Outdoors Maryland; 906

Coming up Smith islanders have for centuries embraced the hardships of life on the water. Now the Chesapeake is slowly swallowing the land crab stocks are down and families are leaving for life on the mainland. Is this the closing chapter of the Island's long history. Or is there reason for hope. Oh no it's more with this produced in cooperation with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources DNR inspired by nature. Where to go with her. If I got my rowing and got away or more right away

right on through here. Smith Island is a distant outpost on the Chesapeake Bay. A place where time is measured by the ebb and flow of the tide and the Rise and Fall of the sun. The shallow grassy waters around the island are some of the best blue crab habitat in the Chesapeake Bay. It is a watery Garden of Eden an archipelago just 12 miles out in the lower Chesapeake Bay a place where blue herons and seagulls mingle with the water men who call this quiet solitary world. Their home. For three hundred years the people here have prevailed against the elements carving out a living on the bay. But now there's a sense that a more precarious future lies ahead. That the way of life is threatened here.

My name is Denny Bradshaw and I've been on the water since I was a kid probably about around 9 or 10 years old I started working with my dad on the water. I think the way life is in danger here. We have had a decline of orders. We caught a crab on a secret is that all contributes to the decline of the water and I'm working on the ballet. That's the real big concern because we lose the war but we're going to lose a big part of the bay the history of. Smith Islanders are an important part of the history of the Chesapeake Bay. The island was charted by Captain John Smith and first settled in 16 57. Many of the people here can trace their families back six or more generations. The churches are just full of the names of families that have remained here over the

centuries. Like many of the Waterman each day 24 year old Jamie Marshall comes for lunch to the drum point market. The only store in the small town of Tyler Durden. So this is Father daughter. His mother Mary ADA and his wife had their do the cooking. The Marshall family owns the place. It's the social center of the town. So I got my nephew. Set on they don't want him to do it out of Meyer. Their accents are a throwback to old English to the original settlers who came here in the 17th century and Abida. Got a fight on. Our You know our. Toilet in is the smallest of the three villages on Smith Island Ulan roads point to the other two towns. With a two rundown crab shanties

and turn of the century clabbered houses. Some are called tarlatan a quaint fishing village only 74 people live here year round. A twice a day ferry provides the all important link to the mine. There are no cars here just bicycles and golf carts. No police force no town council. In fact it's a quiet isolated place. Not much happens here. So when Jamie Marshall returned home two years ago from a tour with the Marines to marry Heather a local Smith Island girl. It was big news at the Marshall dining room table the pictures of the wedding are still being passed around by some I know. I like the friendly Well you run there it's great place to bring up children like

say being independent. I'll be on my own no boss. It's quiet. Just cause you're closer to your family your roots and. I just I'd rather be. People in the town were delighted that Jamie's decision to come home his then Gen. Marshall when you see a young man that lifestyle in ways and wants to try to stay here no matter what it. Takes a little done Saw think everybody's pulling for him. I hope he makes it. But Jamie's return home has not been trouble free. The life of a waterman has proven difficult for. Long days on the water with no guarantees of a good catch. Traps that frequently come up empty. The solitude of another day listening to the squawk of Seagulls the drone of the engine and the crackle of his VHF radio.

I get really depressed when the new underwater hold the goods on my second season. But they tell us just hang in there and things will get better. So I'm trying to hang in there. It's early in the season but the all important spring time soft shelled catch the peelers which many of the Waterman depend on. Has been low. Thing is. There's nothing in them. There's no movie night here not a little bit deeper water. You're staying in saw it. Isn't science. I got. One. Jamie. Jamie is concerned he's been forced to fish for a hard job grabs which bring in less money. Than dog I think the grass is greener on the other side. And I might be. One of the assist on the you know I catch you many crab you always want to look for better things because the money slow and sometimes you don't want to get behind on your on your

bills and things like that and it just kind of the pressure a little bit. Jamie's father died has tried to be supported game and they got out of the Marines didn't get it. They'd been over half the world because they know we're all federal We have been here. I told him it's a struggle but he fought it out. Sobering words of advice from a man who over the years has seen the numbers of crab fisherman and crab shanties dramatically declining and diluted. So. Although I am going now they've been taken away taken nine. Years to make room here. I guess white hallway down here lined with sand is like this one right now Mayor. Like many of the islanders Dwight is also concerned about the dwindling population on some of the other. Just in the past six years more than a dozen families have left to take jobs on the mainland in

some cases leaving behind abandoned houses and overgrown yards. Since 1980 the population of Smith Island has dropped from more than 600 to less than 350. And most of those who remained are over 50. Well I guess well worth but the most is the crates in the population. You need to start to pay for sure. And you know they were started by the faithful who are stay here right. They are but rather when they children you know big families like each debate. I don't know how long I mean to communicate to make their own you know just a few people. All that became painfully clear to the people of toilet and when the town's only school was closed down three years ago because there were too few students. Now each morning a handful of elementary school children board the morning ferry to take them to

