. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. cash crop in the makingj scientists develop hybrid. Ron Hodson and Howard Kerby strip eggs from female white bass By Nancy Davis The hybrid striped bass was about to receive its toughest test yet. Sea Grant researchers had already proved the fish could be farm-raised. Now they wanted to see how their crop would fare in the marketplace. So, in the spring of 1986, scientists Mel Huish and Howard Kerby harvested 4,208 pounds of hybrids they had raised from fingerling to pan-size in a yean Raleigh seafood whol
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. cash crop in the makingj scientists develop hybrid. Ron Hodson and Howard Kerby strip eggs from female white bass By Nancy Davis The hybrid striped bass was about to receive its toughest test yet. Sea Grant researchers had already proved the fish could be farm-raised. Now they wanted to see how their crop would fare in the marketplace. So, in the spring of 1986, scientists Mel Huish and Howard Kerby harvested 4,208 pounds of hybrids they had raised from fingerling to pan-size in a yean Raleigh seafood wholesaler George Earp bought the fish and packed them for shipping to Northern markets. Within two days, folks were feasting on fish that had been raised in research ponds outside of Raleigh. Earp says he received $ a pound for the catch. And later, after the striped bass season was over, the fish sold for as much as $3 per pound. The hybrid had passed the test. And now, a year later, Earp is still giving the fish rave reviews. "It's unreal. I think the hybrid striped bass will be just like the farm- raised catfish. Ten years ago if a man had told us that, we would have thought he was crazy. But it's a strong, strong business now. Down the road (the hybrid) is going to be a super big business," Earp says. Earp isn't the only one extolling the virtues of the hybrid. Ron Hodson, Sea Grant's associate director and coordinator of the pro- gram's aquaculture research, expects the hybrid to become a big cash crop for the state. "I think hybrid striped bass can be to North Carolina what the channel catfish is to Mississippi," Hodson says. "With proper development, I can foresee this being a multimillion dol- lar industry to the farmers and fishermen of North ; It's a pretty optimistic outlook for a fish that just a few years ago was still in the laboratory. But behind all that optimism are nine years of intense research—most of it supported by
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