THE BACK PAGE 



"The Back Page" is an update 

 on Sea Grant activities — on 

 research, marine education and 

 advisory services. It's also a good 

 place to find out about meetings 

 and workshops, and new publica- 

 tions. For more information on 

 any of the projects described , con- 

 tact the Sea Grant office in 

 Raleigh (919/737-2454). 



Contaminated oys- 

 ters can cleanse them- 

 selves of potentially 

 harmful viruses if the 

 oysters are transferred 

 from polluted to clean 

 water. That's the initial 

 finding of the first in a series of relay 

 experiments conducted by Sea Grant 

 researcher Mark Sobsey of the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina at Chapel 

 Hill (UNC-CH). 



In Sobsey's first test, oysters were 

 experimentally contaminated with a 

 harmless enteric virus that behaves 

 like a pathogenic one. The oysters were 

 then transferred, or "relayed," in spe- 

 cial baskets to a research sanctuary in 

 the North River outside of Morehead 

 City. For a month, the oysters were 

 sampled at intervals and checked for 

 viral contamination. Sobsey found 

 that, by the end of the four-week test 

 period, less than 0.02 percent of the 

 viruses remained. Sobsey expects the 

 elimination rate to be even faster dur- 

 ing warmer weather, when the oysters' 

 metabolisms are more active. He will 

 continue his relay experiments 

 throughout the year to see how the 

 cleansing rates vary with the seasons. 



Twenty-three species of colonial 

 waterbirds, including herons, egrets, 

 ibises, gulls and terns, nest along the 

 coast of North Carolina. But, as more 

 of their natural nesting sites are upset, 

 these birds are nesting on new, man- 

 made sites. 



These and other findings were the 



topics of discussion at a three-day 

 planning workshop held May 17-19 in 

 Wilmington. The workshop was or- 

 ganized by Sea Grant researchers Jim 

 Parnell of the University of North 

 Carolina at Wilmington and Bob Soots 

 of Campbell College. It attracted 

 representatives from the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, the Army Corps of 

 Engineers, the National Park Service, 

 the National Audubon Society, the 

 North Carolina Wildlife Resources 

 Commission and other agencies. 



Workshop participants examined 

 the status of waterbirds across the na- 

 tion, and discussed ways to manage 

 them. One management technique, 

 building dredge-spoil nesting islands 

 for the birds, received particular notice 

 as an important management tool. 

 Studies by Parnell and Soots in 1977 

 showed that nearly 80 percent of the 

 colonial waterbirds in North Carolina 

 nested on sites either built or modified 

 by man. 



Proceedings of the workshop will be 

 published by UNC Sea Grant later this 

 year. 



Interested in improv- 

 ing your surf- and pier- 

 fishing skills? If you're in 

 the Nags Head area this 

 summer, you can enroll 

 in free classes, according 

 to Sea Grant's recrea- 

 tion agent Dennis Regan. Pier-fishing 

 classes will be held from 9 a.m. until 11 

 a.m. at the Nags Head Fishing Pier on 

 Tuesdays and at Jennette's Fishing 

 Pier on Wednesdays. Advanced 

 registration is required for these 

 classes. Participants should meet at the 

 Marine Resources Center on Roanoke 

 Island for transportation to the piers. 

 Surf -fishing classes will be held at the 

 Center from 2-4 p.m. Tuesdays and 

 Wednesdays. Fishing equipment will 

 be provided, but participants may 

 bring their own gear. Classes will be of- 

 fered from June 26 through August 29. 

 For more information call Dennis 

 Regan at 473-3937 in Manteo. 



Kor the past four 

 years, Sea Grant re- 

 searchers have been ex- 

 perimenting with the 

 culture of American eels 

 for export to European 

 and Oriental food mar- 

 kets. The eel farm now has new head- 

 quarters at the Pamlico Estuarine Lab- 

 oratory on the shore of South Creek 

 near Aurora. This year two new aqua- 

 culture projects have gotten started 

 there and the site is on its way to be- 

 coming an aquaculture center for east- 

 ern North Carolina. 



With mini-grant funds, eel farm re- 

 searchers recently have begun a study 

 to see whether coho salmon and rain- 

 bow trout can be succesfully raised in 

 eastern North Carolina. Three hun- 

 dred salmon and 150 trout now are be- 

 ing raised in cages in the canals which 

 carry water pumped out of Texas- 

 gulf's open pit phosphate mine. The 

 real test will come this summer when 

 water temperatures are expected to rise 

 close to the upper tolerance level of 

 these fish. 



Also at the Aurora site, fisheries biol- 

 ogists Howard Kerby and Mel Huish 

 of North Carolina State University 

 (NCSU) are conducting experiments to 

 see whether striped bass hybrids can be 

 successfully raised as a food crop. 



I n a related study, researchers at 

 the UNC-CH Law School have re- 

 viewed North Carolina's laws affecting 

 mariculture, the cultivation of marine 

 organisms by exploiting their natural 

 environment. Researchers Tom 

 Schoenbaum and Cathy Martin, in 

 findings presented to the N.C. Marine 

 Science Council and the World Mari- 

 culture Society, have concluded that 

 "In order to make mariculture a viable 

 industry, North Carolina laws that ad- 

 versely impact it will have to be 

 revised to avoid limiting the indus- 

 try's commercial potential." 



Specifically, the researchers recom- 

 mend that the Coastal Resources Com- 

 mission be given authority to make 



