UNC Sea Grant 



O.9. 



V 



September, 1984 



ft&rffi Carolina State UfFrarg 



Raleigh 



c. 



CO AS 1 4 WATCH 



Photo by Joel Arrington 



Photo from NCSU Agricultural Communications 



Fishermen say runoff from farm fields may be affecting their catches 



Water: 



a question 

 of use 



Like his father and grandfather 

 before him, Dell Meekins fishes 

 the waters of Pamlico Sound near 

 Engelhard. He catches mostly croaker, 

 but these days he doesn't always reach 

 the dock with a full hold. 



"Every year, there are less and less 

 fish and smaller and smaller fish," says 

 Meekins, a member of the Governor's 

 Coastal Water Management Task 

 Force. "Three or four years ago, we 

 were catching as many large croaker as 

 medium and small. But this year, I 

 haven't even seen what I'd classify as a 



large croaker." (Meekins classifies a 3- 

 pound croaker as large.) 



To make matters worse, the smaller 

 croaker bring a lower price in the 

 market. Meekins says, "One time I 

 had to quit working because they were 

 so small." 



Meekins isn't a biologist. But he 

 knows that croaker and other commer- 

 cially important species are dependent 

 on the estuaries — estuaries he says are 

 declining in quality. He thinks one of 

 the culprits may be freshwater 

 Continued on next page 



