This week is National Estuaries Week, a campaign to increase public awareness of estuaries and to encourage people to become involved in the protection of these important natural resources.
News & Features
NOAA gets $64 million to build new lab; former staff ‘elated’
Dr. Bud Cross, a longtime director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s historic Beaufort Laboratory, says the recent announcement the a new facility would soon be built on Pivers Island came as “great news to all of us who have worked there.”
EPA, Army propose alternative draft definitions for ‘WOTUS’
The comment period ends Oct. 9 on proposed alternative definitions that environmental groups say will strip protections from seasonal wetlands and waterways.
Pro surfers ride ubiquitous symbol of ocean pollution in film
“The Cigarette Surfboard,” a film about surfing activists and tobacco-related pollution around the world, will make its online premiere Tuesday through Sept. 27, and is timed to include International Coastal Cleanup Day, Sept. 19.
Coastal commission tables proposed septic rule amendments
The Coastal Resources Commission, poised last week to consider two rule amendments regarding septic systems on the beach, instead tabled the discussion until October.
New ferry toll law is ‘like the man sticking it to you again’
Residents were vocal about the financial strain the new law mandating tolls for all ferry routes will put on their families at the first in a series of listening sessions with the N.C. Department of Transportation.
CRC seawall science skeptics attempt ‘political stand’: Cahoon
The Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel’s recently presented analysis and recommendations regarding proposed fixes for the Outer Banks’ severe beach erosion were not the messages that commissioners opposed to the state ban on breakwaters and other hard structures on the oceanfront wanted to hear, nor was the chair’s sharp rebuke.
Fisheries ruling sets up likely yearslong state response
Now that a judge has ruled that the state has failed to rebuild and maintain healthy fish stocks and protect key habitats as required by law, fisheries officials must turn to the remedy phase, which is unclear at best.
Recent rains help but heat has amplified long-dry conditions
“Heat Wave,” “The Heat is On,” “Burning for You”: Song titles that may suit the sweltering summer that has left most of coastal North Carolina parched, and the state climatologist says the rainfall deficits much of the state is seeing began in August 2025.
Rainfall that closed NC 12 on Pea Island part of climate trend
A recent a rainstorm that one transportation engineer described as “an extreme circumstance” nearly impossible to plan for surprised even the most seasoned Outer Bankers when it closed N.C. Highway 12, although more weather like this is to be expected.
‘150 years of negative impacts’ to New Jersey coast: Corbett
The longstanding state law banning permanent erosion control structures in an ocean shoreline was based on extensive studies and data documenting their detrimental effects and temporary protection, Dr. Reide Corbett said during a recent talk at Harkers Island.
Surf City celebrates federal beach project with event, music
A ceremony Monday on the beach by the Surf City Ocean Pier marked the start of a federal coastal storm risk management project that the town has sought for more than two decades, and it has inspired a … “song.”
‘Astonishing’: Topsail Island stormwater projects yield results
Officials in the three Topsail Island towns see improvement in the chronic street flooding that had long been a problem after an agreement to take on an island-wide resiliency project.
DEQ chief announces resilience grants during coastal visit
Department of Environmental Quality Secretary Reid Wilson visited Harkers Island Monday to announce $300,000 in grants awarded for eight projects to bolster resilience to natural disasters.
NOAA seeks input on potential commercial aquaculture areas
NOAA is seeking public input through Sept. 14 on where the agency should consider future aquaculture opportunity areas in U.S. waters.
Corps presses toward fall decision on $1.3 billion harbor plan
The federal final environmental impact statement for the proposed channel deepening and widening at the N.C. Port of Wilmington is nearing the final approval stage, but Cape Fear area residents and advocates say their objections and questions about potential effects remain unanswered.
