A weed harvester manufactured by the Aquamarine Corp. at work on a Wisconsin lake. 



Looking at the solutions: a confusing array of choices 



clear the debris, providing immediate relief for 

 clogged waterways and offended eyes. Mowing and 

 harvesting would have to be repeated, perhaps 

 several times a season, and the machines are still 

 slow — a good machine can cover an acre an hour, 

 according to expert Don Livermore of the Univer- 

 sity of Wisconsin. 



"Mechanically harvesting 80,000 acres is too 

 much to think about," Livermore confessed. "It 

 boggles the mind." 



Mowing and harvesting limited areas is con- 

 ceivable, although the machines are expensive. A 

 single harvesting system costs between $50,000 to 

 $100,000, according to C. Brate Bryant, president 

 of the harvester-producing company Aquamarine 

 Corporation. But community groups and counties 

 have purchased them for use on Wisconsin Lakes, 

 he said. 



In North Carolina, however, counties are not 

 allowed to spend ad valoreum tax money, and prob- 

 ably not any tax money, for any type of aquatic 

 plant control, according to Ron Aycock, attorney 

 for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. 

 The state has the authority but has not set aside 

 any funds for milfoil control. The U.S. Army Corps 

 of Engineers can also take on the milfoil battle but 

 only at the request of state or local governments. 



And any Corps project must be justified on a cost- 

 benefit ratio, according to spokesman Otis Johnson. 



The financial problems associated with milfoil 

 harvesting might disappear if an economic use 

 could be found for the weed. "If they found a way 

 for it to make people money, there wouldn't be a 

 sprig left in a year," predicted Coinjock resident 

 Marcus Griggs. 



Research is underway to find cheaper and more 

 efficient ways of harvesting and to find ways to 

 economically convert milfoil into animal feed, 

 silage (unfortunately, so far, cows hate the taste), 

 fertilizer, compost and other products. Milfoil is 

 also being investigated as a sewage treater and a 

 methane gas supplier, according to Bryant, and is 

 already used as a mulch. 



Since milfoil depends on light, another way to 

 control the weed would be through shading. Plants 

 such as lotus could be grown over the milfoil to 

 block the light, suggested Ron Stanley, of the En- 

 vironmental Protection Agency. "The milfoil 

 would eventually go, but then you'd have water 

 lotus which is just as difficult to get through," he 

 said discouragingly. "Also it would take many 

 years to stop the milfoil here because lotus grows 

 very slowly." 



(See "Coping," page i) 



To the rescue . . Sea Grant tackles the milfoil problem 



So what do we do about milfoil? 



UNC Sea Grant began meeting the milfoil prob- 

 lem July 23 and 24 with a conference at the Marine 

 Resources Center at Roanoke Island. State offi- 

 cials and milfoil experts — both scientists and local 

 residents — met and shared what they knew and 

 didn't know about the weed. Then S. E. Caroon, a 

 spokesman for the Coinjock Ruritan Club, implored 

 the gathering to provide the hard data needed to 

 get some action. 



"Currituck Sound is Currituck County's 

 greatest asset and Currituck Sound is sick. 

 It's sick and it needs help." 



"I am convinced that people in Raleigh don't 

 really know how acute the problem is," Caroon told 

 the group. "We who live along the Sound have only 

 the Currituck Sound as our laboratory. Our tools 

 are our eyes, our nose and the taking of life from 

 the Sound. That's all we have. We know we have a 

 problem, an environmental problem for the people 

 living along the shore of Currituck Sound." 



"It's become obvious to me we need your help. 

 We need you to come down and see what we're 

 talking about. And come in the right season. Come 

 in the fall when Currituck Sound around Churches 

 Island is like a septic tank, a cess pool. It's not fit 

 to live near." 



"Currituck Sound is Currituck County's great- 

 est asset and Currituck Sound is sick," added L. C. 

 Barrow. "It's sick and it needs help and it needs 

 help beyond what we can do locally." 



If funding is approved, UNC Sea Grant's first 

 step toward helping Caroon and his neighbors 

 will be to experimentally mow and harvest selected 

 areas of milfoil next spring to study the growth 

 and regrowth of the weed during a two-year period. 

 Areas will also be sprayed with herbicides and 

 studied. 



Coping with milfoil. . . 



(Continued from page S) 



Black plastic could be spread on the milfoil or 

 black dye dumped in the water, but neither method 

 is particularly practical for Currituck Sound, ad- 

 mitted ECU biologist Graham Davis. 



A more promising, but still experimental, solu- 

 tion involves using natural milfoil predators. The 

 white amur fish, for example, could be introduced 

 in the Currituck Sound to eat away the milfoil 

 problem. There is no guarantee, though, that the 

 amur — a distant cousin of the minnow although it 

 grows to over 100 pounds — would stop eating once 

 the milfoil course was through. Similar problems 

 exist with other natural biological controls like the 

 paraponyx moth and sea cow. 



At the same time, Sea Grant researchers will be 

 exploring potential milfoil uses, studying the rela- 

 tionship of milfoil to water quality and determin- 

 ing the impact of milfoil on bass and other im- 

 portant species such as spot, bluegills and carp. 

 The "edge effect" of milfoil will be investigated to 

 see what happens to fish and plants when selected 

 areas are mowed in the middle of a milfoil patch. 



Finally, Sea Grant will try to attach some eco- 

 nomic values to Currituck Sound and to the impact 

 of milfoil and different milfoil controls, since any 

 action would have to be justified in terms of money. 



"Milfoil is probably doomed to failure," said 

 B. J. Copeland, Director of the UNC Sea Grant 

 College Program. "But the question is when will 

 the failure occur and can we put up with it while 

 it's here? If we are expected to deal with the prob- 

 lem, there has to be a gelling of what the problem 

 is and what the choices of action are." 



For a copy of the proceedings of the milfoil con- 

 ference, write UNC Sea Grant, 1235 Burlington 

 Labs, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27607. 



Coinjock Ruritan Club spokesman S. E. Caroon 



