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. 



In the rubble left by Hur- 

 ricane Hugo are some val- 

 uable lessons about 

 coastal construction, says 

 Sea Grant coastal engineer 

 Spencer Rogers. He sur- 

 veyed the damage along the South 

 Carolina coast after the Sept. 21 hurricane. 



"There were no surprises," Rogers says. 

 "The buildings that fell were poorly suited 

 for the conditions that occurred." 



The homes and businesses that col- 

 lapsed were built on concrete slabs or pil- 

 ings that extended only a few feet into the 

 sandy soil, Rogers says. During the hurri- 

 cane, the waves and storm surge washed 

 the sand from around the shallow founda- 

 tions and caused the buildings to fall. 



Other buildings sustained heavy wind 

 damage because they did not use straps 

 to connect floors, walls and ceilings. 



"You have to tie a building together from 

 the peak of the roof to the bottom of the 

 foundation with good, solid connections to 

 resist the winds," Rogers says. 



"In areas subject to erosion and flood- 

 ing, you have to elevate the building above 

 the water because everything the waves 

 hit they usually destroy." 



Rogers says total building destruction 

 was the exception rather than the rule on 

 the Sandlapper coastline. 



"Many buildings are beat up and 

 bruised," he says. "But most are repair- 

 able and reusable." 



How would North Carolina have fared if 

 Hugo had whirled ashore along our 

 coastline? 

 Much better, Rogers says. 

 The N.C. Building Code requires pilings 

 in erosion-prone areas to extend 16 feet 



below the soil surface. And hurricane clips 

 are a must. 



"Any area hit by a storm of that magni- 

 tude would be beat up, and some build- 

 ings would totally collapse," he says. "Our 

 standards and quality are by no means 

 perfect, but the damage would have been 

 a lot less in North Carolina." 



Cracking into shellfish aquaculture can 

 be a tough task. But fishermen and entre- 

 preneurs can break into the business by 

 coming to a one-day conference Feb. 17 

 at the Duke University Marine Laboratory 

 on Pivers Island. 



The morning session of the third annual 

 Shellfish Culture Conference will address 

 North Carolina's permitting and leasing 

 programs. State agency representatives 

 will be on hand to talk about the system, 

 its history and how to apply for a permit or 

 lease. A N.C. aquaculturist will follow to 

 lead discussion on the pros and cons of 

 the system. 



In the afternoon, East Coast experts will 

 give up-to-date technical advice on suc- 

 cessful scallop culture. 



The workshop is co-sponsored by state 

 fisheries organizations and agencies. For 

 more information, call Sea Grant agent 

 Bob Hines at 919/247-4007. 



Neither rain nor sleet 

 can stop the U.S. Postal 

 Service. And even a hurri- 

 cane couldn't stop volun- 

 teers for The Big Sweep '89. 

 Hurricane Hugo blew his 

 mighty forces across the Carolinas 

 Sept. 23, delaying North Carolina's 

 cleanup one week. 



But on Sept. 30, more than 3,645 peo- 

 ple came to the coast, inland parks and 

 rivers for the state's first waterway cleanup. 



They covered Duck, Emerald Isle, 

 Wrightsville Beach, the Tar River, Lake Jor- 

 dan, Lake Lure and 49 locations in be- 

 tween. And they picked up enough trash 

 to fill approximately 5,252 bags. 

 Out of 25 states holding cleanups this 



year, North Carolina ranked fourth in the 

 number of volunteers and amount of trash 

 collected. Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 

 Canada and Mexico also held beach 

 cleanups. 



UNC Sea Grant is compiling the number 

 of items collected during The Big Sweep, 

 and final tallies will be reported soon. A 

 few of the more unusual items volunteers 

 found included lawn chairs, car headlights, 

 coconuts, a toilet seat and a computer chip. 



And some of this year's booty had a 

 foreign look. Folks found a bottle of Ger- 

 man detergent, hair mousse from Colom- 

 bia, hair spray from the Soviet Union and 

 a jar of salmon eggs from Siberia. 



Keep an eye on Coastwatch for the final 

 results and information on The Big Sweep 

 '90, set for Sept. 22. 



For every pound of 

 shrimp North Carolina fish- 

 ermen catch, another four 

 to 13 pounds of finfish may 

 be swimming in their nets. 

 For shrimpers, the extra 

 bulk doesn't pay off. And sportsfishermen 

 are worried the bycatch reduces stocks. 



The problem has already become an 

 issue in Florida where shrimpers have 

 been banned from fishing in parts of 

 Tampa Bay. 



But fisheries experts in North Carolina 

 hope to squelch the smoke before it 

 becomes a fire. 



That's why Sea Grant has initiated a 

 project to find a new type of gear that can 

 reduce shrimpers' bycatch. 



With a new grant from the Southeast 

 Regional Office of the National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, two Sea Grant advisers, 

 a netmaker and a scientist hope to help 

 devise the perfect Finfish Separator Device 

 for Tar Heel waters. 



Experimental FSDs come in several dif- 

 ferent shapes and sizes now, but most are 

 funnel-shaped with large-mesh net at the 

 top. As the net is pulled, the shrimp whisk 

 through the funnel as fish escape through 

 the top. 



This winter, Jim Murray and Jim Bahen 

 of Sea Grant, netmaker Steve Parrish, and 



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