In general then, the topography of the shelf underlying 

 sonthem coastal ipaters off North Carolina and South Carolina, 

 as indicated by the fathometer traces, is much less irregular 

 than was suspected* The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey 

 charts for this re^on ha\'e few soundings, and a special series 

 of charts — ^vjhich depict bottom types — show large, broad ejqsanses 

 of coral covering the shelf south of Cape Hatteras. This coral 

 is either a low groTrlng fom, or occurs infrequently, for onlj'- 

 small amounts -i^re encountered during the trawl survey* Futher- 

 more, the frequency of tear-ups was inconsequential -when compared 

 ivith those occurring during fishing operation? on sc^ie of the 

 major Northwest Atlantic fishing banlcs. If the coral were as 

 profuse as the charts indicate, and if the lack of soundings 

 were indicative cf rough bottom^ then many more tear-ups almost 

 certainly would have occurred. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The results of this survey of the deeper waters of the con- 

 tinental shelf south of Gaps Hatteras indicate t-hat ott-er traw» 

 ling can be pursued mthout imdue loss of g^STi Trailing 

 operations in these deeper waters by the ejdsting fleets, hoTseverj, 

 TTOuld require the modification of present g^^t to iiielud'S larger 

 ■winches, which have a greater to-nng'flri.re capacligrj and probably 

 rollers on tte foot-ropes to perssit trawlir^ on th@ sligMlj'= ir^ 

 regular bottom* 



The results -were not encouraging with rsispee-t te iacff^sasing 

 North Carolina's fishei^- resources. The cst6h®s of eoEBser-ciall^ 

 important species—or all species for that raatter-^Trere, in most 

 instances, veiy small. These poor catches may be attributed 

 either to the season, or to the possibility tliat the fish popu- 

 lations frequenting the continental shelf ia the vicinity of Cap© 

 Hatteras are quite limited e 



Since it is knovm that many of the speci&iS found off Cape 

 Hatteras migrate northward during the sisamer RonthSj;. a survey 

 daring the wint-ar might provide significantly larger matches. 

 Unless this can bs substantiated, however, th& fr^asibil^.igr of 

 establishing conmercial operations on a large scale in this 

 region appears remote. The catches of buttea-iisn, s^p, tom- 

 tate, grunts, hog-fish, pinfish, and pig-fish indicate that 

 these species mi-ght support a limited commercial fishe^;- in 

 depths less than 100 fathoms. The moderate number of red grouper 

 taken in deeper watsr indicates that these valuable food fish 

 may be abundant enough to support a small fishery. 



10 



