File:Coast watch (1979) (20037564654).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_14 (find matches)
Year: 1979 (1970s)
Authors: UNC Sea Grant College Program
Subjects: Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology
Publisher: (Raleigh, N. C. : UNC Sea Grant College Program)
Contributing Library: State Library of North Carolina
Digitizing Sponsor: North Carolina Digital Heritage Center

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SEA SCIENCE once it's been damaged, he explains. In the case of oyster reef restoration, his FRG-funded study shows it's worth the effort. • OYSTER REEF RESTORATION The preferred substrate for reef restoration is oyster shell, most of which comes from the shucking industry, Marshall says. Shells from other bivalve mollusks, like clams or scallops, also can be used. Another alternative is marl — fossilized sedimentary rock that contains a substantial amount of calcium carbonate, a main ingredient in oyster shells. Marshall describes two methods used to rebuild oyster reefs. In shallow, tidal estuaries in the southern coastal region where the moon affects tides, reef material is sprayed off the decks of boats into areas marked off with pilings. In deeper, subtidal estuaries of the northern areas where tides are wind-driven, the material is dumped into piles with a front-end loader into areas marked off by buoys. Since the water is deeper, the reef materials can be mounded to taller elevations providing a habitat above areas that suffer from low dissolved-oxygen levels. Grabowski's study — along with those of Charles "Pete" Peterson and Hunter Lenihan of UNC-CH — is providing important data, according to Marshall, and can help determine the best sites for restoring reefs. • BUILDING REEFS Grabowski restored reefs in Middle Marsh, Carteret County, in three types of areas where oyster reefs tend to form naturally. These areas, or landscapes, are edges of salt marshes isolated from sea grass habitat, areas between salt marshes and sea grass beds, and mudflats away from vegetation. Shells and the use of shallow-draft barges for Grabowski's study were provided by DMF, with Marshall and Jeff French, also of the division, collaborating. "Though oyster reefs have only recently received recognition as a habitat to protect rather than a single-species resource to exploit, DMF has remained committed to assisting reef research and has been instrumental to the successful design and completion of several important restoration projects over the last 15 years," Grabowski points out. Also essential to the study was the fishing expertise of several members of the Saltwater Light Tackle Fishing Club. Grabowski notes that the club "has a real commitment to seeing habitat restored in order to enhance fisheries." Shortly after constructing the reefs in 1997, sampling began with fish traps, minnow pots, crab pots, gill nets and hook-and-line. Reefs and control areas — similar landscapes without reefs — were sampled to determine the benefits of restored reefs. Grabowski's study shows that the oyster is hardly "secret, self-contained and solitary," as Charles Dickens described it. Grabowski puts it scientifically. "A wide diversity of mobile animals utilized restored oyster reefs as juveniles or adults during the day and night throughout the year." It could be said that, for many aquatic animals, their world is an oyster reef. Or, perhaps, build it, and they will come. • THE BIO-DIVIDENDS What makes an oyster reef a hub of aquatic life is partly protection, but, just as likely, the oyster's place in the food chain. Tiny creatures such as boring sponges and various worms feed on oysters. And where small animals gather, larger ones will come. The study found white urchins, sea stars, right and lightening whelks, banded tulips, moon snails, grass shrimp, mud crabs and spider crabs in higher abundances on reefs than in controls. Fish found to frequent the reefs include our state saltwater fish, the red drum, along with flounder, speckled trout, gag grouper, snapper, blue fish, spottail pinfish, pigfish, toadfish and sheepshead.
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