intended to perform the same services to the fishing industry 

 as Agricultural Extension Agents do for farmers. He indicated 

 that refunding this program would aid market price stability. 



Senator Stallings, Committee co-chairman, distributed copies 

 of a University of North Carolina Sea Grant Newsletter article 

 which discussed the problem of skates and rays destroying shell- 

 fish along North Carolina's coast (see Appendix D) . The Committee 

 asked for additional information concerning this problem. 



The Committee met for the second time on December 6, 1977. 

 This meeting was devoted to hearing from the Committee to Protect 

 the Rights of Commercial Fishermen, Harkers Island, North Carolina 

 (hereafter referred to as "the Commercial Fishermen Committee"), 

 and various state departments. 



Mr. Perry Guthrie of the Commercial Fishermen Committee 

 discussed with the Committee the problems of the cow nose ray in 

 coastal North Carolina. This ray weighs approximately 30 to 40 

 pounds and glides along the sea bottom drawing oysters, clams, 

 and other seafood into it's mouth where the shellfish are crushed 

 and digested. The population of these rays has increased in recent 

 years and Mr. Guthrie said that they are destroying much of the 

 shellfish in Eastern North Carolina. 



The Commercial Fishermen Committee asked for state aid in 

 developing a market for the cow nose ray and increasing the take 

 of the ray for food purposes so to reduce the population their 



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