Being able to watch a mother sperm whale give birth to her calf in the eastern Caribbean Sea a couple of summers ago “felt like an encounter with something both impossibly rare and profoundly ancient,” marine biologist David Gruber told Coastal Review.

Gruber, a National Geographic Explorer and City University of New York distinguished professor of biology, is president of Project CETI (Cetacean Translation Initiative). He founded the nonprofit based in the U.S. and Dominica in 2020. It’s made up of artificial intelligence and natural language processing specialists, cryptographers, linguists, marine biologists, roboticists and underwater acousticians from a network of universities and other partners, per the website.

He was aboard the organization’s sailing research vessel on July 8, 2023, off the coast of Dominica, where scientists have been observing whales for decades, when the team noticed that all 11 members of a known sperm whale unit had gathered at the water’s surface.

The team soon realized that they were witnessing the exceedingly rare 34-minutelong birth of a sperm whale in the wild and the coordinated care efforts for the newborn by the other adult females.

Project CETI published two reports detailing what the team observed, calling the work in a March 26 press release “the most comprehensive documentation of a sperm whale birth ever recorded and the first quantitative evidence of cooperative birth assistance among non-primates.”

The two studies analyze more than six hours of underwater audio and aerial drone footage recorded during the birth event.

Gruber, in the March 26 release, stated that these findings fundamentally reshape how we understand whale society. “What we’re seeing is deeply coordinated social care during one of the most vulnerable moments of life.”

Researchers said that understanding of labor, birth, postnatal and neonatal behavior is lacking for most cetaceans, with observations of these births in the wild recorded for less than 10% of species. Cetaceans are marine mammals such as whales, dolphins and porpoises.

“Of the described 93 species of cetaceans only nine species have reported birth observations collected in the wild,” the study states. “And reports of birth events of pelagic, deep-diving cetacean species, such as sperm whales, are exceptionally rare.”

Published in Nature’s Scientific Reports, “Description of a collaborative sperm whale birth and shifts in coda vocal styles during key events,” gives a chronological timeline of the birth framed within the context of known whale behavior, communication and evolution.

“Audio data revealed distinct shifts in vocal styles during key moments of the birth, including the presence of vowel-like structures, adding a new dimension to Project CETI’s ongoing work decoding sperm whale communication,” according to the nonprofit.

The journal Science published “Cooperation by non-kin during birth underpins sperm whale social complexity.” The organization explained that the study quantified the behavior of the 11-member unit by using high-resolution drone footage, computer vision, and multiscale network analysis using software developed for the work, combined with previously made scientific observations, including reports of whale births.

“The findings show that female sperm whales from two unrelated matrilines come together during a birth to assist the labouring mother, and both kin and non-kin taking turns assisting the newborn. This provides the first quantitative evidence of birth attendance outside of humans and a few other primates,” researchers state in the press release, adding that the birth attracted the attention of short-finned pilot whales and Fraser’s dolphins.

Gruber told Coastal Review what it was like to witness the live birth.

“To be on CETI’s sailing research vessel, in that moment, felt like an encounter with something both impossibly rare and profoundly ancient,” he noted.

“In marine biology, so much of a career is impacted by luck — being present when ocean life decides to reveal itself,” Gruber continued. “I’ve been fortunate enough to witness things like the first biofluorescent turtle seen to humans, but nothing compares to witnessing a sperm whale come into the world.”

Gruber went on to say that very few such births have been seen by humans, and the last scientifically recorded observation after the birth was decades ago.

“It makes you wonder what Herman Melville would have written had he glimpsed this: not the violence of whaling, but the circle of care and a society revealing itself through cooperation,” he explained about the author of the 1851 American novel, “Moby Dick,” that tells the tale of a whaling vessel’s captain and his quest for vengeance against the whale that took his leg.

“We witnessed culture in action,” when the 11 whales, across family lines, “coordinated to keep a newborn alive, communicating in ways we’re only beginning to understand.”

Gruber said it took more than 50 scientists 2.5 years “to begin to interpret even a fraction of that moment, because Project CETI sits at the intersection of marine biology, artificial intelligence, and network science — fields that must come together if we are to decode these lives,” he said. ”And, in some sense, this is why Project CETI exists: We are one of the few teams in the world continuously embedded with these whales, with the tools, the longitudinal data, and the interdisciplinary lens to not only witness something this rare, but to begin to understand it.” 

Shane Gero, National Geographic Explorer, Project CETI biology lead, and founder of The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, leads the research.

Researchers, who have been tracking since 2005, the mother that gave birth, observed her that day with both her mother and her daughter.

“This is the most detailed window we’ve ever had into one of the most important moments in a whale’s life,” Gero said in the release. “Because this family unit has been studied for decades, we could see what the grandmother was doing, how the new big sister acted, and how each helped mom and newborn, placing this rare birth within a deep social and behavioral context.”

The two studies point to cooperative caregiving during birth being ancient evolutionary behavior.

The behaviors documented in the research “suggest that cooperation during births functions to reinforce social bonds between sperm whales, which underpin their large-scale society. Helping unrelated companions drives them to help in return later. In this way, a foundation of trust and collective success builds their social world,” researchers said.

Editor’s note: Coastal Review regularly features the work of North Carolina historian David Cecelski, who writes about the history, culture and politics of the North Carolina coast. More of his work can be found on his website.

Earlier today, March 20, I gave a lecture at the annual Whales and Whaling Symposium in Beaufort. It is a special event, and one that I treasure.

Sponsored by the Bonehenge Whaling Center, which is part of the North Carolina Maritime Museum, the symposium invites scientists, historians, and the public to come together and share their knowledge of whales and the history of whaling on the North Carolina coast and throughout the Atlantic.

My lecture was titled “Nye’s Clock Oil and the Bottlenose Dolphin Fishery at Hatteras Island.”

The photograph above was one of the illustrations that I used in my lecture. It shows one of the crews that was hunting bottlenose dolphins on Hatteras Island in the winter of 1907 to 1908.

This crew worked for the William F. Nye Co., a New Bedford, Massachusetts, firm that operated a bottlenose dolphin fishery on Hatteras Island between 1907 and 1928.

Arising in New Bedford when it was the whale oil capital of the world, the William F. Nye Co. was the country’s largest maker of highly specialized whale and dolphin oils uniquely suited for lubricating clocks, watches, chronometers, scientific instruments, and other delicate machinery.

The company did not obtain those oils from whale blubber, but from two anatomical structures only found in the heads of bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales, belugas and other small-toothed whales.

Specifically, the William F. Nye Co.’s “oilers” extracted those oils from the fatty tissues in the animals’ lower jawbones and from an organ in their foreheads that is called the “melon.” 

Both play central roles in the echolocation ability of those whales and dolphins. That is, they are key to the way that they navigate, find prey and generally “see” underwater by emitting sound waves and interpreting their echos when they reflect off objects around them.

On Hatteras Island, the company’s workers butchered the dolphins on the beach. They then did a small degree of refinement at a facility on Durant’s Island, a knoll on the sound side of the island.

They then shipped the oil to the company’s factory in New Bedford for far more extensive refining.

Between the American Civil War, which spanned from 1861 to 1865, and 1900, the William F. Nye Co. acquired the largest part of its supply of those oils from pilot whale strandings on Cape Cod and Long Island.

In many of those cases, local fishermen herded the whales into shallow waters where they were trapped and grounded.

To establish a more stable supply of those oils, William F. Nye’s son Joseph came south and established the bottlenose dolphin fishery on Hatteras Island in 1907. He recruited local fishermen and seafarers, many of whom had been involved in earlier bottlenose fisheries on Hatteras.

Hatteras Island was the site of the oldest and longest running bottlenose dolphin fishery in North America.

At the National Museum of Natural History’s Paleobiology Archive, I found records indicating that there had been a commercial bottlenose dolphin fishery on Hatteras Island on and off since at least 1851.

To oversee the Hatteras fishery, Joseph Nye employed a third-generation Hatteras oiler, William C. Rollinson.

Rollinson had been involved in hunting bottlenose dolphins most of his life, as had his father and grandfather before him.

His father, John W. Rollinson, had been superintendent of a bottlenose dolphin fishery at Hatteras that had been operated by a company based in Wilmington, Delaware, in the 1880s and 1890s.

Even further back in time, his grandfather had been captain of a bottlenose dolphin crew at Hatteras Island before the Civil War.

It was hard, dirty work. When I was younger, and some of the men were still alive, they described it as a very grim business, the kind of job that one only did if there was no other way to make a living. But that was often the case on Hatteras Island in those days.

The William F. Nye Co.’s bottlenose dolphin fishery remained on Hatteras Island until 1928 or 1929.

I do not want to give the whole story away here, but if you want to learn more, the North Carolina Maritime Museum has already posted my lecture on its YouTube channel.

The whole symposium was wonderful. The amazing Vicki Szabo, who teaches at Western Carolina University, gave a fascinating presentation on the extensive mythology and scientific knowledge of whales in Medieval Iceland and other parts off the North Atlantic.

