Hatteras' Changing 



I: 



FISHING Tl 



BOAT SLIPS DWINDLING 



By Ann green Photos by Michael h a l m i n s k t 



12 Coastwatch I High Season 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 



ns David Gaskins gazes out on the Hatteras waterfront, he recalls a 

 time when he and his fishing crew would pull in haul seines loaded with 

 thousands of pounds of gray trout. 



The crew would load the catch on the beach with a large truck, 

 according to Gaskins. 



"This was in the late 1980s and the most gray trout fish I had ever 

 seen," says Gaskins while showing an old photo. "It looked like a black 

 spot in the net with all the fish." 



Today, he doesn't know of anyone on Hatteras Island who uses a 

 haul seine because it is so time-consuming to pull in a long net with a 

 boat and also results in a high mortality rate for fish. Now, commercial 

 fishers use gill nets to fish for gray trout. 



