Their efforts were successful. In 1970, 

 North Carolina was granted a Sea Grant 

 institutional program that worked with the 

 various universities and was administered 

 by Lyman's office in Chapel Hill. 



The turf battles between campuses 

 were minimal. "The proposals were always 

 open and always competitive," explains 

 Bill Rickards, former North Carolina Sea 

 Grant associate director. 



coastal communities and found Hughes 

 Tillett and Sumner Midgett as the first 

 extension agents. A few months later, 

 writer Dixie Berg came onboard to launch a 

 newsletter that would evolve into 

 Coastwatch magazine over the years. 



Lessie Tillett recalls how her late 

 husband loved sharing new Sea Grant gear 

 suggestions or techniques with his lifelong 

 friends who had worked the waters beside 



Midgett, whose family had a long 

 history with Outer Banks lifesaving stations, 

 had a strong interest in land use. "They 

 complimented each other. Between them, 

 they were covering the activities in Dare 

 County and beyond," Copeland says. 



The agents collaborated with Jim McGee 

 of ECU, who was known along the coast for 

 his short courses on various coastal topics, 

 including bookkeeping for fishing families. 



Early seafood technology researchers 

 included, from left, Frank Thomas, the 

 late Donald Hamann, Tyre Lanier and 



Allen Chao. File Photo by Allen Weiu 



Filling Niches 



Copeland, whose first North Carolina 

 Sea Grant research was a project with NC 

 State colleague John Hobbie that looked at 

 nutrients in the Pamlico estuary, was 

 named program director in 1973. This 

 meant the North Carolina's Sea Grant 

 headquarters moved to Raleigh. 



His goal? Full Sea Grant College 

 Program designation — based on a record 

 of excellence in research, extension and 

 communication — in the minimum time, 

 just three years. 



Copeland recalls July 1, 1973, when 

 his staff included only Rickards, who later 

 became director of the Virginia Sea Grant 

 program, and secretary Louise Bame. "I 

 was told to write a proposal and submit it 

 by August 1 . We had no extension advisors 

 and no communicators. So we set about 

 getting the word out that we were in 

 business," Copeland says. 



His first hires? He looked to the 



North Carolina Sea Grant extension staff 

 posed for this 1980s photo. 



FiltPhn?*-* \.Ur II.: 



him. "He loved people. They would come 

 to talk to him," she says. 



Copeland agrees. "His focus was one- 

 to-one. He would go find a highliner and 

 get him to try something, then everyone 

 else would follow." And, Copeland adds, 

 Tillett took on the personal mission to 

 make sure the university folks were 

 educated about the realities of life on the 

 coast. "He was educating me." 



The marine advisory work involved 

 not only finfish, but shellfish as well. 

 "Hughes Tillett was the first Sea Grant 

 advisor to promote shellfish culture," 

 Copeland recalls. "He was the first to grow 

 clams in bags and trays. The first job he 

 had was to get people to change the way 

 they were doing things." 



Fisheries specialist Wayne Wescott has 

 been a link to the northern coastal 



communities. File Photo by Altai Weiss 



Early Sea Grant work also included 

 efforts by Frank Thomas and Ted Miller at 

 the NC State Seafood Laboratory in 

 Morehead City, who worked with plant 

 owners on a deboning machine and other 

 seafood processing issues. Through the 

 years, the lab had a crew of local cooks who 

 would work diligently with Joyce Taylor to 

 develop flavorful and healthy seafood 

 recipes. 



By 1974, Berg began a four-page 

 newsletter and other communications 

 products. "She wanted to get the information 

 out to the people," Copeland says. The first 

 newsletter discussed market opportunities 

 for amberjack and triggerfish and other species 

 considered bycatch. It also profiled the 

 seafood lab and new technology for eel pots. 



And, of course, there was the research. 

 "We were funding the best research by our 

 outstanding faculty, who were turning out 

 relevant results," Copeland says. 



Their efforts paid off. By 1976, North 



16 HIGH SEASON 2001 



