Photo by Drew Wilson 



Etheridge 



continued 



In the early 1920s, fishermen 

 stalked species such as shad, herring 

 and flounder, using nets and 15- to 

 2-foot rowboats or sailboats. Shrimp 

 were not caught or eaten at the time. 

 Summer meant catching spot, croak- 

 er and trout, and throwing out 

 baited line for unsuspecting crabs. 



Etheridge remembers the days 

 before ice, when fishermen salted 

 the fish, packed it in barrels and 

 shipped it by boat to Elizabeth City. 



There, they traded their catch for 

 sugar, flour and other goods unavail- 

 able in Wanchese. 



Ice and trucking came to Wan- 

 chese about the same time as the 

 bridge from Manteo— the late 1920s. 



The young Etheridge worked the 

 coast with his dad, then. Together, 

 they watched as the commercial 

 fishing industry began to change. 

 Sales improved, and more people 

 were eating fish. 



Fishermen quickly correlated 

 fresh fish and profits and worked 

 harder to meet the rising demand. 



"The fresher the fish, the better 

 it is," Etheridge says. "We have 

 learned quality means a lot." 



Because of the coast's resources, 

 Etheridge says people in Wanchese 

 didn't know much about the Depres- 

 sion. "We always had something to 

 eat." 



In 1937, with the help of President 

 Franklin Roosevelt, Manteo got 

 "the show." The outdoor drama, 

 "The Lost Colony," put the region on 

 the map. 



"This place has really been grow- 

 ing since that day," Etheridge 

 says. "In all this, the tourism grew 

 just the same as our fishing 

 improved." 



The influx of vacationers gave rise 

 to the Outer Banks' charter boat in- 

 dustry. After the war, Etheridge 

 bought a boat and became a captain 

 in 1946. He guided people to dol- 

 phin, amberjack, tuna and more for 

 17 years. 



Summer chartering gave him the 

 opportunity to throw out an occa- 

 sional line. He even set records such 

 as catching the first marlin off the 

 North Carolina coast. 



Docking his charter boat didn't 

 mean slamming the brakes on 

 Etheridge's fishing career; he just 

 changed gears. 



In 1963, he bought a trawler and 

 fished commercially for 20 years for 

 such species as lobster, flounder and 

 shrimp from Massachusetts to 

 Florida. 



"I did right good in it," Etheridge 

 admits. "I rasied a family and in a 

 few years I started a business . . . 

 a wholesale fish busines." 



Fourteen years later, Willie R. 

 Etheridge Seafood Co., Inc. thrives. 

 His son operates the company, and 

 his grandson, Willie Etheridge IV, 

 helps out when he's home from 

 college. 



Oh, and there's a new Etheridge 

 Seafood Restaurant down by the 

 beach. 



To Etheridge, success often meant 

 change. He always shared his 

 knowledge, and later in his career— 

 his money. 



Bobby Owens, chairman of the 

 Dare County Board of Commis- 

 sioners, attests to that. 



"I would say his biggest contribu- 

 tion has been that he has 

 perpetuated the seafood industry 

 in Dare County," Owens says. "He 

 is very astute, very knowledgeable 

 of the sea. He makes a science out 

 of the sea. He can almost smell the 

 fish." 



Willie III remembers his dad con- 

 stantly trying new gear and fishing 

 techniques, then sharing what he 

 learned with other fishermen. 



"Down through the years we've 

 experimented and learned a lot," 

 the elder Etheridge says. "We've 

 improved our nets . . . We have 

 learned electronics paid." 



Before, fishermen concentrated 

 on quantity— the more the better. 

 But Etheridge taught them that 

 fishing for species in high demand 

 could bring them more money at 

 the docks. 



Etheridge also told others where 

 to find the fish. And he often left 



