THE BACK PAGE 



"The Back Page" will become a 

 permanent part of this news- 

 letter's new look. This is where you 

 can read about what's new in Sea 

 Grant activities — in research, 

 marine education, and advisory 

 services. Check this page for new 

 publication listings, too. For more 

 information on any of the projects 

 described, call the Sea Grant office 

 in Raleigh (919/737-2454). 



Sea Grant researcher 

 Peter Fricke of the In- 

 stitute for Coastal and 

 Marine Resources and 

 the Department of 

 Anthropology and 

 Sociology at East 

 Carolina University (ECU) has begun 

 a series of interviews with recreational 

 fishermen along the North Carolina 

 coast. His study is part of a larger ef- 

 fort to learn more about the recrea- 

 tional fishery off North Carolina. 



Recreational fishing is an important 

 activity along the state's coast. Its 

 popularity is growing by leaps and 

 bounds. On a typical sunny summer 

 day, marinas and piers bustle with ac- 

 tivity; thousands of small boats troll 

 sounds and nearshore waters, and surf 

 fishermen eagerly line up along 

 breakers in pursuit of prize catches. 



For the hundreds of businesses that 

 have developed around the recreation- 

 al fishing industry such growth has 

 been a real boon. But it has also inten- 

 sified pressures being placed on finite 

 fishery resources and fueled the grow- 

 ing controversy between commercial 

 and recreational fishing interests. 



Specifically Fricke's study is focus- 

 ing on the socio-economic characteris- 

 tics of the small boat recreational fish- 

 ery for pelagic species, including king 

 and Spanish mackerel, bluefish and 

 false albacore. The National Marine 

 Fisheries Service estimates that this 

 segment of the recreational fishery has 

 doubled in the last two decades. 



Through a series of interviews with 

 recreational fishermen, Fricke hopes to 

 find out such information as: who par- 



ticipates in the recreational fishery and 

 why, how much value they place on the 

 fishing experience, how much money is 

 generated by the fishery, the fre- 

 quency and duration of fishing trips, 

 what species of fish are being caught 

 and how they are used, what effect 

 recreational fishing is having on fish 

 stocks, and what impact regulatory 

 policies will have on the fishery. 



This information is basic to fishery 

 management plans being formulated 

 by state resource agencies and by the 

 regional councils under the Fishery 

 Conservation and Management Act. 



With the help of Sea 

 Grant funds, three grad- 

 uate researchers at the 

 University of North 

 Carolina's Institute of 

 Marine Sciences in 

 Morehead City will be 

 looking at the effectiveness of grass 

 transplants in revegetating sea grass 

 meadow areas damaged by boating and 

 shellfish harvesting activities. 



The grasses that grow in estuarine 

 and nearshore environments provide 

 valuable habitat for many commer- 

 cially important fish and shellfish. 

 They also form the basis of the food 

 web upon which many marine organ- 

 isms depend. 



Unfortunately these grasses are 

 easily disturbed by the activities of 

 man. Shoots are easily broken off and 

 entire plants uprooted by whirling pro- 

 pellors, shellfish dredges and clam 

 kickers. In nature it may take years for 

 a damaged area to recover. 



But researchers Mark Fonesca, Jurij 

 Homziak and W. Judson Kenworthy 

 believe that it may be possible to short- 

 en the recovery time by using grass 

 transplants. In this project they will 

 try to transplant sea grasses into a 3.2 

 hectare site in Back Sound, southeast 

 of Cape Lookout. Commercial scallop- 

 ing activities in the area have com- 

 pletely denuded the site of eel grass 

 cover. The researchers will monitor the 

 area to see how well different grass 

 mixtures work and what sort of 



changes occur in populations of fish 

 and shellfish as the area revegetates. If 

 the experiment is successful, it could 

 become an important management tool 

 for the restoration of damaged areas. 



Coastal recreation is a 

 subject that appeals to 

 inlanders as well as 

 coastal residents. So for 

 the past two springs Sea 

 Grant's recreation spec- 

 ialist Leon Abbas has 

 presented a series of lectures in Raleigh 

 on coastal recreation. This year the 

 series also will be presented in Char- 

 lotte. It will run four consecutive Mon- 

 day nights in the North Carolina State 

 University Faculty Club on Hills- 

 borough Street in Raleigh and four 

 consecutive Tuesday nights in the 

 auditorium of the Best Western Coli- 

 seum Motel, 3024 East Independence 

 Blvd., in Charlotte. Lectures will begin 

 at 7:30 p.m. and are open to the public 

 free of charge. Here's the schedule: 



Pier and surf fishing in North 

 Carolina, Robert Goldstein of 

 Raleigh, author of Pier Fishing in 

 North Carolina . March 19 in 

 Raleigh. March 20 in Charlotte. 



Sharks, Frank Schwartz of the In- 

 stitute of Marine Sciences in More- 

 head City. March 26 in Raleigh. 

 March 27 in Charlotte. 



Shelling on North Carolina 

 beaches, Hugh Porter of the UNC In- 

 stitute of Marine Sciences in More- 

 head City. April 2 in Raleigh. April 3 in 

 Charlotte. 



Getting started in family 

 boating, J. Rodney Hall of Rock Hill, 

 S.C. April 9 in Raleigh. April 10 in 

 Charlotte. 



Also on the recreation front Sea 

 Grant agent Dennis Regan has a hand 

 in planning a one-day statewide scuba 

 conference. The meeting will be held at 

 the Marine Resources Center on Bogue 

 Banks and will treat various aspects of 

 diving in North Carolina — from under- 



