LOGOTH ETIS SORTS BYCATCH BY SPECIES AND WEIGHS 

 EACH GROUP. Gray trout, a commercially 

 important fish, was among the study's tqp 1 □ 

 bycatch species. logothetis measures a 

 subsample of individuals from each species group. 

 Blue crabs were the most abundant bycatch 

 species recorded during the study period. 

 After being weighed and measured, these Atlantic 

 croaker will be tossed overboard. 



Although trawling is legal in inside waters, 

 it is not without restrictions. Shrimping is 

 prohibited in the state's primary nursery areas, the 

 shallow, low-salinity waters in the upper portions 

 of creeks and bays that are sources of food and 

 shelter for juvenile fish and shellfish. 



As juveniles develop, they eventually 

 move into lower portion of the creeks and 

 bays, designated as secondary nursery areas. 

 Trawling also is prohibited here. Areas adjacent 

 to secondary nurseries are classified as "special 

 secondary nursery areas." 



'They only let us shrimp there a very small 

 part of the time," says McCuiston of the special 

 secondary areas. "And when they do, they wait 

 until the shrimp are a certain size." 



Currently, DMF manages shrimp catches 

 based on count size. If 20 shrimp equal a pound, 

 then the shrimp are fairly large. If 100 shrimp 

 equal a pound, the shrimp are small, and DMF 

 will close certain areas to trawling. 



In Pender County, most of the inside 

 waters are managed as special secondary 

 nursery areas. As part of developing the Shrimp 

 Fishery Management Plan, DMF recommended 

 designating more of these areas in New Hanover 

 and Brunswick counties. 



Logothetis' findings on count size supported 

 some of DMF's long-term data on shrimp in 

 New Hanover County: mainly they're not very 

 big. 



There is not much viable habitat left along 

 the county's heavily populated, 20-mile stretch of 

 the ICW, she says. "The shrimp get washed out 

 into the Intracoastal Waterway and never really 

 become a marketable size." 



In the draft of the Shrimp Fishery 

 Management Plan presented to the Shrimp 

 Advisory Committee — a panel of various 

 interests helping to develop the plan — DMF 

 recommended trawling be prohibited in the ICW 



from Rich Inlet to Wrightsville Beach Bridge. 



That didn't cause too much protest, says 

 McCuiston, who sits on the committee. The 

 majority of shrimping in New Hanover takes 

 place further south near William's Landing, he 

 explains, in an area between Wrightsville and 

 Carolina beaches. 



In 2003, only 10 small commercial 

 shrimpers trawled in the William's Landing 

 area, generating about 6,000 pounds of shrimp, 

 according to DMF 

 records. Since 

 1994, landings 

 in the area have 

 averaged only 

 4,000 pounds. 



Logothetis 

 and McCuiston 

 discovered that 

 the bycatch to 

 shrimp ratio was 

 only 0.7 pounds of 

 bycatch for every 

 pound of shrimp at 

 William's Landing, 

 the second lowest 

 catch ratio among 

 all of their study areas. 



The DMF also recommended designating 

 part of William's Landing — from channel 

 markers 139 to 146 — as a special secondary 

 nursery area. Given the small fishing effort, the 

 Shrimp Advisory Committee supported the 

 option. 



The committee was less willing to 

 compromise for Brunswick County, however. 

 Panel members decided sporadic availability was 

 better than no availability. 



The DMF recommendation was to prohibit 

 shrimp trawling in the Eastern Channel, Shallotte 

 River and the ICW from the Sunset Beach 



Bridge to South Carolina, and near the Lower 

 Calabash River. 



Currently, the DMF only opens these 

 areas when shrimp reach harvestable size. But 

 different shrimp species develop at different 

 times. Sometimes they are ahead — or behind 

 — schedule. 



"Prior to brown shrimp reaching a 

 harvestable size, you may have smaller white 

 shrimp drop in," explains Carpenter. 



These smaller shrimp interfere with the 

 count size, and the DMF closes the area. Lengthy 

 closures of Brunswick County waters last year 

 meant Logothetis and McCuiston collected a 

 limited amount of bycatch data in that area. 



They determined about 1.5 pounds of bycatch 

 was generated per pound of shrimp, but nearly all 

 of their trawling in Brunswick took place in May, 

 the beginning of the season when shrimp are not 

 as abundant. They also trawled a handful of times 

 in late July and late August, when small or juvenile 

 fish are most abundant. 



"We don't have a complete season to look at 

 for Brunswick," says Logothetis, noting they were 



18 EARLY SUMMER 2005 



