The coastal plains and waters of North Carolina have seen
extensive use since settlers came over in the 17th century. The rich
agricultural lands and climate were perfect for growing cash crops like tobacco
and the coasts were wonderful for fishing with its outer banks protecting any
vessels or fish.
One big
problem the agricultural areas have pertaining to North Carolina’s coastal
plain is the waste produced by the large swine industry. Just the odors from these
farms have been shown to increase people in the surrounding areas fatigue, they
are less vigorous, and they are easily angered or confused. This is not to
mention the damage the waste does to the environment as it seeps into the
groundwater, infects the surface water and spills into human and natural water
resources.
Also we have the by-catch of
juvenile finfish caught in otter trawls used to harvest shrimp in North
Carolina inshore waters is excessive and potentially harmful to the life cycles
of some of the important finfish that are being killed and discarded. Recent
studies show numbers of juvenile finfish in the by-catch of otter trawls with
estimates in the range of a combined 300,000,000 young spot, croaker, and
weakfish taken each year. This is excessive given that the annual harvest of
shrimp (6 million pounds valued at about $11,000,000.) Studies have also shown
that the value of inshore waters is greater when they are used as recreational
fisheries than for harvesting shrimp. Finfish, like spot croaker and weakfish,
have seen a big decrease in their own reproduction because of problems caused
by otter trawlers.
These are just some of the environmental
problems the coasts of North Carolina have and must be attended to if we ever
wish to be sustainable.
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