Tradewinds - June/July 2018

Tradewinds

COMPLIMENTARY

June/July 2018

WWW. NCFISH.ORG

A Publication of North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc.

CCFA Fish Fry

the future of

SHRIMPING

2018 Lobby Day and Legislative Dinner

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

Brent Fulcher-252-514-7003 Chairman Glenn Skinner-252-646-7742 Executive Director Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Treasurer Area 1Mike Blanton-252-619-2694 Area 2Dewey Hemilright-252-473-0135 Area 3Mark Vrablic-252-305-2718 Area 4Richard Newman-252-945-8584 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

June/July 2018

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

contents

From Glenn Skinner................. 4 A Word From Jerry................... 5

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Nikki Raynor............................. 6 A River of Woes.................... 7-9 Letter to the Editor................. 10

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Brown’s Island................... 11-12 Fish Stocks............................. 13 Flounder Identification........... 15 Core Sound

Council & Commission Meetings.......... 33

Waterfowl Museum................ 17

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

Marketplace............................ 19

Bluewater Fisherman Assoc................. 38

Carolina Catch Cookbook....................... 20-21

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

FEATURE STORY

Lobby Day & Legislative Dinner............. 24-25 Captain’s Spotlight................. 27 The Future of Shrimping... 28-29 Talk on the Docks................... 31

AMSEA.................................................. 39 The Graying of the Fleet........................43 Tred Barta..............................................47

On the Cover:

Steamed Lawton’s Point oysters from Crab Point Seafood being served at the 2018 Legislative Seafood Dinner by Local’s Seafood: Photo by Aundrea O’Neal (2018)

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.

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Fresh Catch............................................. 32 Fulcher’s Seafood................................... 12 Gordon’s Net Works................................ 32 H and R Repair....................................... 38 Hardison Tire .......................................... 26 Henry Daniels F/V Joyce D................... 38 Homer Smith Seafood............................ 14 Hurricane Boatyard................................. 22 Locals Seafood....................................... 26 Murray L. Nixon Fishery, Inc. ................. 40 NC Catch................................................. 18 N.C. Dept. of Agriculture.......... Back Cover Offshore Marine...................................... 10 O’Neal’s Sea Harvest.............................. 26 Outerbanks Seafood............................... 41 Pamlico Insurance.................................. 43 Potter Net and Twine.............................. 42 Powell Brothers Maintenance................. 23

Quality Seafood...................................... 14 R.E. Mayo Seafood................................. 42 Rocky Mount Cord Co............................ 41 Salt Box Joint............................................ 5 Sea Tow.................................................. 44 Seaview Crab Company......................... 18 Shore2Sound Adventures....................... 10 Sweet Potato Growers........................... 15 Ted & Todd’s Marine Services................ 42 The Clement Companies........................ 22 Tred Barta............................................... 44 Walker Marine......................................... 14 Wanchese Fish....................................... 37 Wanchese Trawl..................................... 37 Wells Fargo Bank.................................... 44 Wheatly Boys.......................................... 36 Wheatley, Wheatley, Weeks, Lupton & Massie............................................... 6 Wilheit Packaging................................... 42

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A word from the chairman ...

A thought from Glenn ...

PROUD TO BE A COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN

C

ommercial fishermen have many things to be proud of, but the 2nd Annual Seafood Lobby Day on May 23rd at the General Assembly in Raleigh has to be one of their finest achievements. Over 200 fishermen, family members, county delegates and consumers from all over the state gathered at the State Capital for the event.

NCFA members accompanied by members from Carteret County Fisherman’s Association, Brunswick County Fishermen’s Association, Pamlico County Fishermen’s Association, Albemarle Fishermen’s Association, NC Watermen United and NC Catch were all present with one common goal, Fresh Wholesome Sustainable North Carolina Seafood for all. Fishermen took time with legislators to explain the truth about the status of fisheries in North Carolina and how the FRA has made North Carolina where we are today.

There has been a lot happening in the Raleigh since last lobby day, beginning with HB 867 in which the CCA and its new partner, NC Sound Economy, put forth a huge effort to get the bill passed. Realizing that if HB 867 passed it would destroy commercial fishermen and their communities. Rep. Boswell, Rep. Speciale, Rep. Millis helped us in getting HB 867 held up in committee, however HB 867 is not completely dead so our friends are still keeping a close eye on it. Raleigh is also dealing with the present Marine Fisheries Commission and their efforts to re-define a Commercial Fisherman, in which they want to change the definition of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997.

The Legislative session has just begun, but as many of you may have realized, they are ready for the Budget to be passed and the session be over with. There are still a few issues we are trying to get passed. First, The Joint Legislative Committee on Seafood and Aquaculture is very important to all of us. It allows any new Legislation time to be vetted and properly researched with DMF and Stakeholder input. Second, we are asking for the designation of the 2 Marine Fisheries Commission AtLarge seats to be changed, one Commercial Fishing Industry seat and one Recreational Industry seat. This will help to instill balance on the Commission.

I would like to give a personal thanks to the hospitality extended by Rep. Michael Speciale his Legislative Assistant, Hazel Speciale, Rep. Beverly Boswell for arranging the room for us to assemble. Thanks also to Rep. Speciale, Rep. Beverly Boswell, Rep. Mike Clampitt, Senator Norman Sanderson, Senator Bill Cook for welcome and their words of encouragement as we arrived.

Seafood Lobby Day was a great success with one of the highlights being fishermen filling the halls and offices of the House and Senate.

The” BLUE WAVE “ as the President of the Wildlife Federation put it, in passing to myself and Glenn. At the end of the day, I had a great feeling of accomplishment and success. I sure hope that each and every fisherman that attended left with that same feeling. I would like to say Thank You to each and every one of you that attended Seafood Lobby Day. As Chairman of NCFA, there is no doubt in my mind that we have a great team assembled. Jerry Schill and Glenn Skinner have spent many hours in Raleigh staying on top of these and other bills as they have progressed forward and will continue until all issues are handled. I encourage all members to feel free to contact Glenn, Jerry, or myself at any time to discuss any fisheries issues where we can be of assistance.

Brent Fulcher, Chairman 4

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WHAT ARE WE FIGHTING FOR?

W

hat are we fighting for? Since becoming Executive Director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association (NCFA) in April of 2017 I have been asked this question many times. My answer to this question varies from day to day - depending on which issue seems to be at the top of the list - and more often than not, I end up discussing the special interest groups and their agendas as much as the issue.

I failed to realize that I was not telling folks what we are fighting for as much as I was telling them who or what we are fighting against. I began to realize my mistake over the past several weeks as I attended “town hall” type meetings with fishermen, up and down the NC coast.

The NCFA arranged the meetings to educate fishermen about the issues facing our industry, and hopefully rally the troops to attend our Seafood Lobby Day in Raleigh. At each meeting I attended, I saw firsthand the concern and fear on the faces of the fishermen and their families as we discussed every issue that threatens to put them out of work over the next year. I started to realize we’re not fighting for a fair commission, we’re fighting against an unfair commission; and we’re not fighting to restore science to the management process, we’re fighting against those who have chosen to replace science with personal agendas. What we are fighting for is North Carolina’s fishing families and the future of one of the oldest industries in the state. What really drove this message home for me was the work that photographer Daniel Pullen had on display at NC Waterman United’s Legislative Reception. In his photographs, Daniel managed to capture everything I love about North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry. As you look at his work, you can see the history, the resilience, the despair, and the future of our industry. I would encourage anyone who reads this to go to Daniel Pullen’s website and look at the photos in his North Carolina Independent Waterman project. (www. danielpullenphotography.com/the-independent-waterman) While you are enjoying his work, ask yourself a question that Ernie Foster recently asked me: “which one of these individuals deserves to be put out of work?”. I can only hope that by doing this, you too will realize what we are truly fighting for.

Glenn Skinner NCFA Executive Director http://www.danielpullenphotography.com/the-independentwaterman/

NCFA Legislative Affairs, Jerry Schill

A word from Jerry ...

CANDIDATES: WORK ON KEEPING THE JOBS WE HAVE IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA

equation of our economy for a very long time. The challenges they face with imports, increasing costs and the weather are enough for any productive citizen to bear. But bear it they do with persistence and pride. Like others in the agribusiness community, they need to be celebrated while they provide for their families quietly and without fanfare while supplying food and sustenance to their fellow citizens.

S

o many elected officials and candidates are pushing economic development, job “creation” and helping rural North Carolina thrive. Governor Roy Cooper recently unveiled his “Hometown Strong” efforts to strengthen our infrastructure and bridging North Carolina’s rural-urban divide.

This isn’t new. Over the years that’s one of the most used phrase for candidates is economic development and job creation. They know the electorate puts great stock in economic issues, thus the emphasis. How often are those candidates challenged with some really thought-provoking questions?

The media is almost comical in their contradictions on the job front. Take WRAL and the News and Observer, both in Raleigh, for example. Both jumped on the bandwagon in extolling the virtues of Governor Cooper’s Hometown Strong rural initiative recently. However, they both denigrated North Carolina’s commercial fishermen with their production and/or strong endorsement of the so-called documentary “Net Effect”, which was a very subjective and targeted hit piece, which only added to the job killing aspects of certain special interest groups wanting all of the fisheries pie.

Certainly there are many legislators from all over our state that are friends of producers of food and fiber. There are also media friends that are so because of objectivity in their reporting. And specifically, we have friends from the coast to the mountains in the legislature and media that are friends of commercial fishing families. Would it not be a breath of fresh air to hear candidates boast of what they ARE doing or WILL DO to keep and build on the jobs that we now have? Further, candidates who BOAST about drawing a line in the sand when it comes to job-killing regulations that are based more on allocation rather than conservation.

Without a doubt, it’s much easier to work on saving existing jobs than it is to work on promises of “creating” new ones.