Keith Rittmaster, the founder and driving force behind the museum’s Bonehenge Whaling Center, gave an extremely informative overview of the 35 species of cetaceans that have been documented on the North Carolina coast.

Keith also discussed the conservation challenges ahead for whales and dolphins on our coast, and he charted some the exciting, day in and day out work that is happening at the Bonehenge Whaling Center, also in Beaufort.

Another exciting presentation was by marine biologist Tommy Tucker of the Coastal Studies Center on Cape Cod. With a contagious passion, they are devoted to understanding and raising public awareness of the critically endangered Rice’s whale, which is only found in the Gulf of Mexico.

Their presentation was brilliant. In addition to studying Rice’s whales, Tommy also uses arts and crafts to nurture interest in them, including this tapestry in which each depiction of a Rice’s whale represents one of the 51 Rice’s whales currently known to be surviving in the Gulf of Mexico.

All of these presentations are now available on the museum’s YouTube channel. I don’t know about mine, but the presentations by Vicki, Keith, and Tommy are not to be missed!

I found the whole day inspiring. It was so encouraging to be at a museum where the staff are so dedicated to telling the story of North Carolina’s coastal history and do so in such a professional way.

The museum’s auditorium was full of people from many walks of life, including scientists, historians, students, fishermen and women, and all sorts of other lovers of whales and the sea.

All were coming together to discover more about these glorious creatures of the sea and what we might do to make sure that they are still here to inspire and enthrall our children and grandchildren.

It was a joy to be part of it.

* * *

The Bonehenge Whale Center was built by volunteers dedicated to marine conservation, education, and research on the whales, dolphins, and porpoises of the North Carolina coast. You can learn more about the Center’s remarkable work and how you might contribute to it here.

The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort will devote a full day to exploring whales and whaling from multiple perspectives, highlighting both the cultural history of whaling and today’s conservation efforts.

The annual Whales and Whaling Symposium is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, March 20, followed by an evening program at 5:30 p.m. in the museum’s auditorium. The symposium was held at Fort Macon State Park last year while the Beaufort facility was undergoing renovations.

The symposium is offered at no charge, but reservations are requested because there is limited seating. For more information or to RSVP, call call 252-504-7758 or visit ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com.

“We wanted to create a program that looks at whales through many lenses: science, history, art and conservation,” Associate Education Curator Christine Brin, who coordinated the symposium, said in a release. “Whales have shaped coastal communities for centuries, and they continue to shape conversations about how we care for our oceans today.”

The program begins at 10:15 a.m. with “NC Whales: Diversity, Distribution, and Conservation,” presented by Keith Rittmaster, the museum’s natural science curator and director of the Bonehenge Whale Center.

Rittmaster is to discuss the 35 species of cetaceans, or the whales, dolphins, and porpoises, documented off North Carolina’s coast, conservation challenges and ongoing work at Bonehenge Whale Center, a facility in Beaufort focused on marine conservation, educational programming, outreach, publications, and stranded specimen collection and maintenance for these mammals.

Next on the schedule is historian David Cecelski who will present at 11:15 a.m. “Nye’s Clock Oil and the Bottlenose Dolphin Fishery at Hatteras Island.” His talk examines the surprising connection between North Carolina’s coastal fisheries, the waning days of American whaling and the rise of the U.S. clockmaking industry at the turn of the 20th century.

After lunch at 2 p.m. Dr. Vicki Szabo, professor of ancient, medieval and environmental history at Western Carolina University, will present “Watching Whales in the Middle Ages.” In her talk, Szabo contrasts whale mythology in medieval Europe with the practical knowledge of coastal communities, drawing on historical texts and archaeological evidence.

Marine biologist and conservation-based crafter Tommy Tucker is to present at 3 p.m. “How Many Whales Does It Take to Save a Species?” that focuses on the critically endangered Rice’s whales and uses the stories of individual whales to illustrate the intersection of maritime history, natural history and conservation.

The day concludes with the evening program featuring the North Carolina aerial survey team for North Atlantic right whales. Operated locally in Beaufort by the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in Florida and funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the team will discuss right whale biology, current population trends and how aerial surveys are supporting recovery efforts for this critically endangered species.

“Each speaker brings a unique perspective, but together they tell a much larger story,” Brin said. “From medieval whale myths to modern aerial surveys, this symposium shows how our understanding of whales has evolved and why that understanding matters more than ever.”

The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort is part of the Division of History Museums under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

In a matter of weeks, more than 20 North Atlantic right whale mothers and their babies will begin swimming hundreds of miles up the East Coast to their feeding grounds.

Their offshore route from the northern Florida and Georgia coasts north to New England slices through waters heavily traveled by seagoing vessels, making the journey for these critically endangered whales particularly dangerous.

Ship and boat strikes, along with fishing gear entanglement, are the leading killers of North Atlantic right whales, of which there are roughly 384 on the planet.

To reduce the strike threat, vessels 65 feet or longer are supposed to heed speed limits of no faster than 10 knots when traveling through federally-designated seasonal management areas, or those where right whales and heavy vessel traffic overlap. Though not required, vessels shorter than 65 feet in length are encouraged to slow to speeds of 10 knots or slower within those areas.

Last week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Fisheries Service announced in an advanced notice that it is considering scrapping the 2008 speed rule and replacing it with technological strike-avoidance tools.

Wildlife conservation groups are bristling at the suggestion.

“It’s incredibly sadistic to destroy a solution that helps shield endangered whales from being killed by speeding ships. Trump officials are attacking one of the only protections North Atlantic right whales have against extinction,” Center for Biological Diversity Oceans Policy Specialist Rachel Rilee said in a release. “This is a brutal blow to right whales, who need and are legally entitled to far more help than they’ve been getting. I’m disgusted to see the Trump administration going after these beloved animals.”

Oceana Senior Campaign Director Gib Brogan in a telephone interview last week with Coastal Review defended the speed rule and argued that current vessel strike-reduction technologies are inadequate.

“The one weakness in this strategy is, so far, the technologies that do this, that allow the whales to be seen by the boats and allow the boats to steer and get away from the whales, it’s not proven to reduce the risk to the whales, or it’s not scalable to the amount of boat traffic that’s happening in the U.S. Atlantic,” Brogan said. “So, for the time being, slowing down is the best tool and most effective tool that we have, and there’s been no evidence that there’s a technological fix that is ready to take the place of speed zones. By no means should it be repealed or weakened in any way.”

If anything, the speed rules need to be more stringently enforced, he said.

“The fishery service told us a few years ago that we need nearly 100% compliance with the mandatory zones and 100 percent cooperation with the slow zones if we’re going to give the whales the full value of the existing protections. So, there’s a need to do better on the water,” he said.

Researchers have identified 22 North Atlantic right whale calves this calving season, making it the highest number of births in 15 years.

Under normal circumstances, 20 newborns in a calving season, which runs mid-November through to mid-April, would be relatively fruitful one, according to NOAA Fisheries.

But, because of the estimated rate at which North Atlantic right whales are dying and being seriously injured due to human causes, approximately 50 or more calves must be born each season “for many years” to halt the population’s decline and allow for recovery, the agency says.

“The only solution is to significantly reduce human-cause mortality and injuries, as well as stressors on reproduction,” NOAA Fisheries’ website states.

There are believed to be only about 70 breeding females in the right whale population. The gestation period for these females, which reach sexual maturity around age 10, lasts more than a year.

Though the normal interval between births is considered to be between three to four years, reproductive North Atlantic right whale females are having calves every seven to 10 years, according to NOAA.

Biologists attribute those lower birth rates to stresses from vessel strike-induced injuries, entanglements, and changes in food availability because of climate change.

In its announcement last week, NOAA Fisheries stated it is considering deregulating the speed rule to cut down on “unnecessary regulatory and economic burdens” on the maritime industry.

The agency is seeking feedback on several specific areas, including the efficacy of the speed rule, the effectiveness of vessel strike-reduction technologies, vessel-size specific risk assessment, alternative management areas, safety deviation provision improvements, economic impacts on industry, and outreach.

Brogan said the federal notice is not a foregone conclusion that protections for right whales will be weakened.

“They’re framing it as a deregulatory action, but as we dig more into this there is an opportunity here and we’re going to be pushing for the fishery service to make improvements to the existing rules and those protections that are out there,” he said.

There are two specific areas where large groups of North Atlantic right whales are being observed that do not fall within a speed zone, including an area south of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, and mid-Atlantic waters off the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.

Brogan said researchers are also learning more and more about the importance of coastal Georgia and northern Florida for mothers and calves.

And while entanglements remain another leading threat to right whales, “we are seeing innovation and expanded use of ropeless or on-demand fishing gear, both in the northeast and the southeast, including the black sea bass fishery off Georgia and North Carolina,” he said. “This gear was theoretical a decade ago, and now it is being used commercially and has shown that it works. We’re working across the U.S. Atlantic to expand the use of this on-demand gear and include that in the fisheries as a way to reduce the risk that the whales will be entangled.”

