COASTAL 



TIDINGS 



Seafood Festival Oct. 1-3 



lark your calendars for the 1 8th annual 

 North Carolina Seafood Festival, Oct. 1-3, on the 

 Morehead City waterfront. 



The festival is a fun-filled way to learn 

 about the importance of seafood to the economy 

 and culture of the state. 



The event features arts and crafts, port and 

 ship tours, street dances, fireworks and unique 

 sporting events — including a flounder fling. 



Look for North Carolina Sea Grant in the 

 education tent, along with dozens of organiza- 

 tions presenting hands-on, seafood-related 

 exhibits. The Yesterday & Today Education 



exhibits will be open Saturday and Sunday, 

 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 



Festival activities get under way on Friday 

 at 5 p.m. The street fair — featuring entertain- 

 ment on three stages, rides, and more than 100 

 food, arts and crafts vendors — runs to 9 p.m. 

 both Friday and Saturday, and from 10 a.m. to 

 5 p.m. Sunday. 



Proceeds of the event will help establish a 

 scholarship program for young people pursuing 

 education in seafood-related industries. 



For the complete list of activities, go 

 online to www.ncseqfoodfestival.org. — P.S. 



The Dune Book Wins 

 APEX Grand Award 



Nc 



lorth Carolina 

 Sea Grant's educational 

 campaign on sand dunes 

 took top honors in APEX 

 2004, a national publica- 

 tion awards program. The 

 campaign — focusing on 

 The Dune Book and related 

 outreach efforts — won one 

 of only 1 00 Grand Awards 

 conferred among the nearly 

 5,500 entries. 



APEXjudges also rec- 

 ognized North Carolina Sea 

 Grant's online site, www. 

 ncseagrant.org, and Coastwatch magazine. 



The Dune Book was written by Spencer 

 Rogers, North Carolina Sea Grant coastal erosion 

 specialist, and David Nash of N.C Coopera- 

 tive Extension. "Superbly designed, extremely 

 well-thought out campaign offers a wealth of 

 well-written, beautiful and interesting features and 

 resource material. One comes away from reading 

 this material with a clear understanding of and 

 appreciation for the role of dunes in protecting 

 against storm-induced erosion," the judges wrote. 



Sea Grant communicator Ann Green edited 

 the book, which was designed by Kathy McKee of 

 Raleigh, illustrated by David Williams of Raleigh 

 and printed by Theo Davis Sons of Zebulon. The 



campaign also included 

 news releases and media 

 coverage; workshops led 

 by Rogers and Nash; and 

 other distribution efforts. 



The North Carolina 

 Sea Grant Web site 

 received an APEX Award 

 of Excellence for "most 

 improved Web and 

 intranet sites." 



The site was 

 updated in 2003 under 

 the leadership ofTammy 

 Sumner, assistant director 

 for finance and information systems, who 

 handles technical aspects; and Katie Mosher, 

 communications director, who oversees content. 

 Capstrat of Raleigh provided site programming 

 and design services. "Our goal was to develop 

 a robust site that offered the user an engaging 

 look at our program," Sumner says. 



Coastwatch, North Carolina Sea Grant's 

 hallmark publication, also received an Award 

 of Excellence. Mosher is managing editor, while 

 Green and Sea Grant communicator Pam 

 Smith are senior editors, and Sandra Harris is 

 distribution manager. Linda J. Noble of Raleigh 

 is the designer for Coastwatch, which is printed 

 by Theo Davis Sons. — K.M. 



Big Sweep 

 Moves to 

 October 



North Carolina Big Sweep — 

 the annual statewide waterway cleanup — 

 is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 2. 



The volunteer effort traditionally 

 has been held on the third Saturday in 

 September. But Hurricane Isabel in 2003 

 caused officials to consider moving the 

 cleanup to a less hurricane-prone time. 

 Since 1 950, North Carolina has been hit 

 with eight hurricanes in August, 1 5 in 

 September and two in October. 



Big Sweep was founded as Beach 

 Sweep in 1 987 by Lundie Spence, then 

 North Carolina Sea Grant marine education 

 specialist. The initial band of 1 ,000 volun- 

 teers swept coastal counties to collect more 

 than 1 4 tons of debris. In 1 989, the effort 

 expanded inland and became Big Sweep. 

 Last year, a volunteer force of more than 

 1 90,000 gathered seven million pounds of 

 trash littering North Carolina watersheds 

 from the mountains to the coast. 



For a complete list of local Big Sweep 

 activities and county coordinators, go to 

 www.ncbigsweep.org. Organizers in Carteret 

 County have scheduled Big Sweep for 

 Oct. 9 to avoid conflict with the N.C. 

 Seafood Festival. — P.S. 



COASTWATCH 3 