Our message to legislators and regulators is this: Don’t forget the bird in hand while you pursue the two in the bush. Those who make their living on the water have been on the food-producing

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Membership Matters: A SPECIAL THANKS AND OUR MEMBERSHIP FAMILY…

The North Carolina Fisheries Association would like to extend thanks to everyone who showed up for Seafood Lobby Day at the North Carolina Legislative Building in Raleigh on May 23rd, as well as everyone who helped serve at the Legislative Seafood Dinner. It is of utmost importance that the legislators see our faces and hear our voices if we want them to relate to us and join forces with us. We must continue to put ourselves out there to them, and we’re hoping for an even larger turnout next year. We would also like to give a huge thanks to the seafood companies and fish houses who donated the seafood that was served. Your support is very appreciated and greatly needed. We are truly, truly grateful to everyone who attended and helped out.

On that note, we want to stress to you that the NCFA wouldn’t exist without our members. Those of us inside and outside of the NCFA office can work our hardest to keep the commercial fishing industry afloat, but at the end of the day, we need our members’ continuous support to succeed. Our members are the weight of our NCFA family! Our staff is made up of three people working in the office and eighteen board members. To succeed in our pursuit, we need our thousands of members to be active participants in our crusade. We strongly desire to keep the commercial fishermen in business; but we need all of the membership participation at our events that we can get. We understand that everyone can’t always be there, due to health issues, family circumstances, etc., but sadly, some of our members are under the impression that it’s just not important for them to show up. Many people think that if they aren’t personally there, it won’t make a difference. We want you to know that that is the farthest sentiment from the truth. If we ALL banded together, we could make a HUGE impact. Again, we are tremendously grateful for our abundance of active members, but we know that we are capable of doing even more. Our only

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goal here is to save the commercial fishing industry, and that’s something we think all of our members will want to stand behind.

If you’re a NCFA member but aren’t actively participating in the NCFA’s efforts for the industry and would like to, or if you’re interested in helping out but are unsure about how to get started, please don’t hesitate to jump on board! You can start by reading our weekly update every week if you don’t already do so. If you would like to volunteer any of your time to help with NCFA events, please call the office to find out how you can assist. If for any reason you’re a member of the NCFA but aren’t receiving a weekly update, please contact us so we can find a way to get it to you (nikki@ncfish.org or 252-726-6232). We need our community to come together now as much as ever!

If you’re not a member of the NCFA and would like to become one, or if you would like to renew your yearly membership, you can: • Sign up on our website at: ncfish.org/join-ncfa or • Turn to page 46, fill out the membership application, and send it with your payment to: North Carolina Fisheries Association PO Box 86 Morehead City, NC 28557 Many thanks to everyone who showed up to support the Carteret County Fisherman’s Association’s Annual Fish Fry on May 5th.

Thank you to all who donated food, supplies, monetary donations, time, and other goods. Without all of you, this successful event wouldn’t have been possible.

Thank you so much for your support!

Nikki

A RIVER OF WOES

BY JULIE LEIBACH

In June 2017, news broke that a chemical called GenX had been identified in drinking water drawn from the Cape Fear River in the Wilmington area of North Carolina, with more than 200,000 public utility customers in three counties affected.

A company called Chemours, a spinoff of DuPont, manufactures GenX at a factory in Fayetteville, located on the river less than 100 miles upstream from Wilmington.

Also in June, North Carolina’s departments of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and Health and Human Services launched an investigation into the compound’s presence in the river.

Over the past few months, state officials have found GenX in private wells near the plant, as well as at several other locations, at varying concentrations.

“DEQ will continue to investigate this situation and will ensure that public health is protected and the environment is restored,” says Sheila Holman, assistant secretary for the agency.

Citizens have expressed their concerns in public meetings. When an unfamiliar chemical like GenX ends up in drinking water, that’s when “the rubber meets the road,” said Mark Strynar, a chemist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in a recent seminar at NC State University. “People take notice.”

Indeed, the story of GenX isn’t unique. Scientists periodically identify contaminants in drinking water that have previously gone undetected — and that aren’t regulated by entities that set drinkingwater standards.

In other words, the discovery of GenX in Wilmington drinking water represents a larger problem facing the public, says Detlef Knappe, a civil and environmental engineer on faculty at NC State. “The current regulatory framework is not sufficiently protective, because there are so many unregulated compounds that can be discharged into our drinking water sources,” he says.

So what exactly is GenX, how did it get in the water, and what effects does it have on health?

WHAT IS GENX? The chemical GenX is an industrial surfactant, used to bring molecules together to make polymers, such as those used in nonstick coatings.

GenX is part of a large class of synthetic compounds collectively called per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFASs for short.

Since manufacturers rst started synthesizing them around 1950, PFASs (sometimes referred to as fluorochemicals) have been used in a range of industrial- and consumer-related applications, including

water and stain repellents such as in carpets and furniture, firefighting foams, cosmetics, and some food-packaging coatings, to name a few.

There are least 3,000 PFASs currently available on the global market, according to a 2015 report by the Swedish Chemicals Agency.

One hallmark is their The Cape Fear watershed is from the piedmont persistence. to the coast. Kmusser © 2008/Wikimedia That is, they don’t Commons/CC BY-SA 3.0 easily break down in nature, if at all. They’re also indiscriminate travelers. They can hitch a ride in water, air, soil, dust, and more, which contributes to widespread dispersion around the globe.

Based on available evidence, the primary means of exposure to PFASs “is likely ingestion via drinking water and food,” says Jamie DeWitt, an environmental toxicologist in the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. “There also may be skin exposure or inhalation exposure for items that contain PFASs, such as textiles.”

Often, companies that manufacture PFASs consider them trade secrets, according to the Swedish Chemicals Agency report. Lack of public information about the composition and use history of many of these substances hinders efforts to estimate their prevalence in the environment and set health standards based on that prevalence.

“It makes our job that much more difficult in terms of understanding what is in the water, understanding what is the toxicity, if we don’t even know exactly what the structure of the compound is and how much is being produced, who is it sold to, how is it distributed around the country, around the world,” Knappe says.

COMING TO THE SURFACE Clues that GenX had made its way into drinking water date back at least several years.

In 2015, EPA’s Strynar published a study in Environmental Science

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(Continued from page 7)

& Technology that, by his account, received little attention at first. He and colleagues had collected water samples from various locations along the Cape Fear River — which serves several public water utilities — and its tributaries.

They uncovered what they described as a dozen “novel” PFASs — compounds found in water that, until that point, had gone unreported in the scientific literature. One of those compounds was GenX. A year after Strynar’s paper came out, a research team led by Knappe published a related study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters. In collaboration with EPA researchers, the team collected samples of source water used by three drinking-water treatment plants along the Cape Fear River watershed and analyzed them for PFASs. They found GenX only in samples gathered at a plant located downstream NC State’s Detlef Knappe led a research study of the Chemours facility, suggesting that the chemical on PFASs in the Cape Fear River watershed. was coming from the factory’s wastewater effluent.

The team also analyzed samples of water as it moved through that plant’s drinking water treatment process. They found that the plant couldn’t remove GenX, and that the chemical “made its way into the finished drinking water,” Knappe says.

Initially, Knappe recalls, he thought discharges of GenX into the river began when Chemours’ parent company, DuPont, started making the product commercially around 2010. But he eventually learned that he was mistaken.

In fact, GenX is much older than its trademarked name. Chemours has been generating the chemical as a byproduct since 1980, in a separate manufacturing area, Knappe says. “The wastewater from that area got routed to a wastewater treatment plant on site, and then into the Cape Fear River,” he explains.

The revelation “is something we only learned this [past] summer, through disclosure from Chemours,” Knappe adds.

Meanwhile, in July the DEQ reported that the company had stopped discharging the treated wastewater from commercial production of GenX, and would instead collect it for incineration offsite.

HEALTH MATTERS Various studies on humans and animals indicate that exposure to some PFASs can damage the liver, interfere with the immune and endocrine systems, affect fetal development, and cause tumors in the kidneys and testes, among other problems.

These adverse health effects have led to the retirement of certain PFASs. For instance, in 2006, eight major companies voluntarily agreed to phase out production of a type of PFAS called PFOA, as well as PFOA-related chemicals by 2015. The EPA states that there are a limited number of ongoing uses, however.

But, as Knappe notes, phasing out one PFAS doesn’t mean that nothing takes its place. “Something else gets made,” he says. GenX is what he calls a “fluorinated replacement for PFOA.” While the federal government has not issued health guidelines for GenX exposure, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services has set 140 parts per trillion as the level at which no adverse health effects would be expected over a lifetime of exposure for the most sensitive of consumers — namely, bottle-fed infants. But how GenX 8

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behaves in people is yet to be determined.

“To the best of my knowledge, there have been no studies on GenX elimination in humans,” DeWitt says. “There is one published study on GenX elimination in rats, mice, and monkeys, and it is eliminated more rapidly in these species than is C8 [another name for PFOA], but we have no basis to say that the same will be true of GenX” without hard data, she adds.

Soon, researchers and water customers might know a little more. A team led by Jane Hoppin, deputy director of the Center for Human Health and the Environment at NC State, is running a study of about 300 people who live in the Wilmington area, and who were served by the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority, which draws much of its water from the Cape Fear River.

