699 
Waterway, with a project depth of 12 feet, traverses the State. Major 
seaport complexes exist at Morehead City and in the Cape Fear River, 
including the Port of Wilmington, which, of course, is the home of the 
chairman. 
The estuarine and coastal areas of North Carolina are currently being 
used for commercial fishing, sport fishing, other seashore recreation, 
mineral recovery, scientific research, waste disposal, wildlife protec- 
tion, water transportation and communications. Some of these uses are 
incompatible with others. Conflicting claims for marine resource use 
represent some of the most serious problems facing the State. It is for 
this reason that we endorse the Commission’s recommendations con- 
cerning the creation of coastal zone authorities and coastal zone 
laboratories. 
Commercial fishermen of North Carolina harvest annually around 
20 million pounds of foodfish, some 20 to 30 million pounds of shellfish, 
and close to 200 million pounds of menhaden and related types of fish 
for processing into oil and meal. Sport fishermen catch an estimated 
10 million pounds of saltwater fish annually in North Carolina. 
From the point of view of scientific research relating to the ocean, 
North Carolina provides a broad variety of habitats. North Carolina 
offers an unusual number of diversified areas in which to conduct 
research. In most of its estuaries, tides and tidal currents are almost 
nonexistent. 
Therefore, these estuaries constitute a habitat in which conditions can 
be contrasted with these of other waters where intense tidal agitation 
is present. Onslow Bay provides a 100-mile stretch of coast that receives 
virtually no river runoff. Therefore, its waters are more free of silt than 
any other comparable stretch of the Atlantic seabord. Not so far off- 
prea coral reefs exist farther north than anywhere else in the 
world. 
The cold wall of the North Atlantic meets the warm waters of the 
Gulf Stream at Hatteras and hence the North Carolina coast is both the 
southern limit of such northern forms as the lobster and cod and the 
northern limit of tropical species like the sailfish and dolphin. In order 
to take advantage of this wide variety of habitats available nearby, the 
Bureau of Commercial Fisheries and Atomic Energy Commission 
located the Radiobiological Laboratory at Beaufort, N.C. 
The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries already had a biological labora- 
tory in Beaufort devoted to study of the regional fisheries. In addi- 
tion Duke University has a marine laboratory located in Beaufort. 
This laboratory is the recipient of a grant from the National Science 
Foundation which enables it to operate a 117-foot biological research 
vessel known as H'astward, in a cooperative research and training pro- 
gram for the entire Southern Atlantic region. 
The University of North Carolina has located its institute of ma- 
rine science at Morehead City. It operates a 48-foot research vessel. 
Adjacent to the institute is the laboratory of the State Department of 
Commercial Fisheries, with its 70-foot exploratory fishing ship, the 
Dan Moore. 
Farther south, at Wilmington, the Cape Fear Technical Institute has 
an advanced program of training in marine technology whose 185-foot 
training and research vessel has just returned from participation in 
the BOMEX project. 
26-563—70—pt. 2 13 
