Coast watch

              Research,
Recreation
and Repast:
Treasuring
Gifts of the Sea
C O U N T I N G B A I T F I S H • P R E S E R V I N G H I S T O R Y • P R O M O T I N G M A R I C U L T U R E • S T E V E R E B A C H Coastwatch N O R T H C A R O L I N A S E A G R A N T • W I N T E R • 2 0 1 3 • I S S U E 1 • $ 3 . 7 5
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F R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R
Having grown up in Orange County,
I really did not expect to be able to utter those
words from Raleigh, given my coastal research
background. It is with pleasure that I have begun
a new adventure here with North Carolina Sea
Grant. With many wonderful opportunities to
engage with a range of partners from across
the state, inland to coastal, I often now feel
	
closer to the coast than when I was living in
Charleston, S.C.
Getting to know Sea Grant leaders and
staff in Raleigh and along the coast, becoming
more familiar with our current partners, and
beginning to look toward new opportunities to
continue to provide programmatic relevance
and excellence to address our state’s needs have
been eye-opening, educational experiences for
me. My respect for the commitment of Michael
Voiland and Steve Rebach, previous executive
director and associate director, respectively, has
been solidified from learning of the expansive
range of excellent programming these two
spearheaded. Both these leaders transitioned
to their well-earned retirement at the end of
2012 and I commend their contributions to this
program.
In becoming more familiar with the
current range of Sea Grant-supported research
and extension projects, I have found this
diversity to be both a strategic decision and a
sound investment for the state. The long-term
excellence of the program is a result of the
forward-looking planning and anticipation of
coastal informational needs, the program’s
capacity to provide rapid support for research
and extension needs, and the long-term
community partnerships that enable the
application of results for positive impact.
Currently, we are fine-tuning the latest
strategic plan, which lists our anticipated future
focus areas. In January, Sea Grant participated
in a University of North Carolina systemwide
coastal and marine science review that was
conducted by the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. I will tell you more
about both of these activities in a future issue
of Coastwatch.
As Sea Grant continues to evolve
to address long- and short-term coastal
resource management issues, I anticipate that
the program will maintain programmatic
flexibility to address priority coastal concerns
and look to expand activities that provide
additional information on the linkages between
the health of coastal ecosystems, humans and
economies.
I came on board at North Carolina State
University with a dual hat: directorship of Sea
It’s Good To Be Home
I N T H I S I S S U E
Contributing Writers:
Marion Blackburn Jack Horan Morgan Jones
E-Ching Lee Katie Mosher Sharon Settlage Pam Smith
Contributing Photographers:
Marion Blackburn Daniel Brown George Browne Marc Hall
Natalie Hampton Roger Harris Jack Horan Jeffrey K. Johnson
Becky Kirkland E-Ching Lee Vanda Lewis John McCord
Patty McQuillan Jeffery Merrell Sara Mirabilio Barry Nash
Nelson Paul Sharon Settlage Pam Smith Gregg Southard
Scott Taylor Marc Turano Kim Urian Robin Wienke
Roger Winstead Lianne Won
North Carolina’s diverse coast offers countless interesting subjects.
The map indicates story settings in this issue —
including Currituck, Dare and Carteret counties.
Grant and the Water Resources Research
Institute of the University of North Carolina.
Both programs are interinstitutional and
designed to serve the entire state. While
they both support research and extension
needs, one focuses from the ocean to the
inland riverine and estuarine reaches of the
coast, and the other from the coastal plain
and piedmont up to the mountains. I feel
strongly that these two separate program
resources bring great opportunity for research
collaboration to address the pressing issues
facing North Carolina in coastal and water
resource management. Our freshwater and
saltwater resource issues are more closely
related than is often realized. I look forward
to sharing these joint research and extension
successes in the coming years as we continue
to understand the watershed connections,
from the mountains to the sea, that impact the
health of our coastal resources.
I hope to continue our conversation
together. I encourage you to reach out to me
at snwhite3@ncsu.edu or 919/513-1145 so that
we can work together to address the coastal
resource issues facing North Carolina, both
now and into the future.
— Susan White, Executive Director
North Carolina Sea Grant
F E A T U R E S
COA S TA L T IDINGS ......................................................................................2
Mummichog Tagging: 384.36F2B3418C is in the Creek
North Carolina Sea Grant-funded researchers are studying mummichogs,
a baitfish, that could be a barometer for tidal creek health. Sharon
Settlage checks out these tiny creatures that can email biologists in
Morehead City. .......................................................................................................6
The Science of Shipwrecks
Maritime heritage fellows are investigating old sea vessels to uncover
secrets and develop new conservation methods. Marion Blackburn learns
how two scholars are trying to protect and preserve the state’s underwater
coastal heritage from the effects of time and tide. .........................................12
A Center for Growing Seafood, Testing Ideas
North Carolina State University and Sea Grant researchers are showing that
mariculture need not be an expensive venture. Join Pam Smith for a visit to
the Marine Aquaculture Research Center in Marshallberg. ........................18
P EOP L E A ND P L ACE S :
Diamond Shoals and Frying Pan:
Offshore Light Towers Beckon New Missions
For years, the light towers at Diamond Shoals and Frying Pan stood
abandoned. Now under new owners, the towers are being reborn as places
for research and recreation. Jack Horan explains. .........................................24
LOC A L C ATCH:
Traditional Working Boats of the Outer Banks
Local fishermen displayed some of their boats at the Outer Banks Seafood
Festival last fall. Morgan Jones describes the vessels that ply the coast
along this necklace of islands. ..........................................................................28
CUR R ENT S : New Challenges Ahead
As Steve Rebach prepared for retirement at the end of 2012, E-Ching Lee
talked to colleagues and family members for a perspective on his Sea Grant
contributions. .......................................................................................................31
MA R INER’ S M ENU: Broiled Oysters
A hard-to-open shell holds a tasty treat. Try this oyster recipe from
Mariner’s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood Ideas. ....................back cover
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 1
Coastwatch
NATIONALOCEANICANDATMOSPHERICADMINISTRATION
U S DEPARTMENTOFCOMMERCE
2 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
Coastwatch North Carolina Sea Grant • 2013 • Winter • Issue 1
Managing Editor
E-Ching Lee
Editor
Katie Mosher
Contributing Editor
Pam Smith
Designer
Linda Noble
Circulation Manager
Sandra Harris
The North Carolina Sea Grant College Program
is a federal/state program that promotes
stewardship of coastal and marine resources
through research and outreach.
It joined the National Sea Grant College Network
in 1970 as an institutional program.
Six years later, it was designated a Sea Grant College.
Today, North Carolina Sea Grant supports
research projects, an extension program
and a communications staff.
Susan White is executive director.
The program is funded by the
U.S. Department of Commerce’s
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
and the state through the University of North Carolina.
Coastwatch (ISSN: 1068-784X;
USPS Periodical # 010464) is published
five times a year (January/February, March/April/May,
June/July, August/September/October, November/
December) by the North Carolina Sea Grant
College Program, North Carolina State University,
Box 8605, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8605.
Telephone: 919/515-2454. Fax: 919/515-7095.
Subscriptions are $15.
Email: eching_lee@ncsu.edu,
katie_mosher@ncsu.edu
World Wide Web address: http://www.ncseagrant.org
Periodical Postage paid at Raleigh, N.C.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to
Coastwatch, North Carolina Sea Grant,
North Carolina State University, Box 8605,
Raleigh, NC 27695-8605.
Cover photo of crabs by Barry Nash.
Table of contents graphic based on
photo of bluefish by Vanda Lewis.
Printed on recycled paper.
COASTWATCH
C O A S T A L T I D I N G S
Roger Winstead/NC State University
In This Issue
Greenville-based writer Marion Blackburn writes about preserving wrecks
along our coast on page 12. She focuses on archeology and wrote about the
Corolla shipwreck for Archaeology magazine in 2010. Jack Horan contributes an article
about light towers on page 24. He is a retired reporter for the Charlotte Observer.
North Carolina Sea Grant and its
partners have many activities through April.
• Visit the Nature in Black & White
special exhibit at the N.C. Aquarium on
Roanoke Island. Through April 3, students from
a North Carolina State University biological
illustration class will display a selection of their
work. For more, visit www.ncaquariums.com/
archives/15143.
• The 2013 N.C. Marine Recreational
Fishing Forum, sponsored by Sea Grant, will
be held on Feb. 16 at the McKimmon Center
in Raleigh. Registration is required for this free
event. Brad Gentner, president of Gentner
Consulting Group and nationally recognized for
his economic analysis of saltwater recreational
fishing, is a confirmed speaker. For more
information and to register, visit www.ncseagrant.
org/recfishforum.
• N.C. Catch, the statewide group that
markets local seafood and educates consumers,
is organizing the Local Catch Summit on Feb.
21 and 22 at the University of North Carolina
Coastal Studies Institute in Wanchese. Sea
Grant is an event sponsor. The meeting starts
with N.C. Catch’s board meeting, followed by
a kickoff dinner that is open to the public. Talks
on assisting catch group member businesses
and general seafood education are scheduled
for day two. More information is under the
News & Events tab at www.outerbankscatch.com.
• The 2013 Blue Heron Bowl is set
for Feb. 23 in Raleigh. North Carolina State
University is the host and Sea Grant is one
of the sponsors. The winner of this regional
marine science quiz bowl will advance to the
National Ocean Sciences Bowl in Milwaukee,
Wis., from April 18 to 21. Learn about
the Blue Heron Bowl at sites.google.com/
site/blueheronbowl/ and about the national
competition at www.nosb.org.
• The American Fisheries Society
Tidewater Chapter annual meeting will be
held March 21 to 23 in Solomons, Md. Look
for North Carolina research results at the
opening poster session, and talks over the
next two days. For details, go to www.sdafs.org/
tidewater/AFSTidewater/Home.html.
• From April 5 to 21, the N.C. Science
Festival will have activities throughout the
state for the whole family. For more, visit
www.ncsciencefestival.org. And don’t forget to
celebrate Earth Day on April 22. Many local
science museums and organizations will hold
related events, so check their calendars.
Visit www.ncseagrant.org for more. — E.L.
Mark the Calendar for Winter, Spring Events
Winter and spring events are aimed at groups including high school students, recreational fishermen and seafood retailers .
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 3
First Outer Banks
Seafood Festival Held
The inaugural Outer Banks Seafood
festival, held at Nags Head in October
2012, featured local seafood. Cooking
demonstrations, education tents, a photo
contest and performances by local bands
filled the day.
Outer Banks Catch, a local seafood
marketing initiative, played a founding role
in the event.
Sara Mirabilio, North Carolina
Sea Grant fisheries specialist, assisted in
planning numerous education tents that
showed how seafood moves from the net
to the table. Sea Grant set up a mock retail
counter displaying “what is in season, how
it is caught, how to prepare it and what
to look for when you buy a fresh fish,”
Mirabilio explains.
Historical cookbooks displayed
past fishing styles and recipes. Local elder
fishermen also were in attendance to tell
stories of their days on the water.
The 2013 Outer Banks Seafood
Festival is set for Oct. 19. — M.J.
Hathaway Receives Environmental Educator Kudos
C O A S T A L T I D I N G S
Terri Kirby Hathaway, North Carolina
Sea Grant marine education specialist, was
recognized as the 2012 Outstanding Practitioner
by the Environmental Educators of North
Carolina, or EENC.
The award recognizes an EENC member
who helps to build environmental education
as a profession through statewide efforts and
leadership, as well as by being an advocate for
excellent education.
“Terri has been a leader in environmental
education in North Carolina, and the South
Atlantic and Mid-Atlantic regions, as well as on
the national level. It is great to see her creativity
and hard work recognized by the EENC,” says Jack Thigpen, Sea Grant extension director.
Hathaway was cited for her dedication to environmental education and educators statewide,
her enthusiasm for the discipline, and her long-term impact in the field.
“It is Terri’s contagious enthusiasm for anything related to the ocean and teaching that
makes her an outstanding practitioner of environmental education,” notes Beth Cranford in the
nomination. Cranford, an educator at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, writes that Hathaway’s
warmth and passion is “a priceless contribution” to the profession.
