& f t deck 



Fishing Forum 

 Scheduled 



The second annual N.C. Marine 

 Recreational Fishing Forum is 

 scheduled for Feb. 6 in Raleigh, and 

 organizers say the centerpiece of the 

 one-day event will be a discussion of 

 the pros and cons of a recreational 

 fishing license. 



Organizer Jim Murray, director of 

 Sea Grant's Marine Advisory Service, 

 says participants in the 1992 forum 

 expressed a variety of concerns and 

 opinions about a recreational license in 

 North Carolina. Picking up on this 

 theme, speakers next year will offer an 

 overview of the issue, but Murray says 

 the forum will take no positions. 



He says fishery managers from 

 three states that have the recreational 

 fishing license — Florida, South 

 Carolina and Virginia — will discuss 

 their experiences. A panel of three 

 supporters, three opponents and a 

 legislator will also speak. 



Among other scheduled speakers 

 are Len Pietrafesa, head of the 

 Department of Marine, Earth and 

 Atmospheric Sciences at N.C. State 

 University, who will discuss satellite 

 technology and its uses for fisheries 

 management; Bill Hogarth, director of 

 the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, 

 who will talk about the agency's 

 highlights from 1992 and goals for 

 1993; Gene Huntsman, leader of the 

 reef resources and coastal pelagics 

 team at the Beaufort Laboratory of the 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, 

 who will discuss marine reserves; 

 JoAnn Burkholder, an assistant 

 professor of botany at NCSU, member 

 of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commis- 

 sion and Sea Grant researcher, who 

 will talk about a newly discovered 

 dinoflagellate that attacks and kills 

 fish; Jerry Schill, director of the N.C. 

 Fisheries Association and chairman of 

 the habitat committee for the South 



Atlantic Fishery Management Council, 

 who will discuss the practice of 

 harvesting the sargassum seaweed that 

 supports juvenile fish and sea turtles. 



To preregister, call Sea Grant's 

 office at 919/515-2454 or write UNC 

 Sea Grant, Box 8605, NCSU, Raleigh, 

 NC 27695. 



The forum will be held at the 

 McKimmon Center on the NCSU 

 campus. Registration will begin at 8 

 a.m. The program will start at 9 a.m. 

 and conclude with a 6:30 p.m. social. 



Spence Named to 

 Museum Board 



Lundie Spence, Sea Grant marine 

 education specialist, has been named 

 to a three-year term on the board of 

 directors for the Friends of the N.C. 

 State Museum of Natural Sciences. 



The friends organization is 

 dedicated to supporting and promoting 

 the museum through fundraising, 

 membership and other programs and 

 activities that increase awareness and 

 public support of the museum. 



Appointed in August, Spence is no 

 newcomer to the state's natural 

 sciences museum. 



As associate curator of education, 

 Spence has conducted joint field trips 

 for teachers in North Carolina and 

 abroad and presented weekend 

 programs for the public at the mu- 

 seum. She has collaborated with the 

 education division of the museum 

 since 1978. 



As one of 54 board members, she 

 says she looks forward to advancing 

 the museum's role in science educa- 

 tion and environmental understanding. 



"I consider it an honor to work 

 more closely with the museum," she 

 says. "We have coordinated for years 

 on educational programs. The staff and 

 volunteers have always offered 

 valuable services and programs." 



The museum was founded in 1879 



to preserve and advance North 

 Carolina's natural heritage and to 

 enhance the public's appreciation of 

 the environment in ways that empha- 

 size the state's biodiversity. It hosts 

 more than 250,000 visitors annually, 

 including 100,000 school children. 



The friends want to celebrate North 

 Carolina's heritage, but also to focus 

 on the future. Collections and exhibits 

 at the museum are constantly growing 

 and changing. In December 1991, the 

 friends celebrated the opening of a 

 redesigned discovery room, funded in 

 part by the SAS Institute Inc. The 

 museum recently received a $544,390 

 National Science Foundation grant for 

 construction of a major new exhibit on 

 North Carolina's freshwater wetlands. 



Cleanup Collects 

 256 Tons of Debris 



An army of volunteers fanned out 

 across Tar Heel waterways on Sept. 19 

 for a statewide assault on litter. Four 

 hours and 255.6 tons of litter later, 

 their mission was accomplished. 



Almost 12,000 volunteers partici- 

 pated in the First Citizens Bank Big 

 Sweep, collecting everything from 

 wigs and hairpieces to car parts and 

 credit cards. Although unusual finds 

 such as a 1947 Chevrolet at 

 Masonboro Island and 26 pairs of 

 underwear in Vance County kept 

 volunteers chuckling, the amount of 

 trash collected was no laughing matter. 



The 255.6 tons bagged exceeded 

 the 1991 total of 212 tons. The sixth 

 annual event is the nation's largest 

 statewide waterway litter cleanup. 



Susan Bartholomew, the cleanup's 

 executive director, says the addition of 

 50 to 60 new sites across the state 

 explains the increased amount of litter 

 collected. Overall, she says, county 

 coordinators reported less trash this 

 year at sites that had been cleaned 

 during previous Big Sweeps. 



22 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 1992 



