How Others See Us

Coastal North Carolina is not the beach scene I imagined during the winter. Instead coastal fishing communities dominate small towns such as Beaufort. Once off the Duke campus and in a small town like Beaufort, which only has just over 4,000 winter residents, I began to see that they generalize the rest of the US and especially the northeastern states as being part of the process that has created regulations that have affected them, their livelihoods, and the whole community’s way of life. They see the northeast as being a large liberal political power that supports environmental movements such as preserving fish populations. Seeing the rest of America is so far removed from fishing communities there is no understanding for the regulations that affect them.

The members of the community I have meet have been involved in fishing and were open with their opinions that North Carolina fisheries managers do not understand the life of the fishermen and how fishing is actually accomplished. Fishermen criticize the fishing regulations that unduly burden their paltry existence as being poorly conceived and executed. Bradley Styron, owner and operator of Quality Seafood, put it bluntly with respect to North Carolina fisheries managers when he said, “education is the greatest thing, but not in the hands of a fool. There’s nothing worse than an educated idiot.” This damning accusation against fisheries managers resulted from a long and bitter history of restrictive, top-down regulation and bureaucratic decision-making coming from people who “can't even tell gillnetter from a trawler”.

Another fisherman “Big Al” was frustrated by the increasingly restrictive regulations that aim to reduce bycatch to levels they consider to be arbitrary and capricious. Al believes the increased regulations are indicative that the U.S. is moving toward a tighter regime similar to China.

“Its about coming a communist country like China” said “Big Al,” a local independent fisherman

In this area where an old lifestyle still exists, change is unwanted. The northeastern cities/towns are seen to be implementing top-down government regulation that does not relate to the lives of those in small coastal towns. Seeing this is the case, the regulations that are put on the fishermen are disliked as they are taking away from those who have nothing.