Hathaway facilitates the Methods of Teaching Environmental Education course, which is
required for EE certification, and trains state educators on ocean-related topics. She develops
coastal curricula for North Carolina classrooms and organizes teacher workshops. In addition,
she serves as an education specialist with the Center for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence
SouthEast, serving North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
She writes Scotch Bonnet (blogs.ncseagrant.org/scotchbonnet), a marine education newsletter, three
times a year. She also is a regular contributor to Coastwatch.
In 2009, Hathaway was named the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary’s Volunteer of the Year
for her work on educating the public about the sanctuary. 	 	 — E.L.
Annual Water Conference
Set for March
The Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North
Carolina is hosting its annual conference from March 20 to 21 at North
Carolina State University’s McKimmon Center in Raleigh.
The event is open to people with an interest in water-related issues,
including North Carolina’s water resource problems, solutions and
opportunities. The North Carolina Water Resources Association Annual
Symposium is an integral element of the program.
The symposium will include discussions on nutrient credit trading,
and explore the barriers and opportunities for such a program in the
state. The conference will conclude with the free Progress Energy Seminar
— Water, Energy, Security: Colliding Imperatives. It is open to the public.
For early rates, register by March 15. For details, visit www.ncsu.edu/
wrri/code/events/annualconference.htm. 	 	 — M.J.
Terri Kirby Hathaway receives
her award from Keith Bamberger,
EENC membership co-chair.
Sea Grant’s mock retail counter draws curious visitors.
WRRI’s conference will
focus on North Carolina’s
water resource issues,
solutions and opportunities.
Courtesy EENC
Sara Mirabilio
NCSG file photo
C O A S T A L T I D I N G S
4 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
Duke Doctoral
Student is NOAA
Fisheries Fellow
Meagan Dunphy-Daly
started her three-year stint
as a National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
Fisheries/Sea Grant Fellow in June
2012. The fellowship supports
doctoral students in fisheries
population dynamics or marine
resource economics.
Dunphy-Daly, from Duke
University’s Nicholas School of
the Environment, is studying the
effect of marine protected areas,
or MPAs, on populations of top
open-ocean predators, such as tunas, billfishes
and sharks.
The population dynamics fellowship,
which funds her dissertation research, has
enabled her to assess fishing effort as a function
of distance from an MPA in the Northwestern
Hawaiian Islands. She seeks to determine if the
amount of fishing increases around an MPA
over time and how that affects predators.
“Being able to work with scientists who
are familiar with the data that I am analyzing
is invaluable. I got to experience daily life at a
NOAA center and I will have a chance to join
in a NOAA research cruise in July,” Dunphy-
Daly says. She is collaborating with fellowship
mentor Jeffrey Polovina and colleagues at
NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science
Center.
The Ferndale, Mich., native received
bachelor’s degrees in biology and studio art
from Oberlin College, and a master’s degree in
biological sciences from Florida International
University.
“The fellowship is an excellent means of
promoting conservation and management of
living marine resources,” says Sara Mirabilio,
N.C. fellowship coordinator. “It provides real-world
experience to doctoral students and
increases their expertise in this discipline, as
well as fosters closer relationships between
academic scientists and federal fisheries
managers.” Mirabilio also is a fisheries specialist
for North Carolina Sea Grant.
— E.L.
UNC-CH Student
Receives Coastal
Policy Fellowship
North Carolina Sea Grant
and the N.C. Coastal Resources
Law, Planning and Policy Center
awarded the 2013 Coastal Policy
Fellowship to Sierra Schelegle.
She is a doctoral candidate at
the University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill’s Curriculum for
the Environment and Ecology
program.
“The fellowship is the first
of its kind for Sea Grant and the
Center,” says Lisa Schiavinato,
Sea Grant coastal law, policy
and community development specialist and
co-director of the center. The program fosters
research on coastal policy issues within North
Carolina, including exploration of the legal
implications.
Schelegle will compare and contrast
climate adaptation practices in North Carolina
and Maryland. She is assessing factors that
influence a community’s degree of planning for
sea-level rise. “This fellowship is an amazing
opportunity to delve into a subject of great
personal interest and extreme importance to
coastal North Carolina,” she says.
A native of Davis, Calif., Schelegle
received her bachelor’s degree in ecology
and evolutionary biology from Princeton
University.
“Schelegle has a dynamic background
and demonstrated commitment to climate
change research. Her research on the
motivations of sea-level rise planning will add
value to conversations occurring in our coastal
communities and amongst coastal resource
managers.” Schiavinato says.
Schelegle’s academic advisor is
Philip Berke, of the UNC Institute for the
Environment and a faculty member in the city
and regional planning department.
For more about the N.C. Coastal
Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center,
see www.nccoastallaw.org. Information about
Sea Grant fellowships can be found at
	
www.ncseagrant.org/home/research/fellowships. —
S.B.S.
Meagan Dunphy-Daly
Sierra Schelegle
Courtesy Sierra Schelegle Courtesy Meagan Dunphy-Daly
NC Scholars
Start Marine Policy
Fellowship
Noah Chesnin and Wendy Piniak
will begin their assignments as Dean John A.
Knauss Marine Policy Fellows in February.
This one-year post-graduate fellowship
will give them experience shaping national
policy issues affecting ocean, coastal and
Great Lakes resources.
Chesnin, who received his master’s
in environmental management from
Duke University’s Nicholas School of the
Environment, will work for U.S. Rep. Sam
Farr, who represents California’s 17th
Congressional District.
“I am passionate
about public
participation in marine
decision making and
hope to learn firsthand
how resource users,
other stakeholders
and the general public
can be engaged in the
legislative process in
order to help protect
and sustainably use
our oceans,” Chesnin
says. The Seattle native
has an undergraduate
degree from Yale
University.
Piniak, who holds
a doctoral degree in
marine science and
conservation from Duke University, will join
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration Fisheries’ Office of
Protected Resources.
Piniak, who hails from Islesboro,
Maine, also has a master’s in environmental
management from Duke and a bachelor’s
degree in biology and environmental studies
from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
Funded by the National Sea Grant
Program, the fellowship honors John
A. Knauss, a Sea Grant founder, NOAA
administrator and former dean of the
University of Rhode Island’s Graduate
School of Oceanography. The application
deadline for the 2014 Knauss Fellowship is
Feb. 15. Learn more at www.ncseagrant.org/s/
knauss. .—L. E
Noah Chesnin
Wendy Piniak
E-Ching Lee E-Ching Lee
C O A S T A L T I D I N G S Coastwatch Writers
Win Awards
North Carolina Sea Grant staff took
honors in a yearly communications contest
held by the North Carolina Association of
Government Information Officers.
Coastwatch managing editor, E-Ching
Lee, took home first place in feature writing
for her Summer 2012 story on “Hunting
for Quicksilver: Testing Local Seafood for
Mercury.” Lee talked with scientists who
found that, in many cases, North Carolina
seafood had lower mercury levels than the
same species in national studies.
“It is an honor to receive this award,”
Lee notes. “And even more so because
it was with a story that highlighted the
benefits of eating North Carolina seafood.”
Sharon Settlage, 2012 Coastwatch
contributing editor, received third place in
feature writing for her Spring 2012 story on
dune grass research, titled “Advancing Sea
Oat Biology: Advancing Dunes.”
Settlage also won honorable mentions
for “The Pamlico Sound: Fishing Gem of
North Carolina,” which told of the Coastal
Habitat Protection Plan in the Pamlico
Sound region, and “The Multitalented
Oyster,” an article about the environmental
benefits of oyster reefs. They were published
in the Summer 2012 and Autumn 2012
issues of Coastwatch, respectively.
“These three articles were a pleasure
to write. I hope that they help our readers
see the benefits of North Carolina
Sea Grant research, and foster
further appreciation of the state’s
coastal environment,” Settlage
comments.
Lee and Settlage both credit
editor Katie Mosher for providing
guidance in a friendly and insightful
manner.
“I am proud of E-Ching and
Sharon for being recognized by
their peers across the state,” adds
Susan White, Sea Grant executive
director. “They continue a fine
Coastwatch tradition of sharing
research results with broad
audiences.” — S.B.S.
LEFT: Jennifer Garifo, NCAGIO president,
hands awards to E-Ching Lee (top) and
Sharon Settlage (bottom).
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 5
State Starts Investigating Wind Leases
In December 2012, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, or BOEM, began a
process that could lead to leases for wind farms in federal waters off North Carolina.
The first phase is intended to gauge industry interest and provide public input for three
potential offshore lease areas. One is 6 miles off Kitty Hawk, running 45 nautical miles north and
south. The other two are 7 and 13 miles south of Wilmington, forming blocks 11 by 15 miles and
21 by 28 miles, respectively.
Lisa Schiavinato, co-director of the N.C. Coastal Resources Law, Planning and Policy Center
and North Carolina Sea Grant law, policy and community
development specialist, is a member of the N.C. Renewable
Energy Task Force. “This is the time wind-energy companies can
show their interest to the federal government and the state of
North Carolina,” says Schiavinato.
Schiavinato adds that the three wind-rich lease areas
were screened for desirable wind speeds and for potential use
conflicts, such as military training corridors, shipping lanes and
productive fishing grounds. Officials at Cape Hatteras National
Seashore raised concerns that wind turbines could mar scenic
views.
The planning process will consider environmental impacts,
socioeconomic issues and siting concerns. Should BOEM offer
leases, companies awarded leases must get agency approval for
site assessment plans, and construction and operations plans.
Thus, any prospective wind farms offshore of North Carolina
are years away, she says.
BOEM will schedule public information meetings. For
more information, visit www.boem.gov/Renewable-Energy-Program/
State-Activities/North-Carolina.aspx. 	 — J.H. BOEM
A federal agency has started a process that might bring wind farms to the state.
Patty McQuillan Patty McQuillan
6 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
C o n t i n u e d
Beside a small creek in Beaufort, Paul
Rudershausen struggles to unlock a transceiver
unit. His effort is a sign that the device has been
working well. When the unit was first installed, he
said, he might have had to unlock the big metal
door several times a day to troubleshoot. Now the
lock has become stiff from limited use because all
is working as it should.
The transceiver unit looks like a park kiosk.
It is informational, with a notice explaining that
scientists from North Carolina State University
are assessing the population of creek fish. As
described, the team will tag fish and place
antennas in local creeks to monitor fish movement
and “determine population demographics such as
growth, age structure, and population size.”
Behind the door of the transceiver unit lies a
complex array of high-tech equipment, including
a modem that transmits data to Rudershausen’s
email, a multiplex antenna receiver, an AC-DC
converter and four large batteries.
All this to detect the movement of a small fish.
Called mummichog, Native American for
“goes in crowds,” it also is known as a mud min-now,
or, up north, as a killifish. The fish frequently
is used as live bait to catch many other marine
fishes because it is their preferred natural prey.
North Carolina Sea Grant is funding NC State
fisheries biologists Jeff Buckel and Joe Hightower,
who are Rudershausen’s graduate advisors, to
determine if the small fish can act as sentinels for
the health of tidal creeks. Buckel is at the Center for
Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City.
Hightower is with the U.S. Geological Survey and
the N.C. Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research
Unit at NC State in Raleigh.
Mummichogs, or Fundulus heteroclitus,
MUMMICHOG
TAGGING:
384.36F2B3418C
is in the Creek
BY SHARON SET TL AGE
CENTER: Called mummichog, Native American for “goes in crowds,” it also is known as a mud minnow, or, coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 7
up north, as a killifish. The fish frequently is used as live bait to catch many other marine fishes because it is their preferred natural prey. Scott Taylor
8 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
can be found in tidal creeks from Quebec to
Texas. According to Rudershausen, in the U.S.
Southeast they do best in creeks surrounded by
Spartina alterniflora, or smooth cordgrass. As
the tide rises, the Spartina grass is flooded. The
mummichogs follow the tide onto the flooded
marsh.
Altered Areas
Rudershausen installed antenna units in
three locations in Morehead City — Pelletier,
Porters and Spooner creeks — and an
unnamed creek in Beaufort he calls AV Creek.
The creeks are found in areas with different
“alteration scores” as calculated by the N.C.
Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP,
committee.
