Photos by Steve Wilson 



Dressing a skate: 



1. Cut away wing. 



2. Remove thin outer edge around 

 the wing. 



3. Slice into strips. 



4. Remove skin from both sides 



5. Skate meat that can be fried 



Reefs — underwater development 



The most desirable neighborhood for 

 North CaroHna fish may be a com- 

 munity founded on the garbage of 

 humans. 



Old tires, scrap concrete and sunken 

 ships transform barren ocean floor into 

 some of the best real estate under 

 water. They're called artificial reefs, 

 and fish are moving into the new 

 homes as fast as the state can con- 

 struct them. 



Jim Brown, chief of the Fisheries 

 Services Section with N.C. Division of 

 Marine Fisheries, says an artificial reef 

 is "an effort by man to improve the en- 

 vironment and habitat so that it will 

 support more fish." Brown is in charge 

 of the state's artificial reef program. 

 Since 1973, the program has es- 

 tablished 11 ocean reefs and four es- 

 tuarine reefs with more on the drawing 

 board. 



Brown says it's not hard to prove 

 the value of an artificial reef. For 

 anglers, man-made reefs can turn a 

 questionable day of fishing into an 

 almost sure bet. A study of a reef off 

 Wrightsville Beach showed 29,000 

 man hours of fishing yielded 90,000 



pounds of fish — about three pounds 

 per hour. Brown says that without a 

 reef, an hour's worth of fishing 

 probably would result in about a 

 pound of fish. 



The reason for the difference can be 

 found on the ocean floor. Brown likens 

 a sandy bottom to a biological desert. 

 "I can swim on a sandy bottom for 30 

 minutes in 50 to 100 feet of water and 

 never see a fish. But I would see hun- 

 dreds on a rock bottom. These rocky 

 bottom areas support many times 

 more biological life than sandy bot- 

 toms," says Brown. 



Natural reefs attract great numbers 

 of fish because rock outcroppings serve 

 as attachment sites for food sources 

 such as algae, sponges, coral and other 

 organisms. UNC Sea Grant research- 

 ers Scott Snyder and Stan Riggs are 

 studying rock outcroppings in Onslow 

 Bay. To help commercial and 

 recreational fishermen locate these 

 prime fishing grounds, Snyder and 

 Riggs will map the hardground forma- 

 tions. 



When a natural reef can't be found, 

 neither fish nor fishermen are par- 



ticularly discriminating. They'll 

 usually settle for an artificial reef. 



Steve Ross, a biologist with the N.C. 

 Division of Marine Fisheries, says fish 

 are attracted to man-made reefs for 

 the same reasons they like natural 

 reefs — the availability of space and of 

 food. 



Brown says an artificial reef actually 

 functions better than a natural reef. 

 "The big advantage of an artificial reef 

 is that it provides far more habitat 

 than a natural reef, in proportion to 

 the area it covers and the nooks and 

 crannies it provides," says Brown. 



In case you think the ocean is 

 becoming a burial ground for man's 

 castaways, Brown says you're wrong. 

 An artificial reef takes care of two 

 problems at one time. Disposal of old 

 tires is costly and complicated, and 

 out-of-commission ships cost tax- 

 payers each day the vessel is at the 

 dock, says Brown. An artificial reef of- 

 fers a chance to dispose of the refuse 

 and to improve the fisheries habitat, 

 he says. He adds that the reef con- 

 struction is environmentally safe. 



(Don't assume you can dump your 



