Where do they like to fish? 



East Carolina University sociologist 

 Peter Fricke has surveyed fishermen to 

 find answers to these and other ques- 

 tions. Fricke completed his surveys in 

 1979, and expects to analyze the 

 responses this year. The results, he 

 believes, will help communities plan 

 for the yearly stampede of recreational 

 fishermen. 



Pollution 



As commercial and private develop- 

 ment have continued to increase along 

 the North Carolina coast, so has the 

 problem of wastewater pollution in es- 

 tuarine and near-shore waters. 

 Shellfish such as oysters and clams are 

 retaining bacteria and disease-causing 

 enteric viruses from these con- 

 taminated waters. Twenty percent of 

 the state's shellfish harvesting grounds 

 have already been closed due to con- 

 tamination. 



Sea Grant researcher Mark Sobsey 

 of UNC at Chapel Hill again will be 

 studying contaminated shellfish. Last 

 year Sobsey examined the rates at 

 which the shellfish cleansed themselves 

 of bacteria and viruses at varying tem- 

 peratures. This year in a new project, 

 Sobsey wants to find out in which body 

 tissues and organs the contaminants 

 settle, exactly how the shellfish purge 

 themselves, and what causes the 

 cleansing rate to vary with tem- 

 perature. His studies will aid state 

 shellfish sanitation officials in es- 

 tablishing standards for shellfish relay 

 systems and in determining more 

 reliable ways to evaluate shellfish 

 quality. 



Alternatives 



To get to the heart of the con- 

 tamination problem, wastewater pollu- 

 tion, Bobby Carlile of NCSU is con- 

 tinuing his work with alternative 

 wastewater disposal systems for North 

 Carolina. More than 200 of the alter- 

 native systems already designed by 

 Carlile have been installed in 12 of the 

 20 coastal counties. Some counties are 

 now using these systems exclusively to 

 allow some development to continue. 

 This year Carlile plans to continue his 

 work on the alternative systems, but 

 his main emphasis will be modifying 

 conventional septic tank systems so 

 that they can be adapted to the loose 

 sandy soil and high water tables of the 

 coastal plain. 



In the past, when the state's seafood 

 industry set about dividing the fishes, 

 the "trash fish" quite often out- 

 weighed the keepers. 



Every year, for instance, thousands 

 of pounds of edible, but relatively un- 

 popular, croaker, spot and mullet 

 bring low prices at North Carolina's 

 docks. 



So for the past two years, NCSU 

 food scientists Don Hamann, Tyre 

 Lanier and Frank Thomas have been 

 experimenting with new ways to use 

 the minced meat from these fish. They 

 want to determine the binding 

 property of the fish. Binding ability af- 

 fects the texture of any final product 

 and is an important consideration for 

 commercial companies. 



As a by-product of their work, the 

 researchers have come up with several 

 products, including smoked salad bits, 

 smoked sausages, luncheon meats and 

 a shrimp-croaker product. 



During 1980, the researchers will 

 concentrate on work with surimi — 

 washed, minced fish. Surimi is used ex- 

 tensively in Japan as a base for fish 

 products. The researchers hope they 

 can create similar products which 

 would appeal to the American ap- 

 petite. Their ultimate aim is to 

 stimulate the development of a seafood 

 industry in the South based on minced 

 fish and surimi. 



In a related research project begun 

 in 1979, Lanier and Thomas are ex- 

 ploring other ways of boosting the 

 seafood industry. They have found 

 that many inland markets are closed to 

 seafood distributors because most 

 North Carolina processors package 

 only fresh iced fish, which can't be 

 shipped far or stored long. 



Lanier and Thomas think that freez- 

 ing fish is one solution to the problem. 

 This year they will continue market- 

 testing a variety of wrapping and 

 packaging techniques to see which are 

 the most appealing to North Carolina 

 consumers. 



Aquaculture 



As early as the Fifth Century B.C., 

 the Chinese were experimenting with 

 aquaculture. 



In the United States, aquaculture is 

 still an infant industry, producing 

 mainly specialty foods. One specialty 

 food, for which there is a big demand 

 in the Orient and Europe, is the eel. 

 Since 1975 UNC Sea Grant has funded 

 research on methods of culturing the 

 American eel. 



Early last year the eel farm moved 

 to expanded facilities on the shores of 

 the Pamlico River near Aurora. Dur- 

 ing 1980, the researchers, headed by 

 Sea Grant associate director Bill 

 Rickards, will continue to offer advice 

 and information to other eel culture 

 operations. 



Next door to the eel farm, two 

 NCSU fisheries biologists are working 

 on another type of aquaculture pro- 

 ject. Using tanks and grow-out ponds 

 similar to those at the eel farm, 

 Howard Kerby and Mel Huish are ex- 

 perimenting with raising hybrids from 

 striped bass X white bass and striped 

 bass X white perch. 



The researchers are interested in the 

 hybrids as food fish. In the wild, 

 striped bass populations are waning, 

 and scientists have been unable to 

 raise this delectable fish under culture 



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