“We collected blood and urine from individuals Environmental toxicologist Jamie DeWitt age six and over, and we also participated in a forum in Wilmington in July. collected a water sample from Photo by Mary Goughnour/StarNews people’s homes, and then we collected questionnaire information,” explains Hoppin, whose team includes DeWitt and Knappe. The samples will be tested in a laboratory at the EPA for GenX and several other PFASs. CONFERENCE CONSIDERS Hoppin says N.C. WATER ISSUES that as the study On March 14 and 15, the Water pertains to GenX, Resources Research Institute of the the goal is threeUniversity of North Carolina, or WRRI, will fold: to determine host it 20th annual conference. if that compound The event, at the McKimmon is detectable in Conference and Training Center in Raleigh, people; to see if will cover diverse topics pertaining to water certain members of research, management and policy across the demographic the state. are more inclined Sessions about GenX and other emerging contaminants of concern in to accumulate it in North Carolina water supplies will take their body; and to place on March 15. They will feature see if there might be presentations and panel discussions with any health effects experts including Detlef Knappe, a civil associated with the and environmental engineer at NC State presence of GenX in University, as well as representatives from the body. the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The study has and the N.C. Department of Environmental limitations, Hoppin Quality, along with leaders from local water notes. For instance, utilities.

“Tackling the problem of emerging the results will not contaminants is an important public and help scientists draw environmental health challenge,” says a cause-and-effect Susan White, executive director of WRRI relationship between and North Carolina Sea Grant. “The GenX exposure and sessions in our conference will cover some health problems. of the latest science on these compounds But the work is as they relate to North Carolina watersheds an important first and communities.” step toward better A detailed conference agenda, understanding how opportunities for student researchers, and registration information are all available GenX behaves in the online. body.

“This is really research,” Hoppin says. “We don’t know what we’re going to find, but we’re trying to be public about it and trying to keep information moving.”

LOOKING AHEAD Keeping drinking water clear of emerging contaminants is a constant challenge. Most wastewater treatment plants, in essence, rely on microbiology to remove organics from the water, according to Knappe. But GenX, like many of its fluorinated cousins, doesn’t biodegrade easily.

Plus, GenX “basically loves to be in the water,” says Knappe. “It’s a compound that is quite soluble in water and interacts strongly with water, so it’s difficult to pull it out by processes like activated carbon adsorption.” Simply put, standard water treatment technologies won’t remove GenX. Knappe says that methods that involve membrane filtration — such as reverse osmosis — show potential, based on lab experiments he’s done. “These processes work to remove fluorochemicals,” he says, but he cautions that they’re energy intensive, and generate a waste stream containing a high concentration of the compounds.

In August 2017, EPA scientists informed the state that they had identified in Chemours’ waste stream two other fluorinated chemicals, known as Na on byproducts 1 and 2. A few months later, the DEQ partially suspended Chemours’ wastewater discharge permit — an effort to prevent any industrial process wastewater from being discharged into the Cape Fear River, says Sheila Holman of the DEQ. According to Holman, “the public drinking water supply in the lower Cape Fear River has generally been below DHHS’s provisional health goal for drinking water since early July, with a couple of exceptions.”

For instance, GenX has been found in private wells located near the Chemours facility at levels above the health goal set by the state. “All the affected well owners have been provided with bottled

water,” Holman says, “and DEQ is working with the company and municipalities to determine permanent solutions to the contaminated wells.”

“One of DEQ’s top priorities is addressing emerging compounds in our environment, including those compounds in the PFAS family,” Holman adds. “DEQ has initiated an expanded ambient water quality monitoring program to assess which emerging compounds may be present in the rivers across the state. DEQ will work with the Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board to prioritize those compounds deemed to have possible human health effects.”

The state is also “taking an active role to determine if there are areas where the development of federal regulations is not keeping pace with the scientific occurrence and health impacts data for trace organic constituents [which include PFASs] that may be detectable in the water supply,” says Jessica Godreau, the chief of the Division of Water Resources’ Public Water Supply Program.

As regulatory entities grapple with keeping tabs on emerging contaminants such as GenX, the public can also play a role in improving water quality, Knappe says. “People need to push for disclosure of what is in consumer products,” he says. “It is very difficult for people to educate themselves when there is so little disclosure.”

“In many ways, we end up being complicit in all of this,” he adds. “In the end, we also have to ask ourselves, do we want the convenience of non-stick pans, stain-resistant carpets, and popcorn in microwavable bags or not? I think if the market for this stuff wouldn’t exist, then the stuff also wouldn’t get made.”

Reprinted with permissions: SeaGrant NC Coastwatch.

Original posting: March 12, 2018 | Marisa Incremona https:// ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/coastwatch/previous-issues/2018-2/winter2018/a-river-of-woes/ north carolina fisheries association

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letters editor

to the

To the editor of Tradewinds, As the proud mother of a North Carolina commercial fisherman, it is my honor to support the commercial fishing industry and place ads in the Tradewinds publication. I wish more local businesses would join all of us in preserving this important coastal heritage. In addition to placing ads in this publication, I make sure to always mention to the customers at my store, for so many reasons, how vital it is to protect our commercial fishing industry. There is nothing tastier than wild caught North Carolina seafood, and it’s one of the healthiest choices you can make! Commercial fishermen are some of the hardest working people in our community and I am grateful that we have the North Carolina Fisheries Association to fight for them and be a voice for them.

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Brown’s Island 3 An Eye for Mullet

OCTOBER 14, 2017 / DAVID CECELSKI COURTESY, STATE ARCHIVES OF NORTH CAROLINA

B

edford Lawrence on the ocean beach at Brown’s Island. He is wearing a faded denim jacket, a gabardine or denim shirt, and an oilcloth or rubberized canvas “sou’wester.” He may have waterproofed the hat with linseed or cottonseed oil.

In one hand he holds a net needle. In his other hand, he holds his pipe, filled, no doubt, with the R. J. R. tobacco that his grandchildren told me was his habitual brand.

From the look of the surf, a good blow is coming on, probably out of the northeast.

This is the 3rd 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.

Then 70 years old, Bedford Lawrence had been mullet fishing at Brown’s Island every autumn since the 1880s.

Like all the fishermen, he came from Otway, a remote community on the salt marshes of Ward’s Creek, a twoday trip by boat. At home he worshiped at the North River Primitive Baptist Church, played fiddle at community square dances, and was head of a large family.

Like all the fishermen, he was not a wealthy man. He and his wife Emma, 5 children, and often other relatives all lived in a two-room house that did not look that much sounder than the cabins at Brown’s Island, at least in the memory of his descendants. No wonder he enjoyed the island’s peace and quiet.

Bedford Lawrence was a “saltwater farmer”: he made his living partly on the water and partly on the farm.

That was true of most Otway residents and was also typical of mullet fishermen throughout the North Carolina coast. Otway was located on salt marshes, but mullet fishermen at many other camps traveled from farming communities far from the sea and, except for mullet

fishing, kept to their farms.

The old fisherman lived at the Brown’s Island camp beginning with the “mullet blow”—a gale, usually in late August or early September, that announced the shift of prevailing winds to the northeast and the arrival of the jumping mullet. He stayed at Brown’s Island all fall and came home sometime before Christmas.

The rest of the year, he divided his time between fishing, clamming and oystering closer to home and tending five acres of field and garden. He grew two acres of sweet potatoes, an acre of “Irish” potatoes and feed crops for his cows, horses and hogs.

Bedford Lawrence’s grandson, a retired dredge boatman named H.B. Lawrence, told me that his granddaddy didn’t mind getting away from Otway during the sweet potato harvest. Digging and banking sweet potatoes—“banking” (Continued on page 12)

north carolina fisheries association 11

(Continued from page 11)

involved covering piles of them with salt marsh rushes and pine straw in order to preserve them through the winter— was hard work, but so was mullet fishing, and he could leave the harvest in the hands of his wife and children back home.

“I have been told that Bedford probably made between $1,000 and $1,200 a year between farming and fishing,” his grandson said.

“We didn’t have a lot of money, but we always had plenty to eat and we never went hungry.”

Every autumn Bedford Lawrence returned to the island for the mullet fishing, along with other members of the Lawrence and Gillikin clans. In his younger days, he seems to “We didn’t have have been captain of the Brown’s Island crew—in his a lot of money, but notes, Charles Farrell referred to him as “old Captain we always had Lawrence.” plenty to eat and By the 1930s, however, he was the mullet camp’s we never went lookout. No job was more essential to a mullet fishery’s hungry.” success. The fish moved down the beach from the north in great schools and a keen, practiced eye, as H.B. Lawrence told me, “could see the difference in the color of the water.”

His granddaddy, he recalled, “had an eye for mullet.”

Bedford Lawrence waited for the fish from a post roughly 1/2 mile north of the camp. When he spied a school of mullet, he gave a shout and raised a flag (usually just a wax myrtle or yaupon branch), spurring a frantic rush of his

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comrades to their boat and into the waves.

On a recent tour of his grandfather’s neighborhood in Otway, H.B. Lawrence wanted me to know that his grandfather was no stranger to sorrow.

By the time of this photograph, he and Emma had already lost two children: one, Bedford Tildon, in a shooting accident in 1920, and the other, their daughter Dorothy, in childbirth in 1926. Emma Lawrence never recovered from their deaths and was bedridden for the last decades of her life.

“They loved the Lord and they loved their neighbor,” H.B. told me. “They were great grandparents who loved each other and their family.”

Reprinted with permissions from David Celelski

Fish

Stocks Improving!

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 2017 Annual Report to Congress on the Status of U.S. Fisheries shows more progress rebuilding Fish Stocks. The 2017 report highlights the work toward the goal of maximizing fishing opportunities while ensuring the sustainability of fisheries and fishing communities.

Sustainable fisheries management is an adaptive process that relies on sound science, innovative management approaches, effective enforcement, meaningful partnerships, and robust public participation. Sustainable fisheries play an important role in the nation’s economy by providing opportunities for commercial, recreational, and subsistence fishing, marine aquaculture, and sustainable seafood for the nation. Combined U.S. commercial and recreational saltwater fishing generated more than $208 billion in sales and supported 1.6 million jobs in 2015. By ending overfishing and rebuilding stocks, we are strengthening the value of U.S. fisheries to the economy, our communities, and marine ecosystems.

NOAA fisheries tracks 474 stocks or stock complexes in 46 fisheries management plans. Each year, assessments of various fish stocks and stock complexes are conducted to determine their status.

