Something's Fishy

text by Joshua Hager . For a portrait of fishing in the Down East region of North Carolina, a researcher need look no further than the records of the Perry-Wynns

Company of Colerain, North Carolina, founded in 1952 and incorporated in 1966.  The company specialized in catching and processing herring, herring roe, shad, mackarel, and mullet found in the Chowan River.  The company shipped its products worldwide under the brand names of Tidewater Brand, the Bertie Brand and Chowan's Best.  In the company’s heyday of the 1960s and 1970s, it was the largest freshwater herring fishery in the world.  Yet by the 1990s the number of herring caught declined sharply, leading to a drop in Perry-Wynns revenue and significant layoffs.  In 2003, Hurricane Isabel destroyed Perry-Wynns’ facilities and temporarily shut the company down entirely.  A smaller version of the company exists today as a distributor of herring and other fish caught in Canada (see the company website at http://saltherring.home.mchsi.com/), but Perry-Wynns’ days as the top freshwater herring fishery in the world are passed.

What exactly caused the downturn in herring catches?  Some observers blame ditching along the Chowan River.  However, changes in area hydrology, pollution from local farms and livestock, and new drainage patterns imposed on the local watershed may have also contributed to the decline.  Whatever the reason, conservation programs are currently trying to revitalize the herring populations of the Chowan River.

For more information on the records of the Perry-Wynns Company, please visit the records’ collection guide at /findingaids/mc00304 or contact Special Collections.