all the changes that are going on," says 

 Bill Foster, a Hatteras fisherman and a 

 member of the N.C. Marine Fisheries 

 Commission. The commission sets the 

 policies that are implemented by the 

 state's Division of Marine Fisheries. 



"It's not uncommon for fishermen 

 here to fish for 10 to 15 different 

 species," says Foster. "The biggest 

 problem I have is the volume of 

 regulations and trying to adjust the 

 fishing to them. For instance, in the 

 ocean there are different regulations 

 for bottom fishing, mackerel fishing 

 and trolling. You almost have to 

 decide what fish you're going to fish 

 for before you go into the ocean. If 

 you've got gear for one fishery, then 

 you're illegal in another. Going into 

 the ocean now, it is almost impossible 

 not to be in violation of something." 



Fishermen in North Carolina 

 harvest more than 90 marketable 

 species of fish using the largest variety 

 of gear allowed nationwide. The 

 state's inshore fishing grounds are the 

 third largest in the nation — harboring 

 2.3 million acres of estuarine waters. 



As managers try to get a tighter 

 regulatory handle on a multitude of 

 fisheries, Tar Heel watermen are 

 feeling the squeeze that neighboring 

 states have experienced for years. 



"We in North Carolina have 

 traditionally had minimal regulations, 

 but it doesn't look that way to the 

 fishermen," says Michael Orbach, a 

 Sea Grant scientist, a professor of 

 anthropology at East Carolina Univer- 

 sity and a member of the Marine 

 Fisheries Commission. "We've been 

 blessed by being out of sight, out of 

 mind for a long time." 



Recreational fishermen and 

 environmental groups, who often view 

 fisheries as underregulated with regard 

 to conservation, says Orbach, have 

 demanded and are receiving more 

 attention. 



"Clearly what's happening is all 

 the constituencies are more orga- 



nized," says Orbach. 



Except, it seems, commercial 

 fishermen. 



"I think the independent nature of 

 fishermen is such that they don't want 

 to belong to any group," says Jerry 

 Schill, executive director of the N.C. 

 Fisheries Association. 



Lack of common ground is another 

 possible cause of disunity. A shrimper 

 and a snapper/grouper fisherman have 

 interests as divergent as a tobacco 

 farmer and a peach grower, says Jim 



Murray, UNC Sea Grant's Marine 

 Advisory Service director. And even 

 within a given fishery, says Schill, 

 there are factions, such as clammers 

 who harvest with machinery — "clam 

 kicking" — vs. those who extract the 

 bivalves with hand-held rakes. 



Compounding this lack of organi- 

 zation is a Grand Canyon-sized rift of 

 communication between the commer- 

 cial fishing community and the 

 agencies that regulate it. Both sides are 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 3 



