With the North Carolina Aquariums celebrating 50 years in 2026, Coastal Review talks with Jay Barnes, the former Pine Knoll Shores site director about the early days of the facility, which is hosting two celebrations Saturday for the anniversary.
Carteret County
Drought creates feeding trough
The state’s ongoing drought is affecting water levels in the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s North River Wetland Preserve near Otway, where wading birds take advantage of conditions recently to feed on the fish, tadpoles, frogs and aquatic insects left with nowhere to go. Nearly the entire state was facing drought conditions at the time this was published, with most of the coast in moderate drought with increasing severity toward New Hanover and Brunswick counties and the western portions of most other coastal counties.
Two speaker series to look at relationships of people, place
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center is now offering two different speaker series this summer, both of which delve into the relationship between people and place.
Scientific data: Understanding rising sea levels for anglers
Dr. Shintaro Bunya, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Center for Natural Hazards Resilience, works with government agencies and communities to help them better understand and prepare for coastal flood risks, and here he does the same for anglers.
Early morning angler
Case Skinner, 4, son of Kathleen and Jeremy Skinner, fishes from his parents’ dock on on the Newport River in Mill Creek, an unincorporated community in central Carteret County. The young Skinner is also accomplished with a cast net. Photo: Jeremy Skinner
Joel Fodrie named director of Duke Marine Lab
Dr. Joel Fodrie is leaving his post as director of UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City to lead Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort.
Chancellor visits Institute of Marine Sciences, its researchers
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee H. Roberts spent Tuesday in Carteret County meeting with researchers at the university’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City as part of his second summer tour.
Coastal Federation, The Conservation Fund protect 153 acres
The two nonprofit organizations partnered to acquire the more than153 acres situated along U.S. Highway 70 between East Carteret High School and the North River Bridge.
NCDOT ferry system adds summer routes for Pamlico Sound
The summer schedule for N.C. Department of Transportation ferries that cross the Pamlico Sound include additional routes.
Sea turtle program coordinator Matthew Godfrey to speak
Godfrey, the North Carolina Sea Turtle Project coordinator for the Wildlife Resources Commission, is the the featured guest this month for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s “Green Drinks” speaker series in Morehead City.
Carteret hurricane preparedness expo scheduled for May 30
Carteret County Emergency Services, Carteret County government and the National Weather Service’s Newport/Morehead City office are offering the expo ahead of the 2026 Atlantic hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
Oral history project from 1977 connects App State, Core Sound
A project to digitize back editions of the local newspaper has led to Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island to acquire recordings of Beaufort residents made in 1977 as part of the Appalachian Oral History Project.
Our Coast: A Journey to Sleepy Creek
Historian David Cecelski writes that when the mailboat Violet arrived in Marshallberg, News & Observer correspondent C.J. Rivenbark discovered a whole village where life seemed to revolve around soft-shell crabbing.
Karen Gould to become Carteret TDA executive director
The area native has been with the Crystal Coast Tourism Development Authority for more than a decade, most recently serving as deputy executive director.
Emerald Isle officials consider tenfold increase of dune fines
It remains unclear why it was done, but the large-scale flattening of protective primary frontal dune at a newly built 12-bedroom, $6 million house in Emerald Isle has town officials eyeing stiffer penalties.
Bestselling author’s path to fiction began with journalism
Kristy Woodson Harvey, a New York Times bestselling author who resides in Carteret County, will begin her tour this weekend as part of the official launch of her newest contemporary women’s fiction novel, “Summer State of Mind.”
