cash crop in the makingj 

 scientists develop hybrid 



Ron Hodson and Howard Kerby strip eggs 

 from female white bass 



By Nancy Davis 



The hybrid striped bass was about 

 to receive its toughest test yet. 



Sea Grant researchers had already 

 proved the fish could be farm-raised. 

 Now they wanted to see how their 

 crop would fare in the marketplace. 



So, in the spring of 1986, scientists 

 Mel Huish and Howard Kerby 

 harvested 4,208 pounds of hybrids 

 they had raised from fingerling to 

 pan-size in a yean 



Raleigh seafood wholesaler George 

 Earp bought the fish and packed 

 them for shipping to Northern 

 markets. Within two days, folks were 

 feasting on fish that had been raised 

 in research ponds outside of Raleigh. 



Earp says he received $1.99 a 

 pound for the catch. And later, after 

 the striped bass season was over, the 

 fish sold for as much as $3 per 

 pound. 



The hybrid had passed the test. 

 And now, a year later, Earp is still 

 giving the fish rave reviews. 



"It's unreal. I think the hybrid 

 striped bass will be just like the farm- 

 raised catfish. Ten years ago if a man 

 had told us that, we would have 

 thought he was crazy. But it's a 

 strong, strong business now. Down the 

 road (the hybrid) is going to be a 

 super big business," Earp says. 



Earp isn't the only one extolling the 

 virtues of the hybrid. 



Ron Hodson, Sea Grant's associate 

 director and coordinator of the pro- 

 gram's aquaculture research, expects 

 the hybrid to become a big cash crop 

 for the state. 



"I think hybrid striped bass can be 

 to North Carolina what the channel 

 catfish is to Mississippi," Hodson says. 

 "With proper development, I can 

 foresee this being a multimillion dol- 

 lar industry to the farmers and 



fishermen of North Carolina." 



It's a pretty optimistic outlook for a 

 fish that just a few years ago was still 

 in the laboratory. 



But behind all that optimism are 

 nine years of intense research— most 

 of it supported by the UNC Sea Grant 

 Program. 



It all started when natural popula- 

 tions of the savory striped bass 

 dwindled. 



Researchers tried to raise the 

 striper, but it proved difficult to raise 

 in captivity. 



Then scientists figured out how to 

 cross the striper with a white bass. 

 The result was a hardy hybrid. 



At first the hybrid was only stocked 

 in recreational ponds and lakes. But it 

 didn't take long for someone to come 

 up with another idea. 



Could the hybrid be farm-raised, 

 like catfish, and fill the demand for 

 wild striped bass? 



To find out, Sea Grant assembled a 

 team of researchers. It included Ron 

 Hodson, Howard Kerby, Mel Huish 

 and Ed Noga from North Carolina 

 State University and Margie Gallagher 

 from East Carolina University. 



Nearly 10 years later, the sale of 

 Huish and Kerby's experimental crop 

 proved hybrids can be farmed, and 

 they can fill the demand for stripers. 



What's more, the hybrid could be a 

 savior for the ailing farm industry. 

 Farmers with the right resources 

 could use existing ponds on their land 

 or build new ones. 



Already, the results of the research 

 are paying off. In Beaufort County, 

 farmer Lee Brothers is the first 

 aquaculturist to try to raise a com- 

 mercial crop of the hybrid in ponds. 

 (See story, page 6.) 



Brothers' fish farm is the final 



