"Chopsticks"

Résumé du livre

By 1980, an estimated 1200 Vietnamese refugees had settled along the Mississippi Gulf Coast; most have entered the commercial fishing industry. They brought with them much experience and a fishing method new to the United States. This fishing method, the pusher-head trawl, has been locally referred to as `chopsticks'. Recently, much controversy has existed concerning the use of the `chopsticks' rig to catch shrimp, resulting in 1984 legislation banning `chopsticks' in state waters of Louisiana and, in Mississippi, in ordinances limiting net mouth circumference. As varying groups or individuals began to formalize cases either for or against the legalization of `chopsticks' as a fishing method in state waters, one fact became clear: no hard data existed on the technical aspects of the operation of `chopsticks'. The Mississippi Sea Grant Advisory Service initiated an effort to address the topic; results are reported here.