Subsistence Fisheries in the Pascagoula River and Estuary

The Pascagoula River is one of the most heavily fished public water bodies in Mississippi.  All along the river, fishing is an important part of life, as evidenced by the vast number of ‘fish camps,’ marinas, houseboats, bait shops, and other fishing-related economic infrastructure.  The river and its estuary support good to excellent fishery resources, and most local residents have historical, cultural, social, and economic connections to these resources.  Correspondingly, there is considerable evidence of subsistence fishing occurring in the river and estuary.  However, in the past few years, the integrity of Pascagoula’s fisheries has been threatened by Hurricane Katrina, British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the United States Department of Energy’s Richton Salt Dome Project.  Destruction of non-mobile natural resources (e.g., the river and estuary and their associated fisheries resources) by such threats, whether quantitatively, qualitatively, or both, could have detrimental consequences that include but also transcend access to food and incorporate cultural, social and economic compounds of residents’ lives and identities.  The goal of this study is to identify, describe and classify subsistence fishing activities associated with the Pascagoula River and Estuary and determine which subsets of the population are engaged in these activities.  This study will focus specifically on two subsistence fisheries:  channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in the Pascagoula River, and blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) in the Pascagoula Estuary.