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Winter 2017

Winter 2017

A WALK ON THE PAGE: Looking Back on Four Decades of Coastwatch

In some form or another, Coastwatch has been in existence since 1974 — 43 years.

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More From Winter 2017

AMAZING COAST: Animal Societies

Monogamous pairs. Fathers who carry the eggs. Murderous siblings. North Carolina is home to animals that have developed a multitude of ways to care for their young. Some of these adaptations are well known to humans. Others? Not so much.
Highway 12 on the Outer Banks. Credit: NCDOT.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH ON THE OUTER BANKS

Sitting outside a restaurant in Duck, North Carolina, a great partnership was expanded over a meal of local seafood in the fall of 2015.

CURRENTS: Identifying Innovative Recovery Strategies

Emergency Managers Partner with University Experts, Students
cape shark fish taco

DEVELOPING RECIPES, NOURISHING THE COMMUNITY

What’s in a blackened-fish taco? For most of us, it is simply fish, seasoning, salsa and tortillas. For Evan Ferguson and her high-school students, their tacos start with an underappreciated fish: cape shark. Then, their special recipe stirs in a desire for fresh, local seafood in the school cafeteria, mixed with the sweat and hard work of a fishing community.

FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Looking Forward To Spring: Research, Results and Renewal

Every winter, right around the first week of February, I start getting itchy feet. I need to get back outside, shake off the chill (well, we are in North Carolina after all), and check out what’s growing, swimming and happening along our coast.

winter storm on Hatteras Island

LAST WORD: RENEWAL

3 cheers for the world, The hopeful soul that it is. Ever aging, Ever growing, Ever changing Life to dust and dust to life.
Saltbox Seafood Joint

MARINER’S MENU: As American as Southern Seafood

What's more American than apple pie? Historians might contest that the pie and the pioneer sprung from other cultures, and Native Americans were here before both.

NC MARINE FISHERIES FELLOWS: Where Are They Now?

Bringing cutting-edge data analysis and collection techniques to the attention of resource managers is a key strategy in planning for sustainable fisheries.

Preserving Cultural Treasures

Cleaning and restoring historic documents and artifacts aren’t the first things you may think of in post-disaster emergency response. But to the staff at the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, it’s an important part of recovery.
image: aerial view of waterfront marina in Southport, NC.

PROJECT SNAPSHOTS: Peek Into Coastal North Carolina Research

“What is North Carolina Sea Grant?” I field that question whenever people ask about my job. “We support marine and coastal research in North Carolina,” is my usual response. There’s more than that, of course.

SEASONAL DREAMS AND DELIGHTS

In these winter months, juvenile fishes and crabs — also known as nekton — likely are missing their summer nursery habitat: seagrasses. Specific seagrass species die back once summer water temperatures get too hot. This is similar to tree leaves that change color in the autumn and eventually fall off. Seasonal shifts also can be found in seagrass habitats, with consequences for juvenile nekton.
Biologist Abigail Poray collects the algae from within a study site.

TOXIC MARINE SNOW

Under the right conditions, ordinarily diminutive algae can form a slimy blanket over large swaths of coastal water — and cost communities millions of dollars.