From the Editors 



Who We Are 



Each month, Coastwatch brings you stories about the North 

 Carolina coast. Any topic is game, whether it's the best way to fish 

 for speckled trout or the most recent developments in marine 

 biotechnology. Our mission is to help you catch the latest ideas, 

 human interest stories, research, news and events on the coast. Often, 

 we mention North Carolina Sea Grant, the program that publishes 

 the magazine, and discuss the work of its scientists and agents. 



But what exactly is Sea Grant? 



North Carolina Sea Grant is a university-based program that 

 promotes the wise use and stewardship of coastal and marine 

 resources through research, outreach and education. It is one of 29 

 programs involving more than 200 universities in the coastal and 

 Great Lakes states, as well as Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. This 

 network has a reach that extends over the entire country — and the 

 world. Members of the network often team up to tackle regional and 

 national problems that are beyond the scope of a single state 

 program. 



This year, the National Sea Grant Program is celebrating its 

 30th anniversary. Over the past three decades, the program has 

 achieved important advances in many fields. North Carolina Sea 

 Grant, which joined the national network in 1970, has contributed to 

 this success with a number of achievements, including hybrid striped 

 bass production, an industry that has developed in just a decade into 

 a $3.5 million-a-year moneymaker for the state. 



We accomplish important scientific work by assembling teams 

 of researchers from the state's top universities to investigate issues 

 such as harmful algal blooms (see story on page 14), declines in 

 fisheries stocks, habitat degradation and coastal erosion. The 

 findings from Sea Grant projects are applied from Currituck to 

 Calabash and beyond state lines. 



Sea Grant extension agents take the information to folks whose 

 lives are affected by it or depend on it. They are down on the docks 

 adjusting a net to reduce bycatch, at the crab house testing cooking 

 pressures, under a beach cottage examining hurricane tie-down 



straps and in the marsh giving teachers a lesson in estuarine ecology. 

 They bridge the gap between scientists and the coastal community, 

 alerting researchers to problems and needs and transferring research 

 results back to the public, local officials and resource managers. 



And the communications team, which is responsible for 

 Coastwatch, produces books, videos, brochures and media releases 

 to let the public know about the program's important research and 

 extension activities. 



None of this work would have been possible without the vision 

 of Athelstan Spilhaus, a geophysicist, meteorologist and inventor 

 who in 1963 proposed sea-grant colleges to parallel the successful 

 land-grant universities already in place. Sea Grant's founding father 

 watched his brainchild flourish for its first 30 years, but he died in 

 March at age 86. He left a legacy of dedication, cooperation and 

 innovation. 



Sea Grant has a mission to preserve our coastal and marine 

 resources while finding ways to use them judiciously. It is a program 

 that aims to build a better tomorrow for the North Carolina coast. 



That's who we are. □ 



Jeannie N orris Daun Daemon 



Contributors 



Writers: 



Debbi Sykes Braswell • David Cecelski • Daun Daemon • Kathy Hart 

 T. Edward Nickens • Jeannie Faris Norris • Athena Osborne • Julie Ann Powers 



Photographers: 

 James F. Parnell • Scott D. Taylor 



