Tiiii: BACK mail 



"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). For copies of 

 publications, write UNC Sea 

 Grant. NCSU, Box 8605, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27695-8605. 



Xechnically they're 

 trawling efficiency 

 devices. To fishermen, 

 they're TEDs or Mr. Ts. 

 But whatever you call 

 them, the TED is a new 

 piece of gear that has 

 North Carolina shrimpers talking. 



The TED was developed by the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service for 

 use by the commercial shrimping in- 

 dustry in the Southeast. It increases 

 trawling efficiency by decreasing by- 

 catch and improving water flow 

 through the trawl. 



The TED is a 36- by 42- by 30-inch 

 frame built of galvanized pipe or 

 fiberglass rod. Inside the frame are 

 slanted deflector bars that force large 

 objects — sea turtles, cannonball 

 jellyfish and horseshoe crabs — out a 

 trap door. A smaller deflector grid rids 

 the net of finfish. 



UNC Sea Grant marine advisory 

 agent Jim Bahen is spreading the word 

 about the devices. Using devices sup- 

 pHed by the NMFS, he is asking 

 shrimpers to give the TED a try. 



Norman Bellamy of Holden Beach 

 allowed Bahen to install the devices in 

 the nets of two of his shrimp boats. 

 William Varnam, captain of one of the 

 boats, has made three trips with the 

 TEDs and likes them. 



"It catches less trash fish so I can 

 drag as long as I want," Varnum says. 

 "Without it I could only tow about 

 two hours before I had to empty the 

 nets. It cuts down on culling time and 

 hired hands. I went from four hired 

 hands to two. I'm glad they came up 



with something like this. I wish I had 

 had it a month ago." 



In a trial run, Bahen tested the 

 TED on a double trawl shrimp boat. 

 The TED was installed in the tailbag 

 of one net; the other net was left as 

 usual. The TED net eliminated 50 to 

 75 percent of the bycatch, while 

 catching the same amount of shrimp. 



By reducing the bycatch and subse- 

 quent culling time, Bahen says fisher- 

 men can get their catch on ice faster, 

 making for a fresher product. 



Bahen and Varnum agree that the 

 TED eliminates another problem that 

 has plagued the shrimp fishery this 

 summer — dead fish on the beach. After 

 several hours on deck, fish that are 

 culled from the catch and pushed over- 

 board are often dead. They wash 

 ashore, creating an unpleasant sight 

 and smell. But the TED virtually 

 eliminates this problem by decreasing 

 the finfish bycatch. 



The TED also pays off in another 

 way. It reduces the bycatch of juvenile 

 fish. That means more fish are likely to 

 grow to maturity — a bonus for finfish 

 fishermen. 



Does the TED pose any problems? 

 Very few. Varnum says pieces of wood 

 in the water and some "house" trash 

 have become lodged in the TED. 

 Otherwise, "it's working fine," he says. 



Unlike earlier versions of the TED 

 developed by the NMFS, this model is 

 lightweight and more manageable. "It 

 takes no longer to get the nets down or 

 bring them aboard." Varnum says. 

 "And I've had no problems with the 

 TED beating against the side of the 

 boat." 



For more information about how to 

 use or build a TED, write Bahen at the 

 N.C. Marine Resources Center at Ft. 

 Fisher, P.O. Box 130, Kure Beach, 

 N.C. 28449, or call 919/458-5498. 



Unc Sea Grant has received funds 

 to promote marine-related studies 

 from the Year of the Ocean Founda- 

 tion, an organization designed to 

 celebrate the ocean and focus on 

 oceanic issues. The grant will be used 

 to provide awards, publications and a 



reception for high school students with 

 prize-winning marine science projects, 

 says Lundie Spence, Sea Grant's 

 marine education specialist and co- 

 chairman of the World of Water com- 

 petition. As part of the World of Water 

 events, the students and their super- 

 vising teachers will attend the 

 National Youth Conference on Marine 

 and Aquatic Science Nov. 12 to 15 in 

 San Diego, Calif. 



Unc Sea Grant is 

 coordinating a research 

 project for the U.S. 

 Marine Corps at Camp 

 Lejeune. The base's On- 

 slow Beach amphibious 

 training site is one of 

 only two such sites for the Marines in 

 the nation, and there is concern that 

 the training exercises may be creating 

 erosion problems. The Onslow Beach 

 coastal management study will draw 

 together a team of researchers to iden- 

 tify management practices that will 

 ensure continued maintenance of the 

 barrier island for amphibious training. 



Sea Grant Director B.J. Copeland 

 has assembled a research team to 

 assess present shoreline processes, 

 historical barrier island trends, and 

 man's influence on those trends. The 

 team includes Sea Grant researchers 

 John Fisher and Margery Overton 

 from NCSU and Sea Grant coastal 

 engineering specialist Spencer Rogers. 

 William Cleary and Paul Hosier, from 

 the University of North Carolina at 

 Wilmington, and Steve Benton, from 

 the N.C. Division of Coastal Manage- 

 ment, will also participate in the 

 study. 



The N.C. Department of Ad- 

 ministration and the N.C. Marine 

 Science Council are sponsoring an 

 ocean policy conference. The N.C. 

 Governor's Conference on Coastal 

 State Ocean Policy will be held Oct. 30 

 through Nov. 1 at the Sheraton- 

 Crabtree in Raleigh. Michael Orbach, 

 East Carolina University 

 anthropologist and a Sea Grant 



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