problem. You need a hammer, but 

 you are using a screwdriver. You 

 have got to pick out what your 

 problem is and use the right tool. 

 You are not going to fix everything 

 with a screwdriver. 



"Our approach is to say, 'Let's 

 look at the whole tool kit and let 

 fishermen help us choose the right 

 tool,'" he says. 



Orbach says his project will 

 provide resource managers with 

 plenty of information to think about 

 but not any ready-made answers. 



"If you're a public policymaker, 

 you still will have to make value 

 decisions once you have our data," 

 he says. "But biological data doesn't 

 tell you the answers either." 



Commercial fishermen and 

 recreational anglers are like siblings. 

 Sometimes they get along; some- 

 times they don't. 



But as stocks of many popular 

 fish have declined in recent years, 

 the bickering between the two 

 groups has increased as they com- 

 pete for fish, fishing grounds and the 

 right to catch certain species. 



In North Carolina, the strife has 

 come over striped bass, redfish, 

 flounder and speckled trout. 



And the arguments usually go 

 something like this. 



Recreational anglers claim that 

 the commercial fishermen are 

 greedy, catching more than their fair 

 share of the resource and leaving 

 nothing behind for the sportsmen to 

 catch. And, the anglers claim that 

 their weekend fishing fun feeds 

 millions of dollars into the coastal 

 economy, giving them the right to a 

 ready supply of fish. 



Commercial fishermen say it's 

 just the opposite. It's the recreational 

 fishermen who are greedy. After all, 

 they say, watermen are trying to 

 make a living from fishing, and they 

 provide the only avenue for wild fish 



to reach a public hungry for this high 

 quality protein. 



The mediators for the two groups 

 have been management groups such 

 as the N.C. Marine Fisheries Com- 

 mission and the South Atlantic 

 Fishery Management Council. So 

 far, they have arbitrated most of the 

 disputes, with both groups making 

 concessions. 



But what about the future? Will 

 there be more competition? Will the 

 friction between the two groups 

 become more heated as it has in 

 other states? 



Sea Grant anthropologists David 

 Griffith and Jeff Johnson plan to find 

 some answers during a two-year 



project that delves into the midst of 

 the fray between recreational and 

 commercial fishermen. 



First, the ECU duo completed a 

 10-year history of conflict between 

 the two groups. Now, they are 

 focusing on four specific conflicts — 

 trawling and habitat destruction, king 

 mackerel, redfish and flounder. 



"The purpose of the study," says 

 Griffith, "is to figure out the cause of 

 the conflict, the differences between 

 perceived conflict and real conflict, 



actual incidences of conflict and any 

 possible solutions." 



To find the answers, Griffith and 

 Johnson are interviewing recreational 

 anglers, commercial fishermen, 

 resource managers and the agents 

 from Sea Grant's Marine Advisory 

 Service who specialize in fisheries. 



Griffith says he and Johnson will 

 also study how disagreements 

 between the recreational and com- 

 mercial fishermen become politicized 

 and how other groups such as 

 environmentalists sometimes become 

 involved in conflicts. The team will 

 also determine if class, kinship and 

 friends affect the formation of 

 alliances during hostilities. 



Jim Easley 



After compiling the results of its 

 interviews, the team will use a 

 complex sociological modeling tool 

 to see if there is a consensus among 

 the squabbling fishermen about the 

 conflicts and their possible resolu- 

 tions. 



Griffith says the team's findings 

 should be helpful for resource 

 managers in three ways. 



One, it will identify whether 

 conflicts are real or perceived. If 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 13 



