COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Citizen Research through 

 Fishery Resource Grants 



mm 



One 1998 study examined hard clam growth and survival. 



People who work the water for a 

 living often have the best ideas for 

 improving fisheries resources — 

 developing better gear, protecting 

 habitat, or 

 testing 



innovations in 

 aquaculture or 

 seafood 

 technology. 



Rarely do 

 these people 

 have the time 

 and money to 

 pursue then- 

 ideas ... unless, 

 of course, they 

 live in North 

 Carolina. 



The 

 N.C. Fishery 



Resource Grant Program, administered 

 by North Carolina Sea Grant and funded 

 by the N.C. General Assembly, invests 

 in the ideas of the people who work in 

 fishing industries. 



This year, applicants proposed 57 

 projects. In March, the N.C. Marine 

 Fisheries Commission (MFC) is 

 expected to select those projects to be 

 funded in 1999. 



The innovative program allows a 

 natural pairing of expertise and ideas. 

 Sea Grant specialists and agents hold 

 workshops and work one-on-one with 

 applicants to help develop ideas into 

 projects that can produce meaningful, 

 quantifiable results. In its four-year 

 history, the program has yielded 

 marketable innovations such as scallop 

 medallions that are molded from scallop 

 fragments without precooking or 

 freezing. Other projects examine 

 environmental impacts of human 

 activities, such as the effect of bottom 

 trawling or the removal of a dam on fish 

 migration. 



Sea Grant organizes both in- and 



out-of-state reviews of all applications 

 before the MFC considers them. 

 Funding is provided by the N.C. General 

 Assembly, which has pledged $1 million 



Skip Kemp annually 



since it 

 established 

 the program 

 in 1994. To 

 date, more 

 than 140 

 projects have 

 been funded. 



When 

 the projects 

 are com- 

 pleted, the 

 researchers 

 are required 

 to share their 

 findings 



among fellow fishers, the MFC and 

 academic institutions. 



Ultimately, the citizen research 

 yields information about North 

 Carolina's fisheries and shows how 

 these resources can be used and 

 managed more effectively. 



Pending approval by the MFC, a 

 video explaining how to apply for a 

 Fishery Resource Grant will be available 

 soon through North Carolina Sea Grant 

 and the Division of Marine Fisheries. 

 The video, a Bill Hitchcock production, 

 will be shown on "North Carolina 

 Saltwater," a weekly magazine-style 

 television show about the North 

 Carolina coast, and on the World Wide 

 Web at http://www.ncsaltwater. com/. 



Sea Grant specialists are also 

 available to discuss the program — 

 how to apply or to review completed 

 projects. Call Sea Grant's Raleigh office 

 at 919/51 5-2454 or its field offices in 

 Wilmington (910/256-2083), Morehead 

 City (252/247-4007) and Nags Head 

 (252/441-3663). 



— J.F.N. 



Around the Network: 



Seeing the 

 Sounds of 

 Silence: 

 Marine 

 Sciences 

 for the Deaf 



Science scores are generally 

 lower for deaf students than their 

 hearing counterparts. Connecticut 

 Sea Grant aims to change mat- 

 in a project funded by Sea 

 Grant, Pete Scheifele, director of 

 marine education programs for the 

 National Undersea Research 

 Center, North Atlantic and Great 

 Lakes, is working with teachers and 

 students from the American School 

 for the Deaf in Hartford, Conn., to 

 help students leam basic science 

 and math through a hands-on 

 marine science curriculum. 



Students are working on a 

 research project in underwater 

 acoustics, learning to use sonar 

 technology to distinguish ambient 

 noises in Long Island Sound and the 

 Gulf of Maine from the sounds of 

 aquatic animals and human 

 activities. They "hear" the sounds 

 by studying computer printouts 

 representing the sounds' wave- 

 forms. 



Scheifele says deaf students 

 tend to have lower science scores 

 because "there are no signs in 

 American Sign Language for 

 scientific terms, so each term must 

 be spelled out letter by letter. It 

 takes the deaf person about three 

 times longer to absorb the same 

 material as the hearing student" 



Scheifele aims to address the 

 problem by working with a high 

 school science teacher and an 

 audiologist to put together a book 

 of new scientific signs. 



COASTWATCH 3 



