File:Coast watch (1979) (20473836689).jpg

Title: Coast watch
Identifier: coastwatch00uncs_18 (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

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
SEA SCIENCE
Text Appearing After Image:
Be Jotdenose dolphins have been included in seafarer legends for centuries, but today's fishing captains are worried more about the charismatic creatures getting caught up in nets than folklore. Entanglement is a major issue for the mid-Atlantic coastal gill net fishery, which is comprised of several smaller, seasonal fisheries. The fishery ranks among the highest in the Western North Atlantic for entanglement-related dolphin deaths. From New Jersey to North Caro- lina, an estimated 210 bottlenose dolphins were killed between 1992 and 2001, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra- tion's (NOAA) most recent stock assessment. Dolphins may get tangled while eating fish from nets, a behavior known as depredation. But it is also possible they run into nets accidentally, says Andrew Read, a Duke University marine scientist who studies bottlenose dolphin behavior. Either way, it's a lose-lose situation — and not just for dolphins. "Fishermen don't want to experience depredation because it costs money," says Read. "And, fishermen don't want to catch dolphins. It's a big regulatory headache for them." Last summer, Read and Hatteras fisherman Dave Swanner received a grant from the N.C. Fishery Resource Grant (FRG) program to study whether acoustic deterrent devices called "Save Waves" effectively keep dolphins away from gill nets. The FRG program is funded by the North Carolina General Assembly and administered by North Carolina Sea Grant. Used widely in Mediterranean fisheries, Save Waves produce random pulses of sound at the same level of intensity a dolphin uses to echolocate, a physiological process that involves emitting sound waves to locate distant objects, such as prey. Save Waves are anecdotal successes in Europe, but there has been very little scientific study to assess their effectiveness, says Read. If such devices can deter hungry or wayward dolphins, depredation and entanglements could be reduced, he adds. Read decided to study the Spanish mackerel fishery in North Carolina because it experiences both dolphin depredation and entanglement. Bottlenose dolphins are capable of reducing Spanish mackeral catches by nearly 40 percent, according to one of his reports. And about one or two dolphins become entangled in the fishery's nets each year. These bycatch numbers may seem low, but the Spanish mackerel fishery is part of the larger mid-Adantic coastal gill net fishery, and

Note About Images