THE BACK PAGE 



"The Back Page" is an update 

 on Sea Grant activities — on re- 

 search, marine education and ad- 

 visory 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 offices in Raleigh 

 (919/737-2354). 



If you own property 

 at the beach, give a 

 thought to your dunes. 

 Are they well-covered 

 with a healthy stand of 

 sea oats or beach grass? 

 According to Spencer 

 Rogers, Sea Grant's coastal engineer- 

 ing specialist, grasses hold dunes in 

 place and help them resist erosion. 



If your dunes are balding and lack 

 vegetation, this is the time of year to 

 try some transplants. Rogers says that 

 successful transplanting begins with 

 the right fertilizer. Choose a granular 

 variety containing nitrogen — "8-8-8" 

 or "10-10-10" will do — and broadcast 

 it onto the bare dunes or pathways. 

 You can find American beach grass 

 plants in nurseries along the coast, or 

 you can select young plants from a 

 good stand on your own property. 

 Remember, it's illegal to take dune 

 grasses from public land. 



Dig the grasses up carefully. Set 

 single plants about 18" apart, and 

 make sure to get them at least a foot 

 deep, so that the roots don't dry out. 

 As the plants establish themselves, 

 they send out rhizomes and fill out the 

 stand. 



Rogers says it's best to keep people 

 and traffic off the dune grasses. Only a 

 few tramplings can kill the plants. He 

 recommends elevated walkways for 

 areas where people cross dunes to 

 reach the beach. 



If your lot borders a sound or es- 

 tuary, and erosion is a problem, grasses 

 might also help protect your property. 

 Sea Grant researchers Ernie Seneca, 

 Steve Broome and W. W. Woodhouse 

 have found that in some areas, marsh- 



grass plantings can help slow shoreline 

 erosion. If you want to know more, 

 contact Spencer Rogers, Marine Ad- 

 visory Service, N.C. Marine Resources 

 Center/Ft. Fisher, Kure Beach, N.C. 

 28449. 



Sea Grant Publica- 

 tions is an updated 

 brochure that lists all of 

 UNC Sea Grant's 

 general-interest publica- 

 tions. The brochure 

 provides a brief descrip- 

 tion of each publication and lists its 

 price, if there is a change. The 

 brochure also provides an order form 

 that can be filled out and sent to the 

 Sea Grant office in Raleigh for quick 

 processing. For your free publications 

 list, write UNC Sea Grant, Box 5001, 

 Raleigh, N.C. 27650. 



Seacoast Life: an ecological 

 guide to natural seashore com- 

 munities in North Carolina, by 

 Judith M. Spitsbergen of the Hampton 

 Mariners Museum in Beaufort, 

 describes the dunes, tidal flats, 

 marshes, plants, organisms and critters 

 that make up coastal North Carolina. 

 An ideal field guide for teachers and 

 students, the illustrated book focuses 

 on coastal ecology rather than on the 

 identification of individual plants or 

 animals. Funding for the book was 

 provided by UNC Sea Grant and the 

 North Carolina State Museum of 

 Natural History. For a copy of the 

 guide, make a check payable to NCDA 

 Museum Extension Fund for $6.95 

 ($5.95 plus $1 for postage and han- 

 dling). Send the check to Museum 

 Publications, P.O. Box 27647, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27611. Or you can buy a copy by 

 dropping by the Natural History 

 Museum in Raleigh or the Hampton 

 Mariners Museum in Beaufort. 



Shellfish Relay: A Preliminary 

 Review of Potential Gains from 

 Alternative Property Rights in 

 Southeastern North Carolina, by 

 J.E. Easley and James D. Seabolt of 



the NCSU Department of Economics 

 and Business, discuoses the alter- 

 natives for and economics of relaying 

 or transferring contaminated shellfish 

 from polluted water to clean water. 

 For a copy, write UNC Sea Grant and 

 ask for UNC-SG-WP-81-1. The work- 

 ing paper is free to North Carolina 

 residents, but out-of-state residents 

 must pay $1. 



Fishery Facts 9: design and 

 materials used in construction of a 

 16-foot shrimp trawl, a reprint of a 

 National Marine Fisheries publication, 

 is now available from UNC Sea Grant. 

 The publication is free. Ask for Fishery 

 Facts 9. 



As President Reagan 

 sliced away at federal 

 spending in February 

 and March, his team 

 outlined the shut-down 

 of the federal Sea Grant 

 program during fiscal 

 year 1982. In the proposed budget he 

 submitted to Congress, Reagan 

 allowed only $1.8 million for Sea Grant 

 in 1982, to be used for "an orderly 

 phase-out of the program." 



The National Sea Grant office im- 

 mediately issued a "call for informa- 

 tion" to all the state programs, in- 

 cluding North Carolina, to document 

 Sea Grant's contribution to the na- 

 tion's coastal economies. Economic in- 

 formation was forwarded to Secretary 

 of Commerce Baldridge, as well as 

 many members of Congress who sup- 

 port the Sea Grant cause. As the facts 

 poured in from across the country, the 

 national office was able to document 

 that the economic benefits derived 

 from the Sea Grant programs in one 

 year came close to matching the total 

 federal investment in Sea Grant for all 

 its 13 years of operation. 



North Carolina Sea Grant Director 

 B. J. Copeland will be traveling to 

 Washington, D.C. in late March to de- 

 fend Sea Grant before the House Sub- 

 Continued on next page 



