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December 23, 2009
Oyster reef stimulus project comes to Hatteras By IRENE NOLAN
 If you have been looking out toward Clam Shoal from the west side of Hatteras Island, you probably wondered about the large object you were looking at on the reef and what it is doing out there. What you are actually seeing is a barge, owned by Cape Dredging, Inc. of Buxton and an excavator with a long arm sitting on top of it. From time to time, you might have spied a large tugboat or a smaller one in the area. All of the activity is part of a $5 million federal stimulus grant to restore oyster reefs in the Pamlico Sound that is bringing some money onto Hatteras Island that is much needed in this economy and, especially, during these winter months. “Quarry workers, truckers, welders, barge operators, tug boat captains, and heavy machine operators--these aren’t the kinds of jobs that usually come to mind when thinking about environmental projects,” according to a North Carolina Coastal Federation media release. “But they make up the backbone of an oyster-habitat restoration project that began in September in coastal North Carolina.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA) gave the grant to the federation. The agency’s stimulus money is being used to restore coastal habitats across the county. NOAA considered more than 800 projects for funding. The federation’s proposal was one of 50 selected, and the only one in North Carolina. The federation is partnering with local contractors, scientists from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, North Carolina Sea Grant and the state Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to build and monitor approximately 47 acres of oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound. Stevens Towing, a barge company based in Edenton, N.C., and Charleston, S.C., is the contractor responsible for ferrying limestone marl to the sanctuary sites. “The partners are excited for the chance to move North Carolina oyster restoration efforts forward, along with all the economic and environmental benefits that they bring,” explained Todd Miller, the federation’s executive director. “This project reminds us that our economy and environment are intertwined,” said NOAA’s acting assistant administrator for the agency’s National Marine Fisheries Service, Jim Balsiger. “The Recovery Act is making it possible to hire local people to help restore an important part of North Carolina’s coastline that will strengthen the community’s environment and economy for the long term.” During the two-year project, a small mountain of limestone marl -- 54,500 tons -- will be moved from a quarry in New Bern to a loading site in Belhaven and then barged offshore to build the oyster sanctuaries. In another component of the project, the grant will pay commercial fishermen to place 40,000 bushels of oyster shells in the water to give juvenile oysters, called “spat,” more places to settle. The shell plantings, which are scheduled to begin in the spring, will take place at multiple sites up and down the coast and will create two acres of reef. The sanctuary reefs will be mounds built 75 feet apart in designated areas at Crab Hole, off Stumpy Point, and Clam Shoal, off Hatteras Island. DMF has several test mounds already built at both locations. The work at Crab Hole – 143 mounds -- was completed earlier this month. Then the activity moved to Clam Shoal off Hatteras, where 222 mounds are to be built by April. Work on the project stopped on Monday, Dec. 21, for the holidays, and will resume on Jan. 4. Stevens Towing has contracted with Cape Dredging in Buxton to unload the marl into the mounds on the reef. Darren Burrus, who owns Cape Dredging with his brother Danny, said a large tug boat, the Island Express brings the marl to Rollinson Channel on the west side of Clam Shoal. The marl is transferred to a small tug, the Island Pearl, which brings it across the reef to where Cape Dredging is operating – just inside the reef near the “hunting house.” The marl is unloaded by a long-armed excavator, which Burrus said he extended especially for this job. Burrus said Cape Dredging has two full-time people on the job, and several others part-time. And there are other economic benefits for Hatteras. The Stevens smaller barge, Island Pearl, is berthed at Oden’s Dock in Hatteras village. There are two full-time Hatteras islanders working on that tug, and several more part-timers. In addition, the contractor will be buying fuel locally and has a contract with a local auto parts store to provide needed equipment for the tug. The oyster reef mounds will be at least seven feet below the surface, but well off the bottom. This design allows the mounds to be high enough in the water that currents and circulation will encourage oyster spat settlement. The young oysters that attach to the rocks also will have plenty of light and food. Oystering will be prohibited on the sanctuaries, but hook-and-line fishing will be permitted. Similar mounds built at Ocracoke in 2005 have been very successful, noted Stopher Slade, DMF’s oyster sanctuary biologist. “We’ve had such good oyster recruitment that you can’t tell anymore where the individual pieces of marl are,” he says. “When biologists want to estimate how many oysters have settled on the reef, we’ve got to use a crow bar to dislodge a piece of marl. We’re hopeful that this project will prove to be just as successful.” To help determine the project’s success, scientists from N. C. State University, the University of North Carolina-Wilmington and North Carolina Sea Grant have designed a monitoring plan. They’ve already been in the water to assess pre-building conditions and will continue to monitor the sanctuary and cultch-planting sites as the project continues. This work is part of an overall strategic plan to restore oyster habitat in coastal North Carolina, according to the Coastal Federation. Historic maps, drawn by Francis Winslow from the 1880s, indicate that the Pamlico Sound was filled with oyster reefs. By some accounts more than 20,000 acres of oyster covered the bottom of the sound. The sanctuary locations were selected based on this historic data, reports, and input from commercial fishermen and computer models that predict restoration success. “Though the project partners will deliver the materials and create the oyster sanctuaries, once the mounds are built, nature will continue the work, allowing the currents and oysters to carry on,” said a federation media release. “Oysters on the reefs will multiply, cleaning the water and providing homes for the fish and other marine creatures. The reefs will continue to provide area residents’ with livelihoods that depend on the fishing, recreation and tourism.” FOR MORE INFORMATION To see more photos of the project and the Cape Dredging equipment in action, go to the Web site, http://www.capedredging.com/Projects.htm |
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