THE BACK PAGE 



"The Back Page" is an update on Sea 

 Grant activities — on research, marine 

 education and advisory services. It's also 

 a good place to find out about meetings, 

 workshops and new publications. For 

 more information on any of the projects 

 described, contact the Sea Grant offices in 

 Raleigh (919/737-2454). For copies of 

 publications, write UNC Sea Grant, 

 NCSU, Box 8605, Raleigh, N.C. 

 27695-8605. 



More than 1,000 people 

 came to the coast Sept. 

 19, but they didn't collect 

 shells or reel in blues. 

 They went fishing for 

 trash as part of Beach 

 Sweep '87. 

 The event brought people together 

 from across the state to clean up the 

 coast from Corolla to Calabash. In all, 

 they collected more than 14 tons of 

 debris. 



Nature groups, science clubs, Girl 

 Scout troups and other volunteers 

 reported finding everything from plastic 

 straws to a contact lens. 



And for the first time in North Caro- 

 lina, cleanup workers recorded each 

 item found. The survey will be used to 

 pinpoint waste sources and target fur- 

 ther cleanup and education efforts. 



One tally card included 393 plastic 

 bags, 11 shoes, 51 toys, 357 Styrofoam 

 cups and 370 metal drink cans. Other 

 items found were 17 wads of fishing line, 

 18 disposable lighters and more than a 

 dozen egg cartons. 



Such litter poses danger for birds and 

 other marine life. Heightened aware- 

 ness of this problem means a cleaner 

 beach and a safer place for people and 

 animals. 



That was the purpose of Beach Sweep, 

 which was organized by UNC Sea 

 Grant, the N.C. Division of Parks and 

 Recreation, the N.C. Division of Coastal 

 Management and the Office of Marine 

 Affairs. 



"People had a good time cleaning up 

 their environment," says Andy Wood, an 

 educator at the N.C. Aquarium at Fort 

 Fisher and an area coordinator for 



Beach Sweep. "It looked to me like they 

 really cared." 



Plans are already being made for next 

 year's cleanup. If you or your organiza- 

 tion would like to help, write Lundie 

 Spence at Sea Grant, Box 8605, North 

 Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C. 

 27695-8605. 



In the April issue of Coastwatch, you 

 read about Lena Ritter, an Onslow 

 County fisherman, and her five-year 

 struggle to save Permuda Island from 

 development. 



Ritter's work finally paid off in Sep- 

 tember when Gov. Jim Martin formally 

 accepted the island as a part of the 

 state's Estuarine Sanctuary System. 



Permuda Island is a slender strip of 

 land nestled in Stump Sound between 

 Topsail Island and mainland Onslow 

 County. Ritter had argued that develop- 

 ment would endanger the productive 

 shellfishing grounds around the island. 



The island was turned over to the state 

 Division of Coastal Management and 

 will remain in its natural state. As part 

 of the Estuarine Sanctuary System, the 

 island will be used primarily for 

 research and education. 



The N.C. Division of Coastal Manage- 

 ment recently beefed up the require- 

 ments for marinas to obtain operating 

 permits. Many of the changes target 

 pumpout facilities needed to empty 

 sewage from boat holding tanks. 



Commercial pumpout systems are 

 available. But they can cost from $3,000 

 to $5,000. 



There is an alternative. 



A low-cost portable transfer tank can 

 be made that eliminates the need for 

 lengthy hoses and sewer lines at 

 marinas. 



It can be built in an afternoon and for 

 about $250 with a copy of the Sea Grant 

 Blueprint A Portable Transfer Tank for 

 Boat Waste. 



All it takes is a 30-gallon garbage can, 

 a hand truck, a pump and some hoses. 

 It can be rolled to the dock for pumping 



wastes from boat holding tanks. Then 

 the tank is rolled back to a sewer connec- 

 tion on land and emptied into the marina's 

 existing waste treatment system. 



The Blueprint gives instructions for 

 making the tank and lists other options 

 marinas might use for waste disposal. 



For a free copy, write Sea Grant and 

 ask for UNC-SG-BP-82-1. 



For years commercial 

 fishermen have consid- 

 ered the cownose ray an 

 enemy. They claimed the 

 ray's healthy appetite was 

 reducing their winter 

 catch of bay scallops and 

 subsequently the profits from the 

 fishery. 



The rays, fishermen said, were using 

 North Carolina sounds as a roadside 

 cafe on their fall migration south. 



Fishermen asked the N.C. Marine 

 Fisheries Commission to open the 

 sounds to scalloping prior to the 

 cownose migration. 



But to see what kind of threat the rays 

 really posed, Sea Grant researcher Pete 

 Peterson set up some experiments. 



He built a large corral in the sound and 

 used monafilament line to lightly tether 

 harvestable scallops in seagrass beds 

 and along sandy bottom in the corral. 

 The line kept the tides from rolling the 

 scallops out of the enclosure. 



Finally, Peterson let seven rays loose 

 in the corral. 



After one day, the rays behaved nor- 

 mally, feeding along the bottom. But not 

 once during the seven-day experiment 

 did the rays eat a single scallop. 



To back up this experiment, Peterson 

 also sampled areas where fishermen 

 said the rays were dining on the scallops. 

 He gathered samples three times dur- 

 ing the fall. 



In none of the areas did the abundance 

 of legally harvestable scallops decline. 



Peterson says his experiments prove 

 the ray's reputation is unfounded and 

 that the sounds could remain closed to 

 scalloping until the mollusks reach a 

 more marketable size in the winter. 



Continued on next page 



