Photo by Bob McDonald 



A bounty of Florida scallops lured North Carolina fishermen south 



And their mobility has implications for 

 fisheries management plans inside and 

 outside North Carolina. 



Orbach and Johnson want to learn 

 what factors influence the fishermen's 

 movement and how their mobility af- 

 fects the fishing industry and other 

 businesses — processors, distributors 

 and marine supply companies. And the 

 team will examine management 

 networks to see what consideration 

 migratory fishermen are given when 

 plans and policies are made. 



With information from this project, 

 fisheries managers can do a better job 

 of assessing the impacts of manage- 

 ment plans on all fishermen. 



In another study, David Griffith 

 will size up the labor needs of the 

 state's seafood processing industry. 

 The industry is labor intensive, and 

 the work force is based on community 

 and kinship ties. But the seafood 

 processing industry is growing. Is there 

 enough labor available for its expansion? 



That's what Griffith wants to find 

 out. He will work with the shellfish 

 and finfish processing industries to 

 determine how socioeconomic, 

 demographic and social factors affect 

 labor availability. By using this infor- 

 mation, he can assess and predict the 

 labor supply at various locations. 



New industries can use Griffith's 



results to choose locations for new 

 plants; older plants can make better 

 decisions about expansion. And 

 management agencies can predict how 

 policy decisions (catch limits or shor- 

 tened seasons) in one sector of the 

 fishery will affect other sectors (the 

 processing labor force). 



The researchers: 



Mike Orbach, Department of Sociol- 

 ogy, Anthropology and Economics, 

 East Carolina University 



Jeff Johnson, Institute for Coastal and 

 Marine Resources, East Carolina 

 University 



David Griffith, Institute for Coastal 

 and Marine Resources, East 

 Carolina University 



Catch of the day 



North Carolina menhaden fisher- 

 men are worried about the future of 

 their business. In 1983, they landed 

 177,973,000 pounds of menhaden for a 

 dockside value of $6. 168,000— an 

 average of about 3 cents per pound. 



The statistics tell the story. While 

 the menhaden fishery is the nation's 

 largest in terms of volume, its value 

 per pound ranks well below other 

 species. The reasons are simple: the 

 menhaden is an industrial fish. This 

 oily fish has been used for fertilizer and 

 for chicken feed, but it's never made it 

 to the nation's dinner tables. 



Sea Grant research may change 

 that. In a previous study. Tyre Lanier, 

 Donald Hamann and Frank Thomas 

 showed that the menhaden could be 

 transformed into surimi — a minced 

 fish product developed by the 

 Japanese. By water-washing the 

 mince, they end up with a protein con- 

 centrate suitable for use in restruc- 

 tured seafood products such as shrimp, 

 scallops and crab legs. The natural 

 counterparts of these foods are high in 

 demand and in price. But the restruc- 

 tured product is low in cost and high in 

 food value. 



The researchers found that a light, 

 bland and excellent gel-forming surimi 

 could be produced from menhaden. A 

 mechanical deboner removes the 

 bones, and the washing process 

 eliminates all but 2 percent of the fat. 

 Along with the fat goes the strong, 

 fishy taste characteristic of menhaden. 

 Since the surimi process uses only 20 



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