North Cgjpling 

 Sea Q^ranF: 



Making Coastal Science 

 Count for 25 Years 



By Katie Mosher 



As North Carolina enters 

 not only the new century, 

 but the new millennium, 

 Sea Grant's role will be critical 

 to the future of the coast 

 and the entire state. 



Photo by Scon D Taylor 



Tor 25 years, North Carolina 

 Sea Grant has brought sci- 

 ence to coastal communities 

 — and coastal residents have 

 offered healthy doses of 

 common sense to academics. 



Take, for example, early efforts to 

 gather input on research and extension 

 needs along the coast, "I sat and talked 

 with one man who was working his eel 

 pots and crab pots. I talked with him for 15 

 or 20 minutes, making the point of asking 

 him what we could do for him," former 

 Sea Grant director B.J. Copeland recalls. 

 "He looked at me and said, 'Sounds like 

 you guys are just looking for something to 

 do."' 



In many ways, that crabber was right. 

 The infant Sea Grant program was looking 

 to do something. Those first staffers were 

 out to make a difference for coastal 

 ecosystems and coastal economies. 



"I got his message: They were 

 hardworking people," Copeland says. "To 

 be accepted, Sea Grant would have to be 

 relevant. We would have to deliver good 

 information and do it when we said we 

 would." 



As the Sea Grant program grew, 

 extension staff and researchers would stay 

 on the lookout for new topics and issues, 

 especially as sleepy fishing villages 

 became tourist meccas, and as develop- 

 ment surged in river basins that drain from 

 the piedmont to the estuaries. 



"Sea Grant provides a direct — and 

 personal — link between the universities 

 and the coastal communities," says current 

 Sea Grant director Ronald G. Hodson. 



"We have earned a reputation for 

 being available to listen to coastal concerns 

 and being alert to scientific and technologi- 

 cal breakthroughs that could be potential 

 solutions," Hodson says. 



As North Carolina enters not only the 



14 HIGH SEASON 2001 