Generally, high alteration scores are
associated with more development. Jen Weaver,
a former Sea Grant/N.C. Division of Marine
Fisheries fellow, worked with DMF and Buckel
to recommend alteration scores. (See Summer
2012 Coastwatch for a story on CHPP.)
Rudershausen, Buckel and Hightower
are testing whether the health of the primary
fish species living in the tidal creeks is related
to the alteration scores, and thus to coastal
development.
Gloria Putnam, Sea Grant coastal
resources and communities specialist, agrees
with the approach. “A lot of what we look at
now is related to bacterial counts and whether
the water is safe for human contact and
consuming oysters. But we don’t have a lot of
biological indicators to assess creek health.”
Putnam continues, “I think that’s something we
need to look at and focus on more, so we can
really tell how these creeks are altered.”
Mummichogs are an ideal type of fish for
this study because they tend to stay in or near
the location where they are spawned. Thus, the
team theorized that mummichogs would be
good barometers for the health of the creeks.
As Buckel recounts it, the original grant
proposal called for studying two creeks, but the
energetic Rudershausen expanded the study
to four creeks with antennas, plus two more
creeks where he is monitoring the mummichog
population.
They are measuring physical parameters
of the fish’s growth and movements, as well as
biochemical metrics of fish health.
Electronic Data
Buckel and Hightower previously led Sea
Grant-funded projects to monitor red drum
and spot populations using tagging methods.
However, mummichogs need an exceptionally
small tag because of their size — they are about
2 inches long.
The tags are radio-frequency tags known
as Passive Integrated Transponder, or PIT, tags.
The PIT tags are the same as those used for
microchipping dogs and cats.
The transceiver detects the electrical
current that is produced when the magnetic
chip in the tags is close to the antenna wire.
Enclosed in PVC pipe, the wire is anchored in
the creek and connected to the transceiver unit.
Detecting small tags in marine waters
is difficult because salt water masks electrical
currents, Rudershausen explains. In tidal creeks
it is doubly difficult because salinity varies with
rainfall. A downpour can reduce the salinity of
the creek. Fortunately, the reader automatically
adjusts for the salinity changes.
Rudershausen and Buckel credit Ben
Letcher, Matt O’Donnell and Todd Dubreuil
at the S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research
Center in Turners Falls, Mass., for helping
them to customize the system for salt water.
That group continues to collaborate with the
NC State team on improvements in antenna
design and ways to analyze the data. The center,
named for the late U.S. congressman Silvio O.
Conte, was established by the USGS, and is
affiliated with the University of Massachusetts
Amherst campus.
Several times a year, Rudershausen
surgically implants upwards of 100 fish per
creek with PIT tags, each coded with a unique
combination of 13 numbers and letters. When
the tagged fish passes near the antenna wire, it
is logged as a detection event.
To insert the tag into a mummichog,
TOP: Flooded marsh in the headwaters of
Porters Creek on a fall day.
MIDDLE: Pelletier Creek is located in
a developed area of Morehead City.
BOTTOM: Porters Creek drains into the
Newport River near farmland.
© 2012 Google © 2012 Google Jeffery Merrell
Marc Hall/NC State University
C o n t i n u e d
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 9
Rudershausen uses a sterile scalpel to make
a small slit in the anesthetized fish’s belly
and slides the tag in. Afterwards he applies
an iodine mixture and returns the fish to a
recovery tank. No suturing is required. In
about 10 minutes or less, the fish is swimming
about again. He has never lost a fish from
the procedure, developed in collaboration
with Craig Harms of NC State’s College of
Veterinary Medicine.
Once per month, Rudershausen captures
mummichogs using
minnow traps baited
with dry cat food. He
measures each fish’s
weight, length and sex
and checks how many of
the captures are tagged.
These data allow him to
calculate how many fish
are in each creek.
Going with
the Flow
In an earlier Sea
Grant-funded study,
Rudershausen installed
three antennas in Porters
Creek, located in a
rural area outside of the
Morehead City limits off
the Newport River.
He found that
he could follow the
movements of individual
fish in the creek. He
initially tagged 44 fish
and recorded 1,112 moves
past the antennas over
four months.
A total of 42 of
the 44 tagged fish were
detected at some point
between November
2010 and August
2011, indicating a high
detection rate. But by
the end of the study, the
apparent survival was
only 3 percent, which verifies other studies
indicating that the fish are naturally short lived.
They also are prey for birds, crabs and other fish.
Rudershausen recounts a winter day when
he saw a cormorant scooping up mummichogs.
He also has seen blue crab and bluefish having
mummichogs for a meal.
The three antennas showed that
mummichogs move predominantly in the
direction of the tide. They move upstream into
the creek headwaters during flood tide and leave
the creek headwaters to return to the mouth
of the creek, where it drains into the Newport
River, late in ebb tide.
Buckel explains that the original function
of the antennas was to monitor any fish
emigration from the creek, which they assumed
would be rare. Instead the team found that the
fish were regularly moving out of, and then
back into, the marsh creek.
“It was really beautiful data. Every day as
the water started to recede, we’d see antennas
3, 2 and 1 register the fish as they moved out
of the creek and as soon as the water started to
come back in we’d see 1, 2, 3 as the fish came
back in. We learned they were moving in and
out with the tide and our original supposition
that the bulk of these animals would stay in
the creek above the antennas was incorrect,”
Buckel recalls.
The movements into the creek maximize
the fish’s access to the intertidal marsh, which is
flooded for about three hours, twice per day in
Porters Creek.
At high tides, when the marsh is flooded,
mummichogs enter into the Spartina grass to
feed and find refuge. A study conducted near
Beaufort in the 1980s by National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries
researcher William F. Hettler Jr., at the NOAA
Beaufort Laboratory, used nets to capture fish
during high tide in the marsh. Mummichogs
were the most prevalent species.
A Sea Grant-funded study from the 1970s
by R.T Kneib and S.E. Stiven of the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, showed
that mummichogs feed on small crustaceans,
insects, algae, fecal pellets and detritus in the
marsh grass. Because mummichogs are prey
for larger fish such as red drum, they are an
important part of the transfer of energy from
the marsh to deeper-water fish species.
Back in the Lab
Rudershausen and Buckel are
collaborating with NC State toxicologist, Pat
McClellen-Green at CMAST, to conduct
biochemical measures of fish health.
Rudershausen captures and sacrifices untagged
TOP: Paul Rudershausen inspects the antenna receiver inside a
transceiver unit at the Beaufort location he dubs AV Creek.
BOTTOM LEFT: Jeff Buckel uses tanks to house fish when testing
the viability of tagged mummichogs.
BOTTOM RIGHT: An antenna unit monitors fish in AV Creek.
Sharon Settlage
Sharon Settlage
10 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
fish, measures their length, weight and sex,
and then dissects their livers and gonads. He
weighs the organs to get a measure of the fish’s
metabolic and reproductive health.
McClellen-Green is examining the
amount of an indicator protein, CYP1A, that
is typically expressed when fish are exposed
to contaminants such as polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons, dioxins, PCBs and many
pesticides.
Some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons,
or PAHs, are toxic to aquatic animals. A recent
N.C. Cooperative Extension bulletin detailed
the sources as motor oil, tire particles, vehicle
exhaust, crumbling asphalt and parking lot
sealants. All are components of urban land use.
The CHPP committee identified developed
land as a significant contributor to alteration of
coastal creeks.
Therefore, the creeks in more developed
areas or near marinas, such as Pelletier Creek,
would have higher alteration scores and also
would be expected to contain more PAH
contaminants.
In preliminary work, McClellen-Green
found that most of the creeks with higher
alteration scores also produced fish with more
indicator protein. The fish from creeks in
developed areas also had larger livers than
those from the undeveloped creeks, raising
the possibility that livers increased in size in
response to contaminants.
McClellen-Green tells of a study
in Elizabeth River in Virginia where
mummichogs live downstream of a former
creosote plant. Creosote, a black tar-like
substance used as a wood preservative, leaches
PAHs.
Most of the Elizabeth River mummichogs
downstream of the plant “have massive liver
tumors, but they live a normal lifespan,”
McClellen-Green says. These fish have become
adapted to the high chemical levels. She says
changes have occurred in the fish’s genetics.
McClellen-Green also will measure
biochemical
indicators of fish
reproduction in
both males and
females.
Ephemeral
Water
Fred Holland,
retired director
of the Hollings
Marine Laboratory
run by NOAA in
Charleston, S.C.,
coauthored a
booklet with Denise Sanger, now with the S.C.
Department of Natural Resources, titled Tidal
Creek Habitats, Sentinels of Coastal Health,
published by the South Carolina Sea Grant
Consortium.
Tidal creeks, as their name implies, rise
and fall with the tide. At the 2011 Southeast
Tidal Creek Summit organized by Sea Grant
programs in North Carolina, South Carolina
and Georgia, Holland reported that small
tidal creeks drain almost completely at low
tide while only about 25 percent of the water
drains from the largest tidal creeks at low tide.
Rudershausen is working with smaller creeks.
Holland and Sanger’s booklet title is apt.
A healthy tidal creek indicates a healthy coastal
area.
Sea Grant researcher Martin Posey at
the University of North Carolina Wilmington
presented research at the summit on the health
of oyster populations in New Hanover County
tidal creeks. He noted that healthy tidal creeks
are nursery habitat for
shrimp, blue crab, and
many commercially
important fish
species such as spot,
croaker, flounder,
menhaden and drum.
Crab, oysters, pinfish
and mummichogs
are common adult
residents of the creeks, Posey adds. Wading
birds frequent the creeks also.
Holland and Sanger’s publication
calls the headwaters of tidal creeks “first
responders to stormwater runoff and are an
important habitat for evaluating the impacts of
coastal development on aquatic ecosystems.”
Their stressors include nearby impervious
surfaces, where stormwater drains unimpeded
into the creeks.
Although Holland is retired, he remains
active in supporting tidal creek research.
TOP: An anesthetized mummichog beside a
PIT tag, which is about half an inch long.
MIDDLE LEFT: An electronic reader shows
the 13-digit code that identifies each fish.
MIDDLE RIGHT: Male (top) and female
mummichogs have different size and
coloration. BOTTOM: Mummichogs
recover in creek water after
being tagged.
Sharon Settlage
Sharon Settlage
Marc Turano Sharon Settlage
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 11
“If tidal creeks are in good condition, we can
expect them to support bountiful seafood
supplies that are safe to eat. If our creeks are
impaired, it will not be safe to swim in them or
eat the seafood they produce,” Holland stresses.
“The condition of southeastern tidal creeks
tells us if we have managed our landscape in a
sustainable manner.”
Rudershausen is still gathering data to
study potential differences in mummichog
density or growth rates that he can correlate
to the health of tidal creeks. But his anecdotal
evidence indicates that something is going on in
AV Creek in Beaufort. The creek flows through
a dilapidated under-road pipe.
“A couple of locals have told me, ‘When
I was a kid, there used to be red drum in this
creek.’ But something has changed. Probably
Clever Fish
On warm nights with a full or
new moon, mummichogs can be heard
splashing about in the marsh water.
Males are in their full nuptial
coloration.
Back in the 1970s, researchers
from University of Delaware showed
that mummichogs spawn in response to
the semimonthly tidal cycle.
Reproduction is linked to the
highest tides. The tides, known as spring
tides, occur throughout the year.
(See the Coastwatch Summer 2012 issue
for a story on tidal cycles.) Linking
reproduction to an outside signal
ensures that the males and females are
ready to spawn at the same time. Where
the eggs are laid along grass stems
also is important.
Around the spring tides, the high
tide is at its peak and the water level
on the Spartina grass in the marsh
also is at its highest. During this time
of high water, females attach clutches
of fertilized eggs to grass stems.
The desiccation-resistant eggs then
develop at the high-water line, away
from underwater predators. Two weeks
later, at the next spring tide, the eggs
are submerged once again and hatch.
The fry grow to adulthood in small
marsh pools where they are protected
by predation from larger fish.
The California grunion is another
fish that famously spawns during spring
tides. The grunion ride the spring tide
waves to reach as high on the sandy
beach as possible where they mate
and lay their eggs in the sand. Grunion
runs have been featured in music and
television.
