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, 

 workshops and new publications. 

 For more information on any of 

 the projects described, contact the 

 Sea Grant offices in Raleigh 

 (919/737-2454). 



Whoever thought re- 

 search is only done in 

 laboratories hasn't seen 

 UNC Sea Grant 

 researcher Charles 

 Peterson on his hands 

 and knees in the Bogue 

 Sound marsh, sifting the sands for 

 hard clams. Peterson, a researcher at 

 the Institute of Marine Sciences in 

 Morehead City, is looking at the 

 management of the hard clam fishery 

 in this state with special emphasis on 

 the effects of various harvesting 

 methods. 



Each clam that Peterson turned up 

 in his Bogue Sound search was dotted 

 with paint and returned to one of 30 

 one-meter plots. Half of the plots were 

 covered in Cuban shoal grass while 

 others were stripped of their grass and 

 the clams left in bare, sandy bottoms. 

 The test? To see how sea grass cover 

 affected predation of hard clams by 

 whelks (often mistakenly called 

 conchs). 



Peterson gave the experiment six 

 months. Meanwhile he did some detec- 

 tive work in the laboratory. He fed 

 clams to whelks so he would be able to 

 determine what kind of evidence the 

 predatory whelk left behind. 



After determining the clues of whelk 

 predation, Peterson went back to 

 sound to sift the sands. He found that 

 hard clams, who had the cover of sea 

 grass, fared well. But many of those 

 hard clams left in bare, sandy bottoms 

 were eaten. During the six-month ex- 

 periment conducted during cold 

 weather, 32 percent of the hard clams 

 left on the sandy bottom were eaten by 

 whelks. Peterson repeated the experi- 



ment during four warm months, 

 finding 70 percent of the hard clams in 

 sandy areas preyed upon by whelks. 

 Peterson says the higher summer mor- 

 tality resulted from increased whelk 

 activity, an increase characteristic of 

 most marine creatures during warmer 

 months. 



What does all this mean? Grass beds 

 denuded by raking and clam kicking 

 can not only deprive young fishes of 

 needed habitat, but it also sets up hard 

 clams as a more likely target for preda- 

 tion by whelks. 



Fishermen, marina 

 operators, seafood 

 dealers and others have a 

 new source of informa- 

 tion. Two Sea Grant 

 marine advisory agents, 

 Bob Hines and Larry 

 Giardina, have published the first issue 

 of a newsletter designed for people who 

 use the state's marine resources. The 

 newsletter, which will be published 

 monthly, will offer news about 

 research, advances in gear and 

 methods, regulations, and programs 

 and events of interest. To receive this 

 free newsletter, contact the UNC Sea 

 Grant Marine Advisory Services, P. O. 

 Box 896, Atlantic Beach, N. C. 28512, 

 or call (919) 726-0125. 



Available: prime lab- 

 oratory space in three 

 desirable coastal loca- 

 tions. Utilities and some 

 furniture and equipment 

 included. Access to 

 boats, darkrooms and 

 holding tanks. Rent: based on tenant's 

 ability to pay. 



To scientists accustomed to over- 

 crowded campus labs, an announce- 

 ment like the one above might seem 

 too good to be true. This one, however, 

 is for real. According to Doug Young 

 of the N. C. Office of Marine Affairs, 

 there are four labs available in each of 

 the three N. C. Marine Resources Cen- 

 ters (at Ft. Fisher, Bogue Banks and 

 Roanoke Island). Young says the labs 



are offered to qualified investigators 

 conducting studies pertinent to 

 problems associated with coastal and 

 marine resources. The offer is not 

 limited to North Carolina in- 

 vestigators. 



Three projects are currently un- 

 derway in the centers. One of them, 

 Project CAPE, a program directed by 

 Carolyn Hampton of East Carolina 

 University (ECU), is using space at 

 the Roanoke Island center to develop 

 teaching materials in marine education 

 for Dare County public schools. 



Qualified researchers interested in 

 space at the centers should inquire to 

 J. C. Jones, director, N. C. Office of 

 Marine Affairs, 116 W. Jones Street, 

 Raleigh, N. C. 27611. 



Xo give some inland 

 extension home eco- 

 nomics agents a taste 

 of the sea, UNC Sea 

 Grant and the N.C. 

 Agricultural Extension 

 Service sponsored three 

 days of in-service training in October 

 at the NCSU Seafood Laboratory at 

 Morehead City. Sea Grant staff at the 

 lab, Frank Thomas, Joyce Taylor, and 

 Sam Thomas, along with extension 

 personnel, told the agents about how 

 nutritious and economical seafood can 

 be, and gave them tips on how to 

 preserve and prepare it. Then, for 

 some hands-on experience, the exten- 

 sion agents learned how to fillet fish, 

 steam crabs, and pry open oysters. 



Armed with their new seafood 

 knowledge, the extension agents re- 

 turned to their inland counties 

 prepared to spread the world about 

 seafood. 



Problem: how to 

 design a tent for camp- 

 ing on the beach. Re- 

 quirements: must be 

 economical, light weight, 

 durable and weather- 

 tight. The occasion was 

 an October field trip for 19 students in 

 Continued on next page 



