Carolina Environmental Diversity Explorations
Cape Fear estuaries · By Steve Keith
The Northeast Cape Fear River
Figure 1. Zero salinity area of the Northeast Cape Fear River. (Photograph by the author. More about the photograph)
We shall start our trip at the river end of the estuary, where the salt water makes up less than about one percent of the water volume. In this aerial shot we can see the Northeast Cape Fear River winding its way north from Wilmington, reaching, out of our sight, the town of Mt. Olive. The Northeast Cape Fear River watershed does not reach beyond the coastal plain and thus receives little in the way of sediment, the major contribution from runoff being organic matter. The organic debris gives the water a black color, thus the term blackwater river (see the tour of the White Oak River for more on blackwater rivers).
This section of the river is home to no less than 45 species of fish, according to researchers at UNC Wilmington who monitor the entire estuary monthly. Some of these species are termed anadramous, meaning that they spawn in fresh water but their offspring move out to sea as they mature, passing through the estuary on their way. Estuaries are home, at some point, to 70 percent of the commercially important fish in the United States. Flounder, mullet, salmon, striped bass; all depend on the freshwater input to estuaries.
