Ci f t deck 



Dogfish 'N' Chips 



Europe's hankering for fish 'n' chips 

 has helped some North Carolina fisher- 

 men stay afloat in a season of slim 

 pickins'. 



Commercial fishermen around 

 Oregon Inlet and off Cape Hatteras have 

 found a market for spiny dogfish in 

 England, Belgium and France. Once 

 considered a royal nuisance, this 

 abundant fish is growing in stature 

 among Tar Heel watermen. 



"Most of the time, they were just 

 thrown overboard," says Eddie Midgett 

 of Wanchese Fish Co. on Roanoke 

 Island. "But now there's a market for 

 them." 



Coupled with french-fried potatoes, 

 these members of the shark family make 

 a tasty fish 'n' chips meal. 



From October through early April, 

 fishermen hauled in millions of pounds 

 of dogfish. Midgett says in January 

 alone, the fish house handled more than 

 a million pounds. "And that was not our 

 biggest month," he says. 



Sea Grant agent Wayne Wescott 

 says the catch brought 8 cents a pound. 



Bountiful numbers of dogfish helped 

 fishermen survive an otherwise puny 

 finfish harvest. "It was the only ball 

 game this winter," says Midgett. 



Wanchese Fish Co. processed some 

 of the fish on the premises and shipped 

 other dogfish to Massachusetts to be cut 

 and cleaned. Other processing was done 

 by Murray Nixon in Edenton and 

 International Seafood in Norfolk, Va. 



The only fault fishermen can find 

 with this creature now is its unsavory 

 name. 



"They're trying to get that changed," 

 says Wescott, adding that locals have 

 christened this ocean catch, "chipfish." 



Musseling into 

 Carolina Waters 



If you use electricity or drink water, 

 you should be concerned about the zebra 



mussel's waterway voyage south toward 

 North Carolina. 



The tiny mollusk, a native of the 

 Black and Caspian seas, was first sited 

 in the Great Lakes four years ago. 



Since then, it has traveled hundreds 

 of miles through rivers and waterways, 

 multiplying and clogging intake pipes 

 for water systems and power plants. 



And there's more. 



As the barnacle-like mollusks 

 colonize and encrust hard surfaces, they 



have ruined boat engines, harmed native 

 fisheries and littered beaches with 

 smelly, sharp shells. 



The costs are expected to reach 

 billions of dollars. 



Already, the zebra mussel has 

 worked its way into the Chesapeake 

 Bay, the Mississippi River and the 

 Tennessee Valley Authority water 

 system. Its forecasted arrival in North 

 Carolina: one to two years. 



The freshwater mollusk, as well as a 

 related species able to tolerate low levels 

 of salinity, is expected to settle in the 

 rivers and brackish estuaries of the state. 



Until then, there's little the state can 

 do to slow the mussel's travel or to 

 prevent it from settling here. Most 

 preventive measures — heavy chlorina- 

 tion or retrofitting equipment — are 

 impractical and expensive, says Jim 



Murray, director of Sea Grant's Marine 

 Advisory Service. 



"Realistically, there's not a good way 

 to deal with them right now," he says. 



But researchers, industries and 

 boaters can be ready, Murray says. 



Beginning in June, Sea Grant is 

 expected to launch an effort to systemati- 

 cally monitor state waterways, lakes and 

 estuaries for the zebra mussel. It will 

 encourage agencies and utility compa- 

 nies already studying these waters to 

 watch for the mollusk. 



The project is expected to be funded, 

 in part, by a $25,000 block of the $3 

 million federal appropriation for zebra 

 mussel research and education. 



The bulk of this federal funding is 

 earmarked for the Great Lakes states. 

 But Mid- Atlantic and New England 

 states are expected to win a share. 



The effort in North Carolina, one of 

 five Mid-Atlantic states, will also 

 include preparedness education and 

 training for industries that would be 

 economically impacted by the mollusk. 



These industries would include 

 municipal water systems, waste treat- 

 ment plants, pulp and paper mills, power 

 companies and large-scale agricultural 

 operations. 



Experts project that the zebra mussel 

 will spread to the south and west until it 

 reaches a warm-water band running 

 across the southern regions of California, 

 Arizona, Texas and Florida. 



The exotic mollusk was probably 

 introduced to the Great Lakes in the mid- 

 1980s through the discharge of ballast 

 water from international ships. A native 

 to seas straddling Europe and Asia, the 

 zebra mussel hitchhiked through Europe 

 where, after 200 years of infestation, no 

 chemical toxicant has been developed 

 that is not deadly to other aquatic life. 



The zebra mussel is an elongated, 

 fingernail-sized mollusk that can grow 

 up to 2 inches. It is D-shaped with 

 alternating bands of dark and light colors 



22 MAY/JUNE 1992 