Over fishing remains near all-time lows and in 2017 we reached a new milestone with a number of over fished stocks at the lowest level ever-just 15% of assessed stocks. Based on assessments conducted by the end of 2017 six stocks were removed from the over fishing list and six were added. The additions are the result of stock assessments or data showing catch was too high, including international harvest on certain stocks that the United States has limited ability to control. www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/status-stocks-2017

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Become fluent in flounder identification It is arguably the most popular fish species in North Carolina coastal waters. Anglers love to catch a flounder.

Gill Rakers

In fact, flounder consistently ranks as the top species targeted by recreational fishermen in North Carolina coastal waters.

Three species of flounder are typically caught in North Carolina waters: southern, summer and gulf. While they may look alike to the untrained eye, these species exhibit distinctive markings, and anglers need to know how to distinguish between them.

Gill Filaments

Southern Flounder: This is the most common flounder caught in North Carolina, especially in estuarine waters.

Non-ocellated spots cover the body

Upper jaw extends to beyond rear margin of eye Eight to 11 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch Sixty-three to 74 anal fin rays

Southern Flounder

Why identify flounder The three species don’t just vary in appearance, they move in different migration patterns and are managed by separate government fisheries agencies and fishery management plans.

This means researchers need to study them independently.

One of the ways the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries does research on fishes is by collecting information on recreational fishing catch and effort through in-person and mail surveys. Staff talk to more than 20,000 anglers each year on the beach, at the piers and at boat ramps to find out what they caught, what they threw back, where and how long they fished and other information. Anglers who can identify the species of flounder caught will help scientists better understand the status of these fish stocks and how to manage the recreational flounder fishery.

What are gill rakers?

Gill rakers are bony protrusions that extend outward from the gill arch.

They appear in this image as white finger like projections on the top of the gill arch.

They are used differently in various fish species, depending on their feeding habits. In flounder, they work to guide baitfish into the esophagus and to protect the gill filaments from damage.

Gill filaments are the thin, red projections on the bottom of the gill arch. Gill filaments are used in gas exchange, and are red with blood.

Summer Flounder: This species is commonly seen around inlets, in the ocean and in estuarine waters At least five ocellated spots on body — five prominent ocelli form the pattern from the

five-side of a die Upper jaw extends to rear margin of eye Thirteen to 18 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch Sixty to 73 anal fin rays

Eight to 11 short, stubby gill rakers Fish with no ocellated spots, and short, stubby gill rakers are southern flounder Summer Flounder

Thirteen or more long, thin gill rakers Fish with ocellated spots and long, thin gill rakers are summer flounder Gulf Flounder

Gulf Flounder: This species is occasionally seen in North Carolina waters, usually in the ocean Three prominent ocellated spots form triangle on body, apex towards caudal fin (can have more than three over entire

Ocellated / eye spot (Summer and gulf flounder)

body, but three will be prominent) Upper jaw extends beyond rear margin of eye Nine to 12 gill rakers on lower limb of first gill arch Fifty-six to 63 anal fin rays

Non-ocellated spot (Southern flounder)

Nine to 12 short, stubby gill rakers Fish with ocellated spots and short, stubby gill rakers are gulf flounder Ocellated or “eye” spots are ringed markings. They are found on summer flounder and Gulf flounder. Southern flounder do not have ocellated spots.

N.C. Coastal Recreational Fishing Digest — 2018

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CARTERET COUNTY FISHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION

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Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center

IRA LEWIS DAY

Celebrating 100 Years of Service

It’s not every day that a man turns 100. And it’s not every community that has a man like IRA LEWIS. On Saturday, July 28, Harkers Island will honor their oldest citizen, Chief Ira Lewis, just days before his 100th birthday with a US Coast Guard Reunion, parade and recognition ceremony.

Chief Ira Lewis, still active and often seen at special events in his US Coast Guard uniform, served his entire Coast Guard career on Long Island including his role as Officer-in-Charge at the Montauk Point Lighthouse on February 17, 1957 until he retired I August 1959. He returned home to Harkers Island after his 20+ year service time and has remained an active and much-loved member of the community.

On Saturday, July 28, 2018, the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum & Heritage Center, will partner with local community members and local officials to honor Chief Ira Lewis with a parade at 11 am, ending at the Core Sound Museum with lunch and a 2 pm ceremony.

All men and women who have served in the US Coast Guard are invited to participate in this gathering. “Our goal is for this event to not only honor Ira’s life but the US Coast Guard that he loves so much and the important place the Coast Guard holds in our community history,” explained Karen Amspacher, Museum Director. “We want everyone who has served, or has a family member that has served, to know this day is for them too.”

Ira Lewis has been a community leader his entire life. In 2003 he initiated the Harkers Island Veterans Memorial (now located at the Harkers Island Elementary School) and served as advisor to the NC Maritime Museum on the construction of a Life Saving Service rowing boat. When the time came to launch that boat, he organized the crew of retired USCG men and they rowed this traditional craft up and down Taylor’s Creek with Ira at the helm.

He received a USCG medallion and a letter of recognition of his service on his 95th birthday in 2013 and recognized as the oldest US Coast Guard retiree at a commemorative ceremony in 2017, honoring local Life Saving surfmen who received the USCG Gold Medal for their rescue of the crew of the Sarah D. J. Rawson off Cape Lookout in 1905.

For more information on how you can be part of this historic event, please contact the CSWM&HC at 252.728.1500 or email museum@coresound.com. Details for the event will be posted at coresound.com.

From “The Beacon: A Montauk Point Lighthouse Museum Publication” IRA LEWIS: His Nearly 100-Year-Old Light Still Shines

The Montauk Point Lighthouse had over thirty keepers/officers in charge during its 190 years of manned service; civilian keepers from 1796 to World War II, followed by the United States Coast Guard until 1987.

Among the Coast Guardsmen who maintained the light at Montauk was Ira Lewis, who will be celebrating his 100th birthday later this year.

Ira was born on August 2, 1918 on Harkers Island, North Carolina. He had to quit school at 16 to help support his family. Having four brothers who were in the Coast Guard and the Navy, he enlisted with the Coast Guard in 1938 and was sent to Long Island, where he was assigned to several Lifeboat Stations, including Bellport, Atlantic Beach, Jones Beach, Moriches, Fire Island, Shinnecock, Ditch Plains, and Napeague, between 1938 and 1957, before beginning a tour of duty as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC) at the Montauk Point Lighthouse on Febuary 17, 1957 …

Ira was honored at a picnic held at the Montauk Coast Guard Station on Star Island on July 26, 1959. Then, on August 1st, he retired, moving back to Harkers Island and building a home for himself and his family. He worked for several years at the Cherry Point commissary and then got into commercial fishing for more than 20 years …

Ira Lewis is truly indicative of the Coast Guard’s motto: “Semper Paratus,” meaning, “ always ready.” Thank you, BMC Lewis, for your service to our country, especially at the Montauk Point Lighthouse!

Henry Osmers, Historian – Montauk Historical Society

north carolina fisheries association 17

Catch up with the latest Sign up for our monthly eNewsletter by visiting www.nccatch.org or drop us a line: info@nccatch.org

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Marketplace Seaview Crab Company Marketplace By: Joe Romano

S

eaview Crab Company was built on a changing tide for the North Carolina Seafood Industry. In 2006, we bought a commercial fishing license, a 25hp outboard, 50 crab pots, and started crabbing in the Masonboro Sound. Myself, my brother Sam Romano, and our good friend Nathan King started grinding our way into the industry against the advice of many. We set out to own our supply chain, from the work boat to our first customers. We took our licks for years, and at every turn we tried to think outside the box to circumvent traditional barriers to entry. Through the years, we maintain our entrepreneurial optimism and remember 2 key principles: First, the commercial fisherman is the backbone of the NC seafood economy. Their knowledge, fortitude, and commitment to the water and their communities makes it an honor to do our work. The second part to this equation is the Seafood Consumer. They come from all walks of life and have different expectations, but they are the heartbeat of the industry, and we have built high expectations for service into our company. In the end we are a bridge between fishermen and consumers, and we strive to do this work with integrity and honest smiles.

Today we operate 7 retail markets, serve over 30 local restaurants, and source NC Seafood via fishermen & fish houses from Wanchese to Southport. We have an incredible team of young fishmongers/leaders who are raising their families off the revenue from NC Seafood sales. We still work crab pots and shed soft shells, and continue to look for new ways to serve our fisherman and our customers. Despite the lessons learned through “hard knocks” early on, we still find creative ways to learn the hard way, how to grow past perceived challenges.

As entrepreneurs, we have to run on high octane optimism. Despite the political regulatory cloud hanging over commercial fishermen, our vast watersheds and unique position on the East Coast puts NC in prime position to lead the United States in commercial harvest, scientific research, and recreation. States like Alaska and Louisiana have shown that with state support, there is plenty of room to promote and protect our marine ecosystem for science, recreation, and seafood harvest. If we focus on: pollution, habitat enhancement, collaborative management, ecological science, and valuing the cultural, nutritional, and recreational value of NC Seafood and its harvesters; WE KNOW we can do great things!

Too often our fisheries management system has become a mere witch hunt to find fisherman, gear, or a fishery to blame for perceived biological scarcity. Like all fishermen, I realize that parts of our marine ecosystem are not the same as they were 50 years ago for a host of reasons, to include changing weather patterns, pollution, hurricanes, dredging, coastal development and fisherman effort. At this critical time, we need collaborative fisherman leadership and smart ecological scientists to study, regulate, and actively promote a robust marine ecosystem.

Instead of focusing on this great opportunity, we have spent the past 10 years pitting fisherman against fisherman

with polarizing regulation. Most of the proposals in the past few years have focused on short-sighted, scarcity-minded, “sky-is-falling” rhetoric to force regulation, instead of uniting stake holders with inclusive “win/ win” legislation that considers changing weather patterns, a substantially smaller but highly-regulated commercial fleet, and a growing coastal population.

