21st Annual North Carolina Commercial Fishing Show

The 21st Annual North Carolina Commercial Fishing Show, held Feb.24 and 25, drew the largest crowd in the event's history. Held in the New Bern, NC Riverfront Convention center, the commercial fishing show also served to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of North Carolina Sea Grant.

Exhibitors at the event consisted of vendors from Canada to Florida as well as scientists and medical professionals dealing with fisheries related issues.

Seminars
A full schedule of seminars held during the first day of the events gave fishermen the opportunity to gain a better understanding of issues surrounding their livelihood. "Although fishermen have to be vigilant in keeping up with endless streams of constantly changing fisheries issues people working on the water seldom get the opportunity to really study fisheries issues," says NCFA President Jerry Schill. "Fishermen that took the time to visit the commercial fishing show were able to kill several birds with one stone. They could buy a new pair of boots, check out the latest Eperbs or GPS units and take in a seminars pertaining directly to their livelihood."

Attorneys Waverly Berkley and Mark Davis presented brief seminars that held special interest to fishermen. Davis explained some of the finer points of parliamentary procedure to the fisheries professionals and Berkley handed out some free legal advice.

Constitutional Rights of Fishermen
"If you're concerned about a fishing violation and very substantial fines keep your mouth shut," advised Virginia attorney Waverly Berkley. According to Berkley, a fisherman's best chance at receiving fair treatment under the law is through his 5th Amendment right to remain silent. "I wish I could tell you have a lot of other rights but the right to remain silent or to have a lawyer present is about the best you can do."
Fishing violations are generally civil violations. Law enforcement officers, including Coast Guard and Marine Patrol officers, are not required to read a suspect his Miranda rights, Berkley said. And although that right, established to prevent self incrimination, exists at all times and in all situations, law officers are not required to make a suspect aware of that right unless they take that suspect into custody.

"They're trained to get as much information out of fishermen up front as they possibly can. They may be very friendly, and they may ask you something that seems as benign as it could possibly be. But if you want to stay out of serious trouble you'd do best to say as little as possible," Berkley said. "When you're boarded you and your crew go sit in the galley and don't talk to the boarding officers. Let them do their job while you get a drink or do something else. This also goes for your crew as well."

"You may say that if you resist the coast guard that they'll nit-pick you to death. Well, you may be right," Berkley said. "And I'm not saying be disrespectful. A person can assert his rights without being disrespectful. But if you do your best to respectfully assert your rights and the authorities behave badly and you feel that you're being harassed that's when you need to call someone like me. That's what helps keeps people like me in business.

"What are you fishing for? Where are you going? Where are you coming from? These all seem like benign questions but don't answer," Berkley said. "Be very respectful, tell them what permits and licenses you hold and don't say much else."

Parliamentary Procedures
Mark Davis took the podium with an equally important topic. As fishermen are increasingly allowed to participate in the regulatory process that governs our fisheries it is important that they are capable of communicating within the structure of organized meetings.

"Parliamentary procedures not only gives everyone the right to vote, more importantly they give everyone the right to be heard," said Davis. "Most boards, like the advisory boards many fishermen sit on, have adopted "Robert's Rules of Order" as their procedural guide. This framework of parliamentary rules provides everyone with an equal chance to communicate their feelings but, as with many things, those with intimate knowledge of the procedure can exhibit a disproportionate amount of control over meetings."

Children's Activities
Commercial fishermen weren't the only group enjoying the NC Commercial Fishing show. NC Sea Grant, North Carolina Aquariums and North Carolina State University presented a children's program to teach kids about some of the many mysterious creatures of the deep and even allowed them to get up-close and personal with a few of the aquatic critters.

"Fish printing is actually an ancient custom in Japan," says Bethany Durman of Roanoke Island Aquarium.

"Fishermen have always told fish tales, in every culture. So when a Japanese fisherman caught a really big or unusual fish he knew that people wouldn't believe him unless he had some kind of proof. They didn't have photographs or anything like that so fishermen would actually paint the fish and then press it against some kind of rice paper or cloth and the imprint of the fish would be preserved for history."

"It's pretty ingenious, really," adds Beth Southern, also of Roanoke Island Aquarium. "It would be really hard to draw or paint a fish with the kind of detail you get this way."

Skin Screening
Many commercial fishermen and their families took advantage of a free skin disease
screening clinic offered at the commercial fishing show. The screening was conducted by Dr. Bill Burke, Chief of Dermatology at the East Carolina University and the staff of the North Carolina Institute for Health and Safety in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, commonly known as the NC AgroMedicine Institute.

In addition to the skin screening, the AgroMedicine Institute offered information on health problems suffered by fishermen that are amenable to self-motivated prevention strategies.

Reception
NC Sea Grant and NCFA co-sponsored a reception for exhibitors and members of the fishing community at the Sheraton Grand hotel.
The reception celebrated both the 21st year of the show itself and NC Sea Grant's 25th anniversary.

Guests dined on North Carolina seafood courtesy of Etheridge Seafood, Garland Fulcher Seafood, Evans Seafood, Moon Tillett Fish Co., Morgan Creek Seafood J.H. Lea & Sons, Murray L. Nixon Fishery and Wanchese Fish Co.
NCFA President Jerry Schill addressed the crowd to pay special thanks to NCFA VP of Administration Amy Willis and Administrative Assistant Karen Benson for their considerable achievement of planning and orchestrating the show flawlessly.

Schill also presented Maureen Donald, former NCFA Communications Director with a plaque of appreciation for her three years of service to the industry.

NC Sea Grant Director Ron Hodson closed the evening with a brief speech in honor of the agency's 25th anniversary. Hodson gave a brief history of Sea Grant before enlightened his audience to the future of Sea Grant. In closing, Hodson thanked his staff and congratulated them all on the tradition of Sea Grant success and for their individual excellence.

Helping hands—(Above, L to R) Amy Willis, Bill Hitchcock, Gray Popp, Danny Hooks and Gwen Newman. Other helping hands who were too busy working to stop for a picture: Jim Popp, Robert Southerland, Karen Benson, Debbie Hooks, Eddie Newman, Bob Hines and Billy Carl Tillett.