File:Coast watch (1979) (20038971413).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_13 (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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been isolated incidents of MSX — a parasite that typically thrives in cooler waters north of North Carolina. A combination of factors has forced the closing of many oyster beds. Of 1.43 million acres of North Carolina salt water suitable for shellfishing, more than 56,000 acres of shellfish-growing waters are permanently closed, according to a DMF report. This represents an increase of about 380 acres since 1998. Most normally open areas from Carteret County southward also experience temporary closures during excessive rains. They are reopened for shellfishing once water samplings indicate bacteria levels are safe. Outside Gene and Lillie Oglesby's Mill Creek home on the Newport River, the state has closed a large man-made oyster rock dubbed "Shell Road" because of the large number of oyster shells. "I have eaten many an oyster from Shell Road," says LiJlie Oglesby. "Now the whole river is polluted from Newport to Lawton Bay." Oglesby's daughter, Elaine Crittenston, vividly remembers the day when the state closed one of her dad's prime oyster gardens. "My dad had tended the oyster garden in the area that was closed," she says. "He had nowhere to go to get clean oysters. I remember seeing tears in my dad's eyes." Not too long after that, Gene Oglesby retired from oystering. "It got to the place where there was nothing out there," he says. "You would work all day and would have done good if you caught a bushel." To provide more oysters, the state initiated an Oyster Relay Program. Fishers are paid to bring shellfish from polluted waters back into clean waters. There the oysters purify themselves before being harvested the next season. Leaseholders also are allowed to move these oysters to their beds at no cost. From April to mid-May, the Swartzenbergs and Rices load up their boat with small cluster oysters from state- managed beds in polluted waters. "We take up about 60 bushels of clusters of oysters at a time and then relay them to our leases," says Swartzenberg. With the decline of the oyster business, shucking houses also vanished. Today, there are no shucking houses operating in Mill Creek. The last one closed in 1985. The vacated building "stands alone on the river as a reminder of the ways things used to be," says Garry Culpepper's mother, Johnise. "When I was growing up, there were five shucking houses in Mill Creek. My dad had one house." She remembers when Hurricane Hazel roared through Mill Creek on Oct. 15,1954, and damaged the shucking houses.
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"Many of the houses were hurt bad," says Johnise Culpepper. "But my dad's own house had minor damage. Others in the community pitched in to fix his house. Instead of nine people shucking oysters, he had 20 workers because so many people were out of work and needed the money." Aquaculture is Wave of Future To increase oyster production, some fishers are turning to aquaculture. The methods for culturing oysters vary — from growing oysters in racks in the water to new seeding methods. The traditional method of oyster culture is the planting of cultch material (shells, etc.) to provide a clean, firm space for the attachment of natural larvae. "The future of the oyster industry is in mariculture," says North Carolina Sea Grant mariculture specialist Skip Kemp. "In order to harvest, you need to put seed in the water. Havesting from the wild relies on natural seed, which is limited." Sea Grant and Tipper Tie, Inc., a metal clip manufacturing company in Apex, developed an innovative method of culturing oysters off the bottom with a grow-out system that resembles a floating ladder. Now a few oyster growers in the state use this method to grow shellfish. Swartzenberg was one of the first to try this chub method and received a state Fisheries Resource Grant to determine its economic feasibility. He also uses racks to grow oysters. In a leased area of Stump Sound, he has more than 800 cages strapped to racks. Each cage holds about a half bushel of oysters. Eating salty, delectable oysters is a tradition at the Mill Creek Oyster Festival.

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