Bycatch Stirs Controversy 



BY KATHY HART 



Fishermen call it trash fish; fisheries resource 

 managers, bycatch. But environmentalists and sport 

 fishermen say it's robbery. 



Whatever the name, the incidental catch that com- 

 mercial fishermen net along with their intended catch 

 looms as the issue of the 90s. 



Fishermen are right. Sometimes the 

 bycatch is a trashy mixture of jellyfish, 

 hog chokers, tongue fish, spider crabs, 

 sponges and urchins— sea creatures 

 only favored as fare by sea gulls. 



But more often than not, mixed in 

 among unwanteds are juvenile and adult 

 spot, croaker, mackerel, flounder, trout 

 and blue crabs. These youngsters 

 represent the potential catch of 

 tomorrow. 



And try as they might, commercial 

 fishermen cannot cull their catch fast 

 enough to return many, if any, of these 

 desirables to the water alive. 



It is the death of these juvenile finfish 

 and shellfish that has sport fishermen 

 and environmentalists calling commer- 

 cial fishermen to task. 



"We haven't taken a vote on it as a 

 club, but most members are upset by 

 the amount of bycatch," says Bo Nowell, 

 president of the Raleigh Saltwater 

 Sportfishing Club. 



"It's an emotional issue," he says. 

 "It's like seeing a recreational fisher- 

 man fill up his boat or cooler with 

 more fish than his family can possibly 

 eat or toss his catch on the beach to 

 die. That's obscene. 



"Recreational fishermen feel the 

 same way when they see pictures with 

 pounds of bycatch dead. They start to 

 count how many pounds of bycatch 

 there are by how many fishermen there 

 are fishing on a daily basis. They get 

 pretty upset," Nowell says. 



But Nowell hastens to add that com- 

 mercial fishermen and their bycatch 

 aren't entirely to blame for recent 

 declines in fish stocks. He realizes that 

 factors such as water quality, habitat 

 and Mother Nature play roles in the 

 number of fish that swim our waters. 



"We're not running around with 

 spears trying to put trawlers out of 

 business," Nowell says. 



But nonetheless, Tar Heel commer- 



cial fishermen feel that sport anglers, 

 environmentalists and the federal 

 government are making a mountain 

 out of a mole hill of bycatch. 



"People simply have a misconcep- 

 tion about bycatch," says Clinton Willis, 

 a shrimper and president of the 

 Carteret County Waterman's Associa- 

 tion. "We just don't catch as much 

 bycatch as they think. We don't see 

 any problem. 



"Besides, any bycatch goes back to 

 the green box (the sound) to feed the 

 crabs and bottom-feeding fish," he 

 says. "It's being utilized." 



Jerry Schill, executive director of the 

 N.C. Fisheries Association, agrees. 

 Some of the bycatch, he says, is kept 

 as "legal food fish or bait fish for 

 recreational and commercial fishing." 



Willis says he sees no evidence of 

 bycatch affecting finfish populations. 



The summers of plentiful shrimp and 

 heavy shrimping are always followed 

 by heavy finfish catches in the fall, he 

 claims. If bycatch were reducing finfish 



Shrimp boats docked at St. Simons Island, Ga. 



Photo by C.R. Edgerton 