As most citizens know, in our state no one owns the seafood or our public trust waters; the state is trusted with the power to manage sustainable seafood harvest for ALL citizens. When regulation and legislation unfairly targets commercial fisherman, we as citizens lose. It’s not merely the commercial fisherman’s livelihood that suffers; it’s the seafood markets and restaurants, the fragile seafood infrastructure, the scientists who utilize commercial fishermen for data and most importantly the ordinary citizens who rely on the efforts of commercial fishermen for their seafood.

This chipping away at the industry by minority interests runs contrary to the proud blue-collar heritage of our state. Our state deserves better, and most NC citizens know this. We will continue to stand proudly with the industry & NC citizens, to fight for fishing communities and citizen-access to fresh North Carolina Seafood!

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Cooking North Carolina Fish and Shellfish from Mountains to Coast

by Debbie Moose Early in life, North Carolinian Debbie Moose encountered fish primarily in stick form, but once she experienced her first raw oyster and first fried soft-shell crab, their pure flavors switched her on to shellfish and fish forever. Moose has now written the cookbook that unlocks for everyone the fresh tastes of North Carolina grilled tuna, steamed shrimp, pan-seared mountain trout, fried catfish, and baked littleneck clams, to name just a few of the culinary treasures sourced from the waters of a state that stretches from the mountains Debbie Moose to the sea.

Photo by: Rob Vatz In ninety-six dishes, Moose shows how to prepare North Carolina fish and shellfish—freshwater, saltwater, wild-caught, and farmed—in both classic 20

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southern and inventive, contemporary ways. The book’s Best Basics section provides a much needed one-stop resource for confident selection, preparation, and storage, and the Think Seasonal section offers a comprehensive list with descriptions and peak availability of North Carolina fish and shellfish.

Recipes include suggestions for appropriate alternate fish or shellfish—the idea is to try new varieties in season and support local fisheries. And, as Moose explains, dock-to-door services and local seafood organizations are making sourcing easier for home cooks.

Debbie Moose is an award-winning journalist and author of many cookbooks, including two SAVOR THE SOUTH® titles, Buttermilk and Southern Holidays.

Promotional recipes are limited to the following with the credit line below: • Smoked Trout Cheese Spread p. 34 • Eastern North Carolina Fish Stew in the Slow Cooker p. 60 • Greek Baked Sea Trout p. 88 • Carolina Paella p. 155 From CAROLINA CATCH: COOKING NORTH CAROLINA FISH AND SHELLFISH FROM MOUNTAINS TO COAST. Text © 2018 by Debbie Moose. Food photography copyright © 2018

by Juli Leonard. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press. www.uncpress.org Please contact Gina Mahalek at (919) 962-0581 or gina_mahalek@unc.edu to request permission to use any additional recipes or for review copies/author interviews.

Eastern North Carolina

Fish Stew in the

Slow Cooker From Carolina Catch: Cooking North Carolina Fish and Shellfish from Mountains to Coast. Text © 2018 by Debbie Moose.

Food photography copyright © 2018 by Juli Leonard. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press. www. uncpress.org Fish stew that includes poached eggs is an eastern North Carolina tradition, which cooks concoct from old recipe cards or simply from memory. After preparing it the usual way, by simmering on the stove, I thought it might work well in a slow cooker—and it did, with a few adjustments. Add the fish near the end of the cooking time to prevent overcooking. I poached the eggs separately, but if your slow cooker has a simmer function, you could try poaching the eggs in the broth, as is traditional.

Alternatives: drum, mahi, dogfish, sheepshead Makes 6 servings

1 1⁄2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cut into 1⁄4-inch slices 1 large white or yellow onion, thinly sliced 4 medium cloves garlic, sliced 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed dried red pepper 2 tablespoons tomato paste 4 slices bacon 1 1⁄2 pounds monkfish fillets, cut into 6 pieces 6 eggs Lightly spray the bottom of the slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Layer half of the potatoes, then half of the onions, half of the garlic, half of the salt, and half of the red pepper. Repeat the layers with the remaining vegetables and seasonings.

Whisk the tomato paste into 2 cups of warm water until it dissolves, then pour over the layers. Add enough water to cover the layers, about 8 cups. Cover and cook on High for 3 hours.

Fry the bacon until crispy, drain, and crumble. Reserve the bacon grease.

After 3 hours, pour 1 tablespoon of warm bacon grease into the stew, then nestle the fish gently into the liquid until completely covered. Cover and cook for 30 minutes to 1 hour or until the fish is flaky and cooked through. Thicker fillets will take more time than thinner fillets.

Poach the eggs in a pot of simmering water.

To serve, ladle the stew into bowls, including 1 piece of fish per serving, then add 1 poached egg. Top with crumbled bacon.

Promotional Recipe Note: This Eastern North Carolina Fish Stew recipe is approved for promotional use with the provided credit line. Please contact Gina Mahalek at (919) 962-0581 or gina_mahalek@unc.edu to request permission to use any additional recipes from Debbie Moose’s Carolina Catch: Cooking North Carolina Fish and Shellfish from Mountains to Coast

DID YOU KNOW??

Did you Know?

DID YOU KNOW??

A shrimp "swims" by quickly pulling its abdomen toward its carapace (body). This motion shoots through the water. However, because of body A shrimp "swims" by quickly pulling its abdomen inmeans that shrimp swim configuration, it also toward its carapace (body). This backward. motion shoots them

through the water. However, because of body configuration, it also means that shrimp swim backward.

north carolina fisheries association 21

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The Legislative Reception featuring North Carolina seafood has been an event that legislators and their staffs look forward to for several years. A collaborative effort with several groups including North Carolina Watermen United and the North Carolina Fisheries Association, it has become THE “go-to” fun and food event of the legislative year. This year was not only the best attended, but also “the best ever” by many accounts. Here are some of the comments we’ve received: We had a great time as usual last night. I know it’s a lot of hard work for all of you.

I’m from Charlotte with no fishing “other than Lake Wiley and Lake Norman” but I do appreciate the hard work, dedication and grit of our commercial fishermen. (and Ladies). Thank you for a wonderful supper. I’m particularly drawn to the soft crab. Yum. I have been attending the Seafood reception since it started, yesterday was by far the best. Many thanks, I love seafood!

Thank you for your hard work, feeding the legislature, and for making a difference in North Carolina!

Thank you for a wonderful event filled with delicious food provided by hard working fisherman from NC. Thank you for your generosity of time, dedication, and resources to provide a wonderful evening of food, fellowship and fun.

Every year it gets better and better! From the Boy Scouts to the parking attendants to the guest sign in table, the initial reception is streamlined.

Every person was happy and eager to greet us. The spirit of peace and passion is palpable and in the world of politics your event is wonderfully refreshing. Meeting the fishermen was an added bonus this year. To converse firsthand was great. Thank you for leading by example.

Great turnout! Thanks to all for your efforts.

NCFA offers our thanks to all who helped make this event so special, and to the good Lord for giving us some super weather to cap it all off!

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CAPT’S

SPOTLIGHT

CAPTAIN JAKE GRIFFIN F/V SET BACK

WILMINGTON, NC

I

am originally from Wanchese, NC and I am a 3rd generation fisherman. At the age of 10, I started fishing out of a small skiff for Flounder. By the time I was 12, I was fishing a 21ft Privateer, gillnetting for Spots and Spanish Mackerel. Beach fishing was something that I watched as a child and I’ve always enjoyed doing it.

I purchased the Set Back in 2015, from Paul Dunn. He raised her shear because he was using her for pound netting.

After purchasing her, I had Wade Davis of Wanchese extend her 4 feet. Last Summer, I purchased a dory and spent all winter hanging a new net. I love to follow the fish up and down the coast.

I currently live in Wilmington, NC and I gillnet year ‘round.

I target sharks, spots, sea mullet, and Spanish mackerel. I love “beach fishing” and I hope my efforts help keep it alive. I primarily fish by myself but if there is a run, I take a mate with me.

If anyone is interested in entering this industry, I’d

Photos by Pam Morris recommend that they start fishing with others and learn all that they can. Many captains are struggling to find a good crew. Get involved with fisheries and science (I currently sit on the Southern Flounder Advisory Committee). Be a voice of reason; let people know the difference between management and conservation. To the youth I would say, we are the future of fishing! Our actions are how we are viewed as a whole.

Not all confrontation is avoidable, but be the better person, and always leave the situation on a positive note. Also, giving away a few blues or crab bitten flounder goes a long way in the eyes of the public or visitors from out of state.

I currently do not have any children, but when I decide to, I hope that there is still a commercial fishing industry left in North Carolina for them to participate in.

-Jake Griffin

Hull Material: Fiberglass Beam: 9’ Draft: 1’ Engine: 300 Suzuki Gear: N/A Top Speed: 35 knots Propeller Size: 3 Blade (16x19) Ice/Fish Capacity: Will hold 16 totes (average tote weight is 80-85 lbs.)

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The Future of Shrimping:

What’s New in Conservation Gear

by SARA MIRABILIO 28

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Sara Mirabilio is a fisheries specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant.

GEAR Next week, the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, or MFC, will discuss the results of a three-year, collaborative research effort to develop technical solutions to reduce bycatch in North Carolina’s shrimp trawl fishery.

Generally speaking, bycatch refers to the unwanted fish and other marine creatures caught by fishermen while going after their target catch. Most of this bycatch is discarded overboard — either because regulations don’t allow fishermen to keep the species, or because those species are undesirable to seafood consumers. Fishermen can retain a small portion of bycatch to sell if it’s legal and marketable.

