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BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
IL— FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 
GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES OF THE COAST. 
Tlie coast of North Carolina, following the outer shores, is only about 300 miles 
long, but if the sounds, estuaries, and other indentations are considered, the length 
is nearly 1,500 miles, along the entire extent of which the prosecution of commercial 
fishing is made possible by the configuration of the shores and the adjoining bottom ; 
the absence of high or rocky shores and the preponderance of low, sandy stretches 
and shallow water areas permitting the employment of pound nets, seines, and gill 
nets under the most favorable circumstances. 
The characteristic physical features of the coastal regions of North Carolina are 
(1) the low, narrow, sandy islands and peninsulas which skirt nearly the whole ocean 
front of the State, between which and the mainland are (2) numerous sounds, some of 
large size, which are the principal fishing-grounds, while* (3) the mainland is very 
irregular in outline and is intersected by a number of large and small streams, the 
most important of which are the Pasquotank, Chowan, Roanoke, Alligator, Pamlico, 
Neuse, and Cape Fear rivers. 
The principal cities and towns on the coast, bays, and rivers are Elizabeth City, 
Hertford, Edenton, Plymouth, Columbia, Manteo, Washington, Newbern, Kinston, 
Beaufort, Morehead City, and Wilmington, which are also the chief fishing centers of 
the State. 
FISHING-GROUNDS. 
The principal fishing-grounds of the State are the sounds and the lower courses 
of the streams emptying into them. Pishing in the upper courses of the rivers is 
usually of a non-commercial nature and is unimportant. There is also at certain 
points along the coast a limited fishery in the ocean for typically salt-water fish. The 
principal sounds of North Carolina are Currituck, Albemarle, Croatan, Roanoke, 
Pamlico, Core and Bogue, each of which deserves special notice. 
Currituck Sound . — This is the most northern sound in the State. It runs parallel 
with the coast and extends from the Virginia State line to the eastern end of Albe- 
marle Sound, Avith which it merges. It is 40 miles in length and from 3 to 4 miles in 
width. For a body of water of such size the depth is extremely shallow, in no place 
being more than 9 feet. Except during periods of dry weather the water is fresh, 
although at one time it communicated freely with the ocean by means of Caffey Inlet, 
which was closed in the year 1800. Prior to this time the sound contained marine 
fish, but at present only fresh water and anadromous fishes are found in it. Black 
bass (locally called chub) and white perch are very abundant, and at the proper season 
striped bass and herring enter the sound in considerable numbers. The catch of black 
bass is probably greater than in any other part of the State, if not the largest in the 
country. The region is annually visited by enormous numbers of wild fowl, and is 
one of the most noted hunting resorts on the Atlantic coast. The only settlement of 
note on the sound is Currituck, situated near its head. 
