WILMINGTON, N.C. -- Federal stimulus funds have been doled out far and wide. And deep. Like the bottom of a North Carolina sound.
About 70 fishermen are being paid to scatter oyster shells in shallow waters along the state's coast, said Ted Wilgis, education coordinator for the North Carolina Coastal Federation.
That includes a 1-acre area in the Middle Sound off Wrightsville Beach that fishermen James and Steven Galloway hope will keep their family business going for years to come. The site will be closed for four years to allow the oysters to grow before they are harvested.
James Galloway, 56, told The Star-News of Wilmington about 75 percent of his income comes from collecting and selling oysters.
"It helps us in more ways than one," said Steven Galloway, 21. "It's work for now. It's good money. Then in a few years, we'll have more oysters. It's sort of win-win all the way around."
Besides the fishermen, about 65 other jobs for barge operators, lab technicians, and tugboat captains are collecting paychecks from the coastal federation's $5 million grant under the stimulus package, Wilgis said.
The project has also paid earlier this summer to create two large oyster reefs covering 48 acres in Pamlico Sound that will not be reopened to fishing.
Oysters need to find a hard surface to grow on after drifting in ocean currents for the first several weeks of their lives. The stacks of old oyster shells provide the habitat they need.
Oysters also play an important ecological role, said Troy Alphin, a researcher at the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Center for Marine Science. Oyster reefs shelter fish, crab and other small marine creatures, which provide food for larger fish. Oysters also filter and improve the coastal waters.
"Eventually, it will grow into a very vibrant, almost like a tropical rainforest under water, but it's an oyster reef," Wilgis told Wilmington television station WECT.
James Galloway said he has participated in several oyster shell distribution projects over the decades.
"It works, but it doesn't work overnight," he said. "Come back in three to five years, it will be loaded."
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