TheBack Pa 



"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 pub- 

 lications, write UNC Sea Grant, Box 8605, 

 NCSU, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-8605. 



Some professional foot- 

 ball players love to play on 

 it; others despise it. 



But no matter how players 

 in the National Football 

 League view AstroTurf, bay 

 scallops in North Carolina find it a great 

 place to settle. 



That's one of the findings of a Sea Grant 

 research team assembled to study bay 

 scallop aquaculture and natural 

 populations. 



To collect spat for laboratory experi- 

 ments and aquaculture grow-out, scientists 

 Pete Peterson of the University of North 

 Carolina Institute of Marine Science and 

 Will Ambrose of East Carolina University 

 tested several collection materials. They 

 found that the young scallops settled most 

 abundantly on suspended pieces of 

 AstroTurf. 



Collection methods are important be- 

 cause resource managers could use them 

 to increase natural populations and shell- 

 fish aquaculturalists could use them as a 

 source of stock. 



The North Carolina General Assembly 

 funded the study because the 1987 red 

 tide devastated bay scallop populations, 

 killing 98 percent of the young scallops. 

 The study is designed to determine how 

 natural populations can be increased and 

 whether bay scallops are good candidates 

 for aquaculture. 



In laboratory experiments, Peterson was 

 able to spawn bay scallops and raise them 

 to adulthood. But Peterson says the scal- 

 lops are more finicky than their cousins, 

 the hard clams. 



Sea Grant agent Skip Kemp agrees. He 

 worked with a Pender County clam cultur- 



ist to raise a small crop of scallops. 



"Scallops are much more delicate," 

 Kemp says. "They don't like silt, and they 

 have to have a constant supply of food 

 and water." 



Last year, the scallops were raised in on- 

 shore upwellers. This year, Peterson plans 

 to experiment with placing the young spat 

 into nearshore submerged cages. 



Meanwhile, Ambrose will be determining 

 exactly who the bay scallops' predators are 

 and when they are most voracious. And 

 NCSU economist Jim Easley will calculate 

 whether scallop aquaculture is profitable. 



For demonstration purposes, Kemp will 

 build a portable laboratory to show pro- 

 spective aquaculturists the hatchery and 

 nursery phase of scallop grow-out. 



By now you've probably 

 heard that the fish and 

 chicken available at most 

 fast-food restaurants isn't all 

 that good for you. 

 And it's probably true. 

 A recent report from the Massachusetts 

 Medical Society, published in The New 

 England Journal of Medicine, claimed that 

 health-conscious diners were being fooled 

 at fast-food counters. 



The report says that a fast-food chicken 

 sandwich can contain as much fat as 1 1 /2 

 pints of ice cream. A fish sandwich is 

 probably just as bad. 



But the news is no reason to avoid 

 seafood at home, says Sea Grant seafood 

 education specialist Joyce Taylor. 



After all, it's what you do to the fish in 

 the preparation that makes it less than 

 nutritious. 



In its natural state, seafood is low in fat, 

 calories and cholesterol and high in pro- 

 tein and minerals. 



But sprinkled with salt, dipped in batter, 

 fried in deep fat, seafood loses its edge. 



"I meet a lot of people who tell me 

 they're on a diet, so they eat a lot of fish. 

 When I ask them how they prepare it, they 

 say they roll it in cornmeal and fry it up. 

 Now that's not a low-calorie food," Taylor 

 says. 



With the drop of a fish into the deep fat, 

 you can add as much as 12 percent more 

 fat to the fish, Taylor says. And the extra fat 

 means more calories and cholesterol. 



Instead of deep-frying or pan-frying, 

 Taylor recommends poaching, steaming, 

 baking, broiling, barbecuing, stir-frying or 

 oven-frying. 



And instead of topping fish with a cream 

 or butter sauce, try herbs and spices. They 

 won't disturb the delicate taste of the 

 seafood. 



As alternatives to salt, Taylor uses herbs 

 and spices and white table wine as a broth. 



Taylor's message is ... If you prepare 

 seafood properly, you can eat it to your 

 heart's content. 



For more information on seafood, contact 

 Taylor at the NCSU Seafood Laboratory, 

 PO. Box 1137, Morehead City, N.C. 28557. 



Happy Anniversary to Fort Fisher! Jan. 

 13 and 14, the famous fort will celebrate 

 125 years of history. A commemorative 

 program will include tours of the grounds 

 and historic interpreters recounting the 

 days of battle at the fort. A special night 

 program will feature a re-enactment of 

 Maj. Gen. James Reilly's surrender to 

 Union forces at Battery Buchanan. 



For more information, write the Fort 

 Fisher State Historic Site at P.O. Box 68, 

 Kure Beach, N.C. 28449. Or call 919/458- 

 5538. 



Teachers, it's now 

 available in video. 



The instructional pro- 

 gram, North Carolina 

 Coastal Plain: A Geologic 

 and Environmental Per- 

 spective, has been made into a video. This 

 educational program was originally pub- 

 lished as a filmstrip for use in 8th-grade 

 science classes. 



The video uses the coastal plain to ex- 

 plain geological, ecological and environ- 

 mental science concepts. It runs 1% hours 

 long and is divided into eight segments 

 that range from 8V2 to 17 minutes long. 

 With the video, teachers get an activity 

 continued next page 