NOAA Fisheries is accepting public comments through June 2.

“Anything they do will need to be supported by science and careful analysis,” Brogan said. “We have a critically endangered species and so the bar is very high and we’re going to be pushing that any changes are justified and well though out and can be shown to support the recovery of North Atlantic right whales. That is the challenge in front of us.”

This story has been updated to include a corrected description of land ownership. Information initially provided to Coastal Review had incorrectly identified the owner.

More people moved to North Carolina last year from different parts of the country than any other state in the nation.

North Carolina’s population grew by almost 150,000 people, trailing behind only Texas and Florida, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates released last month.

As political leaders grapple with the demands that growth is placing on essential services like water and sewer, public safety and education, pressure is mounting on conservation groups to acquire, conserve and preserve land.

This month, more than 2,000 acres in coastal counties have been secured for permanent protection from development.

These newly protected areas are filled with natural landscape features that reduce flood risk, improve water quality, and provide habitat for plants and animals that are increasingly getting squeezed out by encroaching development.

In Brunswick County, one of the fastest growing in the state, North Carolina-based conservation nonprofit Unique Places to Save acquired land that serves as a corridor between two protected natural areas, bridging what amounts to nearly 10,000 acres of conserved landscape.

“We really want to be able to maintain large, connected natural areas for habitat for species and to maintain biodiversity of our natural areas,” Unique Places to Save Executive Director Christine Pickens told Coastal Review in a recent telephone interview. “And, particularly, in the southeast of North Carolina, we have some really cool endemic species and really wonderful habitats that you don’t find anywhere else.”

Within the 1,040-acre tract nestled between the towns of St. James and Boiling Spring Lakes are forested wetlands, Carolina bays, sandy pine and wet sandy pine savanna.

The tract, referred to as Boiling Springs Wilderness, specifically connects thousands of acres of privately conserved land including Orton with the North Carolina Boiling Spring Lakes Plant Conservation Preserve.

“When you connect these large areas, you’re connecting a mosaic across the landscape and there’s tiny variations of habitat availability,” Pickens explained. “What that does is allow species that use that area for habitat or refuge or migration to use those slight variations of habitat. When we experience extremes in weather, precipitation or drought or big storms, having just a little bit of wiggle room in terms of available habitat goes a long way to allowing species to be resilient to some of these extremes and some of these changes.”

Habitat that is free from being sliced up by ditches or roads is valuable to species that rely on that habitat, she said.

Take the red cockaded woodpecker, for example. These birds, which were reclassified in late 2024 from endangered to threatened, live in groups, or clusters, helping each other raise their young.

They depend on large, connected natural areas – typically anywhere from 125 to 200 acres – where living pine trees, preferably mature, longleaf pine forests, grow.

Boiling Springs Wilderness includes varying types of soils that support different sets of plants, trees, shrubs and forbs, more commonly referred to as herbs.

A good deal of pond pine and a “little bit” of young longleaf pine grace its landscape, Pickens said.

The headwaters of Orton Creek are within the project area, as are wetlands that blanket the Castle Hayne aquifer, a drinking water source for thousands of Brunswick County residents and tens of thousands in other coastal North Carolina areas.

“That’s a long-term way to protect water quality,” Pickens said. “The areas around streams act as buffers to absorb nutrients, runoff, excess components in surface water that soak in, and they get absorbed by the plants and the roots and the soils around streams. That prevents excess nutrients getting into waterways.”

Then there are the wetlands, which function like nature’s sponges, absorbing stormwater that might otherwise flood developed properties.

“Every chance we get to conserve wetlands is really important right now,” Pickens said.

That’s because state lawmakers decided to align North Carolina’s definition of wetlands with that of the federal government, which is in the process of changing the interpretation of waters of the United States that may omit protections for millions of acres of wetlands in the state.

“It may result in more wetlands being nonjurisdictional, therefore a lot more likely to be converted to uplands through ditching and draining. These conservation easements are perpetual. Once we protect it, that’s it,” Pickens said.

The Boiling Springs Wilderness project was funded through a $3.68 million North Carolina Land and Water Fund grant.

Unique Places to Save will own and manage the tract, while the state will hold the conservation easement. The Coastal Land Trust will steward that easement.

Last year, Unique Places to Save applied for another state Land and Water Fund grant to protect about 500 acres of predominately wetlands between the town of St. James and N.C. Highway 211.

“We’ve got a provisional award from the Land and Water Fund so if they have enough funding we may get funded this year for that effort,” Pickens said.

She touted efforts among other groups that work to conserve land throughout the state, including the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, The Nature Conservancy, North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, and Cape Fear Arch to name a few.

Tyrrell County parcel transferred

Last week, national nonprofit The Conservation Fund finalized the transfer of ownership of about 1,550 acres of coastal wetlands and forestland in Tyrrell County to the Coastal Federation.

“This partnership reflects years of careful conservation planning and cooperation,” Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis stated in a release. “This acquisition protects important coastal wetlands that help filter water, support fish and wildlife habitat, and provide natural flood buffering in on the of the state’s most ecologically significant regions.”

Portions of the Tyrrell County property, which is valued at an estimated $1.7 million, are in the Land and Water Fund’s Stewardship Program, one designed to establish, monitor and enforce perpetual conservation agreements.

The property will be included as part of the Coastal Federation’s Land for a Healthy Coast program, which focuses on protecting estuaries, reducing polluted runoff, buffering floods, and boosting long-term coastal resilience.

“Some lands are simply too important to risk losing,” Coastal Federation founder and senior adviser Todd Miller said in the release. “When a property protects water quality, supports fisheries, and strengthens the natural defenses of the coast, we believe it’s our responsibility to step forward and ensure it is permanently conserved and well managed.”

A critically endangered North Atlantic right whale that a team of responders attempted to disentangle from fishing gear nearly two months ago was found dead earlier this week off the North Carolina coast.

The 4-year-old male, identified as “Division,” died from injuries caused by being entangled.

An aerial survey team on Tuesday spotted what was left of Division’s carcass floating about 25 miles offshore of Avon, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

On Dec. 4, 2025, responders from NOAA Fisheries, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took to the sea to join forces with a Georgia-based aerial survey team from Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in an effort to document Division’s entanglement and monitor his behavior.

At that time, Division was off Georgia’s coast near St. Simons Island.

An aerial survey team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission later relieved the first aircraft. Aerial and on-water teams consulted partners at the Center for Coastal Studies to plan the response operations.

The on-water response teams were able to successfully cut a line passing over the left side of Division’s head and blowholes, according to NOAA. The line was cutting into and trailing from the whale’s left flipper.

Responders were also able to shorten a line exiting the right side of the whale’s mouth and reattach a telemetry buoy to the remaining entangling gear.

Unsafe weather in the days after response teams made initial contact with Division thwarted them from being able to attempt to remove the remaining gear.

They were able to track Division’s trek north into waters off of New England, then back south. During that time, aerial teams observed the whale in declining health, his injuries worsening from his entanglement.

Weather conditions and the whale’s distance from shore prevented teams from conducting further disentanglement efforts.

“Recently, the satellite track began showing a movement pattern more consistent with drifting than active travel,” NOAA wrote in an update Friday. “Although this is not the result we wanted, our dedicated partners made every possible effort to save this whale.”

There are only around an estimated 380 North Atlantic right whales, including 70 breeding females, in existence.

The leading causes of death to these whales are vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear.

According to Oceana, roughly 1 million fishing lines sprawl across the whales’ migration routes and feeding areas off the Atlantic coasts of Canada and the United States.

“Fishing gear from these two countries entangles an estimated 100 right whales each year, with about 86% of all right whales having been entangled at least once,” the organization said.

In a statement Friday, Nora Ives, a marine scientist for Oceana in the United States, blamed the government for Division’s death.

“Humans have caused preventable pain and suffering for these critically endangered animals for long enough,” Ives said in a release. “What will it take for our elected officials to finally implement solutions like on-demand fishing gear and slowing vessels down to prevent further tragedies like this one? Continuing to ignore this issue will guarantee more right whale deaths. We need urgent action now. Oceana challenges policymakers to right this wrong, stand up for marine life and for the health of our oceans by adequately funding and staffing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), advancing stronger protections for right whales, and supporting bedrock laws like the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act before another whale washes up on our coastlines.”

The Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit Monday against the National Marine Fisheries Service for what it calls “failing to make a preliminary decision on whether to protect American horseshoe crabs under the Endangered Species Act.”

The nonprofit is among the more than two-dozen organizations that petitioned the federal agency in February 2024 to protect the ancient species found along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. When a petition is filed, the service is required to publish within 90 days their initial findings if the species warrants protection. The petition was due May 2024.

Though the Endangered Species Act allows the service some leeway in publishing its initial finding “within 90-days of receipt of the petition ‘“’to the maximum extent practicable,’ but in no case longer than one year,” according to the lawsuit filed Monday.

