May Outstrip Hampton in Crab Production. . . Virginians Come to North Carolina For Crabs Now that Crabs Are Scarce in Virginia Waters
By D.V. Meekins
Manteo, situated in the heart of the heart of the fishing section of Northeastern North Carolina may not be such a bad loser with the decline of the fishing industry in this state. Manteo has another industry going strong which is apt to place it again in front rank and make it as famous in this state as Hampton is in Virginia. Manteo in a few years may be known as the Hampton of North Carolina since nature has decreed that hordes of crabs shall infest the waters of the state and since the scarcity of crabs in Virginia has driven the Virginians to seek the crustaceans in the waters of Carolina.
With the slump in the crab industry in Virginia, Hampton men began to seek a new source of supply. The supply was found in North Carolina where from time immemorial fishermen have made sacrilegious by finding their nets spoiled by thousands of crabs. Fishermen were troubled often by the destruction of their gear, for when crabs strike net, fishermen spend hours in rough water and biting winds, disentangling the thorny creatures from the slender meshes intended for the succulent shad. And now after years of worry, the growing demand for these thorny creatures may prove a blessing to those who heretofore considered them a pest.
Manteo has a new crab factory just completed and owned by L.R. Carson of Hampton. This factory is operated by A.P. Ford, who has been conducting a smaller factory there from time to time for several years. He says this factory can handle 60 barrels of crabs a day. This building is made of metal and is 28 by 100 feet in size. After the crabs are steamed in an immense retort, the meat is picked form the shells by native labor, sent to Hampton and reshipped to the trade throughout the country.
In addition to this factory two boats from Hampton make alternate trips three times a week from Manteo, carrying crabs to other factories. These boats can carry 200 to 300 barrels of crabs each and give the section an unlimited market for crabs. They are operated by Captains Sam and John Rollins, two brothers of Hampton, and old men in the business.
Not Such Easy Work
In spite of the demand for crabs, the people have not taken hold of the industry as strong as a stranger might expect. There are several reasons for this. But chiefly because crabs are more scarce than usual in the sounds, so that crabbers do not make much for their labor. Crabs stand the buyers around $2 a barrel in Manteo and six barrels on a good day is a good catch at this time for two men and one boat. Rough water and unfavorable tides prove a setback and many days no crabs can e caught. Moreover, state laws enacted in 1917 are tending to choke off the business in its infancy, but levying a tax of 25 cents on each barrel of crabs shipped from this state. The people look on this tax as unreasonable for it makes the market price so much less on each barrel, a loss which the crabber sustains every day he works, far in excess of the tax on nets. A person may fish a pound net for a whole season for $1.25, and may sell $200 to $300 worth of fish from that net, yet if a crabber makes a catch of five barrels a day his tax is equal on that day to the tax on a net for a season. At that rate his tax would be $7.50 a week.
Unlike Virginia where crabs are found in abundance in hundreds of deep and placid rivers and creeks, and may be caught from a row boat, the waters of North Carolina are shallow and rough and the crabbers must to in a power boat sufficient to weather any storm that may arise. Using a motor boat eats well in the day’s work, for the crabs must be sought out over the sounds, and fuel bills range from $1.50 to $3 a day. And no matter if the crabbers sells to the factory or the boat, the price is about the same, for the factory must pay of tax of 10 cents a gallon on every gallon of meat sold. This is about equal to the tax on unpicked crabs.
How They Catch ‘Em
Crabs are baited with salted eels, tripe or horse meat, small pieces of which are placed on a line, about a yard apart. Two men use ordinarily 800 to 1,000 yards of this line which is tied to stakes and set fair with the wind. The baited line rests on the bottom of the sound, and every crab within range attaches itself to a section of the line. The boat picks this line up from the windward end, slowly drifting down to leeward. The line rests on an arm in the stern of the boat and slips over this as it comes from the water while one man steers and another stand ready with a dipnet to take the crabs as they are drawn up from the water.
A crabber ordinarily can go over his line once every 20 minutes. If the crabs are biting well, he keeps at it steadily; if not he waits on it a few minutes. Some small boats are operated by one man, but most of them require two. There are only about 20 boats engaged in the business at present. The general idea among the crabbers is that crabs will be more plentiful later, therefore they are waiting until later to go out. North Carolina folk have not altogether learned to crab like Virginians. There the crabbers go every day regardless.
Other men have become interested in this section with an eye to erecting factories. It is the prediction of experienced men that the next five years will mark the erection of many factories in Manteo.
From the front page of The Independent, Elizabeth City, N.C., Friday, April 14, 1922
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