Mae says. "They've always admired me 

 because I was able to do the things I did. 

 Besides, I hold my own doing any job. I 

 don't take anything off anyone." 



Marcus Hepburn, an East Carolina 

 University sociologist, says social 

 barriers may keep many women from 

 becoming fishermen. Many fishing com- 

 munities have restricted women to 

 clamming, oystering and scalloping. 

 But things are changing. Larger fishing 

 vessels are more mechanized, taking 

 much of the heavy work out of fishing. 

 And some boats are equipped with 

 separate facilities for women. 



Debi Daniels, a Wanchese native who 

 makes occasional offshore trips as a crew 

 member for her brother, Steve Daniels, 

 says the social barriers still exist. "It's 

 all right for me to go fishing with my 

 brother," she says. "But if I were to go 

 out on another boat, people around here 

 would talk. They think it's not a 

 woman's place to be out there on the 

 water with a group of men for a week or 

 more at a time." 



Yellow-tailing off the George Banks 

 constitutes hard work, 2 2 -year-old Debi 

 says. She cooked, worked on deck, and 

 operated the hydraulic net. She was paid 

 the same wage as her male counterparts 

 and a little more for cooking. 



"I wouldn't recommend fishing for 

 everybody," she says. "I went four days 

 without a bath. There were a lot of times 

 when I had to be on deck to cull fish 

 for hours at a time. There wasn't much 

 time for sleeping. I'd go back again 

 though. It's fast money and I love to 

 be on the water." 



—Kathy Hart 



Photo by Neil Caudle 



Debi Daniels and Melodye Cannady 



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