school to another part of the island in the town of yours. One of the teachers Evelyn Tyler accompanies them along with a morning shipment of crabs headed for the mainland. We get on the boat quarter after 7:00. And I. Get a ride up here to you all right 7:30. Sundays are wonderful. Nice boat ride. But then in the winter time it can be icy and it's long hours for the little guys. Unlike tarlatan and Yule there are cars in one school bus to collect the students from around the island. There are less than 30 students at the elementary school. Yes America and yes the day begins with a morning meeting where the students pledge allegiance to the flag and sing traditional songs. Yeah

it's sad in one way because I believe that the majority of them will be returning back. It seems like the chair of a waterman has it all but harder and it's harder to make a living. So what they want is their children to get the best education they can get. And when they do that more than likely they leave and don't return. YES YES YES YES YES YES. Where. Are. The Evans family is another example of a family concerned about the next generation. Before daybreak. Eddie Evans and his son Eddie Jr. leave the dogs for a long day of crabbing in their separate boats. Day in and day out. This is their routine.

For the Evans's crab fishing is a family venture. Everyone helps out and he was pleased when his sons decided to follow in his footsteps. But he's not sure whether his two grandsons 14 year old Craig and eight year old Derek should become Waterman. I was happy when the sun's day. Now my branch of and my grandchildren. It makes me more stop and think what's going to be there for Vale. Happy to say a word but on the other hand I'm wondering if the bot agita be there for when there's a girl by age race a five way. Evan just concerned that the crab fishery is now being over fish. You could say were they could get so low that you could make a weather nice fire to grab their version. Great you're a crab a as but it could get so low that you can't microwave it did that point yet. Well not bad far as we're

concerned is it's a livelihood. Eddie Evans oldest son Eddie Jr. has been a waterman almost all his life. Despite the hard work he has few complaints he has an open mind about what his son Craig should do whatever he wants he says is fine with him. But his wife Lisa is more skeptical about the future of life on the water. She works at a local restaurant and Ewell to help pay the family bills. She wants her son to continue his education. I'm like him stay here. You know you have to be realistic sometimes a. Lot of the youngsters now are leaving. I just don't want to have as hard a life as I just want to hang out here on the island. That's a. Hard backbreaking life you never know from one season to the next. And I'm like and that's insecurity.

Besides losing more and more people Smith Island is also losing its line once filled with fertile farms. There's a thousand acre island is now mostly muddy fields of tidal marsh for hundreds of years the Chesapeake Bay has slowly been swallowing up the line in the past century the island has lost more than twelve hundred acres. One real bad hurricane could just wipe this place out. And. We're only about two feet above two to three feet above sea level. And won't take much to wipe this place. Denny Bradshaw is a Smith Island watermen for 35 years before he started working for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He now is the captain of one of the foundation's educational books. The concern about erosion on Smith Island is very bad. This area right here where we're at that's called paying just a few years ago a lot of the marshland a beach would go out at least a hundred yards. Now

we can look at the marsh and look at the village of Rose point it's just about a road away. Only a matter of a couple years or the whole Chesapeake Bay is going to be right on the village of Rose. Bird Show points to recent efforts over the past few years by the Army Corps of Engineers to save some of the lion large bags called Geo textile tubes filled with dreads sand were deposited on the shoreline. But ice and high tides have destroyed many of them. Noah thing is going to work out here is like a rock wall. For the land. Let's start the way back you. Know the waves out here we're going to ferry more women. And the shoreline can take a free ride and the Army Corps of Engineers believes the geo textile tubes have helped but the Corps is studying new ways to stop erosion all over the island including constructing

more jetties like this one outside of Ule. Federal funding has already come through to build bulk heads around the town of Tyler TN where the houses come right up to the water's edge. Many of the islanders are hopeful that those proposed Army Corps projects will stem the erosion. But Island historian Jenning Evans a retired Waterman is worried that Smith Island is running out of time. They are edge on this map indicate what land it was hair and 1877. When you see this green border here that indicate what was left in 1940. You can get fooled by that because 1948 was 50 some years ago. If we strike this line today. We would move in here another half an inch just leaving these thin barriers there along the western side.

