Shellfisherman Raymond Graham. 



leased land on the bottom of New- 

 port River. Once a year, he pays $5 to 

 the state for each acre. Some of the 

 leases came from his grandfather. 

 Others he got from friends. 



Riding along in his 18-foot skiff, 

 Graham points out his plots. Each 

 one is marked with corner stakes 

 and signs with his name and lease 

 number. Some 40,000 similar plots 

 exist in North Carolina. 



Out in Newport River, oystermen 

 pick and tong for their spoils. Dredg- 

 ing, or harvesting with mechanical 

 rakes from boats, isn't legal there. 



"We've always caught them by 

 hand," Graham says. "It's the only 

 reason this river's survived. . . .We've 

 always had clams and oysters.' ' 



To pick oysters, fishermen wait un- 

 til low tide then wade on shoreline 

 or sandbar-type shellfish beds. With 

 a bucket and a pair of gloves, they 

 pick out oysters to take back. 



Around Mill Creek, though, most 

 people tong, Graham says. 



The boat slows as Graham reaches 

 his destination in the middle of the 

 river.' Nine other fishermen, some 

 with a partner or two, are already at 

 work. 



Graham grabs his hand-made 

 tongs. He works the six-foot shafts in 

 his hands like a giant pair of scissors 

 and rakes the basket across the river 

 floor. 



In a minute or two, he pulls a 

 basket full of oyster shells from the 

 icy water and throws the live ones on 

 a large culling board stretched across 

 his boat. 



A woman in a nearby boat sits by 

 her culling board as her husband 

 draws the oysters from the water. 

 With a flat iron bar, she knocks 

 pieces of shell from dead oysters off 

 the good oysters. 



Restaurants and oyster bars require 

 oysters to be clean and single for 

 serving on the half shell. 



Cleaned oysters go in a bucket. 

 Discarded shells fall back in the 



Photo by Nancy Davis 



water as substrate for future oyster 

 crops. 



"If you throw them away with 

 dead shells on them, you wouldn't 

 be able to work," says the woman. 



In minutes, Graham putters to 

 another spot near an exposed rock 

 covered with shells. 



David Oglesby has been working 

 the section since about 7 a.m. It's 

 nearing noon now, and he has 

 almost two bushels of oysters. 



"That's about right for this time of 

 year," he says. 



Business could be better. But like 

 Graham, the 70-some-year-old 

 Oglesby fishes most every day. 



He likes being on his own, making 

 a living from the water. 



Besides, he says, "This is what 

 I've done all my life." 



As the water shimmers and the 

 wind breezes by on the ride back to 

 shore, anyone could see why. 



Oyster Culture 

 Workshop. 



Year-round markets for oysters 

 have placed the savory shellfish in 

 high demand. To meet that de- 

 mand, and to aid in producing a 

 surer crop, some fishermen culti- 

 vate their own oysters on leased 

 bottomland. 



North Carolina fishermen can 

 learn more about oyster culture at 

 an all-day conference at Duke 

 Marine Lab on Feb. 25 from 8:30 

 a.m. to 6 p.m. Noted speakers 

 from across the East Coast will 

 give fishermen state-of-the-art 

 findings and information to get 

 them started. 



The conference will cover 



hatchery and nursery techniques, 

 stock selection and grow-out, 

 diseases, predators, water quality, 

 and financial and legal considera- 

 tions for oyster culture. 



Sponsors for the workshop in- 

 clude Sea Grant, the N.C. Division 

 of Marine Fisheries, the N.C. Fish- 

 eries Association, the UNC Insti- 

 tute of Marine Sciences and Duke 

 Marine Lab. 



For more information, write Bob 

 Hines at Sea Grant, RO. Box 896, 

 N.C. Aquarium/Pine Knoll Shores, 

 Atlantic Beach, N.C. 28512. Or 

 call him at 919/247-4007. 



