Untangling the salt 

 marsh food web 



Laws regulating man's activities in 

 marshlands were passed as we began to 

 realize that the push to develop marsh 

 might be destroying an essential food 

 source for many kinds of fish. 



Just how important marsh grasses are 

 to fish production needs further study if 

 we are to make sound decisions on man's 

 activities inside and on the fringe of marsh. 

 Two Sea Grant projects for 1976 should 

 help fill the gaps in our knowledge about 

 the transfer of food energy within marsh 

 and from marsh to open estuaries. 



UNC ecologists Allen Stiven and Ed 

 Kuenzler are looking at the relationship 

 between decaying marsh grass particles 

 (detritus) and small marsh animals. A 

 major goal is to determine if man, by mani- 

 pulating the marsh grass grown and 

 detritus produced, could influence fish 

 productivity. 



John Hobbie, NCSU ecologist, is examin- 

 ing the role of bacteria and other microbes 

 which attach to and break down marsh 

 grasses in the diet of marsh organisms. 

 Study results should shed light on the 

 importance of protein-rich bacteria in the 

 salt marsh food web. 



Toward better seafoods 

 from Tarheel waters 



Improved seafood quality and a bigger chunk of 

 the seafood dollar for North Carolina are the goals 

 of several Sea Grant projects in 1976. 



Mark Sobsey of the UNC School of Public Health 

 is seeking improved methods for detecting viruses 

 harmful to humans found in clams and oysters and 

 the waters where they grow. Some 700,000 acres of 

 the state's shellfishing grounds have been closed 

 because waters do not meet quality standards 

 which are based on bacteria counts. Sobsey be- 

 lieves that coliform bacteria counts provide less 

 than an adequate picture of viruses in shellfish 

 waters. His goal is to come up with more sensitive, 

 reliable and practical ways to determine quantities 

 of harmful viruses in shellfish and their estuarine 

 habitats. 



NCSU food scientists Neil Webb, Frank Thomas 

 and Ted Miller will continue analyzing the prop- 

 erties of deboned fish meat to gain information 

 important in developing new products using the 

 minced tissue. A related project which seeks to 

 pinpoint areas in crab meat processing which con- 

 tribute to sanitation problems promises to help 

 crab processors meet new, more stringent quality 



Should we depend 

 on the ocean? 



Coastal county and town officials faced with 

 disposing of increasing amounts of sewage are 

 looking at each other and asking, "Where do we 

 go from here?" With a finger pointed to crowded 

 septic tanks and municipal sewage plants as a 

 major pollution source forcing nearly 700,000 acres 

 of the state's shellfishing grounds closed, many are 

 looking to the ocean for a solution. 



Some states have already built ocean outfalls, 

 sewage pipelines into the sea. Some have found 

 them suitable. Others, where currents have washed 

 effluents back to shore, have found outfalls less 

 than the perfect answer. 



Drs. L. J. Pietrafesa and C. C. Tung, NCSU 

 oceanographer and ocean engineer, have Sea Grant 

 support to find out if ocean outfalls built off the 

 state's fast-growing southeastern corner into 

 Onslow Bay would work. Plans in 1976 are to 

 continue measuring physical characteristics, 

 waves, current, wind, salinity, temperature and 

 other factors that determine where things dumped 

 in the ocean are likely to go and how fast they will 

 travel. 



As measurements are made over the seasons and 

 throughout the Bay, data will be fed into a com- 

 puter. It will be up to the computer to predict the 

 pathways effluents dumped in Onslow Bay might 

 take. 



Information from this research is critical as the 

 state develops policies on ocean outfalls. Other 

 agencies such as those regulating water pollution 

 and power plant and superport construction should 

 also find the results useful. 



requirements. Researchers will also examine the 

 effects of processing on crab meat quality and 

 storage time. A series of publications is planned to 

 relate findings to the industry. 



Marvin Speck of the NCSU food science depart- 

 ment is seeking better methods of detecting disease- 

 causing bacteria in seafoods. Improved detection 



(See page 4) 



