In deeper water, shrimpers use otter trawls 

 that are attached to vessels by towlines extend- 

 ing to otter doors. The towlines are attached to 

 outriggers or to the stern of the vessel, and the 

 nets are dragged through the water. The doors 

 spread the nets behind the boat, allowing shrimp 

 to enter. 



"One advantage of the 

 skimmer trawl over the otter 

 trawl is that you can leave the 

 mouth of the nets in the water 

 and continue fishing while 

 pulling up the tailbag with the 

 catch," explains Hines. "With 

 an otter trawl, the nets come 

 out of the water when the 

 catch is brought in." 



Built by Steve Lewis 

 of Harkers Island, the model 

 skimmer and otter trawls help 

 showcase North Carolina's 

 shrimping tradition to visitors 

 from around the world. 



"North Carolina has a long history of 

 shrimping, dating to the early days of the 20th 

 century, when the commercial fishery began 

 here and became centered in the area around 

 Southport," says Hines. 



Since he was a young man, Styron has 

 been trawling in Pamlico and Core sounds. 



"Most of my life, I have been a 

 commercial fisherman," says Styron, owner of 

 Quality Seafood in Cedar Island and member of 

 the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission. 



Styron and his crew not only shrimp but 

 also clam and harvest other species, he adds. "I 

 own three trawlers but won't be shrimping this 

 year because of cheap prices." 



When the season is good, otter trawlers 

 line up like a wagon train in Pamlico and Core 

 sounds, according to Styron's wife, Debbie. 



SHRIMP SPECIES 



In North Carolina, commercial and 

 recreational shrimpers use trawls to catch three 

 species of shrimp. The brown shrimp — or 

 Farfantepenaeus aztecu — prefer peat and muddy 

 bottoms but also are found on sand, silt, or clay 

 mixed with shell and rock fragments. The species 

 is more active in open waters at night than in the 

 daytime. The harvesting season is in late summer 

 and fall, usually from July to November. 



TOP: Skimmer trawls often fish near each other in North Carolina waters, BOTTOM LEFT: Bob Hines and 

 Bradley Styron set up a model trawler at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. BOTTOM 

 RIGHT: Skimmer trawls are used in shallow waters along the state's central coast. 



Pink shrimp, known as spotted — or 

 Farfantepenaeus duorum — also are active at 

 night and burrow into the bottom during the 

 day. Commercial shrimpers harvest this species 

 from April to June. 



White shrimp, commonly called green- 

 tailed — or Litopenaeus setiferus — prefer soft 

 muddy bottoms, with the highest abundances 

 in areas of extensive brackish marshes. 

 Commercial shrimpers catch white shrimp 

 from August to November. 



In North Carolina, otter trawls are the 

 predominant gear used by commercial shrimp- 

 ers along the state's entire coast, especially in 

 deep waters. 



From 1994 to 2003, 93 percent of the 

 commercial shrimp harvest in North Carolina 

 was caught with otter trawls, compared to 4 

 percent with skimmer trawls and 3 percent with 

 channel nets, according to the N.C. Division of 

 Marine Fisheries (DMF). 



The skimmer trawl primarily is used in 

 shallow waters in Carteret, Onslow and Pender 

 counties. 



Recreational shrimpers also use otter 



trawls to harvest catch. However, the size is 

 restricted to 26 feet, according to Rich Carpenter, 

 DMF district manager. 



In a DMF survey. Carpenter found that 

 recreational gear license holders harvested about 

 101,325 pounds in 2002 and 47,500 pounds in 

 2003. 



"Recreational shrimpers take about 1 

 percent of the total shrimp harvest in North 

 Carolina," he says. 



SKIMMER TRAWL INTRODUCTION 



In 1 989, a National Fisherman article 

 about a Louisiana shrimp trawl — the skimmer 

 — caught the attention of two Carteret County 

 shrimpers, Clinton Willis and Craig Schreck. 



The two approached Hines, asking how to 

 obtain the gear and test it in North Carolina. 



In June of 1990, Hines, along with Willis 

 and John Weeks, who then taught marine voca- 

 tions at East Carteret High School, traveled to 

 Buras, La., to test the waters with Gulf shrimpers. 



"These two local fishermen were interested 

 in the gear, so we went to Louisiana to try it," 

 says Hines. 



8 HOLIDAY 2004 



