September Newsletter
Exploring The History of The Albemarle Sound
This month, we will be continuing our look into the history of the Albemarle Sound by exploring when people started to notice the decline in fish. In addition, we will be featuring a 2022 sponsor, Albemarle Boats.
History of The Albemarle Sound
When Did We Realize The Fish Were Gone?
One of the goals of this newsletter is to explore topics regarding the Albemarle Sound and surrounding waters. This will include the history surrounding the water, the health of the marine fishery, and what can be done to help.
In previous editions, we have looked at the historical herring fishery and maritime culture among Native Americans from the region. These helped to illustrate the abundance of fish that were once found teeming in the Sound. To briefly recap, when haul seines were used, "At the height of the fishing season, which usually came around the middle of April, these huge seines would bring in over 100,000 herring, along with hundreds of shad, rockfish, and perch, all in a single haul. The average catch for horse-powered seines was 1,500,000 herring"
It used to be thought that these millions of fish would return year after year without dwindling. Unfortunately, the fish did not continue to come back in the same quantity. In 1905, the state passed the Vann Law which required fishermen to leave channels so that fish could migrate to natal waters for spawning. Apparently, before the passage of this law, spawning runs were completely blocked by panels of netting (Hightower et al, 1996). However, this was too little too late, because the fishery continued to decline. In a study of the historical herring and shad fishery, they illustrate this by providing the following data on shad and herring landings from 1880-1990.
In the 1980's congressmen took note of declining fisheries across the nation and began funding studies of estuaries. In 2006 a moratorium on commercial fishing was declared in North Carolina. Three New England states, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, joined the moratorium, but other coastal states did not. The fish did not come back (aheronsgarden.com).
In addition, CoastalReview.org posted an article in 2021 which sheds some light on historical shad and sturgeon fisheries. They say, “during the 19th and early 20th centuries, shad and sturgeon suffered from overfishing. There was a mechanization of haul seines, along with the introduction and proliferation of pound nets. A 1925 scientific study proved that pound nets were problematic" (CoastalReview.org, 2021). They say that the state attempted to address overfishing by working with the U.S. Fish Commission on shad culture and enacted laws that placed limits on commercial fishing. "With sturgeon, it went from being a trash fish to an extremely valuable fish in the 1880s. By the early 1900s, fishermen were struggling to catch sturgeon because they had been overfished. In the late 19th century, there was high demand and good profit margins for shad and sturgeon. That attracted a lot of fishermen to those fisheries and consequently, they were overfished” (CoastalReview.org, 2o21). In addition to just overfishing, there are mentions in the historical record of "agricultural runoff and erosion, sewage from towns and industrial effluents as having a negative impact on shad and herring. Dams that served gristmills and sawmills were also cited as being problematic" (CoastalReview.org, 2021) Another key fishery is the striped bass. A very good example of how our fisheries are still suffering despite attempts to revive them is the recent decision by the Division of Marine Fisheries to not open up the fall 2022 recreational striped bass season. In 2021, the division said their plan review showed drastically few numbers of juvenile striped bass being recruited. Even though there were 2021 harvest reductions, the current "stock assessment update shows the Albemarle-Roanoke estuarine striped bass stock continues to decline in abundance by continued low recruitment" (CoastalReview.org, 2022). Much like our discussion of herring, shad, and sturgeon, overfishing seems to be the issue impacting the striped bass fishery. "The division said striped bass are still overfished and overfishing is still occurring. Overfished means the population is too small and overfishing means too many fish are removed annually" (CoastalReview.org, 2021). "Due primarily to overfishing during the 1950s, ’60s and early ’70s, as well as pollution and habitat loss, the fate of many migratory fish was set. The Atlantic sturgeon and shortnose sturgeon are now listed as endangered on the Endangered Species List, while both species of river herring and the American shad are shown as species of special concern" (CoastalReview.org, 2022). And now, it seems that striped bass are experiencing a similar fate. While the first official initiatives to try to help various fisheries do not seem to be introduced until the early 1900s, people surely noticed a decrease in fishery long before. So, even though we have noticed a decreased fishery for over a century, why do issues persist, and will the fish ever come back?
References https://www.researchgate.net/publication/241729821_Historical_Trends_in_Abundance_of_American_Shad_and_River_Herring_in_Albemarle_Sound_North_Carolinahttps://aheronsgarden.com/2021/06/21/albemarle-sound-voyage-through-centuries-ix/ https://aheronsgarden.com/2021/06/21/albemarle-sound-voyage-through-centuries-ix/ https://coastalreview.org/2022/09/division-will-not-open-fall-recreational-striped-bass-season/ https://coastalreview.org/2021/11/recognition-of-migratory-fishs-value-predates-colonization/
September Sponsor Feature
Each month, Clear Living Waters is choosing a different 2022 festival sponsor to feature! This month, we are featuring Albemarle Boats!
"More than four decades have passed since the first Albemarle Boat hit the water. Today, with more than 4000 hulls to their credit, Albemarle continues handcrafting their boats one at a time. Members of Albemarle’s founding families remain at the helm of the company, and they operate on the same guiding principles on which the business started. They call it “Albemarle Built”, and this summarizes the people, techniques, materials, experience, and testing that goes into every boat they build. Today the company serves a global dealer network and services customers all over the world."
"Albemarle has been on a product development roll, introducing six new models in the last six years. If you have not seen an Albemarle lately, you owe it to yourself to check out the company’s semi-custom Dual Consoles and Offshore Expresses from 25 to 53 feet. Make an appointment to tour the Edenton facility. "
"For more information on our boats or career opportunities contact: Albemarle Boats, The Carolina Classic (252) 482-7600, www.albemarleboats.com."
Thank you so much to Albemarle Boats for being a valued Albemarle Rock Fish Festival Sponsor
Living Water
As we have shared, one of the big inspirations for our work to take care of the sound is our love of the Lord and his calls for us to love and serve our brothers and sisters. The following chapter in John describes how Jesus reveals to the Samaritan woman at the well, that the water the Lord gives is living water. The living water is interpreted often as Jesus Christ himself, more often as the Holy Spirit who resides with those who believe and find truth and faith. Faith and hope are also part of the living water. By finding faith, the belief that we belong here and are forgiven of our faults can help us understand that we all are worthy of this beautiful world, just as the eagle, the osprey, or the herring and the rockfish are worthy of their place here! That is why we also should be so grateful for our sound and stand as stewards of our sound and our marine neighbors! 4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— 2 although, in fact, it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. 3 So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee. 4 Now he had to go through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” 8 (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.[a]) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.” 16 He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 “I have no husband,” she replied. Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. 18 The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.” 19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” 25 The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” 26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
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