So far the mummichog is not quite
so famous, but maybe that’s about to
change.
the period of inundation of the
marsh upstream of the road here
was longer, so larger organisms
like red drum could utilize this
marsh system.”
Barbara Doll, water quality
specialist at Sea Grant weighs in.
“Incorrectly sized or poorly con-figured
culverts can impede water
flow and restrict passage of aquatic
organisms. Reduced flow can re-sult
in upstream sedimentation that
buries benthic habitat as well.”
Narrow culverts, developed
land use, marinas and other
factors considered by the CHPP
committee may affect the health
of the ecosystem, including the
creeks and mummichogs.
Holland is looking forward to the results
of the team’s work. “If they successfully
demonstrate that the condition of the
mummichog population is related to the
ecological state of tidal creeks, their research
will represent an important contribution to
the growing body of science suggesting that
tidal creeks are indicators of the health and
sustainability of coastal ecosystems.”
Download Tidal Creek Habitats,
Sentinels of Coastal Health at www.
scseagrant.org/pdf_files/tidal_creeks_booklet.
pdf. View documents from the 2011 Southeast
Tidal Creeks Summit at www.ncseagrant.
org/2011tidalcreekssummit. And read The
World of the Saltmarsh by Charles Seabrook.
TOP: Rudershausen tags one of 40 fish on a
November day.
BOTTOM: The researchers have yet to
lose a fish to the tag-insertion procedure,
developed with NC State’s College of
Veterinary Medicine.
Sharon Settlage Sharon Settlage
Shipwrecks 12 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
C o n t i n u e d
the science of Shipwrecks
BY MARION BLACKBURN
“There is an entirely unwritten history of
North Carolina that we’re trying to discover.
These are nonrenewable resources. If they are destroyed,
either by man or by nature, we lose a big chunk of our past.
They are time capsules of the period for which they existed.
If they disappear, we lose our knowledge of that period.”
— BRADLEY RODGERS, DIRECTOR, ECU’S MARITIME STUDIES PROGRAM
RIGHT: This double-tournois coin showing
three fleur-de-lis imprimaturs dates from
the reign of Louis XIII and was found
attached to the Corolla shipwreck.
THE RICHES OF THE
NORTH CAROLINA
COAST — sparkling beaches,
winding shores and hidden coves, vibrant
	
port cities, and abundant fishing — include
another kind of treasure, often the buried kind.
Hundreds of historic shipwrecks lie
underwater, typically within a few hundred feet
of shore. Occasionally they rise up from their
watery resting places to emerge just beyond
the waves or even wash onto the beach. Others,
including Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s
flagship, rest on the sea floor, attracting
recreational and scientific divers who are
curious about these vessels’ history and cargo.
Along with romance and mystery, these
shipwrecks carry priceless caches of artifacts
and information, making them valuable sites for
scientific research and archaeology.
Since 2007, North Carolina Sea Grant has
supported promising research at East Carolina
University through its Maritime Heritage
Fellows program for graduate students. In
2012, the program funded two projects that will
significantly advance underwater archaeology
and conservation.
Daniel Brown is looking for clues about
the identity of an ancient wooden shipwreck
that floated to shore near Corolla about three
years ago. The oldest found in North Carolina,
it also may be the oldest on the East Coast.
Thomas Horn is studying the 1877 wreck
of the USS Huron just off the coast of Nags
Head. His study will evaluate how seasonal
variables, such as temperature changes, affect
corrosion on an iron vessel.
These projects, undertaken as part of
their master’s degree studies, will answer some
long-standing questions about the effects of salt
water, ocean currents and the passage of time
on ships of all kinds, while uncovering missing
pieces of the state’s own story.
Shipwrecks
Roger Harris
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 13
Shipwrecks 14 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
“There is an entirely unwritten history of
North Carolina that we’re trying to discover,”
says Bradley Rodgers, director of ECU’s
maritime studies program, who serves as
Brown’s adviser. “These are nonrenewable
resources. If they are destroyed, either by man or
by nature, we lose a big chunk of our past. They
are time capsules of the period for which they
existed. If they disappear, we lose our knowledge
of that period.”
Nathan Richards, ECU faculty member
and head of the maritime heritage program
at the University of North Carolina Coastal
Studies Institute, advises Horn on his study of
the Huron. Richards cites the significance of
these wrecks — and the research on them —
for their contributions to maritime history and
archaeology.
“A lot of people care about the Huron,” he
says. “The best way to manage a ship like this
one is to be armed with data. If we can tell if the
Huron is stable or corroding, then activities can
be determined to potentially save it, so it can be
preserved and enjoyed by future generations.”
What’s more, Richards adds, the research will
contribute to worldwide understanding of
saltwater corrosion.
Shipwrecks attract more than historians
and archaeologists. Divers and tourists from
around the world come to the state’s shores
and coastal museums to learn more about
colonial times, pirates, smugglers, Confederate
blockade-runners and even the German U-boats
that stalked the U.S. Navy near the Outer Banks
during World War II.
Littered with shoals, shallow waters and
irregular borders, the coast earned its nickname
as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Indeed,
thousands of wrecks may lie off the state’s coast.
Most remain buried in the seabed, somewhat
protected from destruction, but exposed to decay
from salt water, sea life and hurricanes. Knowing
the best ways to preserve them under water
or above ground will protect these assets for
researchers, tourists and historians alike.
MYSTERY WRECK
For two years, residents of Corolla, a small
village in the northern Outer Banks, watched a
battered wooden hull floating just beyond the
shore. It bobbed on the waves and occasionally
landed onto the beach before washing away
again. A strong nor’easter in late 2009 dislodged
it from the sand and in the subfreezing
temperatures, the ship began to break apart.
If it shattered, it would be lost forever. Thus,
a group of interested volunteers were joined by
TOP LEFT: Concretion containing lead shot was found on the shipwreck at Corolla. TOP RIGHT: Bradley Rodgers (left), Josh
Marano and Dan Brown examine a charred area of the Corolla shipwreck. BOTTOM LEFT: East Carolina University students measure
and assess the Corolla shipwreck. BOTTOM RIGHT: The Corolla shipwreck remained on display at the Currituck Beach Lighthouse
for several weeks in summer 2010, where curious visitors and researchers came to study it. Marion Blackburn
Marion Blackburn
Marion Blackburn
Marion Blackburn (originally appeared in Archaeology magazine)
Shipwrecks coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 15
C o n t i n u e d
staff from the state Underwater
Archaeology Branch, part of the
N.C. Department of Cultural
Resources, to haul the remains
inland to safety.
It remained for a time on
the grounds of the Currituck
Beach Lighthouse, where visitors,
researchers and archaeologists
had a chance to get close to one of
the oldest shipwrecks on the East
Coast. Little is known about the
ship, which is believed to date from
the early 17th century, possibly as
early as 1609.
Many ECU maritime studies
students worked on the ship in
2010, measuring it, drawing its
features and examining it for
identifying clues. But for Brown,
it was more than a summer job
— it became his master’s project.
He’s since spent countless hours
searching for information about
its origin, construction and precise age. While
no one knows its name, the ship bears a
stunning resemblance to a famous vessel from
Bermuda, Sea Venture, that was the subject of
Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
“It’s been very much of a detective story,”
says Brown, who is one of the Sea Grant
fellows. “I’m trying to find evidence about it,
facts, where it came from, what it was doing.
Was it a warship? Merchant vessel? Privateer?
There’s no bumper sticker. There’s no license
plate.” The ship is believed to predate the
Queen Anne’s Revenge by about a century.
Facts about the mystery wreck don’t come
easily. Even determining the wood type and
construction methods has taken months of
scouring and translating records to learn about
types of European timber used in shipbuilding.
“Waterlogged wood is very delicate,” he
says. Once wood dries out, the DNA disappears
with the other living material, leaving only
a hollow cell wall. Without any contents to
support it, the cell wall collapses, accounting
for the shrinking and eventual decay of wooden
ships once they’re on dry ground.
So far, Brown feels comfortable
identifying the wooden hull as white oak. A
very common European species, Quercus
sessiliflora grows across the continent as far
south as the Spanish Mediterranean and into
England. Yet even pinning down the type of
wood may not give up much information about
the ship’s provenance, as timber was traded
from the Baltics to the Mediterranean and
beyond to locations in the Netherlands, England
and Spain.
It’s likely the ship, a large galleon
estimated at 70 to 90 feet long, could have
carried as much as 300 tons and was engaged
in the lucrative colonial triangular trade
between England and Europe, the Caribbean,
and the New World. It was probably hauling or
retrieving tobacco, wood or even settlers, who
may or may not have made it to shore.
WINDOW TO THE PAST
In addition to searching for clues about its
origins and identity, Brown believes his work
will lead to better conservation methods for
wooden ships. Once dry, a dramatic
and rapid deterioration begins.
“There are too many shipwrecks
to save them all,” he says. “It’s
a good policy to leave them in
place.” Indeed, he notes, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization, or
UNESCO, standard is to preserve
wrecks in situ.
Once this wreck washed
ashore, however, it became
critical to save it before more
damage occurred, providing
researchers like Brown a golden
opportunity. He has spent time, and
is now considered a contributing
researcher, on Vasa, the famous
Swedish ship that sank in the
Stockholm harbor in 1628 and now
has its own museum. That ship
has been kept in a constant stream
of preservatives and carefully
controlled humidity for years to
slow its decay.
Like Vasa, Corolla’s mystery ship “is a
window to the past,” Brown says. In addition
to focusing on the ship’s construction and
materials, including the oakum — old rope
pounded into cracks and used as caulking —
he’s studying the artifacts found stuck to it.
They include coins dating from the time
of Louis XIII who reigned in France from 1610
to 1642. These coins, with embossed fleur-de-lis
imprints, help date the vessel. In addition,
a brass pin found on the wreck is undergoing
conservation. These pins are so ubiquitous,
however, that their diagnostic value is limited.
Brown has compared the unnamed wreck
to 20 other wrecks so far, and feels confident
that it is not Spanish or Portuguese because its
construction uses more wood fasteners, known
as treenails — pronounced “trunnels” — than
iron ones. The wreck yielded hundreds of
treenails, and only nine iron bolts.
He believes it probably sank in deep water,
and made its way over the centuries to shore.
That so much of it remains intact — it’s about
17 by 30 feet today — serves as a testament to
the sturdiness of its construction.
Before it washed up, the keel was visibly
ABOVE: The ECU researchers found
many artifacts on the Corolla shipwreck,
including an Elizabethan-era clothing
hook (top left); a pewter spoon, likely
from the 17th century (top right); a brass
alloy key (bottom left); and a brass alloy
gunlock from a musket (bottom right).
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown
Daniel Brown
Shipwrecks 16 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
attached to it. Although it
broke away by the time the
wreck reached the shore,
the keel was still useful in
identifying the type of ship.
His next research
steps include possibly
having a timber lab
examine the wood at a
microscopic level for
clues about its identity and
origins. To do so, though,
would mean removing
a sizeable piece, several
inches wide. He wonders
if it’s worth it to cause so
much damage.
“I took the topic on
because I was interested in
ship construction,” he says.
“I did not know what I was
getting into — how much of an enigma this ship
would be. I’ve had to be creative in my research
techniques to get evidence.”
Brown has about 1,700 photos, which he
has crossed referenced to date its recent history.
“You can see the wreck over two years move
around and break up, a piece here, a piece here,
until in 2010 you get that big break up,” he says.
“Everybody thinks Pilgrims came to
America and it was a happy story,” he continues.
But he notes that there were many unsuccessful
attempts before the English were able to achieve
their first settlement in Virginia. This nameless
ship might be part of that narrative.
“North Carolina was a stepping-stone to
establishing Jamestown. It plays a bigger role
in history than most people realize,” Brown
explains.
VITAL SIGNS
The iron steamship USS Huron left port
at Hampton Roads, Va., on Nov. 23, 1877, for a
scientific trip to Cuba. However, it wrecked near
Nags Head, taking 98 men to their death in the
frigid water.
This notorious episode made it “the
Hindenburg of its time,” Horn says, and led to
more federal funding for lifesaving stations.
Built in 1875, the ship represents a transitional
period in shipbuilding, an original hybrid iron
steamship with supplemental sails. Steel ships
would soon become standard. The USS
Huron is the state’s first designated shipwreck
preserve, and the site of much diving and
exploration.
