UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 7, Page 3                                
October 15, 1992                                               
Floating 'mushrooms' critical to marine research study         
                                                               
     At this moment, hundreds of giant red mushrooms are "lurking" in
the water of Delaware's inland bays.                                 
     No, we are not experiencing an alien invasion. The mushrooms are
really plastic devices that drift in the water, and they earned their
nickname "mushrooms" because of their fungi-like appearance. They are
a crucial part of Kuo-Chuin Wong's study of circulation patterns in  
the state's inland bays.                                             
     According to Wong, an associate professor of marine studies, "The        
circulation and flushing characteristics of the bays, and their      
exchange of water with the Atlantic Ocean, affect the salinity and   
pollutant levels in the bays and the transport and eventual settlement        
of suspended sediment. They also can determine what shellfish larvae 
eventually set on the bottom of the inland bays and where they set." 
     The most crucial members of Wong's research team are unaware of 
their important roles. These are the individuals who, while involved 
in commercial or recreational use of the bays,  happen to find a     
"mushroom." A finder is asked to fill out a brief questionnaire about
the exact location of where the stem is found.                       
     The information is then mailed to Wong on a self-addressed card    
he provides.                                                         
     He said that his method has been successful; nearly 40 percent of        
the 1,000 mushrooms he has sent out in two waves since August 1991   
have been recovered. Some people, he added, have sent letters        
expressing interest in the project.                                  
     Wong's own interest is environmental. His research, which is    
jointly funded by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the  
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will be
used to study ways to revive the declining water quality and wildlife
in water bodies such as Indian River Bay and Rehoboth Bay, he said.  
     In his efforts to understand the process that controls the      
current system, he has found that currents move in two distinct      
patterns. Two types of mushrooms, one placed on the bottom of the bay
and the other placed at the surface are used. These show that water  
simultaneously flows into the bay and out toward the ocean.          
     Wong said this leads to a greater chance of contaminating 
materials not being flushed out of the system, thereby destroying    
shellfish beds, an important economic resource in the area.          
     The project has become a community effort. Citizens in Sussex   
County meet with scientists to be updated on progress and learn how  
they can help.                                                       
     Wong's study of the inland bays is one small component of the   
EPA's long-range goal of preserving coastal lagoons across the       
country.                                                             
     "We are using Delaware's inland bays as a model," he said. "By  
understanding the processes in the bay, we can understand coastal    
lagoons in general."                                                 
                                        -Casye Launer