Processing and 



(Continued from p. 1) 



imately 750 million pounds of fish are discarded an- 

 nually. A study by the North Carolina Division of 

 Marine Fisheries indicates that some 4.6 to 6.3 

 pounds of fish are discarded for every pound of 

 shrimp caught along Pamlico Sound. 



Do these fish have to be wasted? Sea Grant marine 

 advisory agent Skipper Crow doesn't think so. He 

 views discarded fish as a resource that could be con- 

 verted into dollars. "I am absolutely convinced," 

 Crow stresses, "that there is no fish today that you 

 can't sell. It's just a matter of promotion." 



Like any commodity, the selling of fish is in- 

 timately tied to the law of supply and demand. 

 Without demand there is no incentive to create a 

 supply. Though perfectly edible (in fact, delicious), 

 croaker, spot and mullet have never been in high de- 

 mand because few consumers are aware of their food 

 potential and high protein value. As a result, fisher- 

 men have continued to go after the more traditional, 

 higher yield species, such as flounder, shrimp and 

 crab, while croaker and spot have been relegated to 



promotion . . . 



the "underutilized" category. According to Crow, 

 through massive educational and promotional efforts, 

 a significant demand could be created for these 

 species by exposing previously untried markets to the 

 products. He suggests that once one market is 

 created, other "spin-off" markets for other un- 

 derutilized species will naturally follow suit. Coupled 

 with existing operations, Crow contends these "new" 

 fisheries will stimulate year round job opportunities 

 in regions historically faced with only seasonal em- 

 ployment. 



Southeastern coastal marketing specialists are 

 currently working in coordination with the Gulf and 

 South Atlantic Fisheries Development Foundation 

 and the Coastal Plains Regional Commission to ex- 

 plore market possibilities for such underutilized 

 species as croaker, mullet and Spanish mackerel in 18 

 major Midwestern cities. Preliminary indications 

 suggest the potential is "tremendous." A. Paul 

 Allsbrook, marketing specialist with North 

 Carolina's Department of Commerce, recently re- 

 turned from a marketing conference in Chicago. He 

 notes that while the potential there is good, the real 

 marketing success will depend upon whether or not 

 North Carolina fishermen are willing to gear up for 

 the kind of product the consumer wants. 



"It has to be convenient. A housewife is simply not 

 going to want to bother with a fish in the round." 

 Allsbrook adds, "There is a market for underutilized 

 fish, but it has to be prepared in a particular manner 

 from the consumer's point of view." 



Traditionally North Carolina fishermen have gone 

 along with what he terms "the line of least resistance"— 

 simply icing and boxing the fish, and shipping them in 

 the round to the wholesaler. But Allsbrook stresses that 

 to develop a market for certain underutilized species, 

 such as the croaker, the fishermen will have to greatly 

 expand their processing efforts. 



Fisherman Charles Jones of Newport agrees with 

 Allsbrook that the keys to the underutilized market 

 are processing and diversification of operations. And 

 while he admits that he will someday have to make 

 this change, he has strong reservations about the half 

 million dollar investment he predicts will be 

 necessary to gear up for processing. "There are so 

 many other ways of making money that we really 

 don't need that market," he explains. 



Glenn Hieronymus, who runs an operation out of 

 Wrightsville Beach, thinks that there is great poten- 

 tial in the underutilized fish market. "I'd like to do 

 it," but he adds, "the price of the ice and labor is so 

 high that it's absolutely not feasible to bring it in. . . I 

 know I can get 5<f maybe 8<f a pound for it [in the 

 round]. But when they're out there catching shrimp 