One of the oddest forms of ship
deterioration happens when metal, especially
iron, is submerged for long periods of time in
sea water. Salt water creates a highly corrosive
setting and the metal oxidizes or rusts, just
as it does on dry ground. Meanwhile, tiny
life forms such as coralline algae attach
to shipwrecks, while other sea creatures
take advantage of the presence of minerals
or organic materials that were used in
construction or found on board.
Movements of sea water, combined with
the salt-ion exchange and natural secretions of
sea life, create a dynamic underwater setting
that develops a life of its own. Concretion,
which is a plaster-like casing, forms around the
metals, affixing items to each other like glue.
It protects some with a cement-type casing
by hiding them beneath layers, often several
inches thick.
Some maritime
archaeologists believe
leaving wrecks in
place may be the best
way to preserve them.
Their research must
determine first the
conditions that lead
to the worst forms
of corrosion. Along
with location, storm
frequency and currents,
water temperature
may be an important
variable.
That theory led to
Horn’s study. Originally
from Los Angeles,
Horn graduated from
the University of
Hawaii with a degree in
anthropology. While he’s been diving most of
his life, a trip to Easter Island in 2007 sealed
his interest in archaeology. His Sea Grant-funded
study, Determining Seasonal Rates of
Corrosion in Ferrous-Hulled Shipwrecks: A
Case Study of the USS Huron, will examine
the rate of corrosion and concretion build up
on this iron ship.
“Corrosion monitoring is interesting
— and a challenge,” he says. “I enjoy the
electrochemistry of it.”
Horn is investigating whether changes
in temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen
content affect corrosion rates. His results will
help determine how best to manage the site
in situ, such as by installing sacrificial metals
that will corrode instead of the ship, to protect
critical areas. Once completed, his study will
help map out a way to conserve this ship and
others like it in the area — and the world.
“The issue of ferrous material corrosion
in the ocean is an international area of
inquiry,” says adviser Richards. “Wooden
shipwrecks, once they are buried in anaerobic
settings, tend to be fairly well preserved. With
iron it’s different because you have galvanic
corrosion and other corrosion processes that
are happening. We’ve presumed that wood
is less hardy than iron, when it’s afloat. But
when it’s buried, iron is undergoing these
electrochemical processes.”
TOP: The Corolla shipwreck washed ashore
and was moved inland in summer 2010.
BOTTOM LEFT: Dave Sybert lights the hull
during a reconnaissance dive on the USS
Huron. BOTTOM RIGHT: An engraving of
the sinking of the USS Huron.
George Browne
John McCord/N.C. Coastal Studies Institute
Courtesy U.S. Naval Historical Center
Shipwrecks coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 17
CORROSION AND
ENCROACHMENT
Horn’s study requires him to make
several visits to the Huron, and to dive on it at
least once every season. He was set to dive in
early January, when water temperatures should
be in the mid-40s, and plans to make his
final dive for the study in late spring. By then,
he should have all the data he needs to start
“crunching the numbers” during the summer
to determine how the variables work together
to affect deterioration.
On each visit, he uses a multimeter,
an instrument that measures the properties
of electrical circuits, in a small hole created
with a pneumatic drill through the concretion
into the metal. He checks for the growth of
additional concretion, as well as the corrosion
potential using a platinum electrode.
He’ll also make note of sedimentation.
He has created a digital three-dimensional map
of the wreck site. His results will be used to
create a management plan for this ship, which
is currently under the supervision of the N.C.
Department of Cultural Resources and the
Town of Nags Head.
It’s popular with divers and snorklers,
located about 250 yards from the beach.
The boilers, cannonball racks, propeller and
rudder make it a compelling location for
exploration. Preservation, however, is essential.
Not only does the wreck face the natural risks
of corrosion and other deterioration, there’s
human encroachment as well. Sunglasses, for
instance, dropped by careless visitors, also
disturb and corrupt the site.
Corrosion can be minimized by using
sacrificial anodes that deteriorate instead of
nearby ship metal, but protecting the site
from human intrusion may be more difficult.
Seeing the residents of Easter Island embrace
their heritage may provide a suitable model,
Horn says. The archaeological record is
concentrated, but also cherished by the island
residents.
“They take great care of their cultural
heritage,” he says. “It gave me a great respect
for what I’m studying.” Likewise, the culture
of shipwrecks — and their preservation — has
integral ties with life in Nags Head and the
Outer Banks.
“One of the reasons I was drawn to this
field is my connection to the sea,” he says. “At
Nags Head, everywhere you look there are
shipwrecks — in front of restaurants, in front
of houses. The sea affects how you live your
life, every day.”
TOP LEFT: Thomas Horn (left) and his adviser, Nathan Richards, at Eller House, home of the maritime studies program at ECU. TOP
RIGHT: Horn uses a silver-silver chloride reference electrode encased in a ceramic shell, in conjunction with a platinum electrode,
	
to measure the corrosion potential of metal in seawater. BOTTOM LEFT: Bradley Rodgers, director of maritime studies (left), with
Daniel Brown. BOTTOM RIGHT: Brown soaks a Louis XIII coin in sodium bicarbonate solution to remove salt and other marine deposits.
Marion Blackburn Marion Blackburn
Marion Blackburn Marion Blackburn
MARC
18 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
C o n t i n u e d
y design and location, North Carolina State University’s Marine
Aquaculture Research Center, or MARC, is something of a hybrid — a
mix of opportunity and challenge, science and economics.
With access to salt water from nearby Sleepy Creek in rural Carteret
County, researchers focus on growing marine species to help meet global
consumer demand for fresh seafood that cannot be met by wild harvests.
“MARC is a tremendous resource to test new ideas on a small scale,
or address saltwater species production issues in a controlled environment,”
says Marc Turano, interim center director and North Carolina Sea Grant
mariculture and blue crab specialist.
Turano describes MARC as a unique facility meant to help growers
become more efficient and profitable.
Its 4,200-square-foot building houses a large wet lab with two
replicated recirculating aquaculture systems, or RAS; four smaller wet-lab
rooms with varying sized tanks; and a chemistry lab for water-quality
testing and other analytical needs.
MARC also addresses a major financial obstacle for prospective
marine aquaculture, or mariculture, entrepreneurs.
As Turano explains, freshwater aquaculture operations have thrived
for 25 years across North Carolina, thanks, in part, to easy access to
affordable water supplies — from mountain streams to groundwater.
On the other hand, costly price tags for coastal waterfront sites render
salt water not very accessible or affordable for a start-up mariculture
operation.
MARC is meant to demonstrate an economically feasible alternative.
And, it’s all about location.
The center intentionally is situated on a six-acre site at the headwaters
of Sleepy Creek, two miles away from Core Sound’s pricey shores. Yet, the
creek provides an ample saltwater supply for the center’s multiple projects.
“There are many places like this one in coastal North Carolina with
saltwater access — and affordable land costs,” Turano says. “We hope our
accomplishments here will be a catalyst for mariculture development.”
Co l l a b o r a t i ve H i s t o r y
MARC’s academic home is NC State’s College of Agriculture and
Life Sciences, or CALS, where Sea Grant has a decades-long partnership
in aquaculture research. The center is a byproduct of the ongoing
collaborative history.
MARC is located within the 275-acre Marshallberg Farm owned and
operated by Sue and I.J. Won, a former NC State faculty member. In 2009,
the Wons donated $500,000 to the CALS North Carolina Agriculture
Foundation to establish the center and advance aquaculture in the coastal
region.
• TOP: Research at MARC includes developing ideal growing conditions for hybrid
striped bass. • BOTTOM LEFT: The MARC facility includes a large wet lab with
multiple growing tanks and recirculating aquaculture systems. • BOTTOM RIGHT:
The six-acre facility is located on Sleepy Creek in rural Carteret County.
B Y P A M S M I T H
Marc Turano Becky Kirkland/NC State University
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 19
Marc Turano
20 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
The complex puts a modern spin on Carteret County farming and
fishing traditions. The Wons’ grass-fed, certified organic Black Angus
cattle roam on part of the spread. Rows of organic vegetable crops occupy
still another plot.
But the Wons seem proudest of their venture into the realm of fish
farming. They are cultivating Russian sturgeon for meat and caviar in a
27,600-square-foot fish barn. The facility, which is totally separate from
MARC, houses 26 freshwater tanks, with a 400,000-gallon total capacity.
Its state-of-the-art RAS was designed in part by Tom Losordo, now an NC
State professor emeritus of agricultural engineering.
Do i n g t h e S c i e n c e
Turano and Losordo also conferred to tailor MARC’s recirculating
system to meet complex saltwater aquaculture requirements — from
intake to outflow.
The “made-to-order” setup is ideal for projects that are funded
through the N.C. Fishery Resource Grant Program, or FRG, Turano says.
Aquaculture and mariculture are among the priorities of the state program
that is administered by Sea Grant.
For Nelson Paul, who owns a 33-acre farm in nearby Bettie, MARC
and the FRG program provided the perfect opportunity to explore the
economic feasibility of raising mud minnows, or mummichogs, in farm
ponds.
Mud minnows, a denizen of coastal brackish waters, are the live bait
of choice for recreational saltwater anglers — and not coincidentally, an
important part of the diets of flounder, red drum and blue crab. In North
Carolina, mud minnows are second only to bloodworms in total volume of
sales by bait dealers.
“We have been looking for an alternative crop to ensure the
sustainability of the farm, with a special interest in the area of aquaculture,”
Paul says.
But pond construction would be a costly investment, as well as a
permanent alteration to valuable land that is farmed mostly in soy.
“It is productive, excellent soil — a good reason not to disrupt it for
untested outcomes,” he points out.
Paul’s idea was to “do the science” at MARC to determine the
spawning activity of mud minnows and the volume that could be cultured
using a tank-based system. The data collected over a two-year period would
Pam Smith
Pam Smith Pam Smith Natalie Hampton/NC State University
• FAR LEFT: Ryan Kelly, site manager, and Marc Turano, MARC interim director, oversee projects designed to help growers become more profitable. • TOP RIGHT:
An open house in October 2012 drew area residents and NC State supporters to MARC. • MIDDLE RIGHT: CALS Dean Richard Linton, Turano and I.J. Won toured
Marshallberg Farm during the fall open house. • BOTTOM RIGHT: The MARC facility enables Turano to test the most efficient feed regimens.
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 21
C o n t i n u e d
be deciding factors in the economic viability of going forward with a start-up
aquaculture operation.
“Nelson was very hands on throughout the project,” Turano says. “He
worked closely with Ryan Kelly, who manages day-to-day operations at the
center.”
Paul’s middle-school aged son, Tim, often accompanied his dad on
regular visits to MARC. The pair harvested mud minnow brooders, and
participated in collecting, counting and sorting eggs.
Based on Paul’s findings, mud minnows in captivity don’t produce
enough eggs to make it financially viable to move to the next level.
“Mother Nature determined it is not possible to create an assembly
line for minnow production. We also learned that we would constantly have
to change out brood fish to maintain brood stock — another practical and
economic stumbling block,” Paul reports.
While his FRG did not spawn a new business, Paul views the project
as a success story.
“Testing ideas is what the center is all about. Thanks to the FRG and
MARC, we saved thousands of dollars by investigating the premise before
investing in pond construction,” he adds.
Turano plans to continue the mud minnow research. “As with other
marine species, the first few batches of fish typically have poor survival.
We think we can overcome those challenges,” he says, explaining that
other production methods and different salinities might improve the
survival rate.
Wo r k s i n P ro g re s s
Turano envisions MARC playing an increasingly important role in
science and technology transfer to support the growth of mariculture.
“In North Carolina, growers regard university researchers and
extension specialists as partners who are trying to make science work for
their industry,” he says.
Nancy Sugg, who manages Castle Hayne Fisheries in Aurora, agrees.
“All the research in the world doesn’t do any good unless it’s out there
for public use. We’re lucky in North Carolina to have such an exchange
of information. It takes the pressure off when you know you can call on
experts to address certain issues,” she says.
For example, Turano is conducting a study with Sugg at MARC to
• ABOVE: Turano is partnering with Castle Hayne Fisheries for a MARC project helping to evaluate the growth rates of various sizes of hybrid striped bass fingerlings.