A year ago, I wrote a blog post to explain the research process and the results from the first two years. In late 2014, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, or DMF, had formed an industry work group to guide testing of experimental bycatch-reducing gear for shrimp trawls in North Carolina waters out to three miles in the ocean. As North Carolina Sea Grant fisheries specialists, Scott Baker and I are members of the work group.

The specific goal has been to achieve an additional 40-percent reduction in bycatch coming aboard trawlers. Currently, federally mandated bycatch reduction devices, or BRDs, reduce this unwanted catch by 30 percent, compared with nets that don’t have BRDs. In other words, the new benchmark in North Carolina would reduce bycatch by at least 58 percent in relation to nets without a BRD. In the first two years, four out of nine experimental gear configurations met or ex-

ceeded the target of 40 percent additional bycatch reduction.

We can’t attribute observed reductions to one particular experimental gear element, but we can share some observations. For example, we combined two federal fisheyes, which are essentially cone-shaped, rigid metal frames that form an opening for fish to escape through. Together, these federal fisheyes provided an opening almost four times that of the industry-standard state fisheye.

Our hunch is this additional space allows larger fish to escape the trawl. The larger escape openings also likely result in a larger area of disturbed water flow, which has been shown to increase escapement rates for all sizes of fish.

We tested the larger fisheye in conjunction with a modified turtle excluder device, or TED. This device, which looks a bit like a grill grate, blocks turtles from passing through a net. A large opening in the trawl near the TED, typically covered by a moveable flap, allows any captured turtles to escape.

Reducing the bar spacing in the TED also appears to contribute to overall bycatch reduction.

That reduction was even more pronounced after we increased the mesh size of the tailbag — the end-most part of the trawl where shrimp and fish are collected.

During the first two years of our research, only larger shrimp boats — that is, greater than 40 feet — tested experimental gears, and principally in estuarine waters. For the third and final year of the study, smaller boats, as well as ocean-going trawlers, tested additional gear configurations.

Based on the most recent five-year average, in North Carolina smaller vessels comprise nearly 73 percent of the state’s shrimp trawl fleet. Further, they account for 56 percent of the effort, as identified by the number of trips reported to the N.C. Trip Ticket Program, administered by DMF. Also, while the majority of shrimp trawling effort occurs in estuarine waters, approximately 25 percent occurs in the nearshore Atlantic Ocean.

In January, DMF presented results from the study’s third year to the industry work group.

Unfortunately, gear modifications tested by these boats did not meet the additional 40-percent bycatch reduction target.

The work group met again in April to formulate overall recommendations to be presented to the MFC on May 17. The April session included additional data and analyses to aid in deliberations.

The work group endorses use of the four experimental gear configurations that met the 40-percent target, but only for otter trawls fishing in areas where a combined head rope of 90 feet or greater is allowed, as identified in the state’s shrimp fishery management plan. They also recommend continuing collaborative bycatch reduction research and the work group.

Staff members from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will present the Shrimp Bycatch Reduction Industry Work Group results and recommendations to the Marine Fisheries Commission at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, May 17, at the Hilton Riverfront in New Bern, N.C. Or, listen in via live audio stream here: http://portal.ncdenr.org/web/mf/listen-online Reprinted with permissions

The federal fisheye, left, is larger than the state fisheye, right. The base and two adjacent sides of the triangle are sewn into the net, with the point going toward the trawl opening, to create a hole for finfish to escape. All fisheyes in North Carolina are diamond-shaped.

The spacing between the vertical bars in a TED cannot be more than four inches.

A Ricky BRD is essentially two federal fisheyes connected to a float.

The Virgil Potter BRD entails several types of BRDs, including a TED and a state fisheye.

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Talk on the Dock SIXTY YEARS OF BOTTOM:

CAPTAIN MAURICE DAVIS OF THE CAPTAIN STACY FISHING CENTER Students from Duke Marine Lab’s Fisheries Policy class were surprised when Captain Maurice Davis arranged to meet them in an art gallery instead of at the Captain Stacy Fishing Center. Glass tables etched with maritime scenes filled the room. Scrimshaw swords made of swordfish bills with handles carved from wood and shell hung on the walls.

“Guess what this is?” Maurice said, picking up a yet-to-be carved swordfish bill covered with faint circles. “Those are sucker marks from a giant squid, trying to fight off the swordfish!” We were in “A Captain’s Gallery,” the shop Maurice and his wife Jennifer opened last year to showcase his artwork, located across the street from the Fishing Center.

“This is what we do with some of the stuff from the ocean,” he explained.

“Turn it into art. I buy swords from the long liners – they make a little money, and the swords aren’t thrown away.” Maurice also had several of his paintings and drawings displayed on the wall, all sea-themed.

“Fishermen can’t make it full time on the water anymore,” he pointed out.

“They need side jobs, and this is mine.” Fresh on his mind was the recent Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Wrightsville Beach where an income requirement was proposed as a way to define a commercial fisherman.

“Teachers can’t make enough money anymore either, and they need to find side jobs. Are you going to take away their license to teach? No – that would be unconstitutional! Why would you do that to fishermen just because he has to find supplemental income to survive?”

Captain Maurice, 56, grew up working in the family head boat business that his father, legendary fisherman Sonny Davis, started with his wife Joyce in the early 1960s. Sonny learned the trade from his father, Stacy Davis of Harkers Island. Maurice and his brother Joe worked as deckhands as boys, and his sister Loretta kept the books.

The business continues to be a family affair. Maurice has captained the iconic 83-foot head boat Captain Stacy IV since he was 18, with the help of his brother Joe and son Trey. His father Sonny, who has built several of their boats throughout the years, catches bait with his homemade cast nets, and is a fixture on the Atlantic Beach Causeway waterfront.

“We were raised different,” Maurice smiled. “Didn’t go to the playground I’d go scrub the boat or I didn’t eat!”

The key to success for any head boat captain is knowing where to put customers, eager to drop a line and catch supper, on fish. The Davis family has local knowledge going back three generations. North Carolina waters are especially rich in good fishing spots.

“We got more bottom from Cape Lookout to Frying Pan than anywhere,” said Maurice. “Forty miles southeast of here you’re in fifty fathoms, go five more miles and you’re in one hundred.”

Captain Maurice said that his father gave him the location of hundreds of fishing hotspots, teaching his son not to overwork any one site.

“He taught me to farm it,” explained the captain. “Fish one spot and a

month later you might come back to it. Give it time to recoup.” Maurice said that the head boat captains work together, coordinating their efforts.

“I call Tyrrell of the Carolina Princess to find out where he fished and I won’t go there,” he emphasized. “Dad always worked with Captain Woo Woo. Commercial fishermen are the same way – what area did you work? Okay I’ll work north of you.”

A student asked Captain Maurice to define head boat fishing, and explain how it differs from charter fishing.

“Head boat customers pay ‘by the head’ to fish a day or half day, and pay about a hundred dollars for a full day. We’re licensed to take 100 people, but keep it to 80 or less.” He pointed out that there’s only a handful of head boats in North Carolina. “Charter boats, on the other hand, are numerous, and charge between 1,500 and 1,800 dollars a day for up to six people.”

Captain Stacy Fishing Center has several charter boats as well as the queenly head boat.

“Carbon footprint of a head boat is a lot less than a charter boat,” Maurice stressed. “Head boat will burn 156 gallons of fuel in a day’s time, serving eighty to a hundred people. Charter boats with outboard motors burn basically the same amount of fuel to serve four to six people.”

Although head boats are categorized as recreational, they have to undergo an annual Coast Guard inspection that charter boats do not, which take up to a month and a half.

“We’re responsible for a lot of people, so we have meet Coast Guard requirements that include hull and topside inspections, lifejackets, man overboard drills, collision at sea drills. Fire drills. Our crew has to have CPR training and drug testing.”

Captain Maurice also pointed out that charter captains and anglers are off the hook when it comes to catch reports and certain conservation requirements.

“Head boat captains fill out daily reports called the boat survey, and that data goes to NMFS in St. Petersburg, Florida. We’ve been doing that for thirtysix years, and we’re nine years into a pilot program using an ap. We need the data, but they don’t collect recreational data.”

Maurice said that vessels over 65 feet long are required to slow down to ten knots when crossing a designated whale zone as a protective measure for endangered cetaceans.

“Why aren’t outboards required to follow the same rules? They’ve got meat grinders under their boat, going sixty knots – what do you think that’ll do to a whale?”

Because of the whale zone, large vessels like the Captain Stacy IV are required to have a “position indicator” onboard, allowing their speed and location to be tracked. Maurice said that anyone with a cell phone can pull up (Continued on page 32)

north carolina fisheries association 31

(Continued from page 31))

this data and see exactly where the head boat is at any given moment, and figure out where the fishing hot spots are.

“Thousands of miles of bottom, and here they come like mosquitoes,” Maurice said. “Sixty years of bottom we’ve worked for our whole life – if you find the place yourself, good, I honor you. But they get on their phone, track us, and show up with three outboards – then they sit there and burn the spot out.”

The Davis family has one foot planted in recreational fishing with their head boat and charter operations, and the other in commercial fishing, giving them a well-rounded vantage point.

“We do it all. We finish up head boat fishing around Thanksgiving, then get the boat ready for the commercial bluefin tuna season. After the first of the year vermillion snapper opens up – we’re scared the feds will take away our permit if they put an amount limit on it, so we’ve got to catch vermillions.”

Maurice Davis has a good relationship with recreational fishermen along the waterfront.

“We talk and argue all the time!” he grinned. His role as captain of a head boat includes educating customers about why various restrictions affect what they can or can’t put in their cooler.

“We need bag and size limits, although the snapper closure, they should have done that differently. You can’t catch them but two or three days out of the year.”

A student asked what kind of snapper is so restricted?

“We call them crying snappers,” Captain Maurice said with a straight face. “Because you cry when you got to throw them back.”

The photo is of Maurice showing Duke students a swordfish bill. By Barbara GarrityBlake.

