COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Keeping Tabs 

 on the rvleuse 



searchers at North Carolina 

 State University's Center for Applied 

 Aquatic Ecology are using auto- 

 mated sensing and sampling devices 

 to collect and analyze water and 

 weather conditions along the Neuse 

 River. 



Led byJoAnn Burkholder, 

 North Carolina State University 

 professor of aquatic botany and 

 marine sciences, the project will help 

 scientists, state agencies and the 

 public keep tabs on fish kills, algae 

 buildup, nutrient levels and other 

 water-quality problems in the 

 estuary. 



Four of the projected 1 5 

 monitoring platforms are operating 

 in the Neuse at New Bern, Kennel 

 Beach, Carolina Pines and Cherry 

 Point. Hourly data transmitted to 

 NC State are posted directly on the 

 center's Web site at www.pfiesteria 

 org. The information will remain on 

 the site for a week and then be 

 archived at the lab. 



Burkholder, a Sea Grant 

 researcher, says the ongoing 

 monitoring of meteorological and 

 hydrological conditions will help 

 scientists better understand what 

 combination of factors leads to 

 Pfiesteria outbreaks and other fish 

 kills. Stored data could be used to 

 create computer models to enable 

 scientists to predict where and when 

 such events are likely to occur. — P.S. 



4 HOLIDAY 2000 



Blue Crab Landings Down in 2000 



Ireliminary reports point to 

 a disappointing commercial blue 

 crab harvest for the 2000 season 

 — this, after record landings in 

 1999. 



Although the official tally by 

 the N.C. Division of Marine 

 Fisheries won't be available for 

 several months, anecdotal 

 evidence suggests many 

 commercial operations struggled 

 to stay afloat. 



In mid- July, several 

 processors in Beaufort and 

 Pamlico counties reported 

 working at half to three-quarters 

 capacity. By September, many 

 picking houses were operating only two to 

 four days a week. Commercial crabbers were 

 calling it a dismal season. 



But Dave Eggleston isn't surprised that 

 landings were down from last year, especially 

 in the Neuse. Eggleston, a Sea Grant 

 researcher at North Carolina State University 

 who studies blue crabs, says, "The long-term 

 data on blue crab abundance is notoriously 

 variable in the Neuse River, where it can vary 

 four- to ten-fold between years." 



What caused this year's decline is 

 subject to speculation, says Larry B. Crowder. 

 professor of marine science at the Duke 

 University Marine Lab in Beaufort. The 

 effects of flooding — low oxygen due to 



nutrient loading and low salinity from the 

 freshwater deluge — are among the probable 

 culprits. 



"There are reasonable arguments for 

 poor survival by one-year-old crabs from 

 1999 into two-year-old, legal-sized crabs this 

 spring," Crowder adds. This could be due to 

 spawners in poor condition or failure of 

 larvae to recruit back into the estuary which 

 was flooded with freshwater throughout the 

 fall of 1999. 



Crowder says it is important to continue 

 to monitor fishery effects, especially in the 

 Neuse River and Pamlico Sound. Statewide 

 landing figures could mask effects that were 

 more regional due to flooding. — P.S. 



Undersea Program Lauded 



The National Wildlife Conservation Society presented its 2000 Conservation 

 Award to Aquarius and the University of North Carolina at Wilmington's National 

 Undersea Research Center (NURC) last month. The award cited "the role played by 

 Aquarius and the NURC in helping unravel the mysteries of the ocean by placing 

 scientists underwater to conduct their studies." 



Aquarius is the only underwater laboratory operating in the world's oceans and is 

 located adjacent to a coral reef in the Florida Key's National Marine Sanctuary. 

 Funding for Aquarius and NURC is provided by the National Oceanic and Atmo- 

 spheric Administration (NOAA). 



The UNC-W undergraduate marine biology program is ranked fifth in the nation 

 out of 1 50. For information about Aquarius, visit the Web site: www.uncwil.edu/ 

 aquarius. — VS. 



j 



