Standing 



by 

 Their 

 Men 



By Julie Ann Powers 



Those who depend on the sounds 

 and the seas for a living are encounter- 

 ing more unpredictable currents, 

 treacherous waves and unfathomable 

 depths. 



But it's neither water nor weather 

 that has left them so uncertain over 

 their day's catch or their families' 

 future. It's the widening world of 

 fisheries regulation. 



As North Carolina watermen 

 contend with unprecedented govern- 

 ment intervention, a new leadership has 

 emerged in the quiet fishing villages 

 that hug the coast. This growing force 

 has come forth not from the decks and 

 docks in these communities, but from 

 the kitchen tables. 



The wives, sisters, mothers and 

 others related to commercial fishermen 

 have banded together in organized 

 advocacy groups. The organizations, 

 some say, have given commercial 

 fishermen an effective and unified 

 voice in the political decision-making 

 process for the first time. 



"They bring to the table what's in 

 the mind of the commercial watermen," 

 says Jerry Schill, executive director of 

 the N.C. Fisheries Association. 



The three most active groups 

 formed as auxiliaries under the 

 association's wing. They speak only for 

 commercial fishing families. The 

 fisheries association represents the 

 industry as a whole, with a membership 



Women Spea k fo r 



Co rrimereia, I \VciteY'YYi eri 



Twila Nelson 



of commercial fishermen, seafood 

 dealers and fish processors. 



All three of the association's 

 auxiliaries coalesced within a few 

 months of one another in 1992 — 

 Pamlico County in February, Carteret 

 County in June and Hatteras-Ocracoke 

 in October. A fourth began organizing 

 in the northern Dare and Currituck 

 county region this spring. 



None formed in response to a 

 single issue. They rose out of increas- 

 ing frustration over actions by the state 

 Division of Marine Fisheries and 

 Marine Fisheries Commission, National 

 Marine Fisheries Service, Atlantic 

 States Marine Fisheries Commission, 

 and other agencies and bodies promul- 

 gating catch quotas, size limits, closed 

 areas, environmental protection mea- 

 sures, bycatch devices and safety 

 standards. 



Though the three began as 

 women's groups and are often still 

 perceived as such, the Carteret and 

 Hatteras-Ocracoke auxiliaries are a mix 



of watermen and their wives. All the 

 auxiliaries are led by women, however, 

 and women bear the burden of most of 

 the work. 



Women have stepped forward to 

 lead a traditionally male profession 

 primarily for one reason — the demands 

 of the commercial fishermen's work 

 schedule. Workdays are determined by 

 the whims of nature or the turn of the 

 tides, not clocks and calendars. 



"Fishermen fish," Schill says. 

 "There's no sense naming a fisherman 

 to a committee if he's not going to the 

 meeting. It's not like other industries 

 where you can take time off and make 

 it up later." 



Some also say wives took charge 

 because their husbands, even if they had 

 the time, lack the temperament for 

 public appearances, hearings testimony 

 and committee meetings. 



"My husband is just not inclined to 

 do it," says Darleene Carawan of Au- 

 rora, president of the Pamlico auxiliary. 

 "If he had wanted to be a public speaker 



1 6 MAY I JUNE 1995 



