Coastwadi 



Senior Editors 

 Daun Daemon 

 Jeannie Faris Norris 



Contributing Editor 

 Debbi Sykes Braswell 



Editorial Assistant 

 Athena Osborne 



Designer 

 Linda Noble 



Marketing Coordinator 

 Elizabeth Burke 



Circulation Manager 

 Sandra Harris 



The North Carolina Sea Grant College 

 Program is a federal/state program that 

 promotes the wise use of our coastal and 

 marine resources through research, extension 

 and education. It joined the National Sea Grant 

 College Network in 1970 as an institutional 

 program. Six years later, it was designated a 

 Sea Grant College. Today. North Carolina Sea 

 Grant supports several research projects, 

 a 1 2-member extension program and a 

 communications staff. Ron Hodson is interim 

 director. The program is funded by the U.S. 

 Department of Commerce's National Oceanic 

 and Atmospheric Administration and the state 

 through the University of North Carolina. 

 Coastwatch (ISSN 1068-784X) is published 

 bimonthly, six times a year, for $15 by the 

 North Carolina Sea Grant College Program. 

 Box 8605. North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh. North Carolina 27695-8605. 

 Telephone: 919/515-2454. Fax: 919/515-7095. 

 E-mail: faris @unity .ncsu.edu or 

 ddaemon@unity.ncsu.edu. 

 World Wide Web address: 

 http://www2.ncsu.edu/sea_grant/seagrant.html. 

 Periodical Postage paid at Raleigh, N.C. 



POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 

 Coastwatch, North Carolina Sea Grant. 

 Box 8605, North Carolina State University, 

 Raleigh, NC 27695-8605. 



Front cover photo of 

 Cape Lookout marsh and 

 table of contents photo 

 of Town Creek Marina 

 by Scott D. Taylor 



Printed on recycled paper. ® 



COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Stay Tuned for 

 Pfiestena Documentary 



If you've picked up a newspaper or 

 watched the news lately, you've 

 undoubtedly heard about Pfiestena 

 piscicida, the toxic dinoflagellate that's 

 been linked to fish 

 kills in North 

 Carolina, Virginia 

 and Maryland. 



There has 

 been no shortage 

 of accounts about 

 this organism. But 

 stay tuned — in a 

 matter of months, 

 you can get the 

 latest science- 

 based information 

 about Pfiestena in 

 a public television 

 documentary. 

 North Carolina 

 Sea Grant is 

 working with 



UNC-TV and the National Institute of 

 Environmental Health Sciences 

 (NIEHS) to produce a program about 

 hazardous marine algae that highlights 



A microscopic view of Pfiesteria piscicida 



Pfiesteria. Scheduled to air on UNC- 

 TV's I.Q. in late 1998 or early 1999, the 

 documentary will feature hazardous 

 algal blooms and their effects on human 

 and ecological 

 health. It will 

 examine where 

 and how often 

 the outbreaks 

 occur and how 

 they relate to 

 water quality. 



Coordinating 

 the program are 

 Lundie Spence, 

 Sea Grant's 

 marine education 

 specialist; Barbara 

 Doll, Sea Grant's 

 water quality 

 specialist; and 

 John Pritchard, 

 chief of NTEHS' 

 Laboratory of Pharmacology and 

 Chemistry. They are working with a 

 technical committee of scientists to 

 guide the content of the show. — J.N. □ 



In the Next Issue of Coastwatch 



n the next issue of Coastwatch, Julie Powers takes you on a tour of 

 Mattamuskeet Lodge, a structure with one of the most fascinating histories 

 in North Carolina — and a new future. Built in 1 91 6 as a pumphouse to 

 drain Mattamuskeet Lake, this striking building was converted to a grand 

 hunting lodge in the 1 930s. Today, it has been rescued from decay and is 

 being transformed into an environmental research and education center. 



Kay McLain takes you on a tour of a different kind — a literary tour of 

 the coast. She looks at the work of six contemporary authors who set their 

 novels on the North Carolina coast and the environmental messages found 

 in their writing. And she examines these authors' relationships with nature 

 and the coast. 



Also in the upcoming issue, Odile Fredericks looks to the skies for the 

 subject of her article — lightning. North Carolina ranks second only to Florida 

 in annual number of lightning strikes. What has the reign of bolts meant to 

 life along the coast? □ 



2 SPRING I99X 



