THE HACK 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). For copies of 

 publications , write UNC Sea 

 Grant, NCSU, Box 8605, Raleigh, 

 N.C. 27695-8605. 



Everyday, corrosion 

 silently gnaws at 

 materials and machines 

 exposed to the elements. 

 Not so quietly, however, 

 it gnaws at the pocket- 

 book of the economy. 

 This year alone, corrosion will cost the 

 United States about $150 billion. 



"It's everywhere you look," says 

 K.L. Money of The LaQue Center for 

 Corrosion Technology, Inc., at 

 Wrightsville Beach. Our cars, bridges, 

 screen doors and even our hammers are 

 affected by it. It's the job of the center 

 to research the forces of corrosion and 

 help find some solutions. 



Money says corrosion occurs 

 because "when we form, or make, or 

 shape materials into alloys . . . we've 

 altered the natural -•state of that 

 material into some form that we can 

 use. In just the laws of nature, those 

 materials have a tendency to want to 

 return to their natural state. Steel 

 wants to return to iron ore, and as a 

 result, it will have a tendency to 

 corrode. The same thing's true with 

 aluminum, copper-based alloy and any 

 of the other alloy systems." 



Corrosion is often confused with 

 rust, but there's really no difference 

 between the two, Money says. Rust is 

 the corrosive mechanism of iron-based 

 materials such as iron and steel. 



The coastal environment, although 

 not the worst, is highly susceptible to 

 corrosion. "The materials used in and 

 around the marine environment, in sea 

 water and coastal zone areas, are 



seriously affected, of course, by the 

 strong, corrosive sodium chloride, 

 which is the main constituent of sea 

 water," Money says. 



Boat owners, coastal residents and 

 visitors can take certain steps to retard 

 the deterioration of their property. 

 Boats and cars should be rinsed fre- 

 quently to wash off the salt. Also, 

 painting or coating alloy products, 

 such as crab pots and screen doors, can 

 help curb corrosion. 



When the holidays 

 are over, you can put 

 your Christmas tree to 

 another use — building a 

 dune. Natural Christmas 

 trees can be used to 

 repair dunes worn down 

 by vehicle and pedestrian traffic, says 

 UNC Sea Grant's coastal engineer 

 Spencer Rogers. 



The tree's branches trap blowing 

 sand, becoming the skeleton of a new 

 dune. While Rogers says the trees can 

 be used to repair dunes damaged by 

 people and vehicles, they shouldn't be 

 used to repair dunes eroded by wave 

 action. 



Each year, Sea Grant and the N.C. 

 Marine Resources Center at Fort 

 Fisher sponsor a dune-repair program. 

 To participate in this year's program, 

 bring your tree, stripped oi its orna- 

 oTne center Tan. 1 az 1 !:'. 



ments, toThe center Jan. 



!:30 p.m. 



Since managing fish- 

 eries means managing 

 people, it pays to learn 

 something about the 

 people being managed — 

 their traditions, their 

 ambitions and their 

 abilities. That way managers can 

 gauge how possible changes in regula- 

 tions and policies will affect fishermen. 



To school future managers in the 

 ways and impacts of resource manage- 

 ment, UNC Sea Grant Director B.J. 

 Copeland has awarded a mini-grant to 

 John Maiolo, chairman of East 

 Carolina University's Department of 

 Sociology, Anthropology and 



Economics. Under Maiolo's supervi- 

 sion, two graduate students and one 

 undergraduate student will work with 

 the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries 

 to survey a sample of the state's 

 shrimp fishermen. 



The students will analyze the infor- 

 mation gathered and determine how 

 different shrimp closures and season 

 policies will affect fishermen. The 

 Division of Marine Fisheries may use 

 the information to reformulate 

 policies. 



A/lenhaden, shrimp, blue crabs and 

 flounder consistently provide most of 

 the value and weight of the state's 

 commercial catch. But what about 

 croaker, mullet or squid? Is there no 

 economic incentive to catch these 

 species? Or do these species have a low 

 abundance? 



Vito Blomo, an economist in the 

 Department of Sociology, 

 Anthropology and Economics at ECU, 

 will attempt to answer some of these 

 questions through a Sea Grant mini- 

 grant. Blomo will analyze the produc- 

 tivity of the state's commercial 

 fisheries to evaluate the feasibility of 

 intensifying existing fisheries or 

 developing new ones. 



Just inches below the 

 earth's surface in 

 northeastern North 

 Carolina lie the secrets of 

 another civilization and 

 another time. These soils 

 are rich in the artifacts 

 of the Algonkian Indians, who in- 

 habited the area. 



With support from UNC Sea Grant 

 mini-grant funds and the America's 

 Four Hundredth Anniversary Com- 

 mittee, Michael Orbach and Paul 

 Green, two anthropologists in the 

 Department of Sociology, 

 Anthrolopology and Economics at 

 ECU, are using these artifacts to 

 reconstruct the lifestyle of the 

 Algonkian Indians at the time of their 

 contact with the English. 



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