"If I want to get information to the fisher- 

 men, I'd first want to know who are the 

 opinion leaders." — Jeff Johnson 



could expect a fisherman to follow the 

 example set by his clique. If the leader 

 of one clique adopted an innovation, 

 the others would follow. 



To test that theory, Johnson ex- 

 amined the adoption of two innova- 

 tions: a sled for shrimp trawling (see 

 page 5) and a kicker plate for clam 

 kicking. The sled replaced the heavy 

 wooden doors on the inside wings of a 

 shrimp net. The kicker plate directs 

 the prop wash from the boat down at 

 the sediments, loosening clams and 

 making them easier to net. The kicker 

 plate has increased the efficiency of 

 mechanized clamming and has allowed 

 fishermen to exploit clam beds in areas 

 not accessible with the use of 

 traditional techniques. 



Johnson found different results for 

 each innovation. Most of the fisher- 

 men adopted the sled in the first two 

 shrimping seasons. But, the kicker 

 plate showed a longer period of adop- 

 tion. 



Opinion leaders aren't the only in- 

 fluencing factors in the adoption of an 

 innovation, explains Johnson. For ex- 

 ample, a fisherman is more likely to 



adopt an innovation if he can see it in 

 operation. One fishermen told 

 Johnson, "You see somebody do 

 something and you'll try it." 



The sled is plainly visible to other 

 fishermen, particularly when the boat 

 is in the harbor. Johnson says it 

 "would have most knowledgeable 

 fishermen questioning its advantage 

 and use." 



On the other hand, the kicker plate 

 is found on the rudder below the 

 waterline. The only time a fisherman 

 would see the plate is when the boat is 

 in dry dock. Johnson says the kicker 

 plate's low visibility contributed to its 

 long adoption period. 



Fishermen can also find out about 

 innovations by listening to their VHF 

 or CB radios. The first fisherman to 

 experiment with the sled in eastern 

 North Carolina heard the captain of a 

 large shrimp boat say that it was the 

 greatest rig he had ever used. Johnson 

 says that captain played an important 

 role in the adoption of the sled in the 

 area. 



The radio is so effective in spreading 

 information that some fishermen 



either keep it turned off or talk in 

 elaborate codes that only members of 

 their clique can decipher. 



The opinion leaders have other ways 

 of learning about innovations. "People 

 who read commercial fishing 

 periodicals tend to be more experimen- 

 tal," says Johnson. 



But, he adds that education is not 

 necessarily a determinant of an opin- 

 ion leader. "For the older fishermen, a 

 seventh-grade education in their day 

 was pretty good. It's as good as a high 

 school education is today," says 

 Johnson. "But once a fishermen knows 

 how to read and write, that's all that 

 matters out on the water." 



Johnson says his study has just 

 begun to explain the flow of informa- 

 tion through a fishing community. His 

 next step would be to follow these 

 fishermen for three or four years, 

 monitoring the cliques for change and 

 observing the adoption of other in- 

 novations. 



He adds that it's time to know as 

 much about fishermen and their social 

 network as we know about farmers. 



— Nancy Davis 



Photo by Steve Murray 



At harbors such as this in Oriental, fishermen often share information with fishermen docked nearby 



