THE BACK PAGE 



"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). 



North Carolina fish- 

 ermen are reporting dis- 

 appointing shrimp 

 catches this year, par- 

 ticularly in western and 

 northern Pamlico Sound, 

 says Ed McCoy, of the 

 Division of Marine Fisheries in 

 Morehead City. 



News reports blame the heavy rains 

 that fell earlier this year and the 

 resulting lower salinity levels in the es- 

 tuary. But is it that simple? 



Sea Grant researcher John Miller 

 says probably not. Instead, he says it's 

 more likely that heavy rainfalls in- 

 directly affected the shrimp. "The 

 same weather conditions that affect 

 salinity also affect a lot of other things. 

 And those may be the things causing 

 reduced numbers of shrimp," says 

 Miller. 



He says it's important to remember 

 that shrimp is an annual crop. "The 

 number of shrimp in 1983 is a direct 

 function of the number of shrimp 

 produced in 1982," says Miller. So, it 

 may be that fewer of the shrimp 

 spawned last year actually survived. 



Shrimp larvae rely on currents to 

 move them from offshore where 

 they're spawned to the estuarine nur- 

 sery areas where they'll mature. 

 Weather conditions may have result- 

 ed in a lack of currents for the shrimp 

 to migrate toward the estuary. 



Once the shrimp reached the es- 

 tuarine waters, it may be that abnor- 

 mally low salinity levels stressed them, 

 says Miller. The low salinity levels also 

 may have stressed the food supply on 

 which the shrimp feed. 



In turn, the low-salinity environ- 

 ment may have been conducive to a 

 disease organism or to an organism 

 that competes with the shrimp for 

 food, says Miller. 



McCoy says the heavy rains came in 

 March, April and May — the critical 

 months for the brown shrimp. But 

 there is hope for the shrimp fishery in 

 North Carolina, McCoy says. The 

 critical months for pink shrimp are 

 June, July and August. The heavy 

 rains probably won't affect that 

 species, he says. 



On Aug. 1 Congress approved the 

 reauthorization of the National Sea 

 Grant Program for 1984-85. The pro- 

 gram was created by Congress under 

 the National Sea Grant College Act 

 and must periodically be reauthorized 

 by Congress so it can continue to 

 operate as a federal program. 



The Senate Committee on Ap- 

 propriations has voted to increase the 

 1984 budget for Sea Grant by 10 per- 

 cent. The UNC Sea Grant College 

 Program is in the process of preparing 

 and submitting its 1984 renewal 

 budget request to the National Office 

 of Sea Grant. 



/" Spencer Rogers, Sea 



/-sl~¥¥ \ Grant's coastal engi- 

 A^VV? ^J;fh\ neer, has received a pres- 

 Y^*"'~&#M tigious 'award for out- 

 V s *Vl*V^K / standing extension ser- 

 \i r^ jjj ^ j J vice from North Caro- 



^ — S lina State University 

 (NCSU). Rogers was one of only ten 

 university extension workers to receive 

 the award this year, and is the first Sea 

 Grant marine advisory agent or 

 specialist to be so recognized. 



Rogers, who was recently named 

 Specialist of the Year in UNC Sea 

 Grant's Marine Advisory Service, was 

 recommended for the NCSU extension 

 award because of his work helping to 

 solve coastal engineering, construction 

 and shoreline-erosion problems. 



Bruce Poulton, NCSU chancellor, 



said that Rogers' "efforts and devotion 

 to the application of knowledge for in- 

 dividual enrichment, community 

 development, and public service exem- 

 plify the spirit and mission of our 

 Land-Grant University." 



Lise Knelson, a zool- 

 ogy graduate of the Uni- 

 versity of North Caro- 

 lina in Chapel Hill, will 

 be the first student to re- 

 ceive the North Caro- 

 lina Marine Policy Fel- 

 lowship. UNC Sea Grant Director B.J. 

 Copeland provided project initiation 

 funds for the program, which will be 

 administered through the Institute for 

 Coastal and Marine Resources at East 

 Carolina University under the direc- 

 tion of Michael Orbach, a noted ocean 

 policy researcher. 



Knelson, who was elected to Phi 

 Beta Kappa in 1981, concentrated her 

 undergraduate work on the marine 

 sciences. 



Copeland says the fellowship 

 program will train top students in 

 marine policy, providing leaders that 

 will help solve tomorrow's ocean-use 

 problems. 



The Neuse River 

 Foundation sponsored a 

 symposium on water 

 quality and other relat- 

 ed issues on Sept. 15. 

 The Fairfield Harbour 

 Symposium featured dis- 



cussion from scientists, regulatory 

 agency officials, city and county plan- 

 ners, and industrial developers on 

 three main topics: municipal and in- 

 dustrial development, groundwater 

 hydrology and water quality. 



UNC Sea Grant Director B.J. 

 Copeland conducted the session on 

 water quality and Sea Grant research- 

 ers Hans Paerl and Donald Stanley 

 presented some of their findings on the 

 blue-green algal blooms of the Neuse 

 Continued on next page 



