. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A heritage founded on fishing There's not much Charhe Williams likes more than putting his nets off Ocracoke Island—unless it's talking about it. Charlie, 71, and his brother James, 76, have been fishing and guiding around those parts for most of their lives. It's a way of life for them and a heritage they want to keep. "I tell everybody today that I am a fisherman," says Charlie. "I'm proud to tell it. . that I'm a commercial fisherman. What I've got now, I've got because I was a fisherman.
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. A heritage founded on fishing There's not much Charhe Williams likes more than putting his nets off Ocracoke Island—unless it's talking about it. Charlie, 71, and his brother James, 76, have been fishing and guiding around those parts for most of their lives. It's a way of life for them and a heritage they want to keep. "I tell everybody today that I am a fisherman," says Charlie. "I'm proud to tell it. . that I'm a commercial fisherman. What I've got now, I've got because I was a ; People like Charlie and James preserve the traditions of hard work and good fishing in the quaint village off North Carolina's Outer Banks. For centuries, the sun and sea have direc- ted the lives of Ocracokers, providing food for the table and money for their pockets. Unlike trade and tourism, fishing persisted through the years, ty- ing together the past and present like a strong piece of rope. "It was a way of survival," says Charlie. Until World War II, the island's economy centered around commercial fishing. Few other jobs were available. There were no in- dustries and only a handful of shops, inns and restaurants. Ocracoke's size and location proved to be assets for the fisheries. Because it was out of the way, few outsiders drop- ped their nets in surrounding waters. The ocean and Pamlico Sound teemed with mullet, bluefish, flounder, mackerel, trout, croaker, spot and other fish. Fishermen pulled in plenty of oysters, clams, crabs and shrimp, too. Sullivan Garrish and his brother, Uriah, admit that the fishing and bragging came easy sometimes. "We used to catch 14 and 15,000 pounds" in a day, says Sullivan. "There was a lot of times when we couldn't bring them all in in our ; He recalls one trip in particular when they had to get another boat's crew to help them pull 10,000 pounds of bluefish out of their gill net. The old-tim
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
