Fisheries Institute Achieves Notable Record
Director W. A. Ellison
Reviews First Two Years
The Institute of Fisheries Research, a part of the Uni
versity of North Carolina, was established in 1947 by ac
tion of the Board of Trustees of the university, and is lo
cated at the former Naval section base -at Morehead City.
During the two short years of its active existence it
has made a record of which it can be proud.
It has contributed heavily to the knowledge of the
fisheries in this area, and in the
results obtained in eaeh of its ma
jor projects it has produced in
formation that is already being
used to advantage by the fishermen
and the Department of Conserva
tion and Development. Its work
has gained attention and acknow
ledgement by laboratories of sim
ilar nature, by the fishing period
icals of the Atlantic coast and by
other scientific organizations.
The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Ser
vice has seen fit to publish in full
two articles by members of the
staff. On innumerable occasions
the fishing periodicals have com
mented on the Institute and re
lated its activities.
W.A. Ellison, jr., the Institute's
director, a dynamo of energy and
possessor of keen intelligence, de
clares:
"The accomplishments of the
Institute could not have been made
except with the wholehearted co
operation of the fishing inriusiry
itself. The members of the fish ng
industry have given unstintedly of
their time. The fishermen them
selves have become collectors of
data which the Institute could not
have obtained in any other way,
and on all occasions when called
the busy leaders of the industry
have assembled at the Institute
to help in programming the work.
In the field we have met with
the greatest cooperation and help.
"Scientific organizations and
business groups have contributed
heavily. Expensive equipment has
often been lent to the Institute for
special jobs, and trained person
nel has been, supplied by outside
agencies to do special work. Such
support and cooperation by the
fishermen, business leaders and
other scientific organizations is a
constant challenge to the Institute
of Fisheries Research to carry on
the program which it has under
taken."
Mr. Ellison, in the following par
agraphs relates the work of the
Institute during the past two years,
explaining its organization and
achievements:
The staff of the Institute are
memb^s of the staff of the Uni
versity at Chapel Hill. The direc
tion of the Institute is invested in
the local directorship, while the
policies and program of the In
stitute are determined by an Exec
utive Committee which is appoint
ed by the Chancellor of the Uni
versity. Two members of this Ex
ecutive Commjttee are recommend
ed for appointment by the Direc
tor of the Department of Conser
vation and Development of North
Carolina.
A body of twenty-five members,
comprised of scientists, business
men and representatives of the
fishing industry, serves as an Ad
visory Council to assist in deter
mining the Institute's activities ang
advising on special problems which
may arise.
The Institute is partially financ
ed by the State and partially by
a large grant from the Knapp
Foundation of New York attest
ing to "Joseph P. Knapp's life
long interest in the betterment of
mankind." Mr. Knapp's interest
in the people of North Carolina
has been long well-known by the
leaders in education, social work
and industry.
Institute's Function
The 'function of the Institute is
to make a practical application of
scientific findings to the problems
of the fisheries of North Carolina.
These problems are of both a bio
logical and an economic nature,
and the latter in more normal
periods are severe deterrents to a
stable industry. The first inves
tigations of the Institute have dealt
almost entirely with the biological
factors affecting the industry; but
now that the scientific staff for
this sort of activity is well organ
ized and familiar with the ills of
the industry, the next step will be
to organize the economic and mar
keting division. For this purpose
a full-time economist will b? 'added
to the staff in 1951.
Although the Institute was cre
ated in the fall of 1947, its ac
tive research program was not star
ted until early 1948, and its full
sOTff of specialists was not ob
tained until the late spring and
summer of 1948. During its two
years of active existence the In
stitute has attacked the problems
of the fishing industry on a wide
front and has been successful in
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making substantial contributions
to the knowledge of our fisheries ?
knowledge which has already been
put to work for the benefit of the
industry. While most of its pro
jects are long range in nature,
each of them is planned and con
ducted in such a manner that
current results are regularly util
izable by the industry.
Briefly, some of the more sig
nificant work of the Institute is
summarized below:
Finfish
During the past few years the
fish landings of North Carolina
have shown a decrease. This de
crease in the fish population of
the state has been popularly as
cribed to the extensive trawling for
shrimp in our sounds. The Insti
tute inaugurated in the summer of
1949 a series of studies to de
termine the type of fish destroyed
and the extent of destruction.
The 1938 - 1940 catch of eight
een principal food fish species
compared with the 1946 - 1948
catch of the same species showed a
a decline of some 26,500,000 pounds
or nearly 50 per cent. The fig
ures. however, examined species
wise showed that 50 per cent of
this decrease was due to a failure
of the herring species alone. These
fish are rarely taken in shrimp
trawls.
Sea trout, croaker and flounder
species which are taken in large
numbers in shrimp trawls - showed
a decline of some 7,500,000 pounds
while seven species of fish rarely
ever taken by the shrimpers show
ed a decrease of 19,000,000 pounds.
The spot, which is taken by shrimp
trawling in number second only
to croakers, showed an increase.
While it is recognized that consid
erable destruction of edible spe
cies of fish does take place as a
result of shrimp trawling and off
shore fish trawling, the fact that
other species of fish rarely taken
by shrimp trawlers also show a
heavy decline leads to the inescap
able conclusion that the shrimp
and fish trawlers are not solely to
blame.
Shrimp trawling can be consid
ered only as a contributory factor |
in the decreased landings, destruc
tive as it may appear to be.
These studies on fish population
have been continued through this
year. The results have not been
finally tabulated, but superficial
examination of the data confirm
the findings made last summer.
The results of the Institute's inves
tigation have been considered of
sufficient importance by the U. S.
Fish and Wildlife Service to be
published in their publication,
Commercial Fisheries Review.
(Readers who are interested in the 1
results obtained may get this pub
See FISHERIES, Page 10
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