& f t deck 



Kudos to a 

 Special Specialist 



David Green, Sea Grant's seafood 

 processing specialist, has won a 1992 

 Outstanding Extension Service Award 

 from N.C. State University. He won 

 the award based on his work with the 

 North Carolina seafood industry, 

 bringing to fish and shellfish processors 

 the latest seafood research and the 

 newest technological advances. 



Green introduced Tar Heel seafood 

 processors to cryogenic freezing, an 

 innovative process that uses liquid 

 carbon dioxide or liquid nitrogen to 

 flash freeze a product in a matter of 

 seconds. Quick freezing seafood using 

 this technology makes for a better, 

 higher quality thawed product for 

 consumers. 



Working on a grant from the 

 National Coastal Resources Research 

 and Development Institute, Green is 

 using cryogenic freezing to solve 

 several problems plaguing the blue crab 

 industry. 



In the summer when blue crabs are 

 abundant, processors are hampered by 

 an overabundance of crab, a shortage of 

 labor to pick meat from the cooked 

 crustaceans and low profit margins. 



By using cryogenic freezing to flash 

 freeze steam-cooked, in-shell crab 

 cores, Green believes processors can 

 store the frozen crustaceans at low 

 temperatures, then thaw and handpick 

 them later. Holding the crabs eliminates 

 some of the seasonal glut, stabilizes 

 labor needs and improves profit 

 margins. 



Now, Green is examining the 

 freezing and handling process to ensure 

 quality, adequate yields and safety. 



In another crab processing project 

 funded by the N.C. Pollution Preven- 

 tion Program, Green evaluated brine 

 recovery techniques for claw meat. 

 Handpicking the meat from crab claws 

 can be time-consuming and labor 



intensive. Instead, processors prefer to 

 recover the meat mechanically. But 

 meat yields can be very low. 



To solve the problem, Green worked 

 with processors to improve recovery 

 efficiency and reduce waste by using a 

 brine flotation tank to recover claw 

 meat. After the shell is cracked under a 

 hammer mill, the claw is dropped into a 

 stainless steel vat of brine. There, the 

 meat floats to the surface for easy 



David Green. 



recovery and the denser shell sinks to 

 the bottom of the vat for easy disposal. 



By using the brine, processors can 

 increase their efficiency by 10 percent 

 and their profits by selling claw meat. 



Three Sea Grant 

 Publications Join 

 the Winners' Circle 



Three Sea Grant publications won 

 Awards of Excellence from the Fourth 

 Annual APEX '92 Awards for Publica- 

 tion Excellence. 



Coastwatch garnered honors in the 

 subscription magazines/journals 

 category, while the Sea Grant publica- 

 tion catalog won in the catalog category. 

 Birds and Mammals of the Cape 

 Hatteras National Seashore was top dog 

 among desktop-published, one-time 

 publications. 



This year, almost 3,600 entries were 



submitted to APEX '92, which is 

 sponsored by the editors of Communi- 

 cations Manager, a newsletter for 

 publication managers and staff, and 

 Writing Concepts, a newsletter for 

 professional nonfiction writers and 

 editors. 



The APEX Awards are based on 

 excellence in graphic design, editorial 

 content and the ability to achieve 

 overall communications excellence. 



Experiment with 

 Shellfish Netting 

 Recruits Growers 



For two years, UNC Sea Grant and 

 Tipper Tie Inc. have been developing a 

 system for growing oysters in a mesh 

 netting that protects the shellfish from 

 predators and appears to boost their 

 growth rate. 



Sea Grant Advisory Specialist Skip 

 Kemp says many designs have been 

 tested and dozens of materials have 

 been evaluated in the Bogue Sound 

 research sanctuary. The system has not 

 been perfected, but it is ready for field 

 testing and grower evaluations. 



Kemp recruited interested aquacul- 

 turists to a series of September work- 

 shops for a hands-on role in stocking 

 the oyster chubs, which are polyethyl- 

 ene mesh bags custom-made for the 

 system. In exchange for their help, the 

 growers took away oyster chubs to 

 evaluate at their own sites. 



The oyster chub grow-out system 

 developed by Kemp is assembled on- 

 shore and resembles a ladder floating 

 on the surface of the water. Each step of 

 the ladder is a tubular mesh bag 

 containing the oysters and a float. The 

 ends of the bags are clipped to two 

 parallel ropes. 



Kemp says oysters tend to grow 

 rapidly at the water's surface where 

 they have plenty of food and oxygen. 



The oyster chub device, which may 

 eventually be patented, gives the 



22 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1992 



