major species. Flounder and swordfish were the largest catches. 

 Dare's shellfish catch consisted almost entirely of hard blue 

 crabs and some shrimp. The state's shrimp catch has tended to 

 fluctuate greatly over the years. For instance, in 1940, 4.1 

 million pounds of shrimp were landed in North Carolina. By 

 contrast in 1945 there were 10.6 million pounds landed. In 1959 

 and 1960, 6.4 million pounds and 6.0 million pounds were caught 

 respectively. By 1964, there was a landing of only 4.3 million 

 pounds. Thus, the shrimp catch has risen from 4.1 million pounds 

 in 1940 to 10.6 million pounds in 1945. Conversely, the catch 

 decreased to 4.3 million pounds by 1964. No one knows for certain, 

 of course, but there is a possibility that the catch will Increase 

 in the coming years. 



Crabs are Dare's largest seafood catch. In 1964, the State 

 became the third largest producer of hard shell blue crabs pro- 

 ducing a catch of approximately 24 million pounds. Dare County's 

 catch was approximately 9.4 million pounds or 39 percent of the 

 State's total catch. Most of these crabs are shipped out of the 

 county for processing facilities since there are only two crab 

 packing plants in Dare County. The Pamlico and Carteret County 

 area ranks second in crab production to Dare. Pamlico County 

 contains most of the processing facilities. There is not enough 

 information available to determine why Dare County has so few crab 

 processing plants with such a large catch. Possibly at one time, 

 Pamlico County was the largest producer of crabs. It is unlikely 

 that Dare County will have any new plants established in the near 

 future because crab processing at the present time is a marginal 

 operation. Most of the work is done completely by hand, and the 

 cost of labor has been increasing. At the present time, the 

 American Scientific Corporation in Alexandria, Virginia, is 

 investigating the possibilities of producing special machinery 

 which will lower the cost of hand operations now used to process 

 crabso This corporation has four machines that are being used 

 experimentally. As yet, these machines have not profected to the 

 point where they can be marketed. Other promising machines are 

 being developed by the Blue Channel Corporation in Port Royal, 



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