DATE: Friday, October 3, 1997               TAG: 9710030607

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: ORIENTAL                          LENGTH:   69 lines

PFIESTERIA KILLING FISH MARKET FOR REGION AS WELL AS THE FISH

Images of lesion-covered fish from the East Coast and public alarm over pfiesteria have suppressed the region's appetite and hurt the fish market, say some North Carolina fishermen.

The recent publicity about sick fish and fishermen on waters near Chesapeake Bay has caused many consumers to cut fish out of their diets. And the sinking of the Maryland seafood market is taking a big bite out of North Carolina's $1 billion fish business.

In what should be the conclusion of a strong market season for hard crabs - one of North Carolina's most valuable catches - crab boats sit idle at their docks, seafood dealers consider shutdowns and layoffs, and many on the coast wonder how they will pay the bills this winter.

Wayne Dunbar, 40, a crabber in Oriental, said he drove around Pamlico County with 20 boxes of fresh hard crab Monday night, searching for a buyer.

``Instead of getting my dollar a pound, or a dollar thirty a pound, I had to go sell them for 35 cents,'' Dunbar said. ``That's bad when you got to go beg somebody to buy your stuff.''

So far, researchers have found no evidence that anyone has gotten sick from eating fish poisoned by pfiesteria.

Still, nervous residents in Maryland, the Washington area and beyond have shunned seafood after seeing media images of fish covered with sores, researchers in gas masks and fishermen afflicted with lesions and memory problems.

``There's really no rhyme or reason to it,'' said Jim Johnson, owner of Washington Crab Co. in Beaufort County. ``It seems to be affecting all seafood in general, salmon and swordfish and tuna. To even think that they are remotely identified with any of these river waters is ludicrous.''

When about 30,000 menhaden and other fish died in Maryland's Pocomoke River in August, it did more to hurt North Carolina's seafood business than the pfiesteria-related deaths of more than a billion fish in the Neuse and Pamlico rivers over the past six years.

Maryland officials linked the fish deaths and several human illnesses to pfiesteria, which soon showed up in three other waterways that drain into Chesapeake Bay.

The outbreak has turned into a disaster for Maryland's $400 million seafood business. Some supermarket chains stopped selling fresh Chesapeake seafood until Gov. Parris Glendening persuaded them to start again. Glendening has appropriated $500,000 for an emergency marketing campaign and has traveled around the state gobbling fresh fish.

Maryland's woes have meant lost orders and anxious questions from consumers in North Carolina. P.J. Seafood Inc. in Pamlico County fought the problem with its own fish fry last weekend, drawing 500 people from as far away as New Jersey to feast on steamed crabs, steamed corn and flounder filets.

``We kind of called it `Stop the pfiesteria hysteria crusade,' '' said Paula Shipley, co-owner of P.J. Seafood. Shipley said she is considering closing the business next week, about four months early, since the market for her whole crabs disappeared last week.

``We tell the fishermen not to go out,'' she said. ``They just don't have a market.''

Johnson estimated that his crab meat processing company is selling about half of its production, compared to 66 to 80 percent in past seasons.

Cindy Midyette, a Pamlico County crabber, said she had to sell a day's catch of large ``jimmy'' crabs to a processor for $332. The same catch normally brings in $550.

Wanda Nobles of West End Seafood in Greenville said that after a ``horrible August,'' her sales dropped by half on a recent Friday and even those buying were suspicious.

``Every tenth customer said, `Is this OK to eat?' '' Nobles said. KEYWORDS: COMMERCIAL FISHING

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