Nearly twice as old as dinosaurs, horseshoe crabs date back to than 450 million years. The animal is a brown, body-armored arthropod with 10 eyes and a long, spiked tail. Each spring horseshoe crabs lay their eggs on beaches in massive spawning events.

In recent decades, according to the center, horseshoe crab populations have declined by more than 70% because of overharvesting and habitat loss.

“Biomedical companies drain the blood of horseshoe crabs for drug safety testing even though synthetic alternatives are available, approved and used widely in Europe and Asia. Biomedical harvests have doubled in the past seven years, with more than 1 million horseshoe crabs harvested in 2024,” the center explains in a press release.

Additionally, horseshoe crabs are harvested for use as bait by the commercial whelk and eel fisheries, fishing regulators have increased the amount of horseshoe crabs that can be harvested, and development and sea level rise are threatening horseshoe crabs and their spawning beaches across their entire range from Maine to Louisiana, the center said.

“Horseshoe crabs have saved so many people, and now it’s up to us to pay back that debt and save them,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the center, said in a release. “We could lose these living fossils forever if they don’t get Endangered Species Act protections soon. It’s reckless to delay their obvious need for protection, so we’re going to court to force the government to do its job.”

As horseshoe crab numbers have declined, so have other species like endangered sea turtles, fish and birds. The rufa red knot, a shorebird species that feeds on horseshoe crab eggs during its 19,000-mile migration from South America to the Arctic, was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2015. The listing decision cited horseshoe crab overharvesting as one of the contributing factors to the red knot’s decline, per the center.

Jean Beasley was one of those people seemingly born to lead, happy to work in the trenches with a fervor and tenacity that magnetized others to her.

It was her charisma, her penchant to teach others about sea turtles, her drive to protect the iconic ocean dwellers, and her determination to carry out her daughter’s vision that led to the founding of the beloved Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center on Topsail Island.

Beasley died early Tuesday morning “in the company of loved ones,” according to a center Facebook post. She was 90.

As word has spread of her passing, the center has received an outpouring from former interns expressing how Beasley’s passion and guidance shaped not only their career paths, but also their lives.

“I can attest to that because my life was completely changed after I met her,” Terry Meyer, the center’s deputy and conservation director and Beasley’s longtime friend, said Wednesday morning.

Meyer was introduced to Beasley in 1995 at Topsail Beach’s annual Autumn With Topsail Festival. Tucked somewhere among booths featuring handmade arts and crafts was Beasley’s stand, where she explained the Topsail Turtle Project Nesting Program to any interested passersby.

“She mentioned that there was a nest in front of her house if we wanted to go look at it. She lives about a block away from my house so I did walk down there, and she came charging out of the house in a very protective mode, which I would later learn the turtle people do,” Meyer said.

Those initial, brief encounters would later prompt Meyer to attend a volunteer meeting of the Topsail Turtle Project.

“She’s so charismatic. When I left that meeting, I thought protecting sea turtles was the most important, noble thing I could do with my life. I mean, she’s just, it was like three hours of brainwashing, and I never looked back,” Meyer laughed.

By that time, Beasley had long established a home in Surf City.

The native North Carolinian grew up in Henderson, a small town a little more than 40 miles northeast of Raleigh. She was awarded a full scholarship to Duke University, where she earned a degree and received her teacher certification in 1958.

She first moved to Topsail Island with her husband, Fred, after he received orders to Camp Lejeune, according to a 2005 report in the Wilmington Star-News.

The couple lived on the island two short years before Fred Beasley got out of the Marine Corps and took a job in Ohio, where they lived for 20 years. There, they raised sons, Barney and Kevin, and daughter, Karen.

Each year, the family would vacation in Topsail Island. Jean and Fred returned to Topsail Island to live full time in the early 1980s after he retired.

Less than 10 years after their move to Surf City, Karen, 29, died in 1991 from leukemia. Jean picked up the torch and carried forward Karen’s plans for the turtle project.

Within five years of Karen’s death, Jean struck up a deal with Topsail Beach to lease a small, waterfront lot nestled along Banks Channel and just behind town hall for $1 a year.

The new sea turtle hospital opened in 1997.

“A lot of groundbreaking, excellent work went on in that 900-square-foot building and that’s where our heart was,” Meyer said. “When I tell people we literally fished off the end of the dock to feed the turtles, that is a true story. Those are our humble beginnings. It was all running on a dream and it was running on Jean’s charisma.”

Beasley “had a big smile, and she had a hug for everybody, but she also had an iron will and she ran the program from a position of strength,” Meyer said.

Patient demand pushed the hospital to capacity, and then some, on a recurring basis, and, in 2013, a new, 13,000-square-foot center was opened on Surf City’s mainland.

“Our success over the years and being in this building today is because of Jean’s stewardship and leadership and our ability to properly manage our funds while saving hundreds of turtles,” Meyer said.

As of Wednesday, the hospital had cared for “at least” 1,701 turtles, she said. Of those, 1,290 had been rehabilitated and released.

In its Facebook post announcing Jean’s death, center officials thanked her “for sharing your dreams with us.”

“You inspired us to create a better world – for the turtles, for Mother Ocean, and for all. We will do our best to carry forward your legacy. Swim in Peace.”

Beasley was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Sea Turtle Society in 2017.

She stepped down as the center’s executive director in 2021 and later moved to Tennessee to live with one of her sons and daughters-in-law, Meyer said.

Up until this year, Jean would return in the summers to visit the center.

“It was very important to us and to her to have her meet with our interns and just impart some stories and some history,” Meyer said. “We followed her because she demonstrated every day what it took to save sea turtles because she did the work. She was down and dirty doing the work every day, and she didn’t shy away from any task. I watched her – from medical treatments on sea turtles to gluing PVC together, to repairing a pump – she did all things and she led by example. You know, it’s like she was our beating heart.”

Guest Commentary

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues.

“They swam all the way to Ocracoke?”

I suppose I should not have been so incredulous upon learning that National Park Service employees were having to track down rogue coyotes on Ocracoke Island. During my time conducting surveys of colonial waterbirds across the North Carolina coast, the impacts of coyote predation on young chicks was impossible to not take seriously. Their presence posed a constant challenge for federal, state, and municipal authorities. It’s not only birds that are affected; coyotes, with their acute sense of smell, pose a serious threat to sea turtle nests as well.

Invasive species often pose a serious challenge for ecosystems that have not evolved alongside them, and the havoc they wreak often vastly outstrips the pace at which the environment can adapt to their presence. While we have come to think of coyotes as a part of our everyday lives here in the eastern U.S., they are actually only native to the Southwest.

As wolves were killed en masse and driven out of the eastern U.S., coyotes migrated eastward to fill in the ecological role that was left wide open. As they did so, they picked up genes from the retreating wolves along their way. Now native red wolves are restricted to the Albemarle peninsula of North Carolina, a remnant of a once-dominant population that would have kept the coyotes from ever reaching the barrier islands simply by virtue of their presence.

While red wolves and coyotes are somewhat similar in appearance, coyotes are solitary mesopredators (mid-level carnivores that are still threatened by apex predators) that are characteristically opportunistic when it comes to food sources such as sea turtle eggs. Red wolves on the other hand are cooperative pack hunters that go for much larger game than coyotes, and will drive coyotes away or attack them under normal ecological conditions.

I bring the expansion of coyotes up as one example of how North Carolina’s barrier islands have changed since the onset of European colonization in the 16th century. The changes have been numerous, catastrophic, profound, and formative all at the same time.

One of these changes are the wild horses that roam these dunes, in locations ranging from Corolla to Beaufort. I have enjoyed many meals from childhood to present dining on the Beaufort waterfront, looking across the narrow intracoastal waterway to find horses grazing on the Rachel Carson Reserve. For locals, they are a sight as ubiquitous as spotting dolphins in the waterway. Entire businesses and marketing promotions of the area have fixated on these horses as a unique part of the area’s culture and appeal.

I am presently a researcher with North Carolina State University studying the crystal skipper. The crystal skipper is a butterfly species only found on a 30-mile stretch of the North Carolina Crystal Coast from Bear Island to the Rachel Carson Reserve.

The Rachel Carson Reserve just so happens to be a location with resident horses, making it the only place where horse and skipper populations interact.

People frequently come to the Rachel Carson Reserve to hike or relax on the beach, whether they come by way of ferry or their own watercraft. As my coworkers and I work in our highlighter-yellow vests, visitors are frequently drawn to us with inquiries about where they can spot the horses. Their assumptions aren’t wrong, I have been coming here for years at this point and I can direct them where to go to have a good chance of seeing them. They are often surprised, however, to find us unenthusiastic about the horses when we are directly asked about them.

