434 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



and offshore in Dare County and southward in the sound to Washington 

 and Belhaven, the catch is the more general salt water varieties, including 

 oysters, crabs, shrimp, bluefish, the trout, croaker, mullet, etc. 



This area is traversed by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, connecting 

 with Charlotte, Raleigh, and Norfolk, and by the Atlantic Coast Line con- 

 necting with Tarboro and Rocky Mount. The railroad is used more for 

 transportation of fish in this area than in the more southerly areas. 



b. Central Production Area, from Pamlico River in the north to New 

 River in Onslow County, embraces the most important fisheries of the 

 State — Pamlico, Craven, Carteret, and Onslow Counties, containing the 

 fishing communities of Oriental, Vandemere, New Bern, Morehead City- 

 Beaufort, Marshallberg, Sealevel, Atlantic, and Swansboro. This region is 

 mostly tidal salt water, under the influence of Beaufort and Bogue Inlets, 

 as well as that of Ocracoke Inlet, and receives little fresh water from rivers. 

 In addition to the general assortment of the more salt water species (little 

 of the fresh water or anadromous shad, alewives, striped bass, etc.), this is 

 the principal center for menhaden fisheries and menhaden conversion 

 plants. The season in this section is mainly fall — August to November. 



This region is served by the Norfolk Southern Railroad, connecting 

 New Bern with Washington and Norfolk, and by the Atlantic and East 

 Carolina Railroad from Beaufort to Goldsboro and Raleigh. However, the 

 greater part of the transportation of fish from this area is by truck. 



c. Southern Production Area, Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick 

 Counties; the three fishing communities are at Hampstead, Wilmington 

 and Southport. This, being the more southerly part, shows the increasing 

 influence of warmer water, but also the effects of the Cape Fear River with 

 again some anadromous species. There are no alewives, few shad or striped 

 bass, or sea trouts, but th^re are important fisheries for shrimp, mullet, and 

 menhaden. Production of oysters is small in this area. 



Primary Marketing. Although the producer-dealers at the shore are a part 

 of the marketing and distribution mechanism, their relations with the fisher- 

 men are so close that their operations are best considered here in connection 

 with production; the distributor-dealers, wholesalers, retailers, etc., are 

 considered later. Primary marketing is done by what may be called here 

 producer-dealers i.e., dealers who perform the function of receiving fish 

 direct from the fishermen and passing the product on to the next stage of 

 marketing. In most cases the actual physical work performed by these 

 dealers is washing where necessary, weighing, packing, icing and shipping, 

 beheading shrimp, and shucking oysters. Places of business usually consist 

 of an enclosed building on a pier with ice -crusher, sorting tables and the 

 like, and scales. In some of the larger establishments there are small mechan- 

 ical refrigeration plants, mechanical ice crushers, processing rooms for 



