CI f t deck 



Information Highway 



The Coastwatch staff is chugging 

 along the information highway these 

 days. If you would like to contact us via 

 Internet, please use the following ad- 

 dress: k_hart@ncsu.edu. Use your 

 computer to fill our electronic mailbox 

 with letters to the editor, comments 

 about the magazine, story suggestions or 

 queries about our coastal habitat. 



Sound Facts 



N.C. Sea Grant and Year of the 

 Coast are working together to send 

 North Carolina coastal newspapers a 

 weekly information-and-graphic box 

 called Sound Facts. Each box will 

 feature brief, factual information about 

 North Carolina's coastal and marine 

 resources. And to catch the eye of 

 readers, these educational tidbits will be 

 attractively illustrated with graphs and 

 line drawings. 



Sea Grant and Year of the Coast 

 want to help newspapers educate read- 

 ers about the value of our coastal envi- 

 ronment. Both organizations feel that a 

 better educated populace means better 

 coastal stewards. 



When presented with examples of 

 Sound Facts, coastal newspaper editors 

 were enthusiastic about the effort and 

 most committed to placing the illus- 

 trated boxes within the pages of their 

 newspapers. 



Look for Sound Facts in your 

 newspaper. 



Gambling with 

 Zebra Mussels - 

 Mid-Atlantic 

 Conference 



Mid-Atlantic states have kept a 

 watchful eye on the zebra mussel's 

 destructive passage through the Great 

 Lakes and waterways south. 



But eight years after the mussel 

 arrived in Lake Erie, the mid-Atlantic 

 states are ready to do more than watch 

 and wait for it to invade their borders. 

 An upcoming conference sponsored by 

 the mid-Atlantic Sea Grant programs 

 will guide the process of assessing the 



risks and preparing for an invasion. 



"Gambling with the Threat of Zebra 

 Mussels in the Mid-Atlantic" will be 

 held June 1-3 in Atlantic City, N.J. 



The conference will help managers 

 of natural resources and water-dependent 

 industries learn to assess their risks, 

 monitor and develop controls to keep 

 the mussels at bay, says Barbara Doll, 

 N.C. Sea Grant's coastal water quality 

 specialist. 



Targeted groups include lake man- 

 agers; state and federal water resource 

 agencies; and managers of industries 

 such as water treatment, pulp and paper, 

 aquaculture, power generation, golf 

 courses and agribusiness. Educators, too, 

 can hear the latest about zebra mussel 

 biology, impacts and movement. 



The mussels were inadvertently 

 delivered to United States waters around 

 1986 in the discharge of European 

 shipping ballast water. Colonization of 

 water-intake pipes, boats, docks, piers 

 and other structures in the Great Lakes 

 region has already cost millions of 

 dollars. Some speculate it's only a matter 

 of time until they spread throughout the 

 United States. 



If they colonize the mid-Atlantic, 

 the zebra mussels could interfere with 

 municipal and industrial water-users, 

 sport and recreational fisheries, food 

 webs, navigation, recreational boating 

 and beach use. 



Doll will attend the upcoming 

 conference. For more information, call 

 her at 919/515-5287. Or contact Eleanor 

 Bochenek of New Jersey Sea Grant at 

 908/349-1152. 



The Sea Grant programs of the 

 mid-Atlantic include North Carolina, 

 Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New 

 Jersey and New York. 



Biotechnology: 

 Combating Marine 

 Pathogens 



Many viruses and bacteria can 

 contaminate aquatic animals and make 

 humans ill. Other pathogens, which 

 cause disease in fish and shellfish, are 

 responsible for killing large number of 



animals in natural fisheries and aquacul- 

 ture operations. Although some of these 

 pathogens are indigenous, others are 

 present because of pollution. 



Sea Grant scientists are taking 

 several paths to solve the problems of 

 marine pathogens. 



In North Carolina, Alabama and 

 Louisiana, Sea Grant researchers are 

 working on rapid and sure analyses to 

 identify pathogens in seafood. Using 

 DNA technology, they are developing 

 practical methods to detect Hepatitis A 

 virus and Vibrio and Salmonella bacte- 

 ria that can be filtered by oysters and 

 clams from polluted waters. Rhode 

 Island Sea Grant researchers are taking 

 a different approach with antibody 

 technology to directly detect pathogens 

 in seafood. 



At California Sea Grant, scientists 

 are honing their ability to precisely 

 identify polluted coastal waters so that 

 bans on fishing and recreation can be 

 restricted to the smallest possible areas. 

 They are trying to use gene probes to 

 profile the bacteria and viruses that live 

 in unpolluted waters. These will be 

 compared to profiles of waters polluted 

 by sewage, stormwater runoff and 

 harbor discharges. 



To prevent the spread of disease 

 and ensure the use of healthy stocks in 

 aquaculture, Sea Grant scientists in 

 North Carolina, Maine, Minnesota, New 

 York and Oregon are developing diag- 

 nostic tests for several diseases. 



Sea Grant programs are also re- 

 searching ways to counteract pathogens 

 in natural fisheries. Dermo and MSX 

 are parasitic diseases that have injured 

 the North Carolina oyster industry and 

 almost destroyed it in the Chesapeake 

 Bay. To control a parasitic disease, its 

 natural history and its cellular interac- 

 tions with hosts must first be deter- 

 mined. Maryland and Virginia Sea 

 Grant scientists recently took a major 

 step in this direction by developing a 

 technique to culture pure, reproductive 

 strains of the Dermo parasite in the 

 laboratory. The new culture technique is 

 expected to be a key to defining 



24 MARC HI APRIL 1994 