We're losing approximately eight feet a year to the high road and and even the land we're living on there's not much solid land anymore. They say if we buffer up the side to save their island from the bay that eventually we're going to think from the inside it doesn't look good. And one thing. We had eight hundred and five people here. Today they got 300 for Lebanon entire. So you see we're not only losing land we're losing to people would it. But despite these troubles an obstacle to the smith Islanders who ever remain behind seem determined they were fiercely independent strongly religious group of people. Nowhere is that more evident than a toilet in seafood packing house for the women

and a few of the husbands sing hymns while they pick the crab maid which will be sold on the mainland. The local women formed this cooperation with the help of federal funds when Maryland State officials confiscated their grant made several years ago for not being picked under regulation conditions. Janice Marshall is the driving force behind the co-op. We're not a big picking heist that we buy all these crabs and throw them in and when my husband comes in from crabbing in the day he brings his crabs and that's the ones I pick. Same way my neighbor next to me. That's how it works. Why just marking our baskets with our name on it. And it's for. It work far better than many of the women like Tina Corrigan thought a good co operative was my God. A lot of ways. I think you brought more than a business here. I think your brother. Eventually brought us

all closer together. But the Smith Island Woman the co-op has become like college in St. Paul a place to catch up on the gossip about island life. Husbands like Harvey carbon are always curious about what's being said about them. I've come down here and we've got a foreman down here I go mad you know name she tells us what satisfied them stand for. Keeping busy is part of the secret for the women of Smith Island trying to help keep a small community think. Always a lot of hard work. But. You know we've done it for a long time now and with the Lord's help I hope we can continue. But many younger women have chosen not to stick it out. Amie swinger grew up on the island but left more than 10 years ago to find a job. You like and then you're in the stands. Yeah well you know she frequently brings her two young sons back to visit their grandparents

and show them what island life is like and work on the war. Crimes overboard. We growed up. And basically everybody was everybody else's. You were corrected by everyone else and you were loved by everyone else too. Everyone knows everyone here. Boys. Yeah. Yeah. So we walk out of the House say hello and help us break that. Day to day grind. And just being caught up in your own routine. For centuries now the people of Smith Island the fall of the water endured the many hardships of

life on an isolated island and maintained a stubborn optimism about the future. They now know that their way of life is at risk unlike ever before. Jamie Marshall is well aware of the. Younger generation. I think a lot of times they want to leave they don't want to work on the water out of a lot of people discourage working on the water. I would just carry on working but I did it anyway. They are looking for more of a job. Benefits. Something a little bit more easier in this. During the summer months the crab harvest picked up for Jamie as it did for many of Smith islands Waterman. But the season's catch still didn't meet his expectations. Are you. Maybe you brought me some. Look yesterday. I did hard on Joy didn't it. Just seem bad in the house and having a boat to pay for. It's hard not

quite sure if. That's what I want to do all rest of my life but. I enjoy it and maybe I can find a job that I can do both. Lloyd Marshall asserted all this before his two older sons tried the life of a waterman but decided against it and moved to the mainland. Why does putting no pressure on Jamie. Well I hope he finds a job a satisfied way of. If it's on the water on the land or whatever he's just going to calm his life John. Decide what he really wants to do because he's young and he's got his whole life ahead of him. If you love the war you can make it. It's just a matter of a call yourself good. But in your head dad and go for it. Despite Jamie's problems Dwight Marshall with more experience on the water had a good Graham harvest this season. The summer months provided excellent grabbing particularly for soft shell crabs or peelers as they're called by the waterman.

Privacy has been good it's been a good player season the hard crabbers has had a good year better than they have had in the past. Taking all of consideration it's been a pretty good year. It's a cold windy day in October when Dwight starts to pull in his tracks. The soft shell season is almost over. But is encouraged by the amount of Bay grasses he's pulling up in his traps. This is a perfect habitat for small crabs. This is how they get in the grass you know and it sort of yeah and I can say at the bay it has got an awful lot of it. Harassed or well it's in about an hour but it outweigh. The underwater sea grasses around Smith Island have been disappearing in recent years. Now Dwight believes they may be coming back. He's optimistic about next year but a lot of baseball wrapped right all over the

bay. I don't hear all over the grass it has helped a lot. And this stuff is quite a step. We look forward to a. Record just for another year. Right. Great. Encouragement for another year with so many dire predictions about the troubled seafood industry on the Chesapeake Bay. It seems like good news for the hard pressed water Amanda Smith Island. With the decline in oysters crabs are the lifeblood of the island's economy. What other problems remain. Most people here know that one day their island will be gone swallowed up by the unrelenting waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Still for those die hards who remain here like Dr. Marshall the way of life on Smith Island can never be duplicated. He will continue crabbing in fishing as long as he can. I'll think it through water whatever it towers maybe slows up. By going I just start. Nobody gives

it to you. God provides it and you got to go you've got outsmarted to catch it and sell it. But just like foreign money on the beach yourself. You know when you're working with nature it's never the same. So I mean if you had good years and years but years it made us the way it is I mean you have to learn to. Say roll with the punches. Smith islanders have been rolling with the punches for centuries embracing nature's hardships. Generation after generation they lived and died here at the edge of the sea. But like the ebb and flow of the tide most Islanders know that their time is slipping away for their island home. They can only hope that a few more in the next generation will decide to carry on with their way of life here. And follow in the footsteps of their ancestors. Yeah it's amazing that a lot of.

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