ROWDINC OUT 

 HELLFISH 



W. 



By Kathleen Angione • Photos by Scott Taylor 



'hen Jim and Bonnie Swartzenberg 

 began farming shellfish near Holly Ridge in 

 1980, the Onslow County couple could look out 

 across the sound and not see a single rooftop. 



"Now it's wall-to-wall housing," says Jim 

 Swartzenberg, staring out at a horizon of tall, 

 grey condominiums on North Topsail Beach. 



The Swartzenbergs, owners of J&B 

 AquaFood, Inc., rely on the health of the sound 

 for their livelihood. They harvest 1,800 to 2,000 

 bushels of oysters per year from their shellfish 

 leases. They also plant 50,000 to 60,000 clams 

 per year and harvest about 80 to 90 percent of 

 them. 



But nearby, hefty price tags of beachfront 

 real estate are driving many prospective buyers 

 to build their dream houses near rivers and 

 streams that feed into shellfishing areas. 



According to Swartzenberg, approximate- 

 ly 40 to 50 houses are being built near Turkey 

 Creek, three-quarters of a mile east of the J&B 

 AquaFood farm. 



A half-mile west of the farm, a 75-home 

 development is planned for Kings Creek. 



And more are coming. 



By 2030, North Carolina will be home to 

 an additional 3.5 million people, according to 

 U.S. Census Bureau estimates. And many are 

 expected to reside on or near our coast. 



All of these new homes and people 

 require roads, driveways and parking lots 

 — impervious surfaces that don't let water 

 percolate into the ground. Instead, water simply 

 washes over or "runs off' the concrete, picking 

 up contaminants such as oil, sand, chemicals 

 and fertilizers and washing them into nearby 

 rivers and streams. 



Known as "stormwater runoff," it is the 

 biggest contributor to nonpoint source pollution 

 in waterways, says Kate Ardizone, water 

 quality planning specialist for North Carolina 

 Sea Grant. 



Unlike discharge from "point sources," 

 such as water treatment plants, nonpoint source 

 pollution is becoming increasingly difficult to 

 control and regulate as populations in coastal 

 North Carolina continue to increase. 



"The more chemicals and unnatural things 

 in the water, the harder it is for oysters to grow," 

 says Swartzenberg. 



And the more dangerous they could be for 

 humans to eat. 



"Stormwater runoff is our biggest 

 nonpoint source pollution problem with 

 shellfish harvesting closures," says Patti Fowler, 

 the assistant chief for shellfish sanitation and 

 recreational water quality, a section of the 

 Division of Environmental Health, which is 

 within the N.C. Department of Environment 

 and Natural Resources. 



There are about 2. 1 million acres 

 of coastal waters in North Carolina, with 

 approximately 365,000 acres closed to 

 shellfish harvest, according to Fowler. About 

 40,000 to 50,000 additional acres are deemed 

 "conditionally approved" shellfish harvest 

 areas, and thus may be closed temporarily in the 

 event of heavy rainfall that flushes stormwater 

 runoff into waterways. 



"Because some folks are eating these 

 shellfish raw, it is extremely important to make 

 sure they are safe to eat and harvested from 

 approved waters," says Fowler. 



"We can't let people get sick from eating 

 shellfish," adds Larry Cahoon, a Sea Grant 

 researcher and University of North Carolina at 

 Wilmington biologist who specializes in water 

 quality issues. "A lot of North Carolina shellfish 

 are exported out of state, and that can create 

 legal and economic concerns." 



COASTAL POPULATION BOOM, 

 WATER QUALITY BUST? 



Watershed development is putting 

 pressure on natural resources downstream, 

 according to Cahoon and Mike Mallin, a Sea 

 Grant researcher who studies marine and 

 estuarine ecology at UNCW. 



Approximately 95 percent of the clams 

 and 50 percent of the oysters harvested in 

 North Carolina are from south of Cedar Island, 

 or within Carteret, Onslow, Pender. New 

 Hanover and Brunswick counties, says Mallin, 



Continued 



Coastwatch I Winter 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 7 



