Photo by Steve Murray 



Better policies 

 Rely on research 



Managing the shrimp fishery is com- 

 plicated, and demands good informa- 

 tion. And that's where UNC Sea Grant 

 projects can help management agen- 

 cies like DMF. 



During 1979 and 1980, George 

 Fishman, a researcher in the 

 Curriculum in Operations Research 

 and Systems Analysis at the Univer- 

 sity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 

 developed a computer model that will 

 evaluate alternative management 

 policies for the shrimp fishery. Plugged 

 into the model are the biological 

 features of shrimp such as migration 

 habits, mortality rates, distribution in 

 the estuaries, length- weight 

 relationships. The model also takes 

 into account characteristics of the 

 shrimp fishery — number of fishermen 

 shrimping, the intensity of their shrim- 

 ping efforts. Finally the model figures 

 in the price structure of the fishery 

 which varies according to the season 

 and availability. 



Using this model the North Carolina 

 Division of Marine Fisheries, or a 

 fisheries management agency in 

 another state, can plug in different 

 management schemes to see which 

 works best. A management agency 

 may want a policy that provides the 

 most profit per unit of effort by the 

 fishermen. Or perhaps they want a 

 scheme that would result in greater 

 pounds landed. Whatever the needed 

 results, the model can test proposed 

 and present policies to see how they 

 stack up against one another. 



Another model for fishery manage- 

 ment that will include some work with 

 shrimp is being developed now by Sea 

 Grant researchers Jim Easley, Thomas 

 Johnson and Frank Benford, all of 

 North Carolina State University. 

 They will be setting up a model to con- 

 sider individual problems within 

 fisheries — for example, the impact of 

 fuel costs, market effects — and to con- 

 sider problems that arise as seasons for 

 various fish overlap. 



Easley, along with two other 

 researchers, conducted an earlier study 

 that took a look at overlap in the 

 shrimp fishery. While fishermen are still 

 trawling for brown shrimp in August 



Shrimper readies nets for a day of trawling 



and September, juvenile pink shrimp 

 are moving into the sounds in large 

 numbers. Many pink shrimp are net- 

 ted as a byproduct of trawling for 

 brown shrimp and most are killed in 

 the landing and sorting process. What 

 is the cost of this incidental catch to 

 later pink shrimp harvests? Should 

 shrimping for brown shrimp be cur- 

 tailed in these months? 



Easley determined that 15 to 16 

 pink shrimp must be killed for every 

 brown shrimp harvested for it to be 

 economically feasible to curtail or 

 close brown shrimp season. Sampling 

 data found the ratios far below this 

 level in most areas. Based on this data, 

 the DMF decided to continue to allow 

 fishermen full trawling privileges dur- 

 ing August and September. 



While Fishman and Easley map 

 out management policies, John Maiolo 

 and John Bort are talking to the peo- 

 ple involved in the fishery. Maiolo and 

 Bort are surveying shrimpers to find 

 out why they shrimp, their views on 



management, their relationships with 

 seafood dealers and marketers and 

 their family ties to the fishery. They 

 are surveying dealers and marketers to 

 determine the intricacies of the 

 marketing system and its relationship 

 to the fishing communities. Lastly 

 they are compiling the fishery's 

 history, already mentioned. Some of 

 the information they have gathered 

 will appear in this and the following 

 issue of Coastwatch. 



While some people cast a cloud of 

 skepticism over the need for such 

 "soft" research, Mike Street is quick 

 to defend its value to the Division of 

 Marine Fisheries. "We need the kind 

 of research John (Maiolo) is doing so 

 we can know and understand the ap- 

 proach of the fishermen to the resource 

 and to its management," Street says. 

 People don't often understand, but its 

 not the fish we manage, it's the people. 

 John's work helps us know those peo- 

 ple better." 



