A heritage founded on fishing 



There's not much Charhe Williams 

 likes more than putting his nets off 

 Ocracoke Island — unless it's talking 

 about it. Charlie, 71, and his brother 

 James, 76, have been fishing and 

 guiding around those parts for most of 

 their lives. It's a way of life for them 

 and a heritage they want to keep. 



"I tell everybody today that I am a 

 fisherman," says Charlie. "I'm proud 

 to tell it. . . that I'm a commercial 

 fisherman. What I've got now, I've got 

 because I was a fisherman." 



People like Charlie and James 

 preserve the traditions of hard work 

 and good fishing in the quaint village 

 off North Carolina's Outer Banks. For 

 centuries, the sun and sea have direc- 

 ted the lives of Ocracokers, providing 

 food for the table and money for their 

 pockets. Unlike trade and tourism, 

 fishing persisted through the years, ty- 

 ing together the past and present like a 

 strong piece of rope. 



"It was a way of survival," says 

 Charlie. Until World War II, the 

 island's economy centered around 

 commercial fishing. Few other jobs 

 were available. There were no in- 

 dustries and only a handful of shops, 

 inns and restaurants. 



Ocracoke's size and location proved 

 to be assets for the fisheries. Because it 

 was out of the way, few outsiders drop- 

 ped their nets in surrounding waters. 

 The ocean and Pamlico Sound teemed 

 with mullet, bluefish, flounder, 

 mackerel, trout, croaker, spot and 

 other fish. Fishermen pulled in plenty 

 of oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp, too. 



Sullivan Garrish and his brother, 

 Uriah, admit that the fishing and 

 bragging came easy sometimes. "We 

 used to catch 14 and 15,000 pounds" in 

 a day, says Sullivan. "There was a lot 

 of times when we couldn't bring them 

 all in in our boats." He recalls one trip 

 in particular when they had to get 

 another boat's crew to help them pull 

 10,000 pounds of bluefish out of their 

 gill net. 



The old-timers agree commercial 

 fishing is not easy work. Sullivan said 

 he and Uriah were out before sunrise 

 every morning, weather permitting, 

 from May to October. After netting all 

 the fish they could catch, the crew 

 took several hours to cull, clean, salt 

 and pack the fish in barrels for ship- 



ping. Not much fresh fish was sent 

 from the island then. And occasionally 

 instead of shipping their catch, the 

 islanders would swap the fish for a load 

 of vegetables from the mainland. 



Photo by Sarah Friday 



Sullivan Garrish 



"We had to catch a lot of fish then to 

 make any money," says Sullivan. Now 

 and then, they'd come to shore with a 

 boatload of fish, only to discover there 

 was no market. "Me and Uriah . . . 

 several times we didn't make enough to 

 pay the fuel bill." But, "You can't let it 

 lick you. Sometimes we'd go out and not 

 catch anything. Next thing you'd know, 

 you'd make a hit." 



The unpredictability of catches was 

 one of several factors forcing most 

 fishermen out of the industry in the 

 1960s and 1970s. Fish houses closed. 

 And the lack of profit forced the young 

 islanders to look elsewhere for em- 

 ployment. 



Wayne Teeter, 40, was one of those 

 young people. "No young ones were 

 getting in it. It was the thing not to 

 do." At 17, Teeter knew if he wanted a 

 job he'd have to leave the island. He 

 enlisted in the Coast Guard for 10 

 years. 



Ocracokers who once turned to the 

 sea for employment began working in 

 the island's growing tourist industry. 



Today the small village opens its doors 

 to thousands of visitors from around 

 the world. To accommodate them, gift 

 shops, motels, restaurants, water sport 

 rentals, park and ferry services keep 

 the locals busy most of the year. 



"Right now when you speak of the 

 economy of the Outer Banks, it's 

 tourism," says one fisherman. 

 "There's still some commercial fishing, 

 but not like the old days." 



The opening of a new fish house, 

 South Point Fish and Crab Co., in 

 1976 is credited for reviving 

 Ocracoke's fishing industry and the 

 job market. About 120 people fish 

 commercially now, says Teeter, but 

 less than a fourth of them work full- 

 time. 



"You can still whack a living out of 

 it," says Teeter, who took up fishing 

 part-time after returning to the island. 

 Most of the commercial fishermen crab 

 now because it brings more money — 30 

 cents a pound. A thousand pounds is a 

 good day's catch. But to be a suc- 

 cessful commercial fisherman these 

 days, "You've got to do different 

 things different times of the year," 

 says one fisherman. In the winter, 

 trout and croaker are good catches, 

 and in the summer, crabs, clams and 

 flounder sell well. 



"You can make as much as you 

 want," says full-timer Tom Leonard. 

 Financially, the fisheries are better off 

 than in years past. What you pocket 

 depends on how much time and effort 

 you want to put into it, he says. 



Freedom is one of the reasons Teeter 

 continues to fish commercially. 

 "There's nobody to bother you when 

 you're doing it." He also fishes because 

 it's something he knows. He taught 

 himself the art, getting a few tips from 

 his grandfather. For Teeter and many 

 other Ocracoke fishermen, the tradi- 

 tions tied to fishing are as much a part 

 of their lives as fish stew and cornmeal 

 dumplings. 



"Fishing hasn't changed a lot here 

 with the Ocracoke fishermen," says 

 Charlie Williams. Certain things draw 

 the young ones to the sea, just like it 

 has the old. "It's just like something 

 with a string on you," he says. "You 

 just have that urge to be out on the 

 water." 



— Sarah Friday 



