COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



SeaiSrai 



North Carolina 



Sea Grant 

 Celebrates 30tn 

 Anniversary 



Over the past 30 years, 

 North Carolina has witnessed 

 unprecedented growth, particu- 

 larly in the coastal region. 



This development has 

 brought economic opportunities 

 and stress on our natural 

 resources. 



Since 1970, North Carolina 

 Sea Grant has led research on the 

 state's coastal resources — from 

 nonpoint source water pollution 

 to the blue crab. The extension 

 staff also provides programs and 

 services — from guiding teachers 

 on marsh hikes to informing 

 fishers about new technology. 



The program began with an 

 institution grant in 1 970. With the 

 establishment of the University of 

 North Carolina system in 1972 

 and involvement of Duke 

 University via a consortium, North 

 Carolina began the nation's 1 2th 

 Sea Grant College in 1 976. 



"Sea Grant's mission is to 

 develop and disseminate informa- 

 tion to promote the wise use of 

 our state's coastal resources," says 

 Ron Hodson, Sea Grant director. 



"Through research and 

 outreach efforts over the last 30 

 years, we have seen a growing 

 awareness and appreciation of Sea 

 Grant's contributions to North 

 Carolina's interests among 

 important constituencies 

 throughout the state. Sea Grant's 

 role in North Carolina will grow in 

 importance in the future as 

 additional pressures are placed on 

 coastal resources." — A. G. 



Researchers Target Ghost Pot Losses 



Ghc 



lost pots — crab pots untended 

 because their markers have been acciden- 

 tally severed — are scaring away blue crab 

 profits and threatening stocks. Severed from 

 their float lines by boat props, trawl gear, 

 storm surges or other mishaps, tens of 

 thousands of unmarked and untended pots 

 keep catching crabs, most of which will 

 perish. 



Now marine fisheries researchers, 

 supported by a Fishery Resource Grant, are 

 working with a Pamlico County crab pot 

 maker to test devices using biodegradable 

 materials to provide an escape route for 

 crabs and finfish. Biodegradable modifica- 

 tions to lost pots could be mandated when 

 the blue crab fishery management plan is 

 updated. 



Blue crabs are the state's most valuable 

 commercial species, worth more than $40 

 million in 1998. By most estimates, there 

 are 8(X),(XX) to one million crab pots in 

 the state waters, and crabbers lose an 

 average of 10 percent of their pots 

 during a season. Studies in North 

 Carolina and in Louisiana 

 have shown a minimum of 

 1 1 to 25 crabs die in each 

 ghost pot per season. 



With up to 100,000 pots 

 lost a year, the numbers are 

 substantia], says Division 

 of Marine Fisheries 

 biologist Sean McKenna 

 who works out of Beaufort 

 County. "In my mind, the ghost 

 pots issue is one of the most important 

 in the crab fishery," he says. 



Irene Hooker, a Grantsboro crab pot 

 maker, has been working with McKenna on 

 a solution since receiving a resource grant in 

 1994. She built the pots while Kelly Hooker, 

 her daughter and research assistant did the 

 field work. 



The Hookers recruited a dozen full- 

 time commercial crabbers to test three 

 designs — panels, cullrings attached with 

 both hog rings and with string, and a 

 standard hook and bungee cord, attached 



with string instead of hog rings. Six types of 

 string were used in the devices — jute, 

 medium-weight cotton, heavy-duty cotton, 

 cotton chalk line, cotton cable cord and 

 medium- weight sisal. The pots were tested 

 in a variety of locations to allow for 

 differences in water chemistry. 



The crabbers who participated did so 

 because they recognize the need for a 

 solution to the substantial ghost pot losses 

 of blue crabs and commercial finfish. 



According to the final project report in 

 1996, the crabbers chose the panel as their 

 favorite device. Most thought cotton to be 

 the most suitable of the twine tested, lasting 

 almost the entire season. Heavy-duty cotton 

 also seemed promising, lasting 

 about half the season 

 before requiring 

 replacement. 



Hookers 

 hope their 

 work ulti- 

 mately 

 will cut 

 down 

 on ghost 

 pot losses. 

 McKenna says re- 

 searchers are following up on the Hookers' 

 findings, working to perfect the panel de- 

 sign and some of the other mechanisms 

 that could effectively address the issue. 

 "We want to get something that will do 

 what it's supposed to do without inconve- 

 nience to the fishermen, or costing them a 

 lot of lost catch," he says. - JAP. 



4 WINTER 2000 