We usually address the visitors on the Rachel Carson Reserve surrounded by centipede grass, the only grass that remains after the horses have eaten their fill. Seaside little bluestem, the sole grass species the crystal skipper lays their eggs on and eats as a caterpillar, is nowhere to be found in the areas the horses frequent. It’s heart-wrenching to watch the horses stride into the one small section of the Rachel Carson Reserve that still contains a viable crystal skipper population, consuming who knows how many eggs and caterpillars as they satiate their hunger on seaside little bluestem. In a sharp contrast to the horses, the crystal skipper is not only from here, it is only found here.

Who are these horses for? For tourists?

I doubt the desire to see the horses would increase as people grow in their knowledge about the horses’ condition. When I am asked about how healthy the horses are here, I feel as though I am lying by omission if I don’t tell the truth as I see it.

For tourism boards?

North Carolina’s coast is replete with breathtaking sites and awe-inspiring nature, I doubt horses in particular are needed to promote the area.

For a rare and imperiled butterfly species found nowhere else on Earth?

Certainly not for them.

One could easily ask who the crystal skipper is for, to which I would reply that it is for the very island ecosystems that created it in the first place, whose selective pressures picked the genes that gave rise to its very body plan. Secondarily, the crystal skipper is for the people who live and visit here who are able to appreciate its beauty and intrinsic link to the land.

For all the problems I have highlighted here, I do believe that there is a solution to this problem that addresses the concerns of all involved. To anchor this solution in how I began the article, I once again want to return to the subject of Ocracoke.

Horses remain on the island but have been corralled into a pony pen, easily accessible to anybody visiting the island. These horses are given a proper diet, bereft of the hardy and sandy grasses that stitch the island together against the advances of the wind and waves. This keeps the island’s ecology and structure intact, enables visitors and residents alike to see this part of Ocracoke’s history, and keeps the horses protected from careless visitors.

It would be impertinent and wrong of me to dismiss the cultural and tourist value that the horses provide simply because I am approaching the topic as a conservationist. That said, if you are able to get a close look, the horses’ taught skin stretched over their hips and ribs represents a sharp contrast to the horses that folks are generally used to seeing.

If folks are going to come to see the Crystal Coast, I want them to see the best of the Crystal Coast, where we steward our ecological resources well and care for the animals in our charge.

Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

Four critically endangered North Atlantic right whales were spotted last month off the coast of Ocracoke.

The aerial sighting triggered what is known as a dynamic management area in the vicinity where the whales were spotted Nov. 18 during an aerial survey. Dynamic management areas are voluntary and used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, to notify vessel operators to slow down to avoid right whales.

“Maintaining speeds of 10 knots or less can help protect right whales from vessel collisions,” according to NOAA’s website.

Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear remain the leading causes of death and serious injury to North Atlantic right whales, of which there are fewer than 400.

The 2024 population is estimated at 384 individual whales, a slight, 2.1% increase over the 2023 estimate, according to numbers released in October by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

And while the latest estimate shows a continued slow, upward trend in growth over the last four years, marine scientists caution that strong protective measures are crucial to the recovery of the species.

“The North Atlantic right whale is in such peril that even a single human-caused death threatens the recovery of the species and its chances at avoiding extension,” Michelle Bivins, Oceana Carolinas Field Campaigns representative, said in an interview on Thursday.

Right whales migrate seasonally, spending their spring and summers in waters off New England and farther north into Canadian waters, to feed and mate.

In the fall, the whales travel south, sometimes more than 1,000 miles, to their calving grounds off shore from the Carolinas to northeastern Florida.

In 2008, NOAA created a speed rule limiting vessels 65 feet or longer to travel no more than 10 knots in seasonal, mandatory and voluntary slow zones.

“I think it’s important though to emphasize that history does show boats smaller than 65 feet can also harm and kill North Atlantic right whales,” Bivins said. “In February 2021, a calf died from propeller wounds, broken ribs, and a fractured skill from a collision with a 54-foot recreational fishing vessel that was not subject to the speed requirement.”

That calf was found off the Florida coast.

In March 2024, a dead calf washed ashore on Georgia’s coast with fatal injuries caused by a boat estimated to be between 35 feet and 57 feet in length, Bivins said.

Earlier this year, NOAA announced its withdrawal of a proposed speed limits for vessels under 65 feet in length through designated North Atlantic right whale seasonal management areas in the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and southeast. The agency “encourages” smaller vessels to 10 knots or less.

In the meantime, scientists are calling for additional measures to aid in the right whale population’s recovery, including the use of ropeless or on-demand fishing gear for crab fishing to reduce whale entanglements.

Plans are in motion for the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher to close early next year for a $65 million renovation and expansion.

The project, announced May 8, is to include the largest shark habitat in the state, expanding the facility to the largest aquarium in North Carolina, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources said Wednesday. The renovations, per the May press release, were expected to begin in the fall.

“This project is much more than updating our facilities — it’s about creating an exciting, one-of-a-kind visitor experience,” N.C. Aquariums Director Hap Fatzinger said. “We are also excited to share that the Aquarium and Aquarium Society are creating an exciting new experience that will open in Independence Mall in Wilmington early next year.”

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, which oversees the state’s aquariums, will announce the date the facility will close to the public.

“We look forward to beginning a transformative renovation and expansion project that will further the aquarium’s mission of conservation, education, and inspiring connections to aquatic life,” said Division Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell.

A musical performance by the Raleigh Civic Symphony set for this weekend will share what organizers call a musical vision of conservation for the American red wolf and other threatened species.

Composer Stephanie Ann Boyd’s “Carnival of the Nearly Extinct Animals and other works focused on our relationship to the natural world” is at 4 p.m. Sunday in the North Carolina State University’s Stewart Theatre at 2610 Cates Ave. in Raleigh.

The performance is part of the university’s NC State LIVE season.

The concert, conducted by Peter Askim, will feature the world premiere of a new movement in “Carnival” honoring the endangered eastern red wolf population in northeastern North Carolina.

The performance will feature images of the remaining red wolves in North Carolina by wildlife photographer Aspen Stalls.

Organizers call the work, “a kaleidoscopic, aural presentation celebrating a menagerie of animals (including coral) faced with the dismaying possibility of being the very last of their kind; some have already ceased to exist except in memory. Leading with a powerful message, the work will also serve to delight, educate, and empower the audiences who meet it.”

Boyd said she had already chosen the animals to be features when Askim advised her that an important addition was needed.

“He said, ‘Well, Stephanie, we really need to talk about the red wolf.’ And he told me about it, and we, I don’t know. I mean, I spent most of the summer working on this piece and just crying because the subject matter is so difficult to parse through,” Boyd told Coastal Review Wednesday.

She said that telling difficult stories is a big part of what activism is in a way that connects, rather than other tactics that may not.

“There’s a lot of shaming and anger, and I understand that, but for me, the thing that I’m here to do is bring love and inspiration, because those are the highest sort of vibrations we can have in emotion, in our emotions.”

Boyd said that in working with NC State LIVE on a new, extra movement for the red wolves meant that she got to spend more time exploring bluegrass and other musical traditions important to North Carolina.

“And I’m just gobsmacked that this is all just actually happening,” said Boyd.

A preshow “info fair” is scheduled for 3 p.m. in the theatre lobby with students and organizations presenting about their work in wildlife conservation and sustainability.

After the performance, audiences are invited to stay for a conversation with composers Boyd and Ryan Lindveit, wildlife researcher Dr. Roland Kays and researchers exploring how creative expression can deepen public engagement with conservation and climate awareness. NC State Senior Vice Provost for University Interdisciplinary Programs Dr. Rob Dunn will moderate the discussion.

Tickets are $25-30, $10 for NC State students and $25 for faculty and staff and are available online or at the box office, the only authorized source. “Tickets obtained from unauthorized online sources may be stolen, counterfeit and/or extremely overpriced,” university officials warn.

The North Atlantic right whale population increased slightly in 2024 from the previous year, but marine scientists warn that federal protections are crucial to the recovery of the critically endangered species.

The 2024 population is estimated at 384 individual whales, a 2.1% increase over the 2023 estimate, and a continued slow, upward trend in growth over the last four years, according to the latest numbers released by the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium earlier this week.

The modest increase follows a year in which researchers documented five right whale deaths, 16 entanglements, and eight vessel strikes, according to the consortium.

So far this year, no deaths have been logged. Scientists have documented one whale that has been injured in 2025 from being entangled in fishing gear, and one whale injured in a vessel strike.

“The slight increase in the population estimate, coupled with no detected mortalities and fewer detected injuries than in the last several years, leaves us cautiously optimistic about the future of North Atlantic right whales,” North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium Chair Heather Pettis said in a release Tuesday announcing the latest population estimate. “With small population increases year to year, we still need strong protective measures for continued growth. We don’t want to take our foot off the gas when it comes to management and conservation efforts.”

Though this year has thus far proved to be a better year for right whales, researchers were hoping for more than the 11 calves born in 2025.

Scientists note that of those, four were born to first-time mothers.