Marc Turano
22 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
evaluate the growth rates of various sizes of hybrid striped bass fingerlings.
Castle Hayne Fisheries is one of the state’s two hatcheries that culture
hybrid striped bass. During the Phase I hatchery stage, fry grow for 30 to
60 days to reach 1- to 3-inch fingerling size. Fingerlings then are graded
according to size — small, medium and large.
“Nancy usually throws the smallest fingerlings back into the pond
to allow them to continue to grow,” Turano explains. “But the question
remains: Do they catch up in size? We want to study the throwbacks in a
controlled tank environment to see how well they grow, compared to the
other grades of fish.”
In another MARC study, Turano and Kelly are comparing feeds —
one regular and one nutrient dense — for domesticated and wild hybrid
striped bass.
“In theory, we should be able to feed less frequently with an enriched
diet. But we have to minimize the fish’s fat content. Fatty fish are not
desirable,” Turano explains.
Growers are looking to science to help find alternatives to fish meal
as a protein source in feeding regimens. The ultimate goal is to reduce
feed costs and maintain the omega-3 nutritional levels consumers desire.
T h e G re e n C h a l l e n g e
While the location of MARC helps overcome the saltwater access
issue for marine aquaculture, it also presents a set of environmental
challenges for use and discharge.
To start with, water pulled from the salt creek at high tide must
undergo a multistage filtration process before being pumped to the indoor
tanks for various research projects.
The added challenge comes in developing environmentally sound
methods to deal with salt-laden and nutrient-rich wastewater — fish poop
— from multiple recirculating tanks. This effluent flows to large tanks
outside the building, where it is treated to remove nitrogen, phosphorous
and solid fish waste.
The wastewater is pumped into a geo-textile “tube” which traps the
solids, leaving clarified water. That water is then filtered through a series
of biological filters and finally flows through an experimental constructed
wetland.
“The water leaving and returning to the creek must be as good or
better than when we pumped it into the center,” Turano says. “We plan to
work with other researchers from NC State to look at additional methods
• LEFT: Aquaculture technician Thomas Wade checks water quality at I.J. Won’s sturgeon farm. • TOP RIGHT: The endangered Russian sturgeon is being cultivated for
meat and caviar at Won’s Marshallberg Farm. • BOTTOM RIGHT: NC State aquaculture researcher Harry Daniels checks out the experimental discharge ‘garden’ at MARC.
Pam Smith
Pam Smith Lianne Won
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 23
to tackle the wastewater issue.”
To make things even more interesting, as part of an NC State
alternative energy study, a photovoltaic array and wind tower provide part
of the energy needs for the complex.
An open house in October 2012 drew a crowd of area residents
and university supporters. The event was part of Dean Richard Linton’s
statewide get-acquainted tour, having assumed CALS leadership at the
start of the fall semester.
Dave Eggleston, director of NC State’s Center for Marine Sciences
and Technology, or CMAST, in Morehead City, explained that the wind
and solar installations at MARC and CMAST are supported by a grant
from the N.C. Green Business Fund.
“We are serious about looking at alternative energy sources,”
Eggleston said. “Data from the wind and solar studies are acquired online
in real time.”
The tower at MARC was erected in April 2012 and constructed with
all recyclable or relocatable material, according to Wes Carter, an engineer
with Hart Power Solutions. The company also constructed wind towers at
Jockey’s Ridge, Jennette’s Pier and several schools on the Outer Banks.
Carter said the wind tower at MARC converts DC to AC and can
produce 10,000 watts of energy. The windy season, from October through
May, should deliver substantial energy benefits to the center as the tower
blades swivel according to the prevailing winds.
The solar array has a 9,600-watt capacity and produces energy on
sunny or cloudy days. It is set at a fixed 32-degree angle, a happy medium
for all seasons, Carter adds.
Linton told guests at the open house that he was still in a “learning
mode” after a short time on the job. But just two days into his statewide
tour, he noted that it was clear to see the passion that stakeholders have in
moving agriculture and aquaculture forward.
Turano sees a bright future for both freshwater and saltwater
aquaculture in North Carolina.
“We have researchers working with growers who are committed
to producing the highest quality products. And we have increasing
consumer acceptance and trust that U.S. aquaculture growers, packers and
distributors comply with strict food handling safety standards mandated
by the Food and Drug Administration,” he concludes.
• TOP LEFT: Tim Paul helps his dad, Nelson Paul, test the viability of raising mud minnows in a two-year FRG project at MARC. • MIDDLE LEFT: Mud minnows,
aka mummichogs, are the live bait of choice for recreational saltwater anglers. • BOTTOM LEFT: Turano hopes the MARC facility will be the catalyst for mariculture
operations in the state. • RIGHT: Wes Carter, an engineer with Hart Power Solutions, says the wind tower and solar array help provide electric power for MARC.
Marc Turano Pam Smith Nelson Paul
Pam Smith
24 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
P E O P L E A N D P L A C E S
Jack Horan Jack Horan Jeffrey K. Johnson
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 25
P E O P L E A N D P L A C E S
C o n t i n u e d
Offshore
Light
Towers
DIAMOND SHOALS
AND FRYING PAN:
Offshore Light Towers
Beckon New Missions
B Y J A C K H O R A N
FOR 3 5 Y EARS, D IAMOND SHOAL S L IGHT TOWER P ERFORMED I TS D UT Y
ADMIRABLY, B EAMING A F LASHING L IGHT ACROSS T HE WAVE-TOSSED
ATLANTIC. I T WARNED PASSING SHIPS T O S TEER C LEAR O F T HE SHALLOW
SANDBARS E X TENDING F ROM T HE O UTER B ANKS.
U.S. Coast Guard crews manned the tower from 1966 to 1977 until the beacon was automated. With
the advent of GPS navigation systems, the Coast Guard declared Diamond Shoals obsolete in 2001, turned
off its light and abandoned the tower 13 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras.
The light tower stood unattended 11 more years, awaiting dismantling. With no money to cut it down,
the Coast Guard eventually decided to auction it off.
Last October, David Schneider won Diamond Shoals with a bid of $20,000. The Minnesota business
executive, who had never seen the light tower except for photos posted on a federal surplus property
website, became the second private owner of a North Carolina offshore light tower.
Richard Neal of Mint Hill, near Charlotte, bought the other — Frying Pan Tower, 30 miles southeast of
Southport — in 2010.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: David Schneider makes his first inspection of Diamond Shoals Light Tower in November 2012. • Volunteer
worker Mike Vickery (left), owner Richard Neal and volunteer David Wood attach solar panels to Frying Pan Tower .• Jeff Riecken (left) and
Neal attach a ladder to Frying Pan Tower piling to facilitate boat access. • Neal is converting the 49-year-old Frying Pan Tower into a bed-and-breakfast
at sea. • Diamond Shoals Light Tower has stood off Cape Hatteras since 1966.
Jack Horan
Jeffrey K. Johnson
“I can also see interests from biologists, marine biologists, climatologists, and even those developing products
that need to be tested in an actual marine setting — metallurgists, desalination technologies, fishing equipment,
coatings manufacturers, diving equipment.” — David Schneider
PEOPLE AND PLACES
26 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
• TOWER RESCUED
Once doomed, both light towers are getting new missions that include becoming platforms for research miles out at sea.
At Diamond Shoals, Schneider plans to restore the corroded tower into an on-ocean center for research, development and product testing. He envisions enlisting technology partners to demonstrate wind, solar and emerging energy sources.
“I can also see interests from biologists, marine biologists, climatologists, and even those developing products that need to be tested in an actual marine setting — metallurgists, desalination technologies, fishing equipment, coatings manufacturers, diving equipment,” Schneider says.
First, Diamond Shoals needs work. It has languished in the harsh, salt-strewn environment with no maintenance. An engineering firm hired by the federal General Services Administration, which auctioned the 120-foot-high tower, determined primary structural elements were sound. But the firm noted four large depressions, plus several holes open to the ocean, in the flooring in the living quarters. Furthermore, the bottom staircase is gone, making access by boat difficult.
In November 2012, Schneider flew to Diamond Shoals for his first visit. He and a friend landed by helicopter, and spent six hours there. “There was just ocean everywhere. It’s incredible,” he says, marveling at the first sight of his property.
Schneider’s inspection found some sturdy walkway grating but a deteriorating maintenance deck, a broken window, and lots of debris in the seven bedrooms, rec room, galley and storage rooms. “Some things were better than I thought, some things were worse than I thought,” he recalls.
He plans another trip this spring, this time by boat. To climb aboard, Schneider left a 75-foot rope ladder and a hand-operated winch to hoist people and cargo.
Restoring the tower means not only making it safe but also reviving basic services. The engi­neering firm estimated renovations would cost $2.3 million. That includes $1 million to rent a jack-up barge to perform work. But Schneider believes he can do repairs for much less, in part by tapping into volunteer welders, electricians and mechanics. They, in return, would get time to fish and relax on his high-seas hideaway.
• MAKING HEADWAY
That’s what Neal did during the past two years to get Frying Pan Tower up and running. Though Frying Pan is still a work in progress, Neal says a cadre of volunteers has kept renovation costs at a fraction of an engineering firm’s estimate of $1.3 million.
Neal paid $85,000 at auction for Frying Pan Tower, a twin of Diamond Shoals. Similar to an offshore oil-drilling platform, they were built for $2 million each. Frying Pan was erected in 1964.
Neal’s original aim was to transform Frying Pan into a bed-and-breakfast at sea, catering to the adventurous. With the planned additions in 2013 of a mooring buoy and a lower staircase, thus making access by boat easier, he can appeal to sport fishermen and scuba divers for overnight or weekend stays.
At the same time, he’s broadening the facility’s scope into a platform for research. An environmental consulting firm, Normandeau Associates, has leased space for thermal and acoustic sensors that detect birds and bats so the firm can characterize potential collision risks from offshore wind farms. And in late 2012, Neal lined up the University of Miami to conduct shark tagging.
“It should be something people can use,” he says of the tower.
Both towers could benefit from the development of offshore wind farms. Along the North Carolina coast, potential offshore wind lease areas have been identified but no lease sales have been scheduled by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. (See the related tiding on page 5.)
“We’re very close to seeing the beginning of lease sales,” predicts Brian O’Hara, president of the Southeastern Coastal Wind Coalition, based in Raleigh. In 2013, BOEM plans to sell competitive leases for wind farms off the coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Virginia, a process that took 10 to 16 months from the initial BOEM Call for Information and Nominations for the three states.
Neal said based on informal conversations with state energy officials, he anticipates leasing space at Frying Pan for instruments to measure wind speeds to provide data for wind farm companies. The average wind speed at the tower is 12 mph.
• LONG-TERM PLANS
At Diamond Shoals, Schneider’s short-term goal is to clear out junk, replace missing panels and install hot water. He says he hasn’t worked up a budget yet. Diamond Shoal’s timetable will turn on how quickly potential academic, corporate and technology partners begin participating. “We could be doing research in 12 months,” he predicts.
Schneider’s own company, Zap Water Technology, which makes a nontoxic sanitizing agent, is the first partner.
While on the tower, Schneider videotaped one- to two-minute spots to invite Minnesota-based companies and other potential technology and corporate partners to participate in the project.
Schneider says he doesn’t intend to fix up the tower and flip it for a quick profit. His business model for Diamond Shoals, he explains, is for a self-sustaining co-op-type venture. He believes the tower’s strategic location makes it intrinsically valuable.
“It’s too great of a structure to let it sit out there and rust away,” he says. “My interest is to make it into a place for betterment.”
For more information about the towers, visit: www.diamondshoalslight.com for Diamond Shoals and www.fptower.com for Frying Pan.
RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM: David Schneider checks out a walkway after buying Diamond Shoals Light Tower. • Richard Neal operates a hoist to lift people and cargo
80 feet onto Frying Pan Tower. • Lightships preceded the towers, warning sailors of the treacherous shoals lurking in the Graveyard of the Atlantic. P E O P L E A N D P L A C E S
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 27
Light towers
and lightships
The purchase of Diamond Shoals and
Frying Pan light towers preserves a legacy
of North Carolina’s maritime history that
dates to the 1800s. Prior to the sales, both
towers had been slated for demolition.
