& f t deck 



Another Kind 

 of Recycling 



Composting is a home-grown, do- 

 it-yourself recycling project. 



This natural approach to reusing 

 trash holds promise for the North 

 Carolina seafood processing industry. 

 Rather than landfilling seafood waste or 

 dumping it onto agricultural fields, 

 processors can safely and more 

 efficiently dispose of their scraps in a 

 way that yields a nutrient-rich soil 

 supplement. 



Eventually, the composted remains 

 could be approved for use on lawns, 

 gardens or farms. 



Sea Grant agent Rich Novak is 

 technical advisor to a research project at 

 Mattamuskeet Seafood in Hyde County 

 to compost crab scraps. Wood chips for 

 the compost pile are supplied by 

 Weyerhaeuser Inc.'s Plymouth plant; 

 two dump trucks full of crab wastes are 

 added daily from the seafood house. 



After composting four to six 

 months, the nutrient-rich product is 

 usually ready. Mattamuskeet Seafood 

 farms it out to Weyerhaeuser as a 

 fertilizer for its Beaufort County tree 

 nursery. The chitin in the crab shells is 

 thought to be a deterrent to plant-eating 

 nematodes. 



Experimentation will continue this 

 year using different ratios of wood 

 chips to crab scraps and different 

 intervals for turning the compost. 

 Turning introduces air into the heap, 

 which fuels the bacteria and the 

 composting process. Even without 

 turning, however, the temperatures 

 inside the piles reach 140-160 F within 

 a matter of days, and the compost 

 "cooks," Novak says. Old compost 

 material has also been used in lieu of 

 wood chips when availability is low. 



Meanwhile, the compost piles are 

 being tested for fecal coliform, 

 salmonella and heavy metals by 

 scientists at East Carolina University 

 and the N.C. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. These tests will determine whether 

 the compost can be approved by the 

 state for use on gardens or crops. 



Weyerhaeuser has been allowed to use it 

 in a cooperative research effort that does 

 not involve food crops. 



The Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine 

 Study has funded the project, which is 

 permitted by the N.C. Division of Solid 

 Waste. To learn more, contact Novak at 

 919/473-3937, Patty Buck at Matt- 

 amuskeet Seafood at 919/926-2431, or 

 Pat Hooper at the N.C. Division of 

 Soil and Water Conservation at 919/ 

 946-6481. 



Life After Nets? 



A fishing net in North Carolina has 

 more lives than a fish-house cat. Com- 

 mercial shrimp and flounder trawl nets 

 are usually patched and repaired rather 

 than abandoned. Older, large nets, such 

 as those used in the menhaden industry, 

 are often given to smaller-scale fisher- 

 men to trim down and reuse. Ultimately, 

 a net may even find retirement as a soc- 

 cer goal or baseball field backstop. 



But the estimated quarter of a mil- 

 lion crab pots discarded annually in 

 North Carolina are less versatile and 

 more likely to end up in the solid waste 

 stream. 



To explore the fate of old fishing 

 gear and determine its recyclability, Sea 

 Grant and the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service are working with commercial 

 fishermen in the Southeast. 



One plan being discussed is a col- 

 lection day for old nets and crab pots. 

 Slated for late January or early February, 

 the date will likely fall within the one- 

 week period in which the N.C. Division 

 of Marine Fisheries requires removal of 

 all crab pots from the water. The N.C. 

 Division of Waste Reduction has as- 

 signed a staff member to work with 

 county solid waste management and 

 coastal fishermen to develop this plan. 



Meetings were held in coastal 

 towns this summer to enlist the leader- 

 ship and support of coastal fisheries 

 groups. 



Net recycling has been tested on the 

 West Coast, where fishing activities are 

 concentrated in large ports and ocean 

 nets are replaced more often. This 



project will explore the issue from the 

 perspective of the more scattered fisher- 

 ies of the Carolinas and Georgia. Sea 

 Grant specialists in South Carolina and 

 Georgia are also participating. 



The net and crab pot collection 

 period will be Feb. 8-11, which is 

 Wednesday through Saturday. Sixteen 

 collection sites were identified in nine 

 coastal counties. 



To volunteer or get more informa- 

 tion, contact Gerry Sutton, N.C. Divi- 

 sion of Waste Reduction, 919/571- 

 4100; Bob Hines, N.C. Sea Grant ma- 

 rine agent, 919/247-4007; or Wayne 

 Wescott, N.C. Sea Grant regional spe- 

 cialist, 919/473-3937. 



Charter Boats 

 Troll for Trash 



When sportfishermen trolled along 

 the Gulf Stream off the coast of north- 

 eastern North Carolina in September, 

 they ogled more than the large pelagic 

 fish that feed along the drift line. 



These anglers looked for debris 

 that gathers — along with tuna, dolphin 

 and other prized sportfish — where the 

 warm sapphire waters of the Gulf 

 Stream collide with coastal waters. 

 Their observations will be counted and 

 recorded in the first known project of 

 its kind in the United States. 



At the request of Sea Grant spe- 

 cialist Rich Novak in Manteo, at least 

 20 chartered fishing boat captains out 

 of Oregon and Hatteras inlets volun- 

 teered to carry "data cards" on which 

 they and their passengers recorded the 

 cans, bottles, wood scraps and other 

 debris observed floating in the "weed 

 line." This interface of coastal and Gulf 

 Stream waters is a favorite feeding 

 spot for sportfish that seek out smaller 

 fish hiding in the masses of floating 

 seaweed. 



"We've heard fishermen tell about 

 the trash and oddities they've seen 

 along the Gulf Stream," says Sea Grant 

 marine education specialist Lundie 

 Spence. "But we've never had a quanti- 

 tative figure." 



The tally cards, a modified version 



24 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 1994 



