Illustration by Duane Raver 



BORN AT SEA, 

 THE CATADRAMOUS EEL 

 DRIFTS TOWARD LAND AS 

 LARVAE ON OCEAN CURRENTS. 

 IT SPENDS MOST OF ITS LIFE 

 IN FRESHWATER, 

 REACHING MATURITY 

 IN SEVEN TO 30 YEARS. 

 THE ADULT EEL RETURNS 

 TO THE MOTHER WATERS 

 OFTHE SARGASSO, 

 SPAWNS AND DIES. 



The Enigmatic Eel: 



A 



LONG 



WAY 



FROM 



HOME 



By Pant Smith * Photographs by Michael H almin ski 



t's a spectacular day to travel out east — 

 past freshly plowed fields, white country 

 churches, and houses framed with bright 

 daffodils. 



Straight ahead lies Belhaven, a quaint 

 village on the Pungo River and the Intracoastal 

 Waterway. The best view of its picturesque 

 waterfront — with piers and boat ramps set 

 against moss-covered live oak trees — is from 

 across the river, south on N.C. 99. 



Only a few sailboats skim along the 

 Pungo, shimmering silver in the morning sun. 

 The air is crystal clear. Cool. Not quite spring. 

 It'll be a few weeks before the river commu- 

 nity is re-energized by crabbing and fishing 

 activities. 



Down the road at Belhaven Crab & Eel 

 Pots & Supplies, Inc., E.T. and Katie Sawyer 

 anticipate the surge of business the changing 

 season brings. 



Stacked against the building's red brick 

 facade, cylindrical black eel pots and boxy 

 crimson crab pots are a study of colors and 

 shapes. And inside, in spite of their relaxed 

 manner, the proprietors are bracing for 

 commerce. 



The retail portion of the building is lined 

 with row after row of equipment essential to 

 landing, storing, transporting and preparing 

 the catch — no matter the type, size or 

 quantity. 



Color explodes from well-stocked bins. 

 Bright orange and hot-pink buoys. Nets, nets, 

 and more nets — you name the mesh size and 

 color. Yellow rain gear and assorted neon- 

 colored gloves. And boots. White, blue, green 

 and black boots — in tall, medium and short 

 — for crabbers, fishers or processors. 



E.T. weighs three pounds of pig rings — 



also known as cull or escape rings — for a 

 customer planning to repair his crab pots for 

 the coming season. 



Their son, Lloyd, is on the phone giving 

 directions to a lost delivery driver, whose rig 

 is filled with rolls of wire mesh for crab and 

 eel pots. 



Last season, even when many crabbers 

 reported poor landings, the Sawyers used 

 about 2,000 rolls, each with 100 feet of wire 

 mesh, to build thousands of crab pots. 



The blue crab is the traditional "cash 

 crop" for many families on the Pamlico- 

 Pungo peninsula — stretching from 

 Washington on the Tar-Pamlico River to the 

 Hyde County bridge on the Pungo. 



"There's less call for eel pots," E.T. 

 says. "Crabbers may put out an eel pot or 

 two with their crab pots. Mostly, they eel 

 when the crabs are not running." 



STOCKING UP 



These days, with reports of declining 

 American eel stocks, few commercial fishers 

 bother to put out any eel pots at all. Still, the 

 Sawyers maintain an inventory of eel pots 

 and supplies for those who want to give it a 

 try. 



From the workroom side of the 

 building, radio music plays counterpoint to a 

 steady swoosh-grind-chomp sound. An 

 employee is using what resembles an 

 oversized paper cutter to snip measured 

 sections of wire mesh to demonstrate eel-pot 

 construction. 



To form the cylindrical shape, he rolls 

 the largest rectangle of dark green half-inch 

 mesh around a gallon paint can. 



"High tech," E.T. says with a laugh. 



12 



SUMMER 2001 



