of commercial 

 fishing during the 

 moratorium era. 



"And, it's not 

 about a single big 

 issue. But cumulative 

 impacts are eroding 

 the infrastructure 

 of the commercial 

 fishing industry," 

 Garrity-Blake 

 observes. 



Onecasein _ ' "-. 



point: the blue crab ' ' • 



fishery. A steady . 

 decline in crab ~ 

 harvests since the late : 1 f;^ 



1990s — blamed in " M- | 

 part on the flushing -, 

 effects of major 

 hurricanes — shut 

 down many crab-processing plants. 



Of the 42 plants, each operating with 

 up to 100 employees in 1995, 12 remain with 

 a combined labor force of about 100, says 

 Johnson. The commission chair managed the 

 family-owned Washington Crab Company until 

 its sale in 2000. 



Ironically, he says, there will be too few 

 processing plants left to handle a comeback of 

 the important "cash crop." 



Outside forces also are compounding the 



issue. 



"Alarms went off when imports began 

 overtaking domestic crabmeat markets — then, 

 shrimp," Garrity-Blake recalls. "Now, rising 

 waterfront property values are either taxing 

 working waterfronts out of the game, or 

 enticing owners to sell." 



Traditional commercial fishing 

 communities that once dotted the coastline 

 from Currituck to Brunswick counties are 

 being squeezed off the waterfront by heavy 

 development and tourism. 



According to DMF data, mainland 

 Hyde County is one of the few counties 

 to have relatively untouched commercial 

 fishing communities. Dare County, except 

 for Wanchese, is heavily developed. Carteret 



CLOCKWISE 

 FROM ABOVE: 

 Idle fishing boats 

 line the docks at 

 Hatteras Island. • 

 Herbert and Pam 

 Morris come from a 

 long line of Carteret 

 County fishing 

 families. • Danny 

 Hooks, who fishes 

 out of Carolina 

 Beach, is concerned 

 about the 

 disappearance of 

 working waterfronts. 



County is feeling increasing pressure from 

 tourism. And, commercial fishing has all but 

 disappeared in New Hanover County. 



Danny Hooks is among the disappearing 

 breed of commercial fishers in New Hanover 

 County, where access to a working waterfront is 

 a growing concern. 



Hooks moors his Reel Job II at a slip 

 below the Blackburn Brothers Fish House in 

 the Carolina Beach Yacht Basin. He fears that 

 it's just a matter of time before some well- 



heeled developer will make an offer for prime 

 waterfront property the fish dealer can't refuse. 



For now, Hooks enjoys "one stop 

 shopping" — a place to dock at a reasonable 

 rate and to sell fish and buy fuel, ice and bait. 



In spite of the uncertainty, Hooks is 

 determined to stick it out in commercial fishing 

 He's been able to hang on to commercial 

 permits that give him seasonal flexibility. 



"You can't fish just a single species and 

 make a living. You've got to go with what's 



20 HIGH SEASON 2005 



