THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 2, 1995 TAG: 9503020472
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DeGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROANOKE RIVER LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
When North Carolina officials decided to close the herring season on Saturday, April 15, Jamesville town leaders found themselves in a pickle.
For the past 50 years, the historic hamlet on the Roanoke River has hosted an annual herring festival each Easter Monday. This year, the day-long festival is scheduled for April 17. Herring season will close two days earlier.
Festival-goers will be able to enjoy crafts, rides and 2-day-old herring. But fresh fish won't be available locally. For the first time since the festival began, people will be prohibited from dipping the thin, silvery fish out of the water.
``We're still planning on having a good time on Easter Monday,'' said Jamesville resident Hallet Davis, who serves as a Martin County commissioner. ``They're going to have some herring on ice.''
Jamesville Mayor Earl Sawyer, Martin County Board of Commissioners Chairman W. David Cannon, state Rep. Eugene Rogers and several other elected officials asked interim state fisheries director Bob Jamieson in February for a two-day extension on the herring season - until midnight, April 17.
``Hundreds of people return to this small town year after year to sample the fresh-caught herring cooked on the banks of the Roanoke,'' Cannon wrote in a Feb. 17 letter. ``It's a time of homecoming, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. We encourage you to help keep this tradition alive.''
Jamieson said if his state commission had known the date of the festival when the herring-closing date was set, the group might have selected April 18. But since April 15 had become law, he said, there was little officials could do.
``As for relief this year, there are few, if any, viable options,'' Jamieson wrote. ``I am unwilling and probably without legal authority to suspend this rule.''
Herring fishing has been a mainstay of Albemarle watermen since Colonial days. In the 1940s, Perry-Wynn's Fish House on the Chowan River was the world's largest supplier of salted and pickled herring. But catches have been dropping steadily since the early 1980s.
This is the first year since 1958 that the season will be cut short.
``In our judgment, without additional protection from fishing pressure, river herring were rapidly headed for commercial collapse in North Carolina,'' Jamieson wrote in a letter late last month. ``The Marine Fisheries Commission made a very difficult, but informed decision that has serious consequences for fishermen as well as for the herring stock. The commission voted to limit the season . . . in order to give the herring a chance to recover.''
Fisheries experts and fishermen contend that pollution, development and massive ocean harvests - not overfishing by local watermen - put most of the pressure on herring populations. But the state fisheries division cannot control water quality. All those officials can do is regulate fishermen.
In 1985, North Carolina watermen caught 11.5 million pounds of herring. Eight years later, their catches dropped to 916,235 pounds. Since most of the herring don't spawn until mid-April, watermen predict this year's haul will be almost insignificant.
Dozens of fishermen whose families have survived on herring sales for five generations aren't even setting their nets this year.
``It used to be we couldn't handle all the herring that came through here. We shipped them all over the world,'' said Murray Nixon, a former member of the state's Marine Fisheries Commission who owns anEdenton fish house. ``Last year, half the herring we sold had to be bought from South Carolina. I never dreamed it would come to this. The watermen would've agreed to a compromise closure of May 1. But April 15 about puts them all out of business.''
Herbert Byrum agreed. A Chowan County waterman, who earns about half of his living herring fishing, and his brother are the last of a long line of commercial fishermen. Next year, he said, they may hang up their pound nets for good.
``It's bad the way the state goes about closing fisheries without considering the effects it will have on people,'' Byrum said from his trailer alongside the Chowan River.
``It's not just me being affected. The local fish buyers are having to import herring. The local restaurants can't get what they need.
``Even the locals who didn't make any money off herring used to like to dip a net and catch a couple. Now they can't, anymore. Looks like no more free lunch.'' ILLUSTRATION: CLOSING THE FISHERY
For the first time since 1958, North Carolina's herring fishery
will close this year. After April 15, commercial watermen and
recreational anglers will not be allowed to catch any of the thin,
silvery fish. Herring generally begin spawning around mid-April.
This year, state watermen applied for 962 pound net permits. Some
of those nets catch flounder; others spot and croaker. Many are used
primarily for herring.
State herring landings and values have been decreasing since the
1980s. Following is a look at landings and values for North
Carolina's herring fishery. Totals include figures for all species
of alewife: herring, shad and bluebacks.
Year Pounds Value
1982 9,437,703 $704,599
1983 5,868,332 $464,389
1984 6,516,109 $596,428
1985 11,548,278 $845,906
1986 6,814,323 $647,293
1987 3,194,975 $368,062
1988 4,191,211 $502,166
1989 1,491,077 $183,842
1990 1,157,628 $174,259
1991 1,575,378 $118,272
1992 1,723,178 $172,453
1993 916,235 $67,494
N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries
by CNB