South Carolina's fishery 

 management plans. 



"State management agen- 

 cies take care of their own," 

 Johnson says. "They hardly 

 know anything about transient 

 fishermen, and they don't 

 know how their decisions af- 

 fect fishermen in other states." 



For now, Tar Heel shrimpers 

 buy a South Carolina com- 

 mercial fishing license and 

 adhere to Sandlapper regula- 

 tions just as native fishermen 

 do. 



All in all, Johnson was im- 

 pressed by the ingenuity and 

 mobility of North Carolina's 

 small-boat fishermen. 



"Sure I'd seen the big boats 

 on the West Coast travel hun- 

 dreds of miles to participate in 

 a fishery," Johnson says. "But 

 when you see a fisherman 

 take a 26-foot boat 200 to 300 

 miles to catch shrimp, that's 

 surprising." 



Danny Rasch signed on for 

 the long trips of Wanchese's 

 big boats as they ply northern 

 waters for flounder and sea 

 scallops. 



The 80- to 120-foot Wan- 

 chese boats usually follow the 

 herds of flounder along the 

 New England coast from 

 March until late fall. But if the 

 sea scallop harvest is 

 favorable, the captains re-rig 

 for the mollusks during the 

 summer. 



The trips offshore usually 

 last from nine to 12 days for 

 flounder, 11 days for scallops. 

 And most boats have a five- 

 man crew and captain. 



Rasch says the captains 

 establish a rotation system for 

 the crew. Each week one crew 

 member flies home while the 



others stay behind to work. 



The captain works trip after 

 trip "until he can't stand it 

 anymore," Rasch says. "Then 

 everybody takes a week off." 



Rasch says the work, 

 especially aboard the flounder 

 boats, is grueling. From the 

 first haul of flounder until the 

 last, the crew works two hours, 

 then rests two hours. On the 

 scallop boats, the crew works 

 six-hour shifts. 



If the catch is poor during a 

 trip, the captain and crew may 

 spend a few extra days at sea 

 netting "shack" fish— 

 nontargeted species such as 

 lobster, mudfish and monkfish. 

 Rasch says that bringing in a 

 good haul of shack fish can 

 mean an extra $200 to $500 

 per crew member. 



If you think these Tar Heel 

 fishermen are a tough lot, you 

 should meet their wives, 

 Rasch says. "I have real 

 respect for the wives of these 

 fishermen. 



"They can never plan 

 anything," he says. "They 

 never know how long their 

 husbands will be away or how 

 much money the men will 

 make." 



That's why Rasch says that 

 it is important for the women 

 to have multiple sources of 

 funding— parents, other 

 relatives or friends. 



Besides financial worries, 

 the women must also endure 

 the loneliness of being away 

 from their husbands. That's 

 where the support of a com- 

 munity as tight-knit as Wan- 

 chese comes into play, Rasch 

 says. 



When North Carolina fisher- 

 men finally slide into New 

 Bedford's harbor, they dock at 

 the same pier. 



The New Bedford docking 

 system is segregated, Rasch 

 learned. Portuguese fisher- 

 men claim one pier; New Bed- 

 ford natives, another. And the 

 third pier is strictly for North 

 Carolinians. 



Off the boats, the North 

 Carolina fishermen stay to 

 themselves, Rasch says. They 

 don't interact with New 

 Englanders unless it's a matter 

 of business. 



New Bedford businessmen 

 like the Tar Heel fishermen. 



"They tell me the Southerners 

 are more gentle, don't fight as 

 much and are prompt in pay- 

 ing their bills," Rasch says. 



But New Bedford fisher- 

 men, native or Portuguese, 

 have different opinions. They 

 consider their southern 

 counterparts "red-neck scum" 

 who take their jobs and steal 

 their fish, Rasch says. 



But they shouldn't speak too 

 loudly if they want to sell their 

 catch. North Carolinian Kenny 

 Daniels of the Wanchese Fish 

 Co. buys all the flounder 

 unloaded at the New Bedford 

 docks. 



New England fishermen 

 aren't the only ones who don't 

 give North Carolinians much 

 respect. The New England 

 Fishery Management Council 

 ignores Tar Heel flounder 



Fishermen take small boats 

 like these south to shrimp 



