A CULTURAL HISTORY OF RIVER HERRING AND SHAD FISHERIES IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA: THE PREHISTORIC PERIOD THROUGH THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the cultural exploitation of four anadromous fish species of the Family Clupeidae, in the Genus Alosa: the blueback herring (Alosa aestivalis). the alewife (A. pseudoharengus), the American shad, (A. sapidissima), and the hickory shad. {A. mediocris). in eastern North Carolina. The study assesses anadromous Alosa fisheries in the prehistoric and historic periods from a combined anthropological. archaeological, ethnohistorical and historical perspective. The research combines oral interview data collected by the author with information gathered from previously published sources. The findings are interpreted in the context of adaptive strategies, as originally conceptualized and proposed by John Bennett. Anadromous Alosa fisheries provided an important seasonal subsistence and trade resource to prehistoric (circa 3,000 B.C. to AD. 1650) and historic (circa. AD. 1584 to 1950) period cultures in eastern North Carolina. The significance as a subsistence resource was later paralleled by capital intensive commercial fisheries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Four natural characteristics of Alosa account for the vitality as a major subsistence and trade resource: (I) predictability {in time and space), (2) availability (in massive spawning runs), (3) accessibility (ease of access and harvest with minimal effort), ( 4) storability (short-term and long-term preservation by smoke-drying or salt-curing). The seasonal exploitation of shad and river herring through time reflects the aggregation of conscious choices by individuals in response to the range of natural resources available in the region. Such choices gradually developed into regional, culture-wide adaptive strategies that evolved from a great fishing tradition of the past century into the last vestiges of shad and river herring fisheries that are seen today. The decline of the subsistence fishery tradition has been paralleled by a dramatic decline in Alosa stocks in North Carolina waters. The reasons for the biological decline relate back to the concept of adaptive strategies, whereby the human population in the region shifted from low­energy to high-energy production practices (e.g., fisheries, agricultural, industrial) over time. High­energy cultural processes increase pressure on Alosa stocks through the destruction of spawning habitat and overfishing. The evolution from low-energy to high-energy production has led to both resource degradation and the displacement of segments of the population who traditionally relied on the fishery resources (e.g., commercial and subsistence fishermen).