and colonizes in layers on hard surfaces. 



Report sitings of the mollusk — 

 including location and quantity — to 

 Sea Grant at 919/515-2454. 



Tips for boat owners who find the 

 zebra mussels on their hulls: 



• Scrape and catch them in a bag, 

 once or twice a month. 



• When transporting a boat, drain all 

 bilge water, live wells and bait buckets 

 before leaving infested areas. Leftover 

 bait should not be transported from 

 infested waterways to uninfested waters. 



• Thoroughly inspect the boat hull, 

 outdrive, trim plates, trolling plates, 

 prop guards, transducers, trailers and 

 other parts exposed to infested waters. 

 Hitchhiking mussels should be scraped. 



• Anti-fouling paints may prevent 

 them from attaching to boat hulls and 

 outdrive units. But hull waxes do not 

 appear to be effective. 



• The use of chemicals such as 

 chlorine and molluscicides by the 

 general public could result in ecological 

 harm, leading to even greater cleanup 

 costs, and should be avoided. 



''Return to the Sea" 

 on Public TV 



You don't have to be a Jacques 

 Cousteau-type to enjoy the ocean. 



That's the point of North Carolina 

 Public Television's "Return to the Sea" 

 series, a seven-part collection of half- 

 hour programs scheduled to air this year. 



The series will be shown in 40 states 

 and Washington, D.C., on participating 

 public television stations. 



In North Carolina, an expanded 

 package of 13 segments will run in the 

 late summer or early fall. The seven-part 

 series was aired last fall. 



Filmmaker Bill Lovin and producer 

 Jim Bramlett say the series sets out to 

 demystify the ocean for non-divers who 

 may see it as dangerous and intimidat- 

 ing. 



Rather, the sea can be accessible to 

 people with all appetites for adventure, 

 from a walk on the beach or a snorkel- 

 ing outing to a dive on a reef. 



Part one, "A Day on the Reef," 

 examines the coral reef ecosystem from 

 dawn to dusk. 



Part two, "Secrets of the Shark," 

 explores a shark breeding zone off the 

 North Carolina coast and displays 

 footage of mantas and hammerheads off 

 Cocos Island. 



Part three, a two-part program, 

 explores how fish sense their underwa- 

 ter environment in "Fish Senses," and 

 how people experience it through 

 underwater photography in "The Art of 

 Underwater Photography." 



Part four, "The Ocean at Night," 

 examines the sights of night-diving. It 

 also profiles the world's newest ocean, 

 the Sea of Cortez. 



Part five, "Graveyard of the Atlantic 

 ... Graveyard of the Pacific," compares 

 sunken World War II wrecks in both 

 oceans, from the coast of North Caro- 

 lina to the Truk Lagoon. 



Part six, "People Who Make a 

 Difference," profiles Norine Rouse, a 

 long-time scuba instructor and guide. 

 Also featured are Jill Robinson and Ted 

 Bridus, two divers with disabilities. 



Part seven, "The Reef at the End of 

 the Road," examines the ecosystem of 

 the Florida Keys and the dilemma of 

 protecting America's most popular 

 reefs. Also included is a look at the 

 endangered manatee. 



Lundie Spence, Sea Grant's marine 

 education specialist, served as a 

 consultant for the series. 



Viewers should contact their local 

 PBS station for broadcast dates and 

 times. 



Peddling the 

 Homely Hagfish 



It's slithery. It's slimy. It's revolting. 



But the Atlantic hagfish, more 

 commonly known as the slime eel, 

 could be a boon to New England 

 fishermen. 



The University of New Hampshire 

 Sea Grant Program is investigating the 

 feasibility of harvesting the eels. The 

 eels would be sold to South Korean 



firms that produce eelskin wallets, 

 boots, bags and other products. 



Hagfish burrow into the mud at the 

 bottom of the ocean. They grow about 

 2 feet long, develop teeth-like struc- 

 tures on their tongues and have a 

 collection of tentacles on their snouts. 



Eyeless, they depend on their sense 

 of smell to find food. They feed on 

 dead or helpless fish. And that's where 

 they run afoul of fishermen. 



When hagfish come upon a fish 

 trapped in a gill net, they enter it 

 through the mouth, gills or anus, then 

 eat the fish from the inside out. 



When the fisherman hauls in his 

 net, he gets what appears to be a 

 healthy catch. However, as soon as the 

 fish hits the deck, one or more slime 

 eels slither out and the fish collapses. 



Hagfish secrete a slimy substance 

 that, in addition to giving them their 

 nickname, helps them get around and 

 protects them from the digestive juices 

 of their involuntary hosts. 



Originally a minor food fishery in 

 Korea, the hagfish fishery grew rapidly 

 in the 1960s and '70s when the market 

 for eelskin leather developed. In the 

 1980s, slime eel supplies in Korea and 

 Japan diminished, and a fishery 

 developed along the U.S. West Coast. 



In current markets, West Coast 

 fishermen are paid 30 to 40 cents a 

 pound at the dock, a good price for 

 such as slimy predator. 



COASTWATCH 23 



