THE BACK PACK 



"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, 

 workshops and new publications. 

 For more information on any of 

 the projects described, contact the 

 Sea Grant office in Raleigh 

 (919/737-2454). 



Cold weather isn't 

 enough to keep some 

 fishermen in on a 

 blustery day, but frozen 

 sounds are. Days of 

 record low temperatures 

 in January froze sounds 

 three to four feet thick along the Outer 

 Banks, keeping all boats docked for 

 several days and fishermen in for a 

 winter break. 



John McClain of the National 

 Weather Service in Raleigh said this 

 winter has been cold, "but not that 

 cold. The winter of '76 and '77," he ex- 

 plained "was the coldest in North 

 Carolina since we started keeping 

 records." According to Jay Hull of the 

 Cape Hatteras National Weather Ser- 

 vice, "During that chilly winter, there 

 were long strings of days below freez- 

 ing with ice, blown up on the beach by 

 wind, eight to ten feet high. Still, 

 January has been a cold month with 

 below normal temperatures." 



Salinity is a prime factor in sounds 

 freezing. Bob Hines, Sea Grant marine 

 advisory agent at Bogue Banks, says 

 the sounds are not as salty as the ocean 

 and will freeze first. "As salinity goes 

 up," he says, "the freezing point goes 

 down. Average sound temperatures 

 during this cold period were 34°F 

 (1°C). The freezing point for ocean 

 water is approximately 28°F (-2°C)." 

 2°C)." 



When the water gets colder, fish 

 move to warmer areas. But, thousands 

 of young croaker in Pamlico Sound got 

 caught in the sound and died in the 

 freezing water. According to Bob 

 Pittman of the Division of Marine 



Fisheries, "This was not a tremendous 

 loss in relation to the annual harvest, 

 but still a significant loss. Fishermen 

 were scooping up one-tenth of one per- 

 cent of the dead fish, but they are not a 

 marketable size." 



Pittman is concerned that more of 

 the extreme cold could affect the pink 

 shrimp population which is overwin- 

 tering now. Pink shrimp account for 

 only 10 to 20 percent of North 

 Carolina's total shrimp harvest, but 

 Carteret and Onslow counties are very 

 dependent on this species. "It's possi- 

 ble," Pittman explains, "that we could 

 have a high mortality rate if these cold 

 temperatures continue." The pink 

 shrimp and oyster populations were in 

 danger the winter of 1976-77. 



The recent cold spell has the Coast 

 Guard worried, too. Many aids-to- 

 navigation, especially between Oregon 

 Inlet and Roanoke Sound, were ripped 

 out by the ice. QMT Richard Brady of 

 the Cape Hatteras Coast Guard Sta- 

 tion says, "A lot of aids are missing, 

 destroyed or off location, and boaters 

 should exercise extreme caution. A 

 broadcast notice to mariners will be 

 aired continuously until the aids are 

 replaced." 



Brady says replacing the aids will 

 take some time. There is an ice- 

 breaking vessel, the Chokeberry, 

 assigned to the Hatteras area. But, it is 

 now working in the Chesapeake Bay 

 where there has been even more severe 

 winter weather. 



Since so many of our 

 readers have expressed 

 an interest in our 

 Harkers Island issues, 

 Coastwatch thought 

 you might like to know 

 about a program being 

 aired on UNC-TV this month. "The 

 Peggy Rose," a 30-minute program on 

 the Rose Brothers Boat Works, will be 

 broadcast on all UNC-TV stations 

 February 9 at 10:30 p.m. and 

 February 15 at 3:30 p.m. 



Produced and directed by Woody 

 Woodward, the documentary follows 

 James and Earl Rose building a 55- 



foot sportfishing boat from 1977-78. 

 Completed last October, "The Peggy 

 Rose" was a massive editing project of 

 over 25 hours of videotape shot at the 

 Harkers Island boat works. 

 Woodward's production was the result 

 of an artist-in-residence grant at UNC- 

 TV funded by the Corporation for 

 Public Broadcasting and the National 

 Endowment of the Arts. 



Over a thousand stu- 

 dents entered a recent 

 poster contest celebrat- 

 ing 1980 Year of the 

 Coast. Sponsored by Sea 

 Grant, the North Caro- 

 lina Marine Resources 

 Centers and the Department of Public 

 Instruction, the statewide contest en- 

 tries were judged in four age categories 

 by the three centers and the Sea Grant 

 office. 



Entries included seascapes, 

 lighthouses and coastal animals in 

 crayon, pastels, pen and ink, acrylics 

 and mixed media. Winners were 

 awarded a specially designed certifi- 

 cate and a marine education program, 

 called "Sea Day," for their classes or 

 schools. 



Winners in grades K-3 were: 

 Stephanie Krolick (first place), Kitty 

 Hawk Elementary, Kill Devil Hills; 

 Justin Cooper (runner-up), Forest 

 Hills Elementary, Wilmington; and 

 Rockridge 2nd Grade School (class 

 poster runner-up), Cleo Taylor, 

 teacher, Wilson. Winners in grades 4-6 

 were: Tommy Southern (first place), 

 Summer Middle School, Greensboro; 

 Cathy Scarborough (runner-up), 

 Ocracoke School, Ocracoke; and Leslie 

 Ashfield (runner-up). Welcome School, 

 Welcome. 



Winners in grades 7-9 were: Wylie 

 Whitehurst (first place), Ocracoke 

 School, Ocracoke; Denise Lavertz 

 (runner-up), Wiley School, Winston- 

 Salem; and David Cagle (runner-up), 

 East Lee Junior High School, Sanford. 

 Winners in grades 10-12 were: Robert 

 Stephens (first place), Weaver 



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