32 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



"Area B lies approximately from latitude 34° 50' to 35° 50'' N. and from 

 longitude 75° 20' to 76° 10' W. This territory covers the Ocracoke Inlet 

 fishing grounds, Hatteras Inlet and Cove, and the Carolina coast as far north 

 as Bodie Island. The fishing grounds extend from 3 to 30 miles offshore in 

 water from 10 to 30 fathoms in depth. Along this section of the coast the 

 loo-fathom line runs close inshore, as does the inner limit of the Gulf Stream, 

 and tends to restrict the fishery closer to shore than in area A." 



From the trawling activities in the combined areas, Pearson (1932) records 

 55 species, a list which includes almost all the principal fishes common off 

 the Middle and South Atlantic States, such as scup, Stenotomus chrysops, 

 sea bass, Centropristes striatus, summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, and 

 croaker, Micropogon undulatus. 



Unlike the fishing to the north of Hatteras, the fishing effort in area B has 

 been confined chiefly to the more inshore, sandy bottoms of less than 30 

 fathoms depth. This is evidently due to the scattered coral growth and other 

 rough bottom conditions offshore (see below, the section on Nature of the 

 Bottom) that prevent trawlers from exploring and working these waters. 

 There are reasons to believe that this offshore region has great potentialities 

 because the warm winter temperatures are continuous with those to the 

 north of the Cape, the rough bottom has some physical similarity to muddy 

 and rocky bottom well offshore in area A north of the Cape as described by 

 Pearson (1932), and Radcliffe (19 14) has demonstrated that quantities of 

 sea bass and other fish occur the year around over reefs and rocky bottom at 

 Cape Lookout and westward beyond the offshore limits of area B, Fishermen 

 are apparently aware of these untapped resources, and such steps as the 

 development of methods for fishing this area and the exploration of the 

 bottom with modern detecting equipment may lead to fisheries expansion 

 in this region. 



On a theoretical basis Parr (1933) discussed regions with moderate 

 seasonal temperature change — homothermous regions to use his expression — 

 as areas of concentration and as potential centers of dispersal to neighboring 

 regions during the favorable warm season. The offshore Hatteras area is a 

 homothermous region and, as discussed above, it is an area of concentration 

 in winter, but there is no indication that it is a dispersal center. Perhaps the 

 limitation of space alone hinders this development. The coastal waters of the 

 State when considered as a whole, however, do seem to serve as a dispersal 

 area for some species, which apparently thrive in the extensive sounds during 

 the long warm season, retreat to the warm offshore waters in the fall, and, 

 in part at least, migrate elsewhere in spring and summer as mature or 

 advanced immature fish. This seems to be the general life history pattern of 

 vast populations of gray sea trout, Cynoscion regalis, and rock, Roccus 

 saxatilis. 



