Willie Etheridge Jr. 



fishing's patriarch 



BY SARAH FRIDAY 



ETHKRIDKK 



OWENS 



last year Coastwatch 

 introduced you to three 

 outstanding coastal Caro- 

 linians. This year we continue 

 our tradition of honoring 

 people who have helped shape 

 the North Carolina coast. 



In Wanchese, fisherman 

 Willie Etheridge Jr. has 

 earned a legendary status as 

 a commercial fisherman and 

 charter boat captain. 



As director of the N.C. Divi- 

 sion of Coastal Management, 

 David Owens has achieved a 

 reputation as one of the most 

 progressive coastal managers 

 in the country. 



And boat dealer Kay Crocker 

 has become the unofficial 

 spokesman for the state's ma- 

 rine anglers. 



CROCKER 



It's easy to tell Willie Etheridge 

 Jr. has been fishing all his life. 



You can see it in his big, rough 

 hands and hear it in his voice as he 

 talks about his past 67 years. 



He likes to talk about then and 

 now. And the future. He mixes in a 

 little religion and a lot of philosophy 

 learned from toiling on the sea. 



He talks about 

 his family, too. How 

 generations of Eth- 

 eridges before him 

 plied the same wa- 

 ters off Wanchese. 

 And how his wife 

 and four children 

 pulled their weight 

 through the years. 



But most of all, 

 Willie Etheridge 

 Jr. likes to talk 

 about fishing. 



And for good 

 reason. 



Etheridge is one 

 of the best known 

 commercial fisher- 

 men and charter 

 boat captains on 

 the East Coast. 

 More than 50 years 

 on the water earned him a good 

 living and almost legendary status 

 in the fishing community. Even 



competitors admire him for his 

 dedication, unselfish attitude, envi- 

 ronmental bent and outspokenness. 



On land, he's built an empire that 

 includes a wholesale fish business 

 and a seafood restaurant. 



The bespectacled fisherman with 

 the fuzzy red hair is retired now, but 

 he hasn't slowed down. 



Like one of his old trawlers, he'll 

 be out on the water until he breaks 

 down for good. He takes people 

 fishing every day in the summer. 

 And he's been fighting to have 

 Oregon Inlet stabilized for years 

 now. 



Etheridge's penchant for hard 

 work and persistence go back as far 

 as his love for the water and its 

 resources. 



He likes to tell the story of the 

 time his parents thought their little 

 boy was lost or had run away, only to 

 find him sleeping in a small boat in 

 a creek beside their house. 



Except for six years in the service 

 during World War II, Etheridge 

 stayed by that creek, making Wan- 

 chese and the waters beyond it his 

 home. 



At his parents' insistence, 

 Etheridge attended school. But his 

 real education came from fishing the 

 nearby surf, rivers and sounds. 



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