showing," he says. "The fishing part is good. 

 It's the bureaucracy that's running many out 

 of the business." 



ft 



jding it out 



A turning point for many Outer Banks 

 operations came in 2000 when NMFS closed 

 the spiny dogfish fishery, says Jeff Aiken, 



a Hatteras seafood dealer. Cut off from a 

 lucrative world market for this small shark — 

 the main ingredient of fish and chips — some 

 dealers shut down completely. Trucking and 

 other support services also lost out. 



"In the opinion of many, there was not 

 enough science to close the fishery," he says. 

 NMFS cited declining spiny dogfish stock in 

 its decision. 



Still, selling out is not an option, says 

 Aiken, who once operated a fleet of fishing 

 boats. "I'm riding a dinosaur, but I have little 

 choice but to ride it out. Not many people are 

 interested in buying into an industry where 

 there is zero recruitment, no young blood." 



While some in the industry are 

 determined to hang on, others are getting out 

 completely. 



"Those who leave fishing altogether 

 do so only as a last resort," says Brian 

 Cheuvront, who leads the DMF 



socioeconomic program. But the occupational 

 transition is not always easy for commercial 

 fishers, he says. 



DMF surveys reveal that some find work 

 at the military port, state ports or with the 

 ferry system. Others work on dredge boats. 

 Some convert their vessels to charter boats for 

 sportfishing. 



A^or 



re than a job 



"There is little doubt 

 that commercial fishing is at a 

 crossroad," says Pam Morris, 

 whose family ties to Davis, a 

 Carteret County community, date 

 back to the 1700s. 



Morris began advocating 

 for the commercial fishing 

 community during the 

 moratorium era and continues to 

 support NCFA efforts. 



She's often frustrated by 

 the perception that commercial 

 fishermen are "backward thinking 

 and enemies of the environment." 

 Nothing can be further from 

 the truth, says Morris, whose 

 husband Herbert operates the 

 shrimp boat Pamela Rose out of Davis. 



"The problem is that no one knows who 

 we are. We are faceless," says Morris. 



In her work as exhibit curator at the Core 

 Sound Waterfowl Museum on Harkers Island, 

 she portrays fishers as part of a broader Down 

 East culture that respects and relies on a healthy 

 environment. 



Each year Morris also helps organize the 

 North Carolina Seafood Festival to celebrate the 

 commercial fishing industry's contribution to 

 the state's economy, as well as to dinner tables 

 across the country. 



Jack Thigpen, North Carolina Sea Grant 

 extension director and coastal community 

 specialist, says the fishing community is a 

 powerful symbol of traditional values — hard- 

 working, independent people who live in close 

 harmony with nature. 



"These values," he says, "may provide the 

 political clout and power at the state and federal 



level to enact some legislation to protect U.S. 

 fisheries products from foreign imports and to 

 protect fishing villages and dock space from 

 development." 



Thigpen notes that one Sea Grant project 

 is under way to focus on the economic and 

 community changes in Hatteras Village as it 

 moves from commercial and sportfishing to 

 tourism and service economies. Along with 

 a socioeconomic study, the project will help 

 sponsor a Hatteras Island "Day at the Docks" 

 festival later this year to call attention to its 

 water-based traditions. 



But Morris knows that festivals will go 

 only so far. 



Like their Brunswick County counterparts 

 Lisa and Dave Beresoff, Pam and Herbert 

 Morris believe that fishing families must 

 explore new ideas or niche markets to stay 

 afloat in the changing global marketplace. 



Recently, the entire Morris family joined 

 a Carteret County contingency that went north 

 on a different kind of fishing expedition. They 

 visited waterfront operations in Massachusetts, 

 Connecticut, New York and Virginia to gamer 

 ideas for promoting wild-caught seafood. 



They were encouraged to see places 

 where towns designate dock space for 

 commercial fishing boats and lease nearby 

 storefronts to seafood retailers who buy the 

 catch from the boats. 



Pam Morris is working with Barry Nash, 

 North Carolina Sea Grant seafood technology 

 and marketing specialist, the Carteret County 

 Community College, the Carteret County 

 Economic Development Council and local 

 restaurant owners on a variation of that idea to 

 promote locally caught seafood. 



"Down East is all about the water. We 

 live on the water. We five off the water. That 

 combination makes us good at fishing," Morris 

 says. "Fishing is more than a job. It's a way of 

 life. It's a heritage worth saving." □ 



See Book Market, page 28, to read about 

 Fish House Opera, a book by Susan West and 

 Barbara Garrity-Blake that examines the 

 lives of commercial fishing families along a 

 changing coast. 



COASTWATCH 21 