“In recent years, right whales have been delaying giving birth to their first calf until they are older,” Philip Hamilton, a senior scientist with the New England Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said in the release. “It is encouraging to see four of these older females join the reproductive pool this year. The future of the species rests on their broad backs.”

Scientists from the aquarium’s center and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, work together to calculate annual population estimates.

Vessel strikes and entanglements in fishing gear remain the leading causes of death and serious injury to North Atlantic right whales.

Last December, a 3-year-old male spotted about 40 miles off the North Carolina coast was among at least three right whales observed to be entangled in fishing gear that month.

The juvenile male (Catalog No. 5132) was “observed with rope wrapped around its head and mouth, with lines attached to two marked buoys and a single line was trailing the animal by a distance of about three body lengths,” according to information provided by the Canadian government.

That whale, still entangled, migrated to waters hundreds of miles north of Canada’s East Coast, according to an update shared at the consortium meeting.

The yearly updated population estimate is revealed in coordination with the consortium’s annual meeting, which was held through Thursday in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The consortium was started in 1986 and includes research and conservation organizations, shipping and fishing industries, technical experts, U.S. and Canadian government agencies, and state and provincial authorities.

Nora Ives, a marine scientist with Oceana, took a quick break from the meeting Thursday to speak with Coastal Review by telephone.

“These protected species have huge ecosystem benefits to all of us on the planet,” she said. “Large coastal whales like the North Atlantic right whale fertilize our oceans. They kick off the oxygen cycle of the planet. We can all benefit from their recovery.”

Right whales migrate seasonally, spending their spring, summers in waters off New England and further north into Canadian waters to feed and mate.

In the fall, the whales travel south, sometimes more than 1,000 miles, to their calving grounds off shore from the Carolinas to northeastern Florida.

The modest increase in the 2024 population estimate, “proves how resilient these whales are and that they can recover if we let them,” Ives said.

“But we cannot do that without a fully staffed and funded NOAA and a strong Marine Mammal Protection Act, which is the underpinning of all this important work to recover our large coastal whale, the North Atlantic right whale.”

The Marine Mammal Protection Act, enacted in 1972, requires the federal government to safeguard the life and well-being of all marine mammals within U.S. jurisdiction.

President Donald Trump’s proposed 2026 budget includes massive layoffs at NOAA, slashing the administration’s Fisheries division by up to a third of the workforce that oversee the protections of marine mammals, and reduces funding for conservation of marine mammals and endangered species.

“That would be devastating for these programs,” Ives said.

Notably missing from this year’s meeting, Ives said, are NOAA employees, absent because of what is now the second-longest government shutdown in United States history.

“We have colleagues from the federal government who are not able to join us at this annual meeting to discuss the latest research and work toward solutions for the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale,” she said. “Our federal colleagues are doing their best to share their research remotely with prerecorded talks.”

Scientists are calling for the implementation of additional measures that would aid in the recovery of the right whale population, including the use of ropeless or on-demand fishing gear in crab fishing to reduce whale entanglements.

“That would be implemented only in places where whales are detected or expected, so really allowing for this dynamic and adaptive management that can both protect American livelihoods and our American fisheries while also protecting our coastal large whale as they migrate up and down the East Coast,” Ives said.

Scientists support existing federal rules that mandate vessels 65 feet or longer travel at 10 knots or less through designated North Atlantic right whale seasonal management areas in the northeast, mid-Atlantic, and southeast.

Earlier this year, NOAA announced its withdrawal of proposed similar speed limits for vessels under 65 feet in length those management areas, though it “encourages” those vessels to slow to 10 knots or less.

“Another year of modest population growth is certainly better than a year of sharp decline, and we should celebrate that while also keeping our eyes on the work ahead,” Jane Davenport, a senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement. “We need new initiatives to reduce vessel strike and entanglement risk in the U.S. and Canada, and the current legislative attacks on the Marine Mammal Protect Act must end, or this iconic species’ extinction is all but guaranteed.”

EAST LAKE — Red wolf populations in northeastern North Carolina are still far from recovered, but there are optimistic signs that the highly endangered species now has a solid chance.

More wolves are breeding, more pups are surviving, coyote hybridization has been cut, and there are fewer mortalities from vehicle strikes and gunshots.

While still modest, those successes reflect increased community engagement and renewed commitment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its numerous partners.

“It’s kind of a small crew, but we’re really dedicated to what we’re doing here,” wildlife biologist Joe Madison, North Carolina program manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, said during a virtual meeting held Sept. 23 to provide updates on the program. “We want to make this work. We want to work with landowners to make this work. We don’t want to impose it.”

Madison said that only about half of the red wolves roam within Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge land. The population, as of August, according to Fish and Wildlife data, totals about 30 red wolves, including 18 collared adults as well as uncollared juvenile wolves and a few other adults. This population roams the designated recovery area, 1.7 million acres of public and private land in Hyde, Dare, Tyrrell, Washington and Beaufort counties. Red wolves have been seen in all five counties

It is the only known wild population in the world.

Red wolves had once ranged over wide swaths of the U.S. mainland, including much of the Gulf Coast and Southeast regions, but after years of overhunting and habitat loss, the animals were declared extinct in the wild and added to the Endangered Species List in 1967. Twenty years later, four pairs of captive wolves, offspring of wild stragglers captured earlier in Louisiana, were transferred to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, headquartered in Dare County. Innovative management tactics led to steady population growth, reaching a height of about 120 red wolves by 2007.

In 2020, there were only about seven collared wolves.

But poor communication with landowners led to angry confrontations over wolves coming onto private lands, while coyote hunting regulations led to mistaken identities.  Political support and funding for the recovery program dropped precipitously, and more wolves were being shot, whether intentionally or by mistake. By 2015, proposals were introduced to drastically reduce or potentially eliminate the program. After a series of lawsuits by environmental groups, the recovery program was eventually restored.

As Red Wolf Recovery Program Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Emily Weller has acknowledged, the agency had to change the way it operated.

“Reintroducing a large carnivore into the wild had never been done before, and the focus of this program in the beginning was almost entirely biological,” Weller said, according to minutes of a management update meeting in September 2024. “But the social aspects, the community engagement, and human dimension — those were the cracks in our program’s foundation.”

Now the concept of “collaborative conservation” is viewed as critical to the survival of the red wolf, she said recently. 

“We cannot recover this species on our own,” Weller said during this week’s virtual update. “Our work depends on a pretty complex network of organizations, agencies, communities and individuals.”

That network includes veterinarian care at North Carolina State University and local veterinarians, staff with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and assistance from numerous nonprofit and nongovernment groups.

“The science tells us what’s possible,” Weller said. “But it’s the relationships, the trust, the collaboration, that really determine what’s achievable.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service also now works with “Prey for the Pack,” a habitat-improvement program that engages with private landowners in eastern North Carolina wolf recovery areas in mutually beneficial habitat programming.

The Red Wolf Recovery Program also works closely with 52 zoo and wildlife centers across the country as part of the Saving Animals From Extinction, or SAFE, program, an initiative of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which currently cares for 280 captive red wolves. Part of the program’s goal is to increase the SAFE population to 400.

“They are a critical piece of this program in that they support the establishment of wild populations in maintaining genetic diversity,” Weller said.

Much care goes into choosing captive wolves to transfer to the recovery program in hopes of future pairing, as well as deciding which pups to place into dens with similarly aged pups for wild mothers to adopt, Weller noted.

“We rely on universities and academia for research and data to guide and base our decisions, and we’re using it constantly to adapt our management,” she said. “And then we need close coordination and communication with local landowners and community members to understand and incorporate their concerns and hopes for their community, as they have the most direct bearing on conservation and recovery, since they are the ones that live with the red wolves.”

Weller said that, other than a period of time when spending was frozen or restricted, the current funding for the Red Wolf Recovery Program had not been reduced.

Ultimately, she said, success will be when red wolves can be delisted — when they don’t need human help to survive — which is expected to take about 50 years, if all goes as planned.

Criteria that meets that goal include measurable thresholds: three viable populations, distributed to maximize redundancy and protect from catastrophic loss; one population of at least 180 and two with a minimum of 280 wolves, each with high gene diversity. Populations must be stable or growing for a decade with minimal human help and have a 95% probability of persisting for 100 years.

And finally, there must be long-term commitment that the sustainable populations can be maintained into the foreseeable future without Endangered Species Act protections.

“Red wolf recovery is about far more than just saving the species,” Weller added. “It’s about restoring ecosystems or landscapes to their natural balanced state and creating healthier environments that benefit plants and wildlife, including game species, and people.”

Every December, the red wolf program issues a release strategy for the coming year, that sets out a plan of how many captive wolves to release into the wild population that will best enable genetic diversity and sustainable growth. Changing conditions will be considered in any necessary revisions.

“It is also important to recognize that the ability to execute many of the releases is highly dependent on numerous on-the-ground factors,” according to the 2024-25 plan. “These factors include, but are not limited to, the ability to successfully capture specific wild Red Wolves, the correct timing of birth, and size of wild ad captive litters, to allow for pup fostering, and the survival of individual wild Red Wolves included in the scenarios.

