CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Manson Meekins of Avon and Eph O'Neal of 

 Hatteras share stories on Oden's Dock. • Youngsters compete in the survival 

 suit race at the 2005 Day at the Docks Festival. • Parks Lewis, NOM Fisheries 

 Service's southeast fisheries liaison, shows a design for a breakaway buoy line 

 to Sea Grant's Sara Mirabilio. • Guests on the Miss Hatteras participate in 

 the Blessing of the Fleet. • Lynne and Ernie Foster are among the leaders of 

 the Day at the Docks celebration. • 

 oversee the Albatross charter fleet. 



Throughout the 1950s, most men on the island made a living as 

 fishermen or carpenters, according to O'Neal. 



"My grandfather on my mother's side was a carpenter," he says. 

 Everybody else in O'Neal's family, including his father, worked the 

 water. 



During this time, the charter boat business began expanding in 

 Hatteras. 



"When my father caught the first 457-pound marlin on June 25, 

 1952, things changed here," Foster says. Word spread quickly to the 

 recreational fishing community about the charter service. 



In 1953, Ernal Foster added a third boat to the charter fleet. The 

 clients included prominent politicians such as Governors Robert Cherry 

 and Luther Hodges. 



"There were six or seven charter boats in the 1950s that came out 

 of Hatteras," says Foster. 



The waterfront also featured an ice plant, several fish houses and 

 other businesses. 'The ice plant had blocks of ice that weighed 300 

 pounds," says O'Neal. 



Another 

 milestone was the 

 completion of N.C. 

 12 along the entire 

 island in 1963, 

 making the villages 

 more accessible for 

 tourists. After that, 

 many motels and 

 new businesses were 

 built. 



National Marine 

 ries Servic 



is 



!CIAL 



Ernie Foster is the second generation to 



From the 



1960s through the 1980s, more charter boat businesses started up, 

 and commercial fishing also flourished. 



Because of the island's unique location near the Continental Shelf, 

 it became a popular spot for recreational and commercial fishermen. 



The area is a bottleneck for many migrating fish, says Dan Oden, 

 owner of Oden's Dock. 



"We are at the northern migration of southern fish and the end of 

 migration for northern fish in the winter," says Oden. "We get to fish 

 here year-round." 



During the busy winter months, gray trout bunch together and 

 migrate to Hatteras. For the fishing fleets, this is a season of long nights 

 and hard work. 



The winter of 1984-85 proved to be one of the richest seasons to 

 date for the drop net fleet, according to Jan Deblieu's article in David 

 Stick's An Outer Banks Reader. 



"By December 1, 1985, ninety-nine of the boats in Hatteras 

 Harbor were rigged with hydraulic reels and gills nets," she writes. 

 "With so many fishing crews, any cooperative spirit disappeared." 



Continued 



Coastwatch I High Season 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 15 



