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N.C. Seeks Ways to Curb Devastation to Shellfish

Posted on: Thursday, 16 February 2006, 09:00 CST

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WILMINGTON Coastal living has become popular for humans in North Carolina, but theyve brought along pollution that is devastating another population: shellfish.

North Carolina has lost nearly 12,000 acres of shellfishing waters during the past 22 years. State officials, and even some developers, are trying to figure out how to stop or perhaps reverse that trend.

People move to the coast to live along tidal creeks and the Intracoastal Waterway to enjoy the rich wildlife that enjoys that habitat, said Tom Reeder of the state Division of Water Quality. If you start losing that, what do you have left? Is clear water enough?

More than 56,000 acres of shellfishing waters along the North Carolina coast are permanently closed because of pollution, with more than a fifth of that total closed since 1984.

The industry has suffered severe damage from disease, overfishing and the loss of oyster reefs. The states oyster harvests have plummeted from 1.8 million bushels in the early 20th century to an average of 50,000 bushels.

Rapid development has just made things worse, bringing runoff tainted with everything from fertilizer to dog waste.

In New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties alone, the population has jumped from 220,000 in 1980 to 312,000 in 2005, mainly along the coastline.

Water quality in New Hanover Countys six tidal creeks simultaneously has soured. Since August 2004, all of the shellfishing waters between Ocean Isle Beach and the South Carolina line have been closed.

Regulators are re-evaluating the area and hope to reopen some sections though probably not the Intracoastal Waterway according to Patti Fowler, an environmental supervisor with the Shellfish Sanitation Section of the state Division of Environmental Health.

Lawmakers have tried to address one part of the problem by approving plans last year for an oyster hatchery program involving the states three aquariums.

Oysters play a significant role in water quality. A single mollusk can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day.

The state is also considering a stormwater program meant to simplify pollution control by replacing a mix of programs with one set of rules. While it would clarify existing rules, environmentalists say the consolidated program would be just as lax.

Its controversial component would allow high-density development in areas near sensitive waters.

Were not trying to handcuff development at all, Reeder said. What were offering is to remove some of those restrictions in return for making sure you control the stormwater that your project produces.

At least one developer is taking the issue on without the states direction. In the Woodsong development under construction in Shallotte, where runoff flows in Lockwoods Folly, Buddy Milliken is using pervious concrete to help collect stormwater and a man-made wetland to help treat it.

He also plans courtyard gardens to help treat runoff before it reaches the collection system.

I dont think degradation of the environment has to be an inevitable consequence of development, Milliken said. If we want to protect whats drawn us all here, then we need to adjust how we go about continuing to grow, and I think theres a growing realization among everyone about that.

Source: Virginian - Pilot

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