. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. & f t deck Oysters Offer More Than a Meal For more than five years, Sea Grant has been developing a method of oyster culture called the chub system where oysters grow in floating mesh containers. This innovative technique may offer a boon to the oyster business. But these shellfish are valuable in many other ways. Here's what two Wayne County Community College students found. when they volunteered for a Sea Grant mariculture demonstration project. A myriad of creatures was living in or around the
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. & f t deck Oysters Offer More Than a Meal For more than five years, Sea Grant has been developing a method of oyster culture called the chub system where oysters grow in floating mesh containers. This innovative technique may offer a boon to the oyster business. But these shellfish are valuable in many other ways. Here's what two Wayne County Community College students found. when they volunteered for a Sea Grant mariculture demonstration project. A myriad of creatures was living in or around the chub. Growing amongst the oysters were shrimp, blue crabs, pinfish, oystertoads, sheepshead and skilletfish, schools of mullet and killifish, sponges, marine worms, sea squirts, seaweeds and a 3 1/2-inch spiny lobster. Inside the chubs, two dozen bay scallops were growing with the oysters. Yet oysters do more than attract other beneficial organisms. They can reduce the amount of algae in the water. Theoretically, a single oyster can filter 25 to 50 gallons of water a day. That may not seem like much, but theorists say that enough oysters grew in the Chesapeake Bay at the turn of the century to filter the entire bay in three to five days. The numbers of oysters left today take almost a year to accomplish the task. Although oyster mariculture is in its infancy in North Carolina, the Blue Ribbon Advisory Council on Oysters will issue a report soon on its study findings. One of the recommendations is to encourage oyster farming. And the benefits to the coast and the public may be greater than the economic value of the oysters produced. For more information, contact Skip Kemp, Sea Grant's mariculture specialist, at 919/247-4007. Innovative Stream Repair Residential and urban streams are degraded throughout the nation. A broadening landscape of impervious surfaces — parking lots, roads and rooftops — causes excess stormwater to course through stream channels. This water often ero
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