COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Grants Cover 

 N.C. Coast 



The votes are all in, and the 

 winners are... residents who are active 

 in fishing industries in all of North 

 Carolina's coastal regions. More than 

 $800,000 has been earmarked for 22 

 projects in the 2001 Fishery Resource 

 Grant program. 



The grants are available for 

 research that involves North Carolina 

 citizens who are active in a commercial 

 or recreational fishing industry, 

 aquaculture, or the handling offish 

 products. 



From Wilmington in the south to 

 Shiloh in the northern region, coastal 

 residents are proving that good ideas 

 for enhancing or protecting fishery 

 resources can come from those who 

 are most intimately involved in those 

 resources. 



The grants are funded by the 

 N.C. General Assembly and adminis- 

 tered by North Carolina Sea Grant. 



"This year there was great 

 diversity in the projects funded. They 

 covered aquaculture of many local 

 species. Other projects examine the 

 effects of trawling on bottom habitat, 

 alternative fishing gear, bycatch and 

 fisheries economics," says Steve 

 Rebach, Sea Grant associate director. 



For a complete list of recipients, 

 log onto www.ncsu.edu/sectgrctnt and 

 follow the research links. 



Applications for the 2002 

 funding cycle will be due Nov. 30. 

 For more information, call Rebach 

 at 91 9/51 5-2454 or FRG 

 coordinator Bob Hines at 

 252/222-6312. -C.H. 



North Carolina Aquariums 

 Celebrate 25th Anniversary 



Up close 

 and personal" best 

 describes the 

 North Carolina 

 Aquariums 

 experience. 



In 1976, the 

 aquariums at 

 Roanoke Island, 

 Bogue Banks and 



Fort Fisher — originally named N.C. 

 Marine Resource Centers — had little 

 more than a few static displays and 

 invertebrate species. Still, they drew 

 visitors, young and old, curious about the 

 world beneath the sea's surface. 



Lee Dawkins of Pine Knoll Shores 

 remembers the aquarium's humble 

 beginnings when she and her family first 

 visited in 1983. "We've watched tanks go 

 from small to large, new exhibits go up, 

 reptiles become part of programs and 

 exhibits, another nature trail open for 

 visitors," she says. 



The aquariums originally focused on 

 education and research, but that changed 

 when more and more visitors like 



Dawkins showed 

 interest. Aquari- 

 ums Director Rhett 

 White says, "That 

 encouraged us to 

 expand our general 

 programming in 

 the same direc- 

 tion." In response, 

 the NCMRC was 

 renamed the N.C. Aquariums in 1986. 



The following year, the Roanoke 

 Island facility opened its most successful 

 exhibit so far, the Grady White Shark 

 Gallery. Since then, watching the divers 

 in the shark tanks has become just as 

 popular as watching the sharks, according 

 to Lisa Schell, the public relations 

 manager. 



As part of their Silver Anniversary, 

 the aquariums plan to add 175 species to 

 their exhibits — including river otters, 

 some smaller fish, and several poisonous 

 snakes indigenous to North Carolina. 



For more information on upcoming 

 events, visit www.ncaquariums.com on 

 the Web. - D.M.D. 



Beach Bag Bounty 



Looking at the small black cases that 

 washed up on the sand, you can under- 

 stand why some fanciful person first called 

 them mermaid's purses. They have 



a glossy, elegant look when wet, and a curled 

 tendril adoms each of the four comers. 



But instead of holding a mermaid's 

 baubles, these cases that fit in your hand 

 serve a much more important purpose. 

 They originally held eggs laid by a diamond- 

 shaped fish called a skate. 



Skates are flat like a disk, but with a 

 tail. More than 200 species of skates 

 live in waters throughout the 

 world. Although they may not inspire 

 romantic images of mermaids 

 themselves, their nurseries enchant 

 beachcombers of all ages. 



4 HIGH SEASON 2001 



