Big Fish 

 Bring in 

 Big Money 



Bluefin tuna are big fish 

 with even bigger moneymaking 

 potential for the Hatteras area. 



A report on the economic 

 impact of this fishery found that 

 over a 51 -day period in 1 997, 

 bluefin tuna anglers spent more 

 than $3.8 million in Hatteras 

 and elsewhere in North Caro- 

 lina. Before 1 996, the fishery did 

 not exist. 



This study of the winter 

 recreational Atlantic bluefin tuna 

 fishery in Hatteras was designed 

 to learn more about the fishery 

 and its participants. The 

 relatively new fishery developed 

 after large bluefin tuna were 

 discovered near the shipwrecks 

 off Hatteras. Until this study, 

 little was known about the 

 fishery participants, their catch 

 and harvest practices, and their 

 economic impacts on the local 

 community and North Carolina. 



The study requested names 

 and addresses from bluefin tuna 

 anglers at the end of their daily 

 fishing trips. Among them, 

 1 ,051 were mailed a question- 

 naire about their trip, and 65.1 

 percent responded. 



To order a copy of the 

 report, A Social and Economic 

 Study of the Winter Recreational 

 Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Fishery in 

 Hatteras, N.C., send a $12 check 

 payable to the Texas Agricultural 

 Experiment Station to Robert B. 

 Ditton, Department of Wildlife 

 and Fisheries Sciences, Texas 

 A&M University, College Station, 

 TX 77840-2258. The $1 2 covers 

 the cost of the publication, 

 postage and handling. □ 



—J- FN. 



COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Restoring Shellfish Waters 



Bacterial contamination has 

 permanently closed about 56,000 acres 

 of shellfish waters in North Carolina, 

 and another 45,000 acres are tempo- 

 rarily closed by rainfall and runoff. 



Once shellfish waters are contami- 

 nated, can they be cleaned up? 



Barbara Doll, North Carolina Sea 

 Grant's water quality specialist, is 

 researching the answer to that question. 

 With a grant from the N.C 

 Clean Water Management 

 Trust Fund, Doll will test 

 different stormwater 

 management strate- 

 gies and their 

 effectiveness in 

 reopening shellfish 

 waters at Jumping 

 Run Creek, a 

 tributary of Bogue 

 Sound in the White 

 Oak River basin near 

 Morehead City. 



"We will demon 

 strate whether we can 

 actually restore shellfish 

 waters," Doll says. "If 

 someone digs ditches and cuts 

 down trees, they change the way the 

 watershed drains. Can we fix it so that 

 so much bacteria doesn't wash into 

 shellfish waters?" 



Jumping Run Creek is a "condition 

 ally approved closed" tidal creek where 

 shellfish harvesting is permitted only 

 during very dry periods — just a few 



days per year. Shellfish areas are closed 

 by the presence of fecal coliform, a 

 harmless bacteria that resource managers 

 use as an indicator of dangerous 

 pathogens from animal or human wastes. 



To repair Jumping Run Creek, Doll 

 teamed up with N.C. Cooperative 

 Extension Service researchers who have 

 monitored the creek's watershed for the 

 last year to determine the 

 source of bacteria 

 and how it reaches 

 the creek. High 

 concentrations 

 of fecal coli- 

 form bacteria 

 are found in 

 ditches that 

 drain into 

 Jumping Run Creek 

 from the surrounding 

 woods, roadways and 

 residential communities. 

 The research team will 

 design the repairs using 

 Cooperative Extension's 

 monitoring information. 

 Doll says this project will 

 improve water quality in Bogue 

 Sound shellfish waters through 

 biological and engineered stormwater 

 controls and education programs for 

 local municipal leaders and residents. 

 These strategies will be evaluated in 

 2000, and they will serve as models for 

 reducing bacterial contamination in other 

 coastal shellfish waters. □ 



— J.F.N. 



In the Next Issue of Coastwatch 



Surf fishing at Cape Hatteras is world famous, and in the fall, 

 it's a frenzied rite of sport and culture that has few peers on the coast. 

 In the next issue, T. Edward Nickens hangs out at "the Point" 

 for a frontline accounting of surf-fishing history and hysteria. 

 Wader-up and join him in the third installment 

 of his series about coastal landmarks. □ 



COASTWATCH 3 



