File:Coast watch (1979) (20472072490).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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ABOVE: Students work quickly to move fish from nets to waiting tubs. The field study will provide a variety of species for lab work at East Carolina University. Immersed in science For his part, Rulifson focuses on fishery biology and fisheries management, while Norton looks at fish ecology and physiology. "Research- ers must know how to catch fish, and managers must know the biological basics," Norton explains. Their differences yield dividends for the students who find themselves on a weekend totally immersed in applied science at the refuge. Before breakfast, the students already have completed the first round of water quality data collection near the lodge. Now, with gear packed into a van and pick-up truck, they head down the unpaved road that follows the canal seven miles from the lodge to the Pamlico Sound. A petite brunette — nearly swallowed whole by waders —joins classmates walking a seine net into the near-shore waters of the sound at the mouth of the canal. Other students are dipping black water into coolers that will serve as holding tanks for the morning catch. Still another group is recording water quality data — location, time, tidal information, water depth, turbidity, pH, salinity, oxygen, sediments, conductivity, and water and air temperatures. Later, they'll match the data with the list of fish caught and the type of gear used at each site. The students are having a difficult time pulling the net to shore in the shallow sound water. The tide is out, and the nets are weighted down with organic material — decaying grasses and shrubs that were deposited by hurricane-related flooding in 1999. In spite of the difficulty, the seine has captured a fair sampling of fish — anchovies, kingfish, gobies, skillet fish, silver perch, croaker, red drum, flounder, a pinfish with a leech on its tail, and a mullet without a tail. It's a teach-as-you-go situation for Rulifson and Norton. Rulifson points out mouth characteris- tics of two fish. "If the fish has an underbite, it's a bottom feeder; if its mouth is turned up, it's a surface feeder," he explains. The students continue to toss the fish into the waiting containers, calling out the litany of common names. In response, Norton chants the biological nomenclature. "Common names vary from place to place. In some places a skillet fish is any fish that can fit in a pan," Norton says. Back at the lodge workroom, the students work quickly to separate, bag and refrigerate portions of the catch. Rulifson and Norton will have plenty to share for lab work back at ECU — and the weekend is far from over. "We prefer to use fresh-caught specimens for research," Norton says. "Prepared and preserved 'bought' speci- mens may be tainted by chemicals." Testing gear and stamina Over lunch, the students talk excitedly about their work. Purvi Mody, a senior majoring in ecology education, says, "You can't get this kind of experience in a classroom. I want to learn the tools for fisheries management so I can bring the skills to developing countries after I graduate." 8 SPRING 2001

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