THE BACK PACK 



"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). For copies of 

 publications , write UNC Sea 

 Grant, NCSU, Box 8605, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27695-8605. 



If it's a marlin you 

 want to catch, there's no 

 better place to fish than 

 the Gulf Stream. But 

 first you must find this 

 meandering corridor of 

 warm water that cuts 

 along the East Coast. The Gulf Stream 

 can shift position, alternately snaking 

 and straightening as it flows 

 northward. Often eddies of warm 

 water break off the main body of the 

 stream. 



Commercial and recreational fisher- 

 men seek out the Gulf Stream and its 

 eddies because of the warm-water fish 

 that travel its path. Marlin, tuna, 

 wahoo, dolphin, swordfish and shark 

 are prevalent. 



Jim Bahen, the Sea Grant marine 

 advisory agent at Ft. Fisher, wants to 

 help fishermen locate the elusive Gulf 

 Stream before they leave the docks. 

 Bahen has worked with the National 

 Environmental Satellite Service in 

 Miami to develop a chart that plots 

 the Gulf Stream's path on a longitude- 

 latitude grid from Jacksonville, 

 Florida to Norfolk, Virginia. The chart 

 also provides the width of the Gulf 

 Stream, the average speed of its axis in 

 knots, its average temperature in 

 Celsius, and the distance from its 

 western wall to landmarks such as Fry- 

 ing Pan Tower. Bahen will receive the 

 chart three times a week via a 

 telecopier at his office. He says the 

 charts can save fishermen time and 

 fuel. 



If you'd like to know more about 



Bahen's Gulf Stream Information Ser- 

 vice, write him at the Marine 

 Resources Center/Ft. Fisher, General 

 Delivery, Kure Beach, N.C. 28449. Or 

 call 919/458-5498. 



From Calabash to 

 Currituck, the UNC Sea 

 Grant Marine Advisory 

 Service has news for 

 you — the commercial 

 fisherman, the angler, 

 the aquaculturist, the 

 seafood dealer, the property owner. 

 Marine advisory agents Jim Bahen in 

 Wilmington, Bob Hines in Atlantic 

 Beach, Wayne Wescott in Manteo and 

 Randy Rouse in Aurora have joined 

 with specialist Rich Novak to bring 

 the public an informal monthly news- 

 letter about the latest in commercial 

 and recreational fishing gear, fisheries 

 regulations, fishing tournaments, 

 aquaculture, marketing news, publica- 

 tions and more. 



The team is calling its newsletter 

 The Marine Advisory News, and it's 

 free for the asking. The team newslet- 

 ter takes the place of separate newslet- 

 ters, such as Light Line, published by 

 individual agents. To receive a copy, 

 write The Marine Advisory News, 

 Box 8605, North Carolina State Uni- 

 versity, Raleigh, N.C. 27695-8605. 



What yields more 

 crabs in a single catch 

 than eight to 10 crab 

 pots? The answer: a 

 peeler pound. Randy 

 Rouse, the marine ad- 

 visory agent at the 

 Aquaculture Research Center in 

 Aurora, is experimenting with a peeler 

 pound to catch hard crabs and peelers. 

 So far, the results have been good. In 

 one night he caught 50 legal-size crabs, 

 15 peelers, three flounders and four 

 large eels. 



Used frequently in Virginia, peeler 

 pounds are set in shallow water and ex- 

 tend from the shore to a trap at the 



end. The peeler pounds have three 

 main parts — the lead, the heart and 

 the trap. Leads are usually constructed 

 of crab pot wire strung along the bot- 

 tom, but some are made from net web- 

 bing. Hearts are generally constructed 

 with wire and may or may not have 

 tops and bottoms. The heart herds the 

 crabs to the trap, which is also con- 

 structed of wire and attached to fram- 

 ing made of treated wood or iron. 



Rouse learned that peeler pounds 

 need to be set in protected areas where 

 winds and waves can't destroy them. 

 And he's had some problems with grass 

 fouling the lead. 



If you're interested in learning more 

 about peeler pounds, write Rouse at 

 the Aquaculture Research Center, Rt. 

 2, Box 305, Aurora, N.C. 27806 or call 

 919/322-4054. Rouse suggests that 

 fishermen talk with an N.C. Division 

 of Marine Fisheries enforcement of- 

 ficer about regulations before setting 

 up a peeler pound. 



Xhe western Pamlico 

 River isn't a place for 

 females — female blue 

 crabs that is. Research- 

 ers have estimated that 

 female blue crabs make 

 up only about nine per- 

 cent of the total blue crab catch in the 

 area. And this makes for problems 

 when it comes to harvesting peelers. 

 Other crabbers along the coast catch 

 female peeler crabs (mature females 

 ready to shed and mate) by baiting 

 their pots with male crabs called "jim- 

 mies." But in western Pamlico River, 

 the low percentage of female crabs 

 makes this method unprofitable. 



Using UNC Sea Grant mini-grant 

 funds, two scientists, Graham Davis 

 and Steve Harlan of East Carolina 

 University, will study alternative 

 methods for havesting peelers. They 

 plan to add synthetic grass to peeler 

 pots to create a refuge for the soon-to- 

 shed crabs. Studies have shown that 

 peelers seek out grass beds as a haven 



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