SEAGRASS SURVIVAL 



VA. 



BEACH 



ATLANTIC OCEAN 



ALBEMARLE SOUND 



POINT HARBOFT 



[KITTY HAWK 



The fortunes of 

 Currituck have 

 hinged on the 

 ebb and flow of 

 the sound's 

 seagrass beds. 

 The Intracoastal 

 Waterway links 

 Currituck Sound 

 with Norfolk 

 Harbor and the 

 Chesapeake Bay. 



dredging. Industrial wastes. They had 

 begun to strangle the huge Virginia 

 bay and were now making a home in 

 Currituck Sound. 



The pristine beds of seagrass began 

 to choke beneath the turbid waters. 

 The muck and mire of too much pollu- 

 tion spelled doom for sago pondgrass, 

 widgeon grass, wild celery and other 

 grasses essential to survival of the 

 sound's underwater creatures. 



Hungry fish moved to healthier 

 waters. Most of the migratory waterfowl 

 chose not to return to their normal 

 nesting sites. The fishermen could no 

 longer drink the waters of Currituck, 

 which were now rank with the odors of 

 civilization and salty from the influx of 

 Virginia seawater. 



But things began to improve in the 

 early 1930s. W.S. Bourne, a scientist 

 who dedicated much of his life to try- 

 ing to discover the causes of the death 

 of Currituck's seagrasses, urged offi- 

 cials to redesign the series of locks 

 and canals linking the two states. 



The new design worked. For the next 

 30 years, Currituck Sound allowed 

 Mother Nature to clean out the sludge 

 and sewage that had accumulated 

 there for two decades. The vital sea- 

 grasses returned, though not in their 

 earlier abundance. 



The bass also returned, luring 

 fishermen from around the United 

 States to the Currituck low country. 



The old hunting clubs, built to house 

 waterfowl hunters, flourished again as 

 most of the migratory birds reclaimed 

 their nesting sites. 



But the fragile Currituck ecosystem 

 and its vital underwater seagrass beds 

 had not seen the last of their troubles. 

 Hurricanes in 1954 and 1955 stirred 

 sediments, clouded the waters and 

 choked native grasses. 



And, in March 1962, the powerful 



Ash Wednesday Storm blew in from 

 the northeast, pounding North 

 Carolina's Outer Banks and opening 

 several new inlets into Currituck 

 Sound. Salty seawater poured in, 

 transforming the sound from a 

 freshwater haven to a brackish sea. 



The sudden influx of seawater 

 decreased much of the turbidity that 

 had choked the widgeon grass, wild 

 celery, and other native underwater 

 grasses. The inlets later closed, and 

 the saltiness of the water diminished. 

 But the brief period of increased salini- 

 ty cleared the water and opened the 

 door to yet another challenge for the 

 Currituck system. 



Eurasion watermilfoil, a thickly grow- 

 ing underwater plant that robs its host 

 waterway of life-giving oxygen, gained 

 a foothold in the sound. Scientists 

 believe the milfoil, a non-native 

 species, was transplanted by accident, 

 off boats plying the canal between 

 milfoil-choked Chesapeake Bay and 

 Currituck Sound. 



Again, local fishermen began to see 

 the consequences of the destruction of 

 native seagrass beds. Fewer fish were 

 caught. Fewer sea birds were seen. 

 Boat propellers were often clogged 

 and even stopped by this choking 

 underwater weed. 



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