mullet have their right eye to the shore when 

 moving," says Locke, who uses gill nets to catch 

 roe mullet. "So if you look at a fishing chart, 

 mullet move south on the shoreline with their 

 right eye." That may be why the fish come down 

 the west shore of Manns Harbor, he adds. 



For the commercial mullet fishery, 2002 

 was a banner year with 2.6 million pounds 

 harvested, which is approximately 450,000 

 pounds higher than the average landings from 

 1994 to 2001, says Wong. "Gill net and beach 

 seine landings each accounted for 88 percent and 

 10 percent of the total landings. Beach seine 

 landings were the largest in 10 years," he adds. 



To better manage the fishery, DMF began 

 developing a mullet management plan in July 

 2002. 



"In 1999, striped mullet was listed as a 

 species of concern by the Division of Marine 

 Fisheries," says Wong. "There was a lot of fishing 

 efforts on the stock, and the landings were high." 



Sea Grant/DMF Study 



To estimate striped mullet mortality, North 

 Carolina Sea Grant and DMF started a Marine 

 Fisheries Fellowship Program in 2002. 



"The fellowship is designed to bring new 

 ideas from young scientists who receive 

 experience in how a management agency works," 

 explains Ronald G. Hodson, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant director. "The mullet program fits 

 perfectly." 



For a year, fellow Nathan Bacheler analyzed 

 data from 15,000 mullet tagged between 1997 

 and 2002 by DMF. 



"The tagging data suggests that the striped 

 mullet survival rate was between 1 5 to 30 

 percent," says Bacheler, who now is working on 

 his doctorate at North Carolina State University. 

 "It appears that the survival rate for adult fish is 

 relatively low, but we are not sure if the high 

 mortality rate is due to fishing or natural causes." 



Bacheler also found that mullet, which live 

 in both salt and fresh waters, remain inshore most 

 of the year, except when spawning. 



In late summer, striped mullet start 

 migrating to coastal waters and southward. 

 Spawning takes place between October and 

 December in inshore waters. Then the fish 

 migrate back northward and toward shore. 



The fish are bottom feeders and either 

 scrape off material from rocks with their spade- 

 like lower jaw or pick up the material from the 

 ocean floor with their gill rakers and teeth. Striped 



mullet spit out all other matter. They 

 also feed almost exclusively during 

 the day, with a diet of phytoplankton 

 and other tiny marine forms, as well 

 as dead organic matter. In rum, top 

 predators such as birds, fish, sharks 

 and dolphins feed on striped mullet. 



Striped mullet also are highly 

 prolific. A large female can produce 

 upwards of 4 million eggs. 



Mullet Fishing 

 History 



David Stick's Tfw Outer Banks of North 

 Carolina offers historical perspective: 



...Writing from the Beaufort area in 1871, 

 H.C. Yarrow had the following to say about 

 mullet: "This species is the most abundant of the 

 locality] and affords susteriance and employment 

 to thousands of person on the coast of North 

 Carolina. 



"From the month of May, when small 

 sized individuals appear, fishing continues during 

 the entire summer... and frequently until 

 November... . Tlie numbers taken are simply 

 enormous, sometimes as many as 500 barrels 

 being secured at a single liaul. It was estimated 

 by competent obseners that not less than 12,000 

 barrels of mullet were captured on the coast of 

 North Carolina Friday, September 22, 1871." 



In 1880, R. Edward Earll conducted a 

 thorough investigation and found that the 

 majority of the mullet fishermen were farmers 

 from the mainland. 



"Wlien the fishing season arrived," he 

 said, "they leave their homes and proceed in 

 gangs of four to thirty men to the seashore 

 under the leadership of a 'captain,' who controls 

 their movements... . On reaching the shore they 

 at once build rude huts or cabins, in which they 

 eat and sleep until the close of the season." 



The men would post a lookout for mullet 

 on the top of a large sand hill or a constructed 

 lookout tower. When the men saw a school of fish, 

 they would leave the post, walk down the beach 

 and indicate the movements of the fish to other 

 crew members with arm signals, according to 

 Stick: 



Finally, at the proper signal from the 

 lookout, the fishermen would launch their boat 

 through the surf, and 'shoot ' their seine in front of 

 the approaching school offish. 



After pulling in the schools of mullet, the 

 men would take their catch by boat to fish houses. 



TOP: Veteran fisher Henry Frost checks out his crew 

 on the water. BOTTOM: Two of the Frost crew look 

 at the large catch of mullet. TOP RIGHT: The crew 

 pulls in some stop nets. BOTTOM RIGHT: Beach 

 seine crews use farm tractors to pull in tlie stop nets 

 filled with mullet. 



Beach Seining on 

 Bogue Banks 



During the rum of the 20th century, crews 

 fished in the narrow point on the beach along 

 Bogue Banks, according to Henry Frost. "In a 

 run boat, the crews would take freight to 

 Morehead City. One of the tote paths was Salter 

 Path — that's how it got its name." 



During the 1930s and 1940s, there were 



14 AUTUMN 2003 