The towers marked the waters around
treacherous shoals. Diamond Shoals sticks
out from Cape Hatteras. Frying Pan Shoals
juts out from Bald Head Island like a long-handled
pan.
The light towers were the most recent
sentinels that have stood guard to warn
mariners of dangerous, shifting sandbars in
the Graveyard of the Atlantic. Today, ships
rely on GPS technology to avoid the shoals.
The towers were preceded by
lightships, basically floating lighthouses.
The first, at Diamond Shoals, was put
into service in 1824. That ship wrecked at
Ocracoke Inlet in a storm in 1827, according
to Lighthouses of the Carolinas by Terrance
Zepke. Several lighthouses or buoys were
moored at the shoals from 1827 to 1897,
when the Coast Guard began continuously
stationing lightships there.
In 1918, during World War I, the crew
on Lightship LV-71 radioed nearby ships
about the presence of a German submarine.
The crew safely left the lightship. The sub,
provoked by the warning message, shelled
the ship and sank it, according to www.
uscglightshipsailors.org.
A lightship had been stationed at
Frying Pan Shoals since 1854, except
for intervals that included World War II,
according to the Coast Guard. One of the
last surviving lightships, Lightship LV-115, has
been docked on the Hudson River in New
York City since 1989. It is open for tours
and can be booked for parties and special
events, according to www.fryingpan.com.
The lightships were replaced by Frying
Pan Light Tower in 1964 and Diamond
Shoals Light Tower in 1966.
Courtesy Outer Banks History Center Jack Horan Jeffrey K. Johnson
L O C A L C A T C H
28 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
Working Boats Traditional Working Boats
of the Outer Banks
B Y M O R G A N A . J O N E S THE WATERS O F T HE S TATE A RE
AS D IVERSE A S T HE S KIFFS AND
BOATS T HAT U SE T HEM.
Often, boats are specific to their intended
catch, with adaptations to produce a higher-quality
product. These adjustments include
unique gear, as well as distinctive structural
features on the vessel.
Here are some boats that were highlighted
at the 2012 Outer Banks Seafood Festival in
Nags Head. See the tiding on page 3 for more
about the event.
• SHAD BOAT
The shad boat was developed on Roanoke
Island by George Washington Creef and is
specific to the northern Outer Banks. The
boat, which was adopted as the official State
Historical Boat in 1987, was originally used to
harvest shad with a gill net, a vertically hung net
that traps fish as they swim into it.
“The North Carolina shad boat played
an important part in the daily lives of people
living on the coast during mid 1800s and early
1900s,” says Barry Wickre, manager of the
Roanoke Island Maritime Museum. “The boat is
known for its easy handling and sea kindliness,
and was used in everyday life from fishing and
delivering the mail to hauling supplies and
people.”
The shad boat is designed for the upper
Albemarle and northern
Pamlico sounds, where the
water is shallow and the
weather changes rapidly.
Initially, these boats had round-bottomed
hulls that made them expensive
and complicated to build, explains Michael B.
Alford, author of Traditional Work Boats of North
Carolina. In the early 1900s, shad boat hulls were
shaped into a “V” bottom to lower expense and
support an engine, he continues.
The boat also had a single mast rigged
with a spritsail, a four-cornered fore-and-aft
sail named for a specialized spar. The spar, also
called a sprit, supports the peak of the sail and
extends it out from the mast.
In its heyday, the shad boat was the
“pickup truck” of eastern North Carolina
waters, and was used to fish pound nets, a
common method used to catch shad and
herring. The small boat would pull up to a
square net enclosure known as a pound, and
fishermen would bring the catch on board by
hand or by using a dip net.
The Roanoke Island Maritime Museum
houses the Ella View. Built in 1889, it is one of
the last known shad boats in existence built
by Creef. The museum staff use the Spirit of the
Roanoke Island, a Creef-style replica boat, to
conduct summer sailing tours and educational
sails in Shallow Bag Bay.
• MULLET S KIFF
Flat-bottom work skiffs, such as the mullet
skiff, were less expensive and easier to build.
Because mullet are harvested in shallow
sounds and estuaries, these skiffs typically have
an outboard engine that is mounted in a well and
can be moved forward, sometimes to the bow.
In his book, Alford writes that “The well
keeps the engine and propeller away from trawl
and towing lines, reducing the chance of costly
entanglements that could damage gear and
result in time lost from fishing.” In addition,
ABOVE: The Roanoke Island Maritime Museum sails the Spirit of the Roanoke Island replica shad
boat in the summer. LEFT: The mullet skiff is a flat-bottomed boat that is adapted to work in shallow waters .
Sara Mirabilio
Gregg Southard
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 29
L O C A L C A T C H
C o n t i n u e d
mullet boats require a flat unobstructed area in
the stern to work the nets.
Although mullet skiffs were common until
the late 1980s, few are left in North Carolina
because of decreased demand for the fish, as
well as better fishing methods.
“Most commercial exploitation for
mullet targets roe-carrying females for the
Asian market. A depressed Asian
economy in the late 1990s may
have led to a decline in roe demand,
a decline in overall harvest of roe
mullet and the associated decline
in mullet skiff fishing,” says Sara
Mirabilio, North Carolina Sea
Grant fisheries specialist.
Mullet are harvested with a
runaround gill net or strike net, she
adds. The monofilament net hangs
vertically and is not anchored.
Floats are attached to the top of the net and
the bottom is weighted so that a current will
not bunch the net.
Once a school of fish is sighted, one end of
the gill net is deployed with a buoy and a small
weight. The weight creates drag, which pulls
the rest of the net out as the boat encircles the
school. The net is immediately hauled back by
hand over the flat stern to unload the catch.
• FLOUNDER BOAT
Another boat that uses an engine well
is a flounder boat. Alford reports, “Powerful
outboard motors mounted in wells built inside
the skiff make these boats very swift and enable
them to haul large trawl nets.”
The engine well allows fishermen to run
nets and lines directly off the stern, or back of
the boat, a situation that is ideal for flounder
fishing. Small, open fiberglass skiffs were
modified with the outboard motor in a well, or
by moving forward part of the transom, or the
stern, where the outboard motor bracket rests.
By the end of the 1990s,
more than half of all North
Carolina inshore flounder
catches were caught with large
mesh, monofilament gill nets.
One of the state’s main flounder
fisheries was the shallow-water
fishery along the sound side of
the Outer Banks.
“During the flounder
fishing peak, from September through
December, as the flounder migrate out of the
sounds and estuaries into the ocean to spawn,
flounder fishermen only can fish large-mesh
gill nets in shallow coastal waters inside the
Pamlico Sound Gill Net Restricted Areas,”
Mirabilio explains. The restrictions are to limit
interactions with sea turtles.
Fishermen use gill nets with weighted
bottom lines in deeper water, and keep the
height of the net to about 4 feet off the
bottom by tying down the float line. This
technique creates a loose, baggy net that is
very effective at catching bottom-dwelling
flounder.
• BEACH DORY
Traditionally used only along the Outer
Banks, a beach dory is a small boat that is
launched from the ocean shoreline into the
surf. It is 16 to 18 feet long, and has a high bow
that cuts and plunges into the surf. A motor
mounted inside a well in the center of the boat
allows fishing in very shallow water.
“Beach dories do not
need powerful motors, just
one strong enough to carry
the net around in a circle,”
Mirabilio says.
Once in the surf,
the dory crew deploys
a beach haul seine to
surround a school of
fish swimming near
shore. Native Americans
used these hand-pulled
seines centuries ago. This
encircling type of net is
made of mesh webbing
with two wings and a bag.
Floats keep the top line
at the surface, while the
bottom line is weighted.
Years ago, horses
pulled the net to the shore,
but now trucks do the hard
work of hauling.
After launching the dory through the
breakers, a shore-based crew secures a line to
one end of the net, while the dory crew feeds
out the seine. The net is pulled straight offshore,
and guided depending on the direction of the
migrating fish. The dory crew traps the school
and wraps the net in a U-shape back toward the
beach. The fish, located in the net bag or bunt,
are dragged ashore and sorted.
Fish harvested with this technique often
include weakfish, spotted sea trout, bluefish,
striped mullet, striped bass and Atlantic
croaker.
• SHRIMP T RAWLER
The fishing fleet along the Outer Banks
also includes some larger boats, such as shrimp
trawlers.
Fishermen along the Outer Banks were
among the last to join the shrimping industry,
entering in the early 1950s. Area residents
considered shrimp a trash species that fouled
nets, and called them “pests,” according to
ABOVE: The beach dory is used near the ocean shoreline and has
a motor mounted in its center. LEFT: Shrimp trawlers are typically
double- or quad-rigs, pulling two or four nets, respectively.
Sara Mirabilio
Sara Mirabilio
The top line of a float gill net floats on the
water surface, while the top line of a sink gill
net is submerged below the water surface. The
sink gill net fishery began in Hatteras in the
1920s. “The sink gill net sector of the coastal
gill net fishery comprises 99.6 percent of trips
and fish catch nearshore, and all offshore set
nets,” Mirabilio says.
The nets are either retrieved after a
short soak or left for several days. Weather
conditions, regulations and the intended catch
determine the length of time the net remains
in the water. A crew picks up the net using
hydraulically powered net reels.
Typical target species include bluefish,
weakfish, Atlantic croaker, kingfish, Spanish
mackerel, dogfish, shark and monkfish.
• CRAB-POT BOATS
Blue crab was the state’s highest grossing
commercial fishery in 2011. Between 1994 and
2009, North Carolina ranked second among
blue crab-producing states in the country,
accounting for 22 percent of the total harvest,
30 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
L O C A L C A T C H
former Sea Grant researcher John Maiolo,
author of Hard Times and a Nickel a Bucket:
Struggle and Survival in North Carolina’s Shrimp
Industry.
“The historical vessels pulled one
net from the stern because that is all the
technology they had,” Mirabilio says. However,
the development of otter boards — used to
keep the nets open under water — and engines
changed that.
Today, small trawlers generally pull two
trawl nets, called a double-rig. Large vessels
can be outfitted with four nets, called a
quad-rig. In both cases, nets drop back from
outrigger booms off the side of the vessel.
Shrimp trawlers work day and night. By
using ice or freezers on their boats, they are
able to keep the catch fresh.
North Carolina fishermen comply with
federal sea turtle conservation requirements,
including using turtle excluder devices and
bycatch reduction devices to allow unwanted
fish to escape.
Another
vessel called a
skimmer trawl
or rig, which is
popular along
the central coast,
uses aluminum
triangular frames
to push nets
through the
water, explains
Brian Efland,
former Sea
Grant marine
conservation
and enterprise
development
specialist.
Skimmer rig technology was pioneered by Gulf
Coast fishermen and transferred to North
Carolina by Sea Grant specialists Bob Hines
and Jim Bahen during the late 1980s.
• SET-NET BOATS
A set-net boat has a hydraulically
powered net reel to haul and release a gill
net. The set net is the primary gill net method
used in North Carolina. It is a stationary,
monofilament mesh net of varying sizes that
is most often fished without anchoring to the
bottom. The set-net category can be separated
into float and sink gill nets.
according to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries
2011 reports.
Crab-pot boats have specific adaptations
for hauling crab pots, such as stacking racks
on the stern of the boat. Crab-pot buoy lines
are retrieved by hand, then wrapped around
a puller disk to be hauled up by an electric or
hydraulic pot puller and stacked. The boats
also have a powerful transom-mounted engine
to cover large distances in deeper water.
Crab pots, crab trawls and
peeler pots are the major pieces of
equipment used in crab fisheries.
A crab pot is a square trap, often
constructed of galvanized chicken
wire. It has a bottom chamber,
or “downstairs,” with two to four
funnels, called throats. The bait well,
in the center of the pot, is made of
fine-mesh galvanized wire so that
crabs cannot reach the bait. The top
chamber is the holding area, known
as the “parlor” or “upstairs.” These
pots use crabs’ escape instincts to
trap them. It remains in the parlor
until it is shaken out through an opening.
A peeler pot is specially designed to catch
mate-seeking female peeler, or soft-shell, crabs.
Similar to a standard crab pot, a peeler pot
contains a special holding cell, in lieu of a bait
well, where a live male crab is placed.
