherman’s gear in any way, shape, or form deserves to be arrested and made to pay a costly fine. This unacceptable behavior endangers a fellow man’s livelihood. Don’t do it, guys.

Written by: Capt. Tred Barta

Sport fishermen fish for two reasons: first for the food it provides to their family, and second, the thrill of the pursuit. The exhilaration that comes with pursuing game fish on rod and reel is not hard to understand. Both commercial and sport fishermen have so much in common, and there are so many ways in which both parties can provide each other invaluable information. The other day I was fishing with a local guide and we couldn’t catch our rear end with both hands. We came across a local netter who gave us critical information about where he saw several redfish tailing. Off we went to the new location and absolutely crushed ‘em, getting our limit. It is often that sport fisherman can give commercial fishermen tips that will help them harvest their bounty as well. I clearly remember a full day of giant tuna fishing off Long Island some years back; I had gone all day without a hook up, but on the way into Montauk Harbor I saw several schools of fish in the 500-800 lb. class traveling east to a place we fondly call “The Dump”. I crossed paths with four harpoon boats and gave them the information, they all caught their limit that day. They called me the next day to thank me. It felt good that I could help someone reap the harvest of the sea. They were only trying to do the same thing I was trying to do, harvest a giant tuna.

Why is it that both parties can’t seem to get along? In my opinion, it’s the politicians; the greedy men and women who want to line their pockets with money.

The conflict is BS. I hope the sport fishermen and commercial fishermen can both clearly see that we all are the same. Both parties care about the preservation of our great renewable resource so that we may harvest and enjoy the bounty of our Lord’s creation.

I hope that both commercial fishermen and sport fishermen use this resource that God has given to mankind in harmony. Help your fellow man out and do not be a stumbling block in his path.

I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas and happy New Year, from the bottom of my heart.

God’s blessings be upon you.

Until next tide, Capt. Tred Barta

A MAN OR

A MINDSET?

TRED BARTA KNOWS NO LIMITS.

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