Amazed were greybeard fishermen of Hampstead and Wilmington, N. C., last week, by the fatback '"miracle" of nearby Topsail Inlet. The menhaden, or fatback, is a herring-like fish, not usually eaten but valuable for oil and manure. It grows to about 18 inches, feeds on microscopic sea life, breeds near shore in enormous shoals.
One day last week, fishermen put out in a small boat into Topsail Inlet, a cove varying in width from 1,300 yards to a mile, surrounded by flat, marshy, wind-raked country. Some distance offshore they came on a school...
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