TlieBack 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. 



Blue crabs may not be 

 just summer pickins' any 

 more. 



David Green, Sea Grant's 

 seafood specialist, has 

 received a grant from the 

 National Coastal Resources Research and 

 Development Institute to test methods for 

 extending the availability of blue crab 

 meat. 



Green says that during peak supply 

 months when prices are low and pickers 

 are overworked, crab houses could steam 

 cook, flash freeze and store crab body 

 cores. Then when prices rise and pickers 

 are out of fresh product, the cores could 

 be thawed and the meat picked. 



Technology has already been developed 

 for such a storage process, Green says. 

 But it hasn't been used by the blue crab 

 industry. 



Green hopes to change that. 



He plans to develop processing specifi- 

 cations that will yield thawed crab meat 

 that is bacteriologically safe and tastes 

 good. 



Scientists already know that crab meat 

 can be stored at minus 20 F for up to 

 eight months with no change in texture or 

 taste. Yet, Green wants to test the pro- 

 cedure on a commercial scale and use a 

 taste panel and instrumental analysis to 

 test the thawed product. 



But all of Green's work won't involve 

 steamers and freezers. He'll also be punch- 

 ing numbers into a calculator to reach an 

 economic bottom line for storing the crab 

 meat. To assist with the economic analysis, 

 Green will call on Florida Sea Grant econ- 

 omist Chuck Adams of the University of 



Florida Department of Food and Resource 

 Economics. 



Flash freezing could offer crab pro- 

 cessors several benefits, Green says. It 

 could stabilize supplies of crab meat to 

 hand-picking houses. Processors could of- 

 fer pickers a more secure work environ- 

 ment, which should attract better workers. 

 And processors would have better inven- 

 tory control. 



For consumers, it would extend the avail- 

 ability of hand-picked crab meat beyond 

 summer months and offer a more consis- 

 tent supply of quality product. 



When all the costs and benefits are 

 calculated, Green hopes to convince pro- 

 cessors that flash freezing crabs is a 

 viable, profitable way to do business. 



Sea Grant sleuth Bob 

 Hines is heading south to 

 investigate a new shrimp 

 net that has caught on in 

 Louisiana. 

 The net is called a 

 skimmer trawl, and it's a cross between a 

 butterfly net and a Vietnamese chopstick 

 rig, says Hines, a Sea Grant Marine Ad- 

 visory Service fisheries agent. The net is 

 rigged so that the boat pushes the trawl 

 instead of pulling it as with conventional 

 shrimp rigs. 



The net has several attributes that led 

 the Gulf and South Atlantic Fisheries 

 Development Foundation to fund Hines' 

 investigation. 



First and foremost, it may eliminate the 

 need for turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, 

 a contraption disliked by most shrimpers. 



The way the net is rigged, the tailbag is 

 fished near the stern of the boat. This 

 allows fishermen to pull it in every 20 

 minutes without stopping the boat. Any 

 ensnared sea turtle could easily survive a 

 20-minute tow before being released after 

 the net is hauled back. 



Likewise, the frequent haul backs should 

 also increase the likelihood that bycatch 

 could be returned to the water alive. 



The skimmer has even more merits. It 

 improves the quality of the catch, snares 

 less debris, uses less fuel and increases 

 maneuverability. 



And to top it all off, Bayou shrimpers 

 claim 16-foot skimmer nets can outfish 50- 

 foot conventional trawls. 



With such an impressive list of attributes, 

 Hines wants to see for himself the skimmer 

 net in action. And he's taking along 

 Carteret County fisherman Marion Lewis 

 and East Carteret County High School 

 marine vocational instructor John Weeks to 

 aid in the investigation. 



If the skimmer net works like Louisiana 

 fishermen say, Hines wants to bring one 

 back for testing in Tar Heel waters. 



Spencer Rogers figures that the Dutch 

 know that it takes more than a finger in a 

 dike to hold back the ocean. In fact, 

 Holland's ability to stay afloat rests 

 squarely on the erosion and water-control 

 techniques developed by its coastal 

 engineers. 



Rogers, Sea Grant's coastal engineer, 

 hopes to pick up a few Dutch pointers dur- 

 ing an international coastal engineering 

 conference being held in Holland in late 

 June. 



But the learning will not be one-sided. 

 Rogers plans to tell his international audi- 

 ence how folks on this side of the Atlantic 

 design coastal buildings to withstand storm 

 surge and wave damage. 



Dikes and windmills aren't the only 

 items on Rogers' June agenda. Capitol 

 Hill also occupies a space on his calendar. 



Rogers is slated to present Congres- 

 sional testimony on proposed amend- 

 ments to the Federal Flood Insurance 

 Program. He will speak before a subcom- 

 mittee of the U.S. Congress June 20. 



No beach trip is com- 

 plete without a shell 

 collection. 



It seems we're all com- 

 pelled to pick up a few of 

 these beach beauties and 

 take them home as reminders of our sum- 

 mer vacation. 



But why not do more than just let your 

 collection gather dust. Identify these 

 beach baubles and learn more about 

 them. 



