tivity in the South Atlantic fisheries. 

 According to Premetz foreign fleets 

 have been inching their way south as 

 stocks to the north dwindled. The 

 FCMA, he says, put constraints on the 

 development that might have oc- 

 curred. 



"The south Atlantic area (has) a 

 very high concentration of recreation- 

 al fishing," according to Ben Hardesty, 

 chairman of the South Atlantic coun- 

 cil. "Indications are that the recrea- 



tional fisherman is taking a bigger per- 

 centage of snapper-grouper and the 

 mackerel and also the billfish than 

 commercial interests are." 



While it is difficult to say how many 

 commercial or sports fishermen fish off 

 North Carolina, it is generally agreed 

 that recreational fishing accounts for a 

 significant portion of the catch. Cer- 

 tainly, in terms of numbers of people 

 involved, recreational fishermen far 

 outnumber commercial fishermen. 



Gene Huntsman, of the National 

 Marine Fisheries Service in Beaufort, 

 reports that last year 134 charter boats 

 (which usually carry small, private 

 fishing parties) made 9,755 trips for a 

 total of 58,530 angler days. About 1.85 

 million pounds of fish were landed. 

 Huntsman suspects that those 58,530 

 angler days represent almost that 

 many individuals. Add to that the 22,- 

 661 angler days spent on head or party 

 boats and the unknown number of salt- 

 water fishermen in private boats and 

 the numbers really mount up. While 

 the FCMA won't drastically affect all 

 offshore recreational fishermen, it will 

 bring some changes. Among the new 

 regulations will be minimum catch 

 sizes for some species and mandatory 

 reporting on a sampling basis. 



As for commercial fishermen, the 

 FCMA involves restrictions, of course, 

 but it also offers the hope of more fish 

 to catch and sell. For example, the 

 Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

 Council (Virginia to New York) is 

 drawing up management plans for 

 butterfish and squid which are intend- 

 ed to encourage development of those 

 fisheries. 



While the FCMA's effect on North 

 Carolina commercial fishermen has 

 been minimal, the industry is ex- 

 panding, according to observers. The 

 value and volume of the state's catch 

 have been steadily increasing for the 

 last eight years and there has been a 

 gradual upgrading of the fleet. 



Construction has begun on the sea- 

 food park at Wanchese and there's 

 been talk of similar parks elsewhere in 

 the state. Efforts to export more fish — 

 particularly underutilized species — 

 from the region seem to be broaden- 

 ing. According to Chuck Oravetz of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 Nigeria and Egypt are interested in 

 mullet from the south Atlantic. 



Sea Grant advisory agent Skipper 

 Crow reports that 21 steel-hulled boats 

 80 feet or longer are being built for 

 North Carolina fishermen right now. 

 The larger boats will enable fishermen 

 to fish farther offshore. There are some 

 signs that fish houses may be ex- 

 panding and enlarging their own fleets. 

 McCoy says fishermen are seeing they 

 have "got to be able to go where the 

 fish are. You can't necessarily do that 

 within sight of land." 



FCMA and commercial fisheries — restrictions, and the hope of more fish to catch 