“Given the myriad of factors that influence the different scenarios, the Service’s actions described in this strategy require real-time flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing factors on the ground and situations; thus, they require management discretion in the field to maximize the chances of success.”

Madison said that the team depends on having that flexibility to make judgment calls and adjust management tactics. During the update meeting, he elaborated on numerous and highly complex strategies that go into pup fostering, proper wolf-human interactions and handling — as little as possible — and wolf feeding – frozen, wild, small mammals like rabbits, raccoons, nutria and fresh frozen roadkill, like deer — and matchmaking (wolves are picky and fickle, too).

But Madison seemed quite pleased with the improvements in pup population survival, an obviously critical component of species recovery.

The pup survival rate to one year is typically about 50%, he said, but after two complete litters didn’t make it in recent years,  the recovery team determined that the likely cause was canine distemper.

“So this year when these pups were in an acclimation pen, and they were five weeks old, we went in the pen, recaptured them, and we gave them their first round of vaccines,” Madison explained. “Also, we implanted them with abdominal transmitters so we would be able to track them after they were released.”

So far, so good, he said. A family group that was released into the wild in May seems to be thriving.

“We may go into the season with a great plan, but then, you know, stuff happens out there,” Madison said. “And we have to adjust and make do with the best we possibly can.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced that it will host an online informational meeting later this month to update the public on the Red Wolf Recovery Program.

The information session set for 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. Sept. 23 will include the latest on revitalized recovery efforts for the species, the status of recovery efforts in the eastern North Carolina red wolf population area, coyote-management strategies and planning.

Fish and Wildlife said the meeting is part of its continuing efforts to increase engagement with communities and overall communication and transparency regarding red wolf recovery.

Register for the meeting.

You can also submit any questions you have about red wolves or the Red Wolf Recovery Program using the above link.

“We will use these questions to shape our presentation. You will also have a chance to submit questions during the meeting,” officials said in the announcement.

Those slabs of meat labeled “shark” on display in grocery stores and seafood markets might be from a critically endangered species and contain significant levels of mercury, according to a new study.

The University of North Carolina Chapel Hill paper, “Sale of critically endangered sharks in the United States” was published Tuesday in Frontiers in Marine Science journal. The study was funded by the university and the National Science Foundation.

Students in the university’s undergraduate-level seafood forensic course analyzed the DNA of 29 shark meat samples collected from 19 filets purchased in grocery stores, seafood markets and Asian specialty markets, mostly in North Carolina, and from 10 products called “jerky” that was ordered online.

Out of the samples, 27 “were ambiguously labeled as shark or mako shark but not as a specific species.” Of the two samples that were labeled, one was shortfin shark mislabeled as blacktip shark, and the other was correctly labeled.

The students identified 11 different species, three of which the Union for Conservation of Nature has designated as critically endangered: great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead and tope.

“Previous studies have found that the first two species contain very high levels of mercury, illustrating the implications of seafood mislabeling for human health. The availability of shark meat in U.S. grocery stores is surprising given the dramatic decline of shark populations globally,” the authors wrote. “Moreover, the fact that nearly all shark meat is labeled ambiguously or incorrectly amplifies the problem. Accurate, verified product labels for shark meat would benefit consumers and shark conservation efforts, and should be a priority for the seafood industry.”

Savannah Ryburn, the lead author of the study, is a marine ecologist who recently earned her doctorate from UNC Chapel Hill. She and distinguished professor John Bruno are co-instructors for the class.

Ryburn told Coastal Review Tuesday that the main goal of the study was to figure out what species are being sold and if there’s any cause for concern, to which, “we would say ‘yes.’”

Just in the 29 samples analyzed, three were the meat of critically endangered species that are extremely high in mercury, which can be very dangerous for human consumption, Ryburn highlighted.

Finding the highly endangered shark species among the samples is a big conservation concern, “but even more perversely,” Bruno explained, these are long-lived, high-trophic level species with high mercury concentrations.

“Nobody should be eating hammerhead sharks,” Bruno said, because they’re loaded with mercury and the consumer has no idea, since the meat is sold as shark.

“We don’t know if it’s a spiny dogfish that’s low in the food chain, not very long lived, not very big, probably not super concerning in terms of tissue content, but there’s just no way to know,” Bruno added.

With this ambiguous labeling, Ryburn continued, sellers are taking away the consumer’s choice. “It’s very concerning when it comes to the general labeling,” particularly considering their findings are from such a small sample size. “It just raises more concerns for the actual shark meat market in the United States.”

Bruno explained that the shark populations are being decimated by fishing, and mostly for its fin. There are regulations in place that require the fisher to land the entire shark, not just cut off the fin, which is one reason the meat is being sold in stores.

Bruno explained that the fin is shipped to Asia, where it is in demand, and then the rest of the meat goes into either the pet food supply or the human food supply, but it’s not lucrative. The average price in the Raleigh area was around $5 a pound.

The United States Food and Drug Administration only requires sellers to have the meat labeled as shark, Ryburn continued.

The results of the study led the authors to emphasize “that sellers need to be required to label their product to the species name, rather than just shark, so that it can be more regulated and consumers have more of a choice,” she said. “In Europe, their regulations are a bit more specific when it comes to labeling sharks to the species level, so we definitely recommend following suit with that European regulation.”

Seafood Forensics

Bruno is a marine ecologist who, about a decade ago, designed the Seafood Forensics class for students to do the actual research testing and certifying seafood.

“We purchase seafood in grocery stores and restaurants, and we sequence it to identify what it really is, and we quantify mislabeling,” Bruno said. “We teach the undergraduate students about seafood mislabeling,” and use DNA barcoding to figure out what stores are actually selling.

Students are taught basic lab skills such as how to extract and sequence DNA, how to read the sequences and compare them to online databases, or DNA barcoding. Previous classes have studied red snapper and shrimp, for example.

Ryburn explained that the students design the research project they work on throughout the semester.

The idea to study shark meat evolved from a student telling the class that she noticed a grocery store was selling meat under the generic label of “shark,” though there’s hundreds of species of sharks, and they vary, she said.

The students collected the samples, most of which were labeled “shark,” and then began going through the process to identify the species.

About sharks

Ryburn, who studied sharks for her doctorate, said the animal is vital to the overall function and health of the marine ecosystem but “they’re currently being fished at extremely high rates throughout the whole world.”

Many of the species are long lived and, as a result, the populations don’t replenish quickly. If a large number is removed by fishing, it is hard for the population to recover at a sustainable rate.

She called sharks the “cleanup crew” for marine ecosystems, because they prey on injured or sick animals, making the populations of other species stronger.

If there are no sharks to help manage the population of other species, this will cause a cascading effect on the overall health within the ecosystem.

As for the threats to human health, shark meat is similar to tuna, in that there’s a very high level of mercury in its tissue, and that is due to something called bioaccumulation, which is the buildup of chemicals in an organism over time.

“Predators that are higher up in the food chain tend to accumulate more mercury in their tissue from the prey that they’re eating, because everything has mercury in its tissue,” Ryburn said. But with larger predators that live longer and eat bigger prey, the animal tends to accumulate more mercury, and that mercury never leaves the tissue.

Some shark species even eat tuna, like the mako shark, and they’re accumulating all of that mercury when they eat.

“If we go and eat something that’s super high in mercury, we’re also absorbing that mercury into our bodies, and mercury can cause major health issues and even cause people to die,” she said.

The North Carolina Sea Turtle Project kept careful watch over incubating nests threatened by the ocean overwash, storm surge and erosion associated with mid-August’s Hurricane Erin.

Under the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the N.C. Sea Turtle Project is a coastwide, collaborative conservation effort that brings together federal, state, conservation and volunteer groups to monitor sea turtle activity, particularly during nesting and hatching season from early May to mid-November.

The commission’s sea turtle biologist Matthew Godfrey, who manages the project, explained to Coastal Review that about half of all sea turtle nests laid in the state had finished incubation before Hurricane Erin impacts began to arrive. Of the nests that were still incubating, nearly all experienced at least some overwash because of large waves and wind associated with the hurricane.

Coastal flooding and other signs of the storm moving north off the coast began around Aug. 19 and lasted throughout the week as the storm moved north.

“Several beaches reported observing entire nests being washed away, and others reported today (Aug. 26) that some remaining nests experienced the emergence of hatchlings overnight,” illustrating that some sea turtle eggs can withstand storm-related inundation and still produce hatchlings, Godfrey said.

Loggerhead, green, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles all come ashore to lay eggs. The females return to the beach every few weeks to nest, up to four times a season. It usually takes about 55 days for the eggs to hatch. Nests can be excavated after a minimum of three days after the first hatchling emerges, or when the commission grants permission, if the nest is unsuccessful.

“We won’t have a full account of how many nests were lost or negatively impacted until the end of the season, but based on experience from other years, it is likely that those lost to Erin will include nests that had been moved from more exposed areas to seemingly safer areas of the beach,” he said.

