Skip to main content
2003
image: Green sea turtle. Credit: Ali Bayless / NOAA Fisheries.

2003

Sea Turtles by Satellite

Since September, McClellan, research specialist with the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, and colleague Waples, have been meeting pound netters in the Pamlico Sound at unseemly hours hoping to find what many dread — sea turtles in fishing nets.

Read More

More From 2003

A hand holding a bundle of mussels of an invasive species.

Ballast Water Battles

It is likely how the zebra mussel, a fingernail-sized mollusk from the Black, Caspian and Azov seas entered the Great Lakes in the late 1980s. Since their introduction, zebra mussels have spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and to waterways in many states, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Growing in dense clumps, the mussels can encrust and foul facilities at power plants, fish ladders and industrial sites. To date, natural resource managers have been powerless to stop the mussels' spread.
A view from a boat of part of Cedar Island, where ocean is meeting land

Cedar Island: Laid-Back Lifestyle Still Prevails

It's a slow day Down East as a yellow lab roams along the Cedar Island Harbor pier. Nearby, a young man listens to a Willie Nelson song while relaxing on a well-worn gray sofa inside an open shelter facing the harbor.
Boats in a harbor Down East.

Coastal Storytellers Spin Fish House Tales and Other Whoppers

While standing in front of a fish house scene complete with rocking chairs, Rodney Kemp spins a whopper about a bolt of lightning turning North Carolina's only menhaden plant into a towering inferno.
image: Core Banks.

Core Banks Cottages Rich in History, Tradition

As soon as Wilson Davis pulls up in his boat to the shoreline near his wooden cottage on Core Banks, he steps back to a "different way of life."
Lophelia coral.

Sea Science: Exploring the Ocean Blue

The Steeples area. The Lophelia Reefs. Can't place these exotic locations off the Carolina coast? Just ask countless teachers and students who followed the "Islands in the Stream 2002" research expedition through online logs.
Sauteed Striped Bass with Garlic Basil Butter. Credit: Vanda Lewis.

Seafood Traditions: Mariner’s Menu is Coastal Legacy

As the Seafood Lab clock's hands inch toward 9 a.m., Joyce Taylor bustles around the well-stocked kitchen checking last-minute details prior to a new Nutrition Leader session.
Black sea bass caught.

Black Sea Bass: Aquaculture Opportunities

Charter boat captain Carl Snow and University of North Carolina at Wilmington researchers have made a discovery: When it comes to black sea bass, you may be able to have your fish and eat it, too.

Blue Crab Lab: A Recipe for Survival

Before it lives up to its scientific name — Callinectes sapidus or tasty, beautiful swimmer — the blue crab goes through a couple of ugly larval stages. Fortunately, its survival doesn't depend on its being a beautiful baby.
Sunrise over water in Kitty Hawk

Ocean Rescuers Test Skills in Treacherous Waters of the Atlantic

It's a brisk spring day at Kitty Hawk beach. Several swimmers in black wetsuits plunge into the 67-degree water of the Atlantic Ocean.

People & Places: Take a Glimpse Into Sound Country Holiday Traditions

After Rosa Hernandez moved from Mexico to the Sound Country community of Columbia, she became homesick for the Hispanic holiday homage to Mary and Joseph.

Southern Flounder: A Hot Candidate for Aquaculture

Sea Grant researchers at North Carolina State University are turning up the heat on Southern flounder to produce all-female cultured stocks. The controlled-breeding method relies on water temperature manipulation during the flounder's early development — not on genetic engineering.
Mullet sit on ice.

Striped Mullet: Valuable Fishery With Rich Tradition

While watching the breakers along Atlantic Beach last fall, Joey Frost noticed a purplish tint to the water. The ocean was packed tight with a school of striped mullet.
fishing boats

Habitat Protection Plans: Homeland Security for Fisheries

High above Earth, a passing satellite blinks in recognition of North Carolina's unique geography: A line of barrier islands protects the mainland from the ocean's energy, channeling its flow through narrow inlets. Behind the barriers, irregular shorelines define a system of shallow sounds, bays and tidal creeks that are intricately tied to the ocean's will. Mighty rivers appear as threads connecting mountains to piedmont to coastal plain.

Science on the High Seas: The Oculina Banks Research Cruise

It's late afternoon when the M/V Liberty Star steams out of Port Canaveral, Fla. — past charter boats in from a day of Gulf Stream fishing, and on past commercial fishing vessels draped with nets still wet from hoisting the catch-of-the-day.

Sea Science: Skin Cancer Project Targets Fishing Community

Doctors have long known that fishers and other workers who spend a lot of time in the sun are at increased risk for skin problems — from rashes to skin cancer. In an East Carolina University study, nearly 25 percent of the North Carolina fishing community interviewed reported having skin disorders, according to North Carolina Sea Grant researcher David Griffith.
Anglers and visitors enjoy the activities at the Surf City pier.

Beyond the Boundaries: Indonesian Officials Take Home Coastal Lessons

Surf City on Topsail Island is a long way from the beaches of Bali, or any of the 17,500 islands that make up Indonesia. But lessons learned along the North Carolina coast will factor in discussions this year in Indonesia, where pivotal coastal legislation is being considered.
Storm Runoff

Legal Tides: Storm Water Management: A Coastal Imperative

It could mean that storm water cascading from drainpipes into coastal waters is depositing polluted runoff from surrounding parking lots, streets, commercial properties and fertilized residential lawns and gardens. It's enough to ruin the day for swimmers.

Naturalist’s Notebook: Knowing Beans About the Beach

These little ocean-going envoys are called sea beans, and though many of them really are beans, they do not come from the sea itself. They are seeds fom tropical vines, plants and trees that grow in faraway rain forests. They fall into the streams and rivers of the lower latitudes, and the water carries them to the oceans. There, sea beans can float with the currents for hundreds or thousands of miles, and for many months, sometimes years.