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

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Council & Commission Meetings

2018 ASMFC Spring Meeting Highlights Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass: The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Management Board (Board) and the MidAtlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) met jointly to consider a number of issues. These include (1) approving a joint Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment Public Hearing Document (PHD) for public comment; (2) a draft discussion document regarding a strategic plan for reforming recreational black sea bass management; (3) draft alternatives for the recreational management framework and addendum for all three species; and (4) preliminary harvest estimates from the February 2018 recreational black sea bass fishery.

The PHD serves as an abridged version of the Draft Summer Flounder Commercial Issues Amendment, which the Board also approved for public comment. This action proposes potential modifications to the commercial summer flounder fishery, as well as the existing fishery management plan objectives for summer flounder.

Bluefish: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council (Council) and the Commission met jointly to review and approve the scoping and public information document for an amendment to the Bluefish Fishery Management Plan (FMP) focused on allocation. The Board and Council approved the document for state public hearings, which will be conducted this summer.

The Draft Amendment will involve a comprehensive review of the Bluefish FMP’s sector-based allocations, commercial allocations to the states, transfer processes, and goals and objectives. Specifically, the Council and Commission will consider whether modifications to the FMP’s goals, objectives, and allocation strategies for bluefish are needed.

The scoping and public information document will be finalized and released in May 2018. State public hearings will occur this summer, with dates and locations to be determined.

Atlantic Striped Bass: The Atlantic Striped Bass Management Board met to provide guidance to the Stock Assessment Subcommittee (SAS) regarding the types of biological reference points (BRPs) to pursue in the 2018 Benchmark Stock Assessment.

The Board tasked the SAS to develop a range of reference points according to the Work Group’s recommendations and explicitly including a biologically-based threshold for F and SSB. Additionally, the SAS will clarify the various implications of different reference point values to allow the Board to explore the tradeoffs of different management objectives and associated risks levels with each set of reference points.

Atlantic Menhaden: The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s Atlantic Menhaden Management Board initiated a noncompliance finding in response to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s failure to fully implement the mandatory provisions of Amendment 3 to the Interstate Fishery Management Plan. Specifically, the Commonwealth has not established the Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap of 51,000 mt. Rather than forwarding that finding to the Commission’s Interstate Fisheries Management Program Policy Board, the Board postponed action on the noncompliance finding until the Commission’s Summer Meeting in August 2018. In the interim, the Board has requested the Commission send a letter to the Commonwealth of Virginia stating its intent to consider the noncompliance finding in August if the Commonwealth has not implemented Amendment 3’s Chesapeake Bay reduction fishery cap. Staff will monitor the fishery and inform the Board if harvest is approaching 51,000 mt in the Bay. There are several reasons why the Board postponed action. The Commonwealth’s General Assembly, which oversees Atlantic menhaden management in Virginia, is still in session and has an opportunity to implement the 51,000 mt Bay cap. The reduction fishery is just beginning for the year and is highly unlikely to exceed the Bay cap prior to August given the performance of the fishery for the past five years (i.e., reduction fishery in the Chesapeake Bay has been significantly below 51,000 mt over that time period).

Upon notification by the Commission of a noncompliance finding, the Secretary of Commerce has 30 days to review the recommendation and determine appropriate action, which may include a federal moratorium on fishing for Atlantic menhaden in Virginia’s state waters.

The Atlantic Menhaden Management approved the Terms of Reference for the 2019 Atlantic menhaden single-species and ecosystem-based benchmark stock assessments and peer-reviews, and approved Stock Assessment Subcommittee membership which will conduct the single-species benchmark.

Spot/Croaker: The South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board revisited its discussion from the Winter 2018 Meeting concerning the Atlantic Croaker Technical Committee’s (TC) and Spot Plan Review Team’s (PRT) review of the annual traffic light analyses (TLA) for Atlantic croaker and spot. The TLA assigns a color (red, yellow, or green) to categorize relative levels of indicators on the condition of the fish population (abundance metric) or fishery (harvest metric). For example, as harvest or abundance increases relative to its long-term mean, the proportion of green in a given year will increase and as harvest or abundance decreases, the amount of red in that year will increase. The Board annually evaluates amounts of red against threshold levels to potentially trigger management action.

Recent years of data have shown conflicting trends in the harvest and abundance metrics for Atlantic croaker and spot, with harvest on the decline and abundance increasing. Typically, harvest and abundance would be expected to show similar trends in the absence of changes in harvest effort or efficiency, neither of which seem to be responsible for the recent trends. Therefore, the TC and PRT were tasked to review the TLAs for Atlantic croaker and spot to determine any adjustments that could improve these analyses. The TC recommended several adjustments, including use of additional abundance survey indices, region-specific analyses, age-proportioning of abundance indices, updated reference periods, and a new management-triggering mechanism. The Board postponed a motion to initiate an addendum that would incorporate these adjustments until the Summer 2018 Meeting, when the TLAs for the 2017 fishing year will be reviewed.

north carolina fisheries association 33

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

I want to hear from YOU!!

Albemarle Fisherman’s Association

Terry Pratt~ “Pretty much just crabbing right now. The last proclamation that came out, shut our gillnetting area down.”

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

Brunswick County Fisherman’s Association

Randy Robinson~ “All the Shrimpers are getting ready.

The boats are on the railways getting new nets. As far as the fishing is concerned, been catching a few Flounder and Whiting. The USCG buoyed the inlet and it’s in good shape right now.”

Carteret County Fisherman’s Association

Bradley Styron~ “Been hand clamming, there haven’t been any Shrimp yet. Floundering has been shut down, so it’s a slow time. The CCFA fish fry was a tremendous success and we appreciate everybody that helped make it a success from our sponsors down to our volunteers.

We had excellent weather and participation, everything was good.”

Tradewinds@ncfish.org Or

Aundrea@ncfish.org

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Pamlico County Fisherman’s Association

Wayne Dunbar~“Crabbing has picked up, Spots are starting to show up, Flounder are starting to show up, seems to be on an upswing. Mullets are really good!”

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

“We’ve been Spanish Mackerel, Blue fish, and Star butter gillnetting on the beach, boys are setting up summer pound nets and tourist season has started off good to help support our retail store.”

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

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2018 CCFA FISH FRY

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

Bluewater Fisherman’s Association - Annual Meeting Update BWFA’s Annual Meeting was held April 12th-14th in Myrtle Beach SC. The meeting featured an opportunity for BWFA Members to discuss their concerns and priorities with Acting-HMS Chief Randy Blankenship.

Our Legislative Consultant Glen Delaney, along with BWFA President Jack Devnew, did an outstanding job outlining and presenting the seemingly limitless regulatory challenges that our HMS-PLL industry is currently facing. With Glen’s professional guidance and Randy’s agency input, those in attendance assisted in prioritizing these regulatory challenges. BWFA worked on developing strategies to minimize the potential negative impact these regulatory challenges presented, while remaining focused on maximizing their potential positive impacts.

On Saturday, April 14th, all new BWFA officers were elected.

New President Marty Scanlon replaced now Former President Jack Devnew.

New Vice-President Jason Bahr replaced now Former Vice-President Allan Weiss.

New Treasurer Tim Malley replaced now Former Treasurer Charlie DePesa.

New Secretary Kim Levins replaced now Former Secretary Bill McIntyre.

BWFA wishes firstly to thank their former officers for their service, and secondly, to thank their new officers for their willingness to serve. BWFA also wants to extend its appreciation to all who took the time out of their busy schedules not only to attend, but to participate at this year’s annual meeting. I look forward to serving as BWFA President and I am honored to do so. I intend to lead BWFA in a proactive manner regarding the regulatory process.

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Strains, Sprains, & Pains

By Jerry Dzugan

It is estimated that there are over a hundred different types of commercial fisheries in the US, but one issue that most fishermen have in common is chronic Muscular-Skeletal Disorders (MSD): sprains, strains, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc. Most of you reading this who fish have experienced one or more of these injuries.

Around the world, fishermen face demanding physical work in a harsh environment and suffer from muscular strains and sprains.

Among Swedish fishermen, 50% report having had low back pain in last 12 months and 66% of New Zealand fishermen have chronic low back pain.

In North Carolina, researcher Kristen Kucera found that 39% of a study group of crab and gillnet fishermen experienced a traumatic MSD injury in just one year of the study. 70% of these injuries were caused by lifting and moving and 50% of those injuries involved the back. 18% of those injured said that the injury limited their ability to earn a living.

Although hard, physical work has been done by humans for most of our existence, the science of ergonomics, the study of how to make the work environment better fit the human body, has only been around for about 60 years. Work stations on commercial fishing vessels have frequently been designed by tradition, often for good reason and long experience.

However, we now have better information on how to design our work environment and use our muscles to minimize stress on the body. Bad backs, elbows, wrists, and knees will shorten fishing seasons and reduce productivity, cause pain and suffering, and can lead to lifelong medical expenses.

Improving work ergonomics leads to better productivity, less effort and strain, and more fish and income, in less time. Who doesn’t want that? Here are some ideas that you can consider for your fishing operations.

•Change tasks often. Many MSDs like tendonitis and carpal tunnel syndrome are caused by low stress, but repetitive efforts like cleaning fish. Rotate positions among your crew when possible.

• Keeping your wrists in alignment while working will help to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Find tools which put the curve in the tool handle, rather than in your wrist. Design or modify tools so you don’t have to bend your wrist when using the tool.

• Get a grip! Find work gloves that have higher friction palms for work around the vessel or home. Gloves that improve your grip help to reduce muscle strain.

• Keep your back in alignment when using your body to lift or do tasks. Don’t lift with the back twisted; it increases muscle strain. Your spine has four natural curves in it. Remember to “preserve the curves” and keep the spine in its natural alignment.

