'Progress' Hasn't 



(Continued from page 1) 



Fishing was rough, often dangerous, and the 

 hours were long — especially for two young brothers 

 courting the ladies, too. Equipment was basic. 

 Boats were often made on the island. Fishermen 

 made their own sails. And Austin says "The whole 

 family would tie on a net." 



Manila net ropes had to be weighted with leads 

 or five-pound bricks, or floated with cork. And nets 

 had to be tarred — every two weeks in summer — to 

 prevent rot. Tarring was a tedious job involving 

 steaming caldrons, tar-heavy nets and flats for 

 drying. 



"We had to fish," Austin says, "or leave home. 

 . . . We had it the hard way," in what he nonethe- 

 less calls "the good old days." But today, he grins, 

 "They don't work any more." 



Of Men And Machines 



Bill Foster disagrees with Lawrence Austin 

 about that. Foster, 32, is a doctoral candidate in 

 fisheries biology from N.C. State University who 

 decided some years back that he'd just as soon 

 catch fish as study them. Foster lives with his wife 

 and children in a modest frame house in Hatteras 

 down the road from the trim house Lawrence 

 Austin built for his bride. 



Fishing has come a long way since Austin's 

 back days: Foster, a Floridian who only fished for 

 sport previously, uses durable synthetic nets and 

 ropes. The ropes have built-in floating and sinking 

 properties, so cumbersome weights and floats are 

 unnecessary. Foster's 30-foot open boat is, of 

 course, motorized and can carry about four times 

 as much weight as similar motorless boats in 

 Austin's day could. Foster uses a citizen's band 

 radio to keep in touch with other boats and shore. 



And he plans to buy an hydraulic system — a 

 device that can "take the work out of fishing" by 

 automatically reeling in a loaded net — and a fatho- 

 meter to keep up with schools offish. 



Despite the advances, Foster considers the work 

 hard, the hours long, the working conditions (like 

 freezing sea spray) rugged, prices low and costs 

 high. Indeed, Mike Street, Director of Research and 

 Development, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, 

 says that the major problems in the fishing indus- 

 try are economic, not biological. Fisheries, he ex- 

 plains, operate strictly on supply and demand. 

 Consequently, prices can fluctuate wildly, as, for 

 example, when word of a big catch gets out. 



Modern equipment allows Foster and another 

 man to do the work it once took four to do, but 

 Foster says the help doesn't come cheap. Last year, 

 for example, he spent $10,000 on equipment. 

 "Everytime you turn around, you have to buy 