North Carolina’s waters are used daily by
skilled fishermen. The variety of working skiffs
and commercial fisheries that line the coast are
specific to the region in which they fish. Along
the state’s Outer Banks, each area requires
specific adaptations to the gear and the vessel
used.
RIGHT: Crab-pot boats are adapted to
haul and stack crab pots. BELOW: The
set-net boat hauls the set net, the main gill
net method used in the state.
NORTH CAROLINA’S WATERS ARE
USED DAILY BY SKILLED FISHERMEN.
THE VARIETY OF WORKING SKIFFS
AND COMMERCIAL FISHERIES THAT
LINE THE COAST ARE SPECIFIC TO
THE REGION IN WHICH THEY FISH.
Sara Mirabilio
Sara Mirabilio
NEW
CHALLENGES
AHEAD
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 31
C U R R E N T S
WHEN COLLEAGUES D ISCUSS S TEVE R EBACH, T HE Y U SE M ANY ADJECTIVES
— PASSIONATE, E FFICIENT, SMART. B UT INVARIABLY, T HE Y A LL AGREE O N O NE
THING: W HEN R EBACH I S A ROUND, T HERE W ILL B E L AUGHS.
New Challenges Ahead
B Y E - C H I N G L E E
C o n t i n u e d
Sea Grant executive director who retired at the
same time. “He has a broad grasp of the marine
science field while maintaining specialized
expertise in fisheries, which is a strong
component of Sea Grant.”
Ron Hodson, Voiland’s predecessor,
remembers that selecting Rebach boiled down
to several factors. “He was very, very, eager to
work for Sea Grant,” Hodson recalls, adding
that Rebach “was a good choice
to be heading up the research
effort. And he’s done a good job
with that.”
Rebach explains his role
simply: “Everything that comes
in here that is competitive, it’s
my role to get strong reviews
and to present the work to a
professional peer panel.”
Besides research quality,
Rebach cites another important
contribution. “I think the biggest
change that may be attributed
to me is going from paper to
electronics,” he says of
the proposal process,
noting that Sea Grant
was still requiring
paper submissions in
2000.
“We started
moving right away
to email, and then
Webnibus and now
eSeaGrant,” explains
Rebach, naming
two online tracking
systems that he
championed.
• HANDLING T HE R ESEARCH
In his tenure, Rebach had managed the
N.C. Fishery Resource Grant Program that was
in its early stages when he started, and the N.C.
Blue Crab and Shellfish Research Program that
began after he joined.
He also collaborated with Sea Grant
partners — the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries,
the N.C. Coastal Reserve and the Water
Resources Research Institute of the University
of North Carolina, among others — on joint
Rebach, North Carolina Sea Grant’s
associate director, retired at the end of 2012.
He joined Sea Grant in 2000, fresh from a 31-
year stint in academia, including many years
in the biology department at the University of
Maryland Eastern Shore.
“Steve is the quintessential research
coordinator for an organization such as North
Carolina Sea Grant,” says Michael Voiland,
TOP LEFT: Steve Rebach is known for his
sense of humor. • TOP RIGHT: Sea
Grant staff, including Rebach, hosted an
Indonesian delegation in 2008. • BOTTOM LEFT: Melinda Baran and Rebach plan to travel during their retirement.
• BOTTOM RIGHT: Sons Ari (left) and Ben keep in close contact with Rebach.
Courtesy Steve Rebach E-Ching Lee
Robin Wienke
Courtesy Steve Rebach
C U R R E N T S
32 coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org
fellowships, and with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration Fisheries on the
Bycatch Reduction of Marine Mammals in Mid-
Atlantic Fisheries Program.
Rebach enjoyed the variety and challenges
Sea Grant presented after decades of teaching
and research.
“What Sea Grant did for me was, all of
a sudden, I’m reading about fisheries which I
didn’t do before, about beach erosion, about
coastal communities. And I think this has been
the most broadening part of my education since
I was in college taking general courses,” he says.
“It’s been a wonderful experience.”
In particular, Rebach points to the applied
research that Sea Grant supports. Scientists,
particularly those funded by the FRG and Blue
Crab programs, are required to ensure that their
work is in collaboration with and can be used
by stakeholders, be they commercial fishermen,
recreational anglers or the general public.
David Taylor, chief of the state’s Fisheries
Management Section, reviewed FRG proposals
with Rebach. “Steve played a major role in
seeing that we were all well-prepared for
discussion and made us feel that our time and
input were valuable,” he says.
Taylor notes that Rebach handled most of
FRG’s nitty-gritty details, including distributing
proposals to reviewers, taking notes, and even
tracking comments and recommendations. And
he praises Rebach’s understanding of the issues.
“He participated in discussions of
the proposals and was very aware and
knowledgeable of existing research in the fields
we dealt with, particularly crustacean projects,”
Taylor adds. “I wish him well in his well-earned
retirement.”
Jeff Buckel, a faculty member in the biology
department at North Carolina State University’s
Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, is
the Sea Grant mentor for the joint Sea Grant/
DMF fellowship. This program offers graduate
students the opportunity to spend a year
working on a critical management topic facing
important marine resources.
“Steve’s been involved in every interview of
every Sea Grant/DMF fellow,” says Buckel, who
collaborates with Rebach to screen potential
applicants. “It’s going to be big shoes to fill,
that’s for sure,” he adds.
“I learned a lot from both Steve and Ron
Hodson on how to handle candidates as they’re
coming through,” Buckel explains. He cites
valuable interview techniques, from how to
put an interviewee at ease, to how to practice
discretion, such as making sure applicants enter
in one door and leave through another so they
never meet the competition.
“I certainly draw on that experience when I
interview my own grad students now,” he says.
But Buckel, a successful Sea Grant-supported
researcher with multiple projects
under his belt, also interacts with Rebach on the
receiving end of things.
“When I think of Steve, I think of his phone
calls,” Buckel says with a laugh. Rebach typically
calls applicants to notify them about the status
of their proposals.
“You hear his voice and you think, ‘I hope
this is good news about the grant.’ ” Often,
these initial conversations are the start of cost
negotiations and project adjustments, Buckel
notes.
• WORKING W ITH PARTNERS
Rebach also has made contributions to
regional and national Sea Grant programs.
He collaborated with NOAA Fisheries
folks to run a marine mammal grant program,
modeled along the lines of the FRG, to learn
more about dolphin stocks and reduce marine
mammal bycatch.
This bycatch reduction research supports
two NOAA programs — the Bottlenose Dolphin
Take Reduction Plan and the Pelagic Longline
Take Reduction Plan.
“Steve helped us figure out a way to help
meet some of our bycatch reduction needs in
terms of research recommendations that were
coming out of our stakeholder groups and what
information is needed to help reduce bycatch
of marine mammals in those fisheries, while still
allowing those fisheries to thrive,” says Stacey
THIS PAGE, TOP: During his Sea Grant tenure, Rebach
administered a NOAA grant program on marine mammals,
including pilot whales. • BOTTOM LEFT: Crabs were a big
part of Rebach’s work, before and at Sea Grant. • BOTTOM
RIGHT: Rebach (left) visits an aquaculture facility with NC State faculty and Sea Grant guests. • FACING PAGE, TOP: At Sea
Grant, Rebach’s focus was wider than his earlier biology research. • BOTTOM: Gear research is an important part of the FRG
program that Rebach administers.
NCSU Communications Services
Robin Wienke
Kim Urian
coastwatch | winter 2013 | www.ncseagrant.org 33
TOP: Terri Lomax, NC State vice chancellor for
research, innovation and economic development (center),
congratulates Michael Voiland (left) and Steve Rebach on
their retirement. BOTTOM: Susan White, Ron Hodson,
Voiland and B.J. Copeland, current and former Sea Grant
directors, attended the reception.
NC S EA G RANT’S VOILAND,
REBACH R ETIRE
North Carolina Sea Grant thanked
Michael Voiland and Steve Rebach for their
service during a campus reception.
Executive Director Voiland and
Associate Director Rebach both retired
at the end of 2012. This event was an
opportunity for colleagues to wish them
well. Voiland and Rebach were presented
with letters from Gov. Bev Perdue,
commending them for their service.
“What Mike’s done exceptionally well
is building the community and developing
the grant programs,” said Terri Lomax,
North Carolina State University vice
chancellor for research, innovation and
economic development, citing Voiland’s
emphasis of minigrants that offer great
return on investment.
She also highlighted the synergy that
he created as director of Sea Grant and the
Water Resources Research Institute of the
University of North Carolina System.
— E.L.
Horstman, bottlenose dolphin conservation
coordinator with NOAA Fisheries in the
Southeast Regional Office.
“We have had some really, really good
outcomes, and every step of the way, he’s there
to help do whatever he needs to do to make it
happen,” she continues.
Horstman had been working with Rebach
since the start of the bycatch grant program in
2004. They have had calls for proposals most
years. There even are funds for 2013, something
Rebach’s successor will inherit.
On the national stage, Rebach led the
Sea Grant Research Coordinators Network
from 2006 to 2008. The group consists of
his counterparts from Sea Grant programs
nationwide. He was an important figure in the
development of this network.
“Steve was really instrumental with the
research coordinators in starting the discussion
to move the research coordinators towards
becoming a formal network within the Sea
Grant Association,” recalls Fredrika Moser, who
worked with him to formalize the group when
she headed research at Maryland Sea Grant.
“He started with work on developing
bylaws and basically getting agreement through
the network to become formal,” adds Moser,
who now is director of Maryland Sea Grant.
Through this group, research coordinators
are able to have a presence on the National Sea
Grant Network Advisory Council that helps to
shape the direction of nationwide efforts.
But more than his leadership abilities,
Moser notes that Rebach is a good collaborator.
“He always brings good humor and
thoughtfulness to any of the issues we’ve worked
on together,” she says, wishing him the best in
retirement. “It’ll be a loss to the network.”
• MAKING A N ADJUSTMENT
Old habits die hard — and retirement
won’t keep Rebach from reviewing proposals.
He has volunteered to sit on a committee that
decides how proceeds from a local art festival
should be allocated to nonprofit organizations
in his community. Rebach will review proposals
and help decide how to distribute the funds.
“It’s something I’ve done before,” he notes
wryly.
But perhaps retired life might be a change
after decades of working.
“The first thing that comes to mind is the
difficulty Dad is going to have in adapting to
unstructured life,” says Ben, Rebach’s elder son.
“This will be the first time without a job since
he was 11. I have no doubt he will adapt, but I
know that he is still struggling with the concept.”
Melinda Baran, Rebach’s partner, also is
confident that he will adjust. “I’m sure he’ll be
as focused on his freedom as he has been as
associate director of Sea Grant,” Baran says.
She will retire in the spring and is looking
forward to checking off more items on their
“bucket list.”
True to her prediction, Rebach already has
plans for his free time. “I will read 20 years of
piles of stuff that I said I’m going to read as soon
as I get a chance,” he says, adding that sons Ben
and Ari have given him a lifetime supply of books
to read on his Kindle.
In addition, Rebach intends to travel.
He has trips to Florida, Mexico and Japan in
the works. His sons have encouraged him to
spend his last dime on his last day, rather than
worrying about their inheritance.
And Rebach is ready to meet this new
challenge. “It’s time to go and play.”
E-Ching Lee E-Ching Lee
Marc Turano Roger Winstead/NC State University
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B R O I L E D O Y S T E R S
When selecting oysters in the shell,
make sure they are alive. Their shells should be
tightly closed or should close tightly when tapped.
• 1 pint oysters, drained
• 2 slices bacon
• 2 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion
• flour
Vanda Lewis
Fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon from
pan, reserving 1 1/2 tablespoons bacon grease.
Add margarine to pan and melt. Add lemon juice,
pepper and green onion. Cook until onion is tender,
about 2 minutes.
Place oysters in lightly greased shells or
ramekins. Dust lightly with flour. Spoon margarine
mixture over oysters. Broil about 4 inches from heat
until done, about 8 to 10 minutes. Sprinkle with
crumbled bacon. Serves 4.
From Mariner’s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood
Ideas. Available from local bookstores or by calling
919/515-9101.
M A R I N E R ’ S M E N U