• FISHERIES • 



North Carolina's fisheries are in a constant 

 state of flux, especially the eastern oyster, a 

 species suffenng long-term decline due to 

 over-harvesting, habitat destruction, pollution 

 and disease. However, the state's restoration 

 efforts are strong. During the past five years, the 

 N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has 

 built several oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound as 

 spawning sanctuaries. 



NC State researchers Cynthia Cudaback, 

 Dave Eggleston and Lian Xie will study how 

 the physical circulation in Pamlico Sound 

 affects dispersal patterns of oyster larvae. 

 Using computerized models, researchers have 

 already made some projections about the most 

 productive reefs and the extent of their larval 

 distribution. The team will spend the next two 

 years testing their predictions in the field. 



"The big question is what is the best 

 reef or set of reefs to conserve or build?" says 

 Eggleston. "The project will give DMF some 

 guidance on where they should place their 

 restoration efforts." 



Additional Fisheries Projects 



• Effects of Hypoxia-lnduced Habitat 

 Compression on Juvenile Fish Cohort Dynamics: Field 

 and Model Investigations. James Rice andj. Kevin 

 Craig of NC State. 



• Factors Influencing Escapement of Red Drum 

 in North Carolina: A Combined Conventional Tag 

 and Telemetry Approach. Jeffery Buckel, Joseph 

 Hightowerand Kenneth Pollock of NC State. 



• Hypoxia Impacts on Sustainable Oyster 

 Populations. Amy Ringwood and James Oliver of 

 UNC-Charlotte and Patricia McClellan-Green 

 of NC State. 



COASTAL COMMUNITIES 



With resident and tourist populations on 

 the rise in North Carolina, the landscapes of 

 coastal and estuarine counties are undergoing 

 dramatic change. To better understand such 

 change, researchers Thomas Crawford, Don 

 Bradley and Bob Edwards of East Carolina 

 University (ECU) plan to conduct a spatial 

 characterization of changing land-use patterns 

 in 20 North Carolina counties subject to the 

 Coastal Area Management Act (CAMA). 



First, the researchers will analyze satellite 

 and field data sets from the U.S. Geological 

 Survey and the National Oceanic and 

 Atmospheric Administration's Coastal Change 

 Analysis Program. Then they will examine how 

 the changes in the landscape relate to increased 

 population growth and the migration of certain 

 populations, such as retirees or commuters 

 from larger metropolitan areas. 



"The landscape data we will use are 

 some of the best available to look at some of 

 these broad changes in the last 1 years or so," 

 Crawford says. "We'd like to get these trends, 

 patterns and results to the people who can 

 most use them." 



The team plans to produce 

 both a report and a CD or DVD 

 containing GIS data for use by a 

 variety of local, state and federal 

 planning officials, as well as 

 conservation groups and citizens. 



Additional Communities Projects 



• Using LIDAR to Monitor 

 Topographic Changes on Barrier Island 

 Systems. Paul Gares and Yong 

 Wang of ECU. 



ECOSYSTEMS AND HABITATS 



As increased urbanization and changing 

 agricultural patterns continue in North 

 Carolina's coastal zones, higher levels of 

 nutrients — such as nitrogen and phosphorous 

 — are making their way into manne and 

 estuarine systems. Overloading nutrients in 

 estuarine systems can trigger algal blooms that 

 alter the food web structure and create larger 

 areas of hypoxia, says CraigTobias, a geology 

 researcher at UNCW. 



More fresh water also is being removed 

 upstream, mainly due to rapid development. 

 Increased withdrawals of fresh water upstream 

 can push the boundary between saltwater and 

 freshwater landward, potentially changing 

 microbial nitrogen cycles in estuaries — notably 

 how much nitrogen is removed versus how 

 much is recycled. 



Tobias and environmental scientist 

 Bongkeun Song of UNCW will examine 

 microbial nitrogen cycles in the Cape Fear 

 River Estuary in an effort to quantify how the 



balance among these cycles changes in response 

 to a shifting salinity gradient. Located near a fast- 

 growing urban center, the Cape Fear River Estuary 

 is subject to both nutrient loading and freshwater 

 withdrawal. 



"A better understanding of the factors that 

 control the balance between nitrogen recycling 

 versus nitrogen removal pathways is critical for a full 

 examination of how estuaries currently function, and 

 how they might respond to future perturbations," 

 the researchers note in their proposal. 



20 Coastwatch I Autumn 2006 I www.ncseagrant.org 



