PEOPLE & 



PLACES 



Left to Right: Jerry? Schill ends hisl 8-year tenure at the helm of the NCFA this summer. • Billy Carl Tillett will miss the feisty NCFA spokesman. • Denny Hooks of Carolina* 



In late summer, Jerry Schill will end his 

 18-year stint as president of the North Carolina 

 Fisheries Association (NCFA) — the trade 

 organization that has represented the state's 

 commercial fishing interests since 1952. 



He and his wife, Pam, will retire to a 

 100-acre dairy farm in Pennsylvania — but not 

 before electricity, plumbing and bathrooms and 

 a modem kitchen are installed in the nine- 

 bedroom, Amish-built farmhouse. 



They plan to transform the house into 

 the Joshua Christian Family Center, a place 

 where families can retreat from the quick urban 

 pace to find solace in its bucolic setting. Schill 

 explains that the name is derived from a line in 

 the Book of Joshua that reads: 'As for me and 

 my house, we will serve the Lord." 



If guests are not interested in milking 

 cows, planting or harvesting, they can work 

 with the Belgian draft horses or explore the 

 farm's rippling streams and 45 woodland acres. 



"This is a place for people to get in touch 

 with their spirituality and our country's agrarian 

 roots," Schill says. 



The forthcoming move means the 

 Schills will reconnect with their own roots 

 in Pennsylvania, where Schill grew up on a 

 dairy farm and married Pam, his high school 

 sweetheart. After a four-year stint in the 

 U.S. Air Force, he became a professional 

 photographer. 



In the 1980s, the family moved to 

 North Carolina when Schill became a sales 

 representative for an agribusiness covering 



Pamlico and Carteret counties. It would 

 be Schill's first introduction to the state's 

 commercial fishing community. 



"I got the political bug in 1986," says 

 Schill, recalling his unsuccessful bid for the 

 North Carolina House of Representatives. 

 "I was beaten, but I didn't do too badly for a 

 Yankee Catholic Republican." 



The campaign got him noticed by the 

 NCFA, which at the time was looking for 

 someone to be a spokesperson for a faltering 

 industry. Still, he recalls many of his new 

 constituents had no problem letting him know 

 straight away that they had not voted for him. 



Through the years, he would forge a 

 relationship based on mutual trust and respect. 



PUBLIC AWARENESS 



Schill learned early on that the industry 

 could benefit from more public exposure that, 

 in turn, would foster an appreciation for the 

 folks who deliver safe seafood to the market. It 

 begins with education, he says. 



For several years, Schill has participated 

 in the Provider Pals, a program that brings 

 fishers, farmers, miners and foresters into 

 urban schools to show youngsters about the 

 people who provide food and other essential 

 goods. 



He recalls a Provider Pal trip to 

 Washington, D.C. with Billy Carl Tillett, NCFA 

 board chair. They helped students put on fishing 

 slickers and the iconic Hatteras boots. Students 

 handled fishing gear, including nets. 



"Fishing is so removed from the public 

 eye. This is one thing the industry can do to 

 help folks connect with the source," he says. 



The industry also can use more political 

 clout, Schill observes. Commercial fishing is 

 facing a "death by a thousand cuts," he says. 

 Watermen are caught in a tug-of-war between 

 regulations and global competition on the one 

 side and user conflicts on the other. 



Schill is not one to mince words. He has 

 been vocal in reminding policymakers that the 

 federal Magnuson-Stevens Act of 1976 and 

 the state's Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 have 

 dual purposes: to preserve fishery stocks and 

 the folks whose livelihood depend on fishing. 



He fears that apathy will contribute to 

 the collapse of the state's commercial fishing 

 industry. Schill challenges commercial fishers 

 to step up and show unity at what he sees as a 

 critical time. 



Supporting NCFA is one way for their 

 voice to be heard by policymakers, Schill 

 says. Membership rolls, which include fishers 

 and dealers, have ebbed and flowed in the 

 organization's 52 years. At one time, the 

 rolls boasted 1,500 members. Now, there are 

 750 dues-paying members. 



In an NCFA Tradewinds publication 

 editorial, Schill wrote: 



Part of my job is to give advice. And, 

 while I sincerely believe that many of our 

 problems are the result of an ovenealous 

 bureaucracy, I also know that the attitudes of 

 our own people are the cause of much of our 



28 EARLY SUMMER 2005 



