Where do the 1984 

 gubernatorial candi- 

 dates stand on the de- 

 velopment of North 

 Carolina's outer conti- 

 nental shelf? On the 

 stabilization of Oregon 

 Inlet? On submerged land ownership? 



You can find out. The North 

 Carolina Marine Science Council is 

 sponsoring a public forum March 5, at 

 7 p.m. in the auditorium of the 

 Archives and History Building, 109 

 East Jones St., Raleigh. During the 

 forum each candidate will be given 15 

 minutes to address the important 

 coastal and marine issues facing North 

 Carolina's next governor. Besides the 

 topics mentioned above, candidates 

 will be asked to address the issues of 

 peat mining and land drainage on the 

 Albemarle-Pamlico peninsula, and the 

 promotion of North Carolina's 

 fisheries products. 



Sea Grant research- 

 ers Donald Stanley, Bob 

 Christian and Hans 

 Paerl recently met with 

 representatives of gov- 

 ernments from Wash- 

 ington, D.C. and sur- 

 rounding communities to discuss the 

 algae blooms on the Potomac River 

 and on the Neuse and Chowan Rivers 

 in North Carolina. Christian says they 

 found a lot of similarities in the 

 problems of the three rivers. 



All three rivers have a large number 



of point source polluters. Each river 

 "bloomed" at about the same time 

 during the summer of 1983. And, each 

 of the rivers had a low river flow at the 

 time of the bloom. As the salt water 

 began to intrude up into the river, 

 there was a rapid decline of the bloom 

 on all the rivers, says Christian. 



Christian says that while environ- 

 mental managers in the D.C. area rely 

 on an elaborate computer model to 

 predict and monitor blooms, research- 

 ers in North Carolina have the advan- 

 tage of doing more experimental work 

 to understand the process of an algae 

 bloom. 



The North Carolina 

 Coastal Resources Com- 

 mission recently adopted 

 a mitigation policy. 

 Now, development that 

 occurs within the 

 jurisdiction of the Coast- 

 al Area Management Act may be eligi- 

 ble for mitigation, says Walter Clark, 

 Sea Grant's coastal law specialist. 



Clark says that in the natural 

 resources context, mitigation means 

 the trading of one valuable resource for 

 another resource of equal or greater 

 value. For example, suppose a water- 

 front property owner wants to ex- 

 cavate some coastal wetland to gain 

 boat access to deep water. The owner 

 applies to the state for a permit, but 

 the permit is denied based on the per- 

 manent loss to the wetland. 



Under the new mitigation policy, 



the property owner can offer another 

 resource in exhange for the resource 

 lost. In this case, the owner might offer 

 to create additional marsh by lowering 

 other high-ground property to marsh 

 elevation. And, if the Commission ac- 

 cepted the offer, the owner could com- 

 plete his project. 



If you'd like more information on 

 mitigation, contact Clark at (919) 737- 

 2454. 



Tom Blevins, a North Carolina 

 State University zoology graduate, has 

 joined the staff at the Sea Grant 

 Aquaculture Research and 

 Demonstration Center in Aurora. 

 Blevins will assist Sea Grant marine 

 advisory agent Randy Rouse with his 

 aquaculture work. 



Before coming to Sea Grant, Blevins 

 worked with Sea Grant researcher 

 Howard Kerby on his striped bass 

 project. 



If you'd like to contact Blevins, call 

 (919) 322-4054. 



Coastwatch is published monthly 

 except July and December by the Uni- 

 versity of North Carolina Sea Grant 

 College Program, 105 1911 Building, 

 North Carolina State University, Box 

 8605, Raleigh, NC 27695-8605. Vol. 

 11, No. 2, February, 1984. Dr. B.J. 

 Copeland, director. Kathy Hart and 

 Nancy Davis, staff writers. Second- 

 class postage paid at Raleigh, NC 

 27611. 



