. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. By Michael Weaver Their boats were all but loaded down and gassed up when the word reached clam fishermen last December: You can't kick for clams in these waters, the state said. There's grass here. Grass? Seagrass. It had covered so much of the estuary floor through Core Sound that fisheries officials closed 20 percent of the available clam beds off Carteret County to mechanical harvesting that could destroy the underwater lawns. The grass beds- discovered during aerial surveys last year- harbor many of t
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. By Michael Weaver Their boats were all but loaded down and gassed up when the word reached clam fishermen last December: You can't kick for clams in these waters, the state said. There's grass here. Grass? Seagrass. It had covered so much of the estuary floor through Core Sound that fisheries officials closed 20 percent of the available clam beds off Carteret County to mechanical harvesting that could destroy the underwater lawns. The grass beds- discovered during aerial surveys last year- harbor many of the state's most important recreational and commercial species. Among the species are clams—a much-sought-after mollusk that sup- ports an economically important winter mechanical-harvest fishery. Closing these newly discovered grass beds had Carteret County shell- fishermen angrier than a disturbed hornet. They needed to harvest the beds to make a living, they said. But is today's harvest of clams worth destroying a habitat that's vital to tomorrow's production of many species of fish and shellfish? Indeed, protected seagrass beds are nothing new. For years, the state has protected underwater meadows prized for their role as food sources and refuge for thousands of sea creatures. Young mullet, spot, blue crabs and hard shell clams share the cover of seagrass with adult sea trout, flounder, shrimp and dozens of other species. Bay scallops make seagrass fields their sole nursery grounds, and sea turtles as well as birds from egrets to osprey eat the wavy green leaves. Dense seagrass fields cover up to 200,000 acres of shallow coastal waters in North Carolina, second only to Florida in area. And only in North Carolina does eelgrass—the most common along shores—coexist with two of the other 47 varieties known worldwide. The unique habitat makes for a won- derful playground for fish and shellfish, an occasional battleground for fisher- men and a fascinating study ground f
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