3St year, sights of 

 shermen raking 

 ysters were com- 

 lon; this year they 

 we nonexistent 



Contaminated oyster 

 beds were left un- 

 touched, only to 

 paint a pretty picture 



he saturation plus less demand for 

 finfish forced prices down, Austin says. 

 Where he once got 50 cents a pound 

 for croaker, now he gets 22 cents. 



ommercial fishermen in Florida, 

 Connecticut and Texas faced a similar 

 scene last year. 



n Calhoun County, Texas, more than 

 2,500 shellfishermen lost $100,000 a 

 day during a red tide outbreak. It 

 washed over the bays in September 

 1986 and kept the oyster season closed 

 until November, says Joe Surovik, a 

 marine agent with the Texas Agri- 

 cultural Extension Service. 



esearchers found the toxin residual 

 in oysters, so the state closed the 1987 

 season, too. 



he outbreak not only hurt commer- 

 cial fishermen, it affected tourism and 

 ruined the county's recreational 

 fishing industry, Surovik says. 



elief came slowly, mostly from state 

 and local organizations willing to fry a 

 fish, flip a bingo chip or hand out food 

 donations. 



etting help for North Carolina's 

 fishermen and seafood businesses took 

 time, too. 



n November, the federal Small 

 Business Administration denied a plea 

 for low-interest loans on grounds that 

 red tide did not classify as a natural 

 disaster. Congress rescinded red tide as 

 such a disaster by an act in 1981. 



ut North Carolina's congressional 

 delegation was not daunted. In late 

 December they passed a bill declaring 

 the red tide infestation a disaster in 



North Carolina, making the loans 



available after all. 



Photo by Scott Taylor 



ack home, the state allowed com- 

 mercial shellfishermen to relay oysters 

 and clams from polluted areas to 

 cleaner waters for $1 a bushel. 

 Fishermen could harvest and replant 

 up to 500 bushels per week. 



oney for house or boat payments 

 was also made available through the 

 state's Community Service Block Grant 

 program. 



nd the deadline to purchase 1988 

 commercial fishing licenses was moved 

 from February 1 to March 31. 



und raising took a different turn in 

 Raleigh where a contingent of Florida 

 fishermen and seafood dealers held a 

 fish fry December 19 to benefit their 

 northern neighbors. With the help of 

 the N.C. Fisheries Association, they 

 cooked 5,000 pounds of grouper, 

 mullet and black drum fillets and 

 reeled in $10,000 for the state's 

 needy fishermen. 



n the coastal counties, employers or 

 employees who pay unemployment in- 

 surance can file for aid. But most 

 fishermen do not qualify. 



ocial services can help with food 

 stamps and utilities. 



lthough counts of participants are 

 up, especially in Carteret County 

 where one third of the state's commer- 

 cial fishermen work, most families 

 have not applied. 



i i ou're dealing with some very 

 proud people, some very independent 

 people,' ' says Dennis Moffett of the 

 N.C. Division of Emergency Manage- 

 ment. Asking for help isn't part of 

 their nature. 



Signs closing waters to shellfishing were 

 posted along 200 miles of the Tar Heel 

 coast 



hat's why Neal Lewis and friends 

 decided to provide some aid. 



ewis, executive director of the 

 Carteret County Chamber of Com- 

 merce, helped organize an effort to 

 distribute Thanksgiving turkeys. The 

 success of "Love Tide" spurred the 

 community to plan more events for 

 Christmas and the rough months to 

 come. 



o matter how tough it gets, most of 

 North Carolina's fishermen try to stay 

 on the water, says Clinton Willis, a 

 Smyrna fisherman and president of the 

 Carteret County Waterman's 

 Association. 



hey help each other. They fish 

 regardless of the money. 



or one thing, Willis says, four 

 generations of Willises have fished 

 before him. 



lus, "It's just like the circus," he 

 says. "You go there and it's hard to 

 get the sawdust out of your nose.' ' 

 With fishing, "I can't get the salt out 

 of my blood.' ' 



