Carolina Blue: Preserving State Water Resources

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Coastal North Carolina has about 2.3 million acres of marsh, wetlands, creeks, rivers, and sounds, making up the largest estuarine system on the Atlantic Coast. Productivity of fish and shellfish breeding in this system depends upon an Influx of nutrients and fresh water from upland areas. The health of this estuarine system is a good indicator of how well water resources are being protected in North Carolina. Fresh water enters the estuaries from rivers including the Cape Fear, Neuse and Roanoke, which drain millions of acres of the Piedmont and Coastal Plain. Thus, Mark Dodge's conversation with two Winston-Salem newspaper reporters one hot afternoon last summer, concerning hard times experienced by commercial fishermen, should be taken seriously throughout North Carolina. His living depends on crabbing, oystering, and a boatyard near Rose Bay in Hyde County. Mark Dodge and most other commercial fishermen believe that the conversion of over 200,000 acres of freshwater wetlands by non-family corporate farms in five coastal counties has polluted saline fish breeding areas with fresh water and farm chemicals. These large agricultural interests disagree with Mark Dodge's assessment, claiming that many complex factors have caused seafood catches to decline. Between the two interests there is no consensus on what is happening to coastal water quality.

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