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November/December, 1982 



COAST < WATCH 



Photo by N. C. Division of Marine Fisheries 



This month, Coastwatch looks at 

 the changing role of women in 

 commercial fishing. The tra- 

 ditional: partners in net-mend- 

 ing (top). And the new: Margaret 

 Hopkins at the helm (left); Carol 

 Teague stacking her crab pots 

 (above). 



Carol: spell it 

 'Fisherman' 



The scene is a Dare County court- 

 room, and the lawyers are selecting a 

 jury. One of the prospective jurors is a 

 tall, blonde young woman who looks as 

 though she might have acquired her tan 

 on the tennis court. 



The lawyer asks her name, address 

 and occupation. Her answer raises a tit- 

 ter in the courtroom. 



"My name is Carol Teague, ' ' she says. 

 "I'm from Hatteras. I'm a commercial 

 fisherman." 



After some ado, the answer held up 

 that day in court. But more important- 

 ly to Carol Teague, her claim to the title 

 "commercial fisherman" holds up in 

 Hatteras, where fishing ranks 

 somewhere between love and death as a 

 matter of consequence. 



"I am a fisherman," she says, "and I 

 mean fisherman. I'm not a fisherper- 

 son or a f isherette or any of those strange 

 words. The word says what I do. I fish. 

 The word has been around a long time, 

 and it deserves respect." 



She arrived in Hatteras eleven years 

 ago, fresh out of Old Dominion Univer- 

 sity, with a friend who wanted to give 

 island life a try. The friend didn't stick; 

 Carol did. She liked the place, even 

 though she did begin to tire of the ques- 

 tions she heard when she traveled off the 

 island — questions such as, "What's a 

 pretty girl like you doing stuck way off 

 in a place like Hatteras?" 



Her answer: "I love Hatteras. It's 

 home. Everybody's got to have a home. 

 Right?" 



Hatteras was home for four years 

 before Teague fell under the spell of 



Continued on next page 