• Squat when lifting weight and lift with your legs. Don’t bend from the waist. For heavy weights, place one knee on the deck and slide the weight up on the same thigh keeping spine vertical. Lift with your legs as you slide the weight up to the waist to carry.

• Keep the center of gravity of the weight you are lifting as close to the spine as possible. The farther the center of a weight is from your sprain, the more the force on your back multiplies.

• Whenever possible, find a way to Figure 2 A Bridge Lift Reduces handle heavy gear by using a mechanical Strain on the back advantage. Use hydraulic, electric, or engine powered winches and capstans; or even a block and tackle for lifting heavy gear on the vessel.

• Check the height of your work surfaces. Sorting trays and other work surfaces should be about belly-button level for most fish work.

Too high of a surface will result in more shoulder problems, too low will cause you to bend your back.

• Reduce movements. Organize the landing, cleaning, and icing of fish so the process takes as few steps as possible.

• Find a set of stretching and strengthening exercises you will do. Even a few minutes of daily exercise and stretching will help you to retain the strength and flexibility you depend on for your livelihood.

Many of the activities we do are low stress, but repeated hundreds of times a day. Even low-grade Figure 3 Using a Riser to Adjust the stress can cause long term Height of a Work Surface damage to muscles and tendons.

Every fisherman knows that you can’t catch fish if you’re laid up with an injury. Extend your work life by fishing smarter, not harder!

Go to https://www.amsea.org/resources for the three-part online presentation, Strains, Sprains, & Pains: Ergonomic Injury Prevention for Commercial Fishermen. While you are there, be sure to download the free Pocket Guide to Ergonomics, available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Tagalog.

About the Author: Jerry Dzugan is the Executive Director of the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association. He is a former commercial fisherman and has more than thirty years of experience training commercial fishermen and other mariners in marine safety.

Figure 1 Curved Handles Keep the Wrist in Alignment

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“ Red Right ….… ” SURVIVAL CRAFT

The survival craft is just that, “Survival”. Designed to keep you alive and out of the water until rescue arrives, most are equipped with basic survival gear. Some have food rations, drinking water, and first aid kits.

Commercial Fishing vessels, by regulation, have specific requirements for the type of survival craft that must be on board. The matrix of all of the various conditions to determine which survival craft is required is too large to print here. Some criteria examples include: how far out to sea you are fishing; the number of people on board (POB); cold vs. warm fishing waters, etc. If you are uncertain what type of survival craft is required for your particular vessel go to this website, http://www.fishsafewest.info/checklist.html, it has an excellent checklist generator. You can also contact your local Coast Guard station.

Three common inflatable survival craft, are as follows: The Coastal Pack; minimally equipped with a light, repair kit and air pump.

The SOLAS B craft; additionally equipped with first aid kits, flares, and other signaling devices.

The SOLAS A craft also includes; SOLAS A grade flares, food rations, and drinking water.

A couple of very important points to note: The SOLAS A and SOLAS B craft must be secured with a hydrostatic release unit, allowing the craft to automatically deploy and float free from a sinking vessel. There are several good websites demonstrating how they work and how to install properly.

Check your hydrostatic release expiration and the survival craft’s inspection expiration dates.

Stay safe and Return….

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The Graying of the Fleet – Skin Cancer

East Carolina University Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) Debra A. Kosko DNP, MN, FNP-BC Summer is upon us and that means intense sun exposure. In 2006, Dr. Burke, a dermatologist from ECU, performed random skin screening of watermen at public events along our coast and found that 15% had skin cancer, and most had pre-cancerous lesions. The high rate of skin cancer found in watermen is because they receive double the dose of ultraviolet radiation – one coming directly from the sun, and the other coming from the rays reflecting off of the water. At a recent NC Fisheries Association meeting, an older fisherman shared ‘I wish I knew then what I know now about skin cancer’, as he warned the younger fishers to protect themselves.

There are two lines of protection; clothing and sunscreen.

Clothing should be loose fitting, cover most exposed areas, and include a wide brim hat. Sunglasses are another essential. The sun’s effects on eyes include cataracts, as well as macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in the US. Purchase sunglasses that block 99 to 100% of both UVA and UVB radiation.

In 2011, the FDA established sunscreens labeled “broad spectrum”, this means that they protect against all sun radiation: UVA1, UVA2, UVB. Choose a broad spectrum sunscreen that is water resistant with an SPF of at least 30. Make sure to apply sunscreen 15 to 30 minutes before going outside, and reapply every 2 hours.

Mature fishers should be even more vigilant about skin protection, because as we age, our skin undergoes changes that weaken our defenses against skin disease: reduced immune systems, poorer healing capacity, thinner skin, and damage from smoking to pollution are just a few to

name. These changes all contribute to a higher risk for skin cancer.

No matter your age, receive a full body examination annually from your primary provider or dermatologist – it could save your life!

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 would like to provide health screening in your community or at your next event, so please call or email: koskod@ ecu.edu; 252-744-6421.

References: Burke, W.A., Griffith, D.C., Scott, C.M., and Howell, E.R. (2006). Skin problems related to the occupation of commercial fishing in North Carolina. North Carolina Medical Journal, 67(4).

Federal Drug Administration; https://www.fda.gov/drugs/resourcesforyou/ consumers/buyingusingmedicinesafely/understandingover-the-countermedicines/ ucm258468.htm National Eye Institute; https://nei.nih.gov/hvm/healthy_eyes_glasses National Institute on Aging; https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/skin-care-and-aging

north carolina fisheries association 43

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Tradewinds is a bi-monthly publication owned and published by North Carolina Fisheries

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Commercial fishermen established the North Carolina Fisheries Association, Inc. in 1952 to serve fishing families by protecting their heritage and promoting seafood.

Over six decades later, NCFA still believes the commercial fishing industry begins and ends with families â&#x20AC;&#x201C; from those who harvest seafood to those who help supply the industries needs and to those who enjoy the harvest. We are committed to presenting an accurate portrait of the industry and the people who sustain it.

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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:

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TRED’n WATER BY TRED BARTA

I

More in Common Than Not

t’s been the coldest spring on record and the coldest winter on record, facts that directly affect sport fishermen and commercial fishermen alike. Although the uninformed would like to blame the commercial fishermen for the lack of fish and lack of business, the fact remains that cold water means less migration. Cold, ugly water means less bait, and as a result, fishing sucks for both commercial fishermen and sport fishermen alike. That’s a fact, Jack!

As North Carolina sport fishermen and charter boat fishermen spend hard earned money on tackle, lures, and boat maintenance, and as bills come due for dockage, insurance, permits, and advertising... All of the above seems to hurt even more this year because of one reason: the lack of fish and the lack of business. Yes, for everyone - both sport fishermen and commercial fishermen.

Believe me when I tell you… The frustration a charter boat captain feels when he has two weeks of charters booked and can’t go because of inclement weather, this is the exact frustration commercial long liners feel when the price of swordfish is through the roof and his orders are stacking up like cordwood. The frustration and anger are equal on both sides of the equation.

Almost any American citizen who is educated and honest will admit that the US government is one of the most inefficient ways of getting anything done. It is an unequivocal and nonnegotiable fact that sport fishermen and commercial fishermen alike suffer from ridiculous regulations. Both commercial fishermen and sport fishermen are left feeling frustrated beyond belief, by harsh and unnecessary statutes that

are often ill-founded and backed by no science at all.

In my opinion, the greatest book ever written on fishing is the Bible. From the moment of creation to the end of all time, man’s ability to harvest nature’s bounty and to live life near or around water is unprecedented. One thing rings very true to me, to receive our Lord’s redemption, all one has to do is to believe. By believing in our Lord and by accepting our His grace, this great miracle of life is equal to all. There is no reference or instruction specifically to sport fishermen, charter boat fishermen, or commercial fishermen in the Bible, however, there are many references of men being “fishers of men”.

As men and women of the sea, many of us have one thing in common: we are Christians. It is a foolish man who goes out to sea without the Lord, and it is a foolish man who does not cherish all that the Lord has provided for him. As I write this, I am telling you, there aren’t many greater places to spend time with our Lord than days spent on the ocean. I don’t believe what I’ve just written needs any explanation. If you’re a sport fisherman or a commercial fisherman, you know what I speak of.

Whether it be on the VHF, the single sideband, or the cell phone; when any person of the sea yells in “May Day, May Day, May Day” or “man overboard”, at that very moment there is no difference between “sport fisherman” or “commercial fisherman”. There is only your fellow man, in need of help. The question of whether you will immediately go and risk everything to help is not even on the table.

The answer is: you WILL go, and you will go willingly. This is the creed of the ocean, and we are all the same in that respect.

By: Capt. Tred Barta

Very, very much the same!

When your child or someone else’s child is diagnosed with cancer and needs money to save their lives… When a fundraiser is announced in a town like Beaufort, Morehead City, Sneads Ferry, or anywhere on the North Carolina coast, what do we all do? We help and support our fellow man in any way we can, without a second thought.

I don’t know about you all, but I, Captain Tred Barta am sick and tired of all the nonsense about being on one side or the other. Every intelligent person on this planet knows that sport fishing, commercial fishing, and charter boat fishing will be here as long as there is an ocean. All of us know the world needs to eat, and commercial fishermen provide food not just for their own families but to seafood consumers all over the country.

It’s just what they do! They are the farmers of the ocean. My dad used to say, “Thank a farmer, three times a day.”. I like to say, “Thank you, commercial fishermen!” at least twice a week.

I would like to end my thoughts on this issue by saying that I love my sport and I love the people in it, but I also love commercial fishermen. Over the many years I’ve spent on the water, I’ve learned more about sportfishing from commercial fishermen than I have from other sport fishermen. There’s just no need for all of the division, we’re all people here. If we would all just treat others the way we want to be treated, and live our lives as decent Christians, I really think we would discover that we have more in common than not.

God bless all of us!

Until next tide, Captain Tred Barta

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