Nearly four years ago, NMFS recog- 

 nized the potential for butterfish, squid, 

 shark, and some tuna and herring fish- 

 eries in the Gulf of Mexico and the 

 Southeast. 



The Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries 

 Development Foundation also began a 

 push for underutilized species, touting 

 the virtues of species such as mullet, 

 butterfish and soft-shell crab, 



Getting the message across is tough, 

 but there have been successes, says 

 Andy Kemmerer, director of NMFS's 

 Mississippi lab in Pascagoula. So far, 

 the lowly butterfish takes the prize. 



These shallow water fish, sometimes 

 called "silver dollars," held no market 

 value for U.S. fishermen in the Gulf five 

 years ago. Mostly Japanese fishermen 

 harvested them there for export. 



When large concentrations of bigger 

 fish were found further offshore, NMFS 

 and GSAFDF helped develop markets. 

 By 1986, domestic catches of butterfish 

 reached 1 million pounds per year, 

 Kemmerer says. Now figures range 

 from 5 to 10 million pounds, says Tom 

 Murray of GSAFDF. 



To duplicate success with other un- 

 derutilized species, fisheries managers 

 recommend more research on stocks 

 and improvements in production, proc- 

 essing and marketing techniques. 



But commercial fishermen say it will 

 take something else for them to aban- 

 don their traditional fisheries— proof 

 that profits can be made. 



Shrimpers won't start fishing for 

 amberjack, and crabbers won't convert 

 to crawfish unless they have a money- 

 back guarantee. 



"It's a hard thing to bend them away 

 from something they've always done," 

 admits lifetime fisherman "Pinky" Lewis 

 of Beaufort, N.C. 



For more than 40 years, he and other 

 Downeast fishermen have made a liv- 

 ing pulling in shrimp, spot, croaker, 

 flounder and other traditional species. 



When other fish land in the nets, he 

 sells them. 



"You might not get much for them," 



he says. "But for some of these odd 

 characters you can get a right good 

 price." 



In fact, Lewis began fishing for shark 

 some this year because it was a profit- 

 able daytime fishery. 



Profits don't concern Bob Emanuel 

 so much. The Raleigh lawyer is a week- 

 end fisherman who likes to catch just 

 about anything running off Core Banks 

 and Cape Lookout. 



But Emanuel and the rest of the 

 country's recreational fishermen reel in 

 one third of all the finfish harvested for 

 food in the United States. 



"Sportfishermen do have an impact 

 on the fisheries," Jim Murray says. 



That's why he and Sea Grant re- 

 searchers Jeff Johnson and David Grif- 

 fith of East Carolina University began 

 spreading the word on 16 underutilized 

 species to Southeastern anglers. 



Their study of the region's anglers 

 showed that if a fish didn't look "nor- 

 mal," it usually didn't make it to the 

 cooler. Lumps, wings, stingers, skin like 

 salamanders, spines or whiskers like 

 porcupines disqualified a fish, Murray 

 says. So did puffing up and grunting. 



But one taste of triggerfish and a bite 

 of bluefish convinced fishermen that 

 beauty was in the eye of the beholder. 



To dispel the myths and the bad rep- 

 utations, the team tapped the anglers' 



grapevine— pier and marina owners, 

 outdoor editors, tournament leaders 

 and opinion makers. And they devel- 

 oped a set of brochures and posters 

 showing how to catch, clean and cook 

 species like sea robin, mullet, pigfish 

 and ladyfish. A tournament director's 

 guide, a recipe booklet and a slide pro- 

 gram reached other audiences. 



After four years, Murray is pleased 

 with Sea Grant's efforts. A survey 

 showed more than 90 percent of the 

 people who received the materials said 

 they would keep the less popular fish 

 on their next fishing trip. 



"We won't turn a blue marlin fisher- 

 man into a skate fisherman," Murray 

 says. "But we just want to increase the 

 demand for and the use of some of the 

 underutilized species." ■ 



For more information on these Sea Grant publica- 

 tions, see The Back Page. 



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