seven beach seine crews on Bogue Banks, 

 according to Frost. 'They were all working for 

 the federal Work Projects Administration 

 (WPA)," that was set up under President 

 Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration. "It was 

 the only way people could find work," he adds. 

 "Each crew had 10 to 15 men." 



During this time, the crews often traded 

 fish for meat. "I'd seen Daddy many times salt 

 mullet and spot and trade for meat with a 

 farmer," says Frost. "We were in paradise and 

 didn't know it. You didn't worry about money 

 then. You would fish to get enough money for 

 kerosene." 



By the time Joey Frost joined the crew in 

 1974, the Frosts had modernized their beach 

 seine operation. Instead of pulling the nets in by 

 hand, they used tractors. 



Throughout the 1970s and into 1980, 

 beach seine operations dominated the roe mullet 

 fishery. 



One of the Frosts' biggest 

 catch was in 1974, when the 

 mullet were so thick that you 

 could see the fish two miles up the 

 beach, according to Joey Frost. 



"We had a hundred yards of 

 bunt" that is part of the fishing nets 

 to land the fish, says Frost. 

 "Before we got to the beach, one 

 tractor got pulled to sea," he adds. 

 "It kind a scared us. 



"The fish were getting tired 

 and trying to swim offshore. We 

 kept working against the high tide. 

 We estimated that we 

 got 110,000 pounds of 

 mullet, but we probably 

 got 130,000 pounds. 

 When the tide fell, the 

 fish were still thigh 

 thick in the water." 



To celebrate the 

 mullet fishery, 

 Swansboro holds a 

 Mullet Festival each 

 year. Begun in 1954 to 

 celebrate the 

 completion of the 

 White Oak River 

 bridges, the festival has 

 changed from a 

 community gathering 

 to a regional event 

 where fried mullet is served. 



"This first year they threw a fish fry for 

 workers on the bridge project," says Randolph 

 Thomas, president of the Swansboro Festival's 

 Committee. "The late Swansboro Police Chief 

 M.T. Manness kept the festival going for more 

 than 20 years. Over the years, the festival 

 attendance has grown from several hundred 

 town folks to more than 25,000 people." 



During the 1980s, Henry Frost says he 

 began to see a decline in the size of mullet 

 caught. At this time, the price of fish per pound 

 increased. 



"When I first started fishing, the mullet 

 were larger," says Henry Frost. "In 1980s, a lot 

 of Florida fishermen started coming up here and 

 targeting mullet. They used tower boats and 

 fished at night. Before this, we used to beach 

 seine at night." 



With the ban of gill nets in Florida waters 

 for black mullet in 1994, more commercial 



fishers from Florida began fishing in N.C. 

 waters. At the same time, more North Carolina 

 fishers turned to gill netting for striped mullet. 



"It is not as expensive as haul netting and 

 doesn't require a big crew," says Locke, who 

 serves on the DMF Striped Mullet Advisory 

 Panel. "I can go out with one man. It also is 

 more mobile than haul netting. You go gill 

 netting wherever the fish are. You never set a 

 net until you see a school of fish." 



Fall Fishery 



Beach seine crews begin preparing for 

 striped mullet fishery in September. 



One day, Henry Frost's yard was piled 

 high with fishing nets and machines. His 

 grandson, Matthew Frost, was lubricating the 

 tractor. 



When the season starts, the crews are 

 dependent on the winds blowing from the 

 northeast to northwest to set the nets. 



"You have to wait for a shifting wind 

 or nor'easter to make the seas calmer," 

 says Henry Frost. 



When the wind begins blowing right, the 

 crew sets the net. They go out in the water with 

 a dory boat and use an anchor to set the net 



"We may set a net for three or four days 

 and not catch anything," says Joey Frost. 

 "It takes seven to eight people to set a stop net. 

 When you do strike, the fish are so compact it 

 is like wall-to-wall fish. You can get 60,000 

 pounds in one day." 



To pull in the nets, the Frosts use a team 

 of 10. "It takes 10 men in waist deep water to 

 pull in a stop net," says Joey Frost. "The whole 

 time, the sea is breaking." 



After the fish are pulled in, they are put in 

 baskets. Then men load the truck with fish and 

 take the catch to market. 



The money for the catch is divided evenly 

 among the crew. "In 2002, we made only 

 $2,500 apiece for the three-month season," 

 says Joey Frost. "This is not a living. But it is 

 like a working vacation." □ 



The 49th Annual Mullet Festival will be 

 held Saturday, Oct. 11, in downtown 

 Swansboro. The parade begins at 10 a.m. 

 More than 200 vendors will be showcasing 

 their arts and crafts — from pottery and 

 jewelry to birdhouses and blown glass. For 

 more information, call 910/353-0241. 



COASTWATCH 15 



