Photo by Mark Hooper 



Shrimp 



"For Robert" is a photograph by Mark Hooper, a Carteret County shrim- 

 per. The photograph is dedicated to Robert Willis, Hooper's neighbor, 

 who heads shrimp for Hooper each morning during shrimping season. 

 The photograph won first place in black and white prints, best in show, 

 and the N.C. Marine Resources Center Purchase Award in the 5th Annual 

 Bogue Banks Nature Photography Competition and Exhibit 



Talk of shrimp gets thick in 

 coastal North Carolina about the 

 beginning of June. Shrimpers 

 speculate about the coming 

 season, always hoping it will be 

 better than the last. Biologists and 

 managers at the North Carolina 

 Division of Marine Fisheries work 

 day and night to check shrimp 

 nursery areas. Seafood dealers and 

 marketers begin checking prices 

 and supplies of shrimp in other 

 states. 



Shrimp are the most valuable 

 seafood crop North Carolina 

 waters offer. Last year, 9,823,000 

 pounds of shrimp, valued at $17 

 million, were landed in the state. 

 But last year's nettings were a 

 record catch. North Carolina 

 shrimpers hadn 't seen such large 

 quantities of shrimp in over 25 

 years. The average catch for the 

 past 25 years stands at just over six 

 million pounds a year. 



Three species of shrimp are net- 

 ted in North Carolina — pink, 

 white and brown. Brown shrimp 

 are the most numerous. Shrim- 

 pers trawl for "browns" July 

 through September. Pink and 

 white shrimp are less abundant. 

 They are netted in the fall. 



This month and next, 

 Coastwatch will look at the 

 shrimp fishery in North 

 Carolina — the story of its shaky 

 beginnings, the people who study 

 and manage it, the people who de- 

 pend on it for their living. 