Godfrey explained that sea turtles have been around for millennia, surviving despite impacts from storms and hurricanes on their nests.

“Part of the life history strategy of sea turtles is to lay large clutches of eggs in nests on sandy beaches across different locations and times of the summer to spread out the risks associated with egg incubation in a dynamic environment, such as coastal areas,” he said. “While storms like Hurricane Erin may reduce the production of hatchlings from some specific nests, the overall rate of hatchling production from NC nests should remain relatively good this year.”

Through the Sea Turtle Project, the Wildlife Resources Commission permits more than 20 different groups that help monitor sea turtle nesting and strandings on North Carolina beaches.

Outer Banks

Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., President Tony Parisi said that there have been 29 nests this season from their patrol area, the Virginia line to south Nags Head. There were 18 nests as of Aug. 20, before the state began seeing significant effects from Hurricane Erin.

“There isn’t a lot we can do to protect nests in situations like this,” Parisi explained. “Before Erin struck, our main preparation for the storm was removing stakes and signs, and making provisions to find the nest if everything gets washed away or covered.”

One nest in Corolla was partially washed out, and a few others had significant sand accumulation, including one in Corolla and another in Southern Shores, Parisi said, adding that the organization won’t know how many nests or hatchlings survived until the nests are excavated. 

“The survival rate is dependent on several factors, primarily how much a nest was over washed and how long it remained underwater,” she said. “In some cases, we may have to wait 75 days after a nest is laid before we can excavate,” or 90 days for nests laid after July 31.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Public Affairs Specialist Mike Barber said the staff during post-storm assessments found that out of 109 nests that were in the ground prior to Hurricane Erin, 35 were lost due to storm impacts and 72 nests were overwashed, which may increase losses attributed to the storm.

Central Coast

At Cape Lookout National Seashore, Hurricane Erin washed out 49 sea turtle nests, but 69 nests remained on the seashore’s beaches as of Aug. 27. There have been 225 sea turtle nests so far this year at the National Park Service site in Carteret County.

Chief of Resource Management Jon Altman said that before the storm, staff excavated and inventoried the hatched nests to collect the data before those nests were washed out.

“Since we lose a few days of monitoring, we know we will lose some information,” he said.

That information can include knowing when nests hatch during a storm and survive, or when new nests are laid on the beach and track evidence is obscured by strong winds.

“Without direct observation evidence those events are unknown,” he said.

After the storm, staff assessed the beach and documented nests that were washed out, buried under sand or overwashed, and how many remained on the beaches. The nests in or on the dunes, where there’s higher ground, generally fared better.

“The sea turtle nesting season extends into September, and we have had three new nests since Hurricane Erin passed by,” Altman said last week.

For Fort Macon State Park, five of the six nests at the site hatched before the storm, Superintendent Randy Newman said.

There’s one nest still on the beach, which was overwashed several times during the storm with about a foot of sand being deposited on top of the nest. “We have removed the sand back to pre-storm levels over the nest. Now we wait a couple of weeks to see if the nest will hatch or not,” he said.

Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Project Volunteer Coordinator Michele Lamping told Coastal Review that fortunately, the sea turtles had already hatched and entered the ocean before the storm. Lamping, who is the sea turtle specialist for the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, said the ocean reached the dunes in several places and would have drowned the nests had they not already emerged and entered the sea.

Farther south on Bogue Banks, Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol Program Coordinator and President Dale Baquer said that this year’s sea turtle season got off to a great start with 23 nests, which is better than average.

There were 13 successful hatches, with an 85% total hatch rate, leading up to the storm.

“We knew Hurricane Erin would bring high tides. We had planned to remove all extra equipment off the beach, and pound our stakes in Monday night ahead of the storm. We were inundated with higher tides sooner than expected,” Baquer said, so volunteers rushed out the afternoon of Aug. 18 to shore up the nests after receiving calls about the nests being under water.

Baqur said there were 10 nests before the storm, one of which hatched overnight during the storm, and one was completely washed out — the turtles and eggs were swept out by waves.

The volunteers are waiting until the remaining eight nests “either hatch or approach day 75 of the incubation cycle, when we are permitted to excavate,” he continued. “The nests took on some heavy waves but sometimes nature can be amazing.”

Hammocks Beach State Park Ranger Renee Evans said that there were nine nests, six of which successfully hatched before Hurricane Erin on the beach at the park near Swansboro.

The remaining nests experienced significant over wash, and one nest is completely gone. Another nest saw some overwash, and per the commission’s program protocol, the nest will be excavated after 75 days, when they’ll be able to determine the final outcome of that nest. 

“However, our third nest survived all odds,” Evans said. On Monday, Aug. 25, “I discovered that the nest hatched at some point during the storm last week. Park staff excavated the nest and found 155 eggs in which 80 of them had hatched. There were even 37 live hatchlings still in the nest and ready for that swim. Park staff released them to the ocean.”

Cape Fear Region

Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Deputy and Conservation Director Terry Meyer said that for the region they patrol, “fortunately, we had about half our 90 nests hatch prior to the high tides.”

The Topsail Island-based organization lost fewer than 10 nests outright, Meyer said, and how the nests were lost depended on where they were on the island’s more than 20 miles of beach.

In some cases, markers indicating where the nest’s location were washed out and no eggs were found after the storm. The beach gained sand as well. Some eggs were under 2 feet of sand, and had several tides of standing water, “so we wait and see what happens there,” Meyer said. About a dozen nests were high and remained dry, and were expected to hatch as normal.

Audubon North Carolina Coastal Biologist Lindsay Addison said the conservation organization monitors Lea-Hutaff Island, a 4-mile-long undeveloped barrier island between Figure 8 Island and Topsail Island.

“This year, we have 23 nests and three probable nests,” which refers to egg chambers that were not confirmed when the crawl was found, Addison said.

“When Erin passed offshore, 15 of those 26 total nests were still incubating. Nine of them experienced overwash. We are continuing to monitor all nests on the island and will know over time if the eggs in the overwashed nests survived or failed,” Addison said. “After the storm has passed, we record the condition of the nests and may, depending on the circumstances of each nest, remove any additional sand that has accumulated over the top of the nests.”

There were 40 documented sea turtle nests, all loggerheads, at the Masonboro Island Reserve. The reserve is one of 10 protected sites under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

Southern Sites Manager Elizabeth Pinnix said last week that when the effects of Hurricane Erin began on Aug. 19, almost half of the nests, or 17 of the 40, had already hatched.

Hurricane Erin produced large surf and wave runup on most of the 8.5-mile stretch of Masonboro Island with some of the more low-lying and dune-lacking areas experiencing wave overwash from the ocean to the marsh.

The reserve lost two nests as a result. Nearly half of those remaining experienced some overwash.

As of last week, the reserve had 19 nests still incubating on the beach. “Fortunately, most of our remaining nests were situated on dunes or higher portions of the beach where they experienced overwash, but were not completely washed out and lost. Many nests can experience a small amount of overwash events and remain viable, as long as they don’t remain in standing water or become exposed for a long period of time,” she said.

Bald Head Island Conservancy Sea Turtle Biologist Paul Hillbrand explained that during the storm, both daily high tides were consistently reaching the dune toe in most areas of the island. The team assessed how much water was on the beach during high tides and how much sand was accumulating or being displaced.

“Once Erin passed, we still had significant tides into the weekend. We started recovery Sunday and Monday when we replaced runways and dug out cages (nests) that had accumulated more than a foot of sand,” he said.

Of the 22 remaining nests at the time, all but one was either significantly washed over or consistently in the surf line in the hours surrounding the high tides.

“We were fortunate to not have any nests completely washed out, but significant overwash is not ideal. That being said, we are hopeful that some of the resilient nests are capable of withstanding this tide event,” Hillbrand continued. “We have had two nests hatch since Erin passed, providing hope for my team, volunteers, & the island alike.”

Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Co-Coordinator Jamie Lloyd began by explaining that the beach there struggled with severe erosion in the last year, especially on the east end near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, which “greatly impacted our nesting turtles as there was no beach to lay in some areas. We had a high number of false crawls. Add to that king tides and Hurricane Erin swells and we had tidal trouble for the nests that were laid.”

Lloyd said they “painfully watched” as the tidal swells from the storm overwashed nine of the 10 remaining nests for three or four days, twice a day. Some were splashed over repeatedly and a few were under standing water for hours.

“Fortunately, none of our nests or nest stakes were washed away, but some had up to a foot of sand accretion,” she said.

One nest has hatched since the storm, which Lloyd said they inventoried three days later. The nest was a large clutch of 140 eggs, with 94 developed.

“We have teams monitoring the other nine nests daily and nightly for activity. Nests that do not hatch by Day 75 of incubation will be excavated and closed with permission” from Wildlife Resources Commission, she said.

Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization Coordinator Deb Allen said the organization as of Wednesday had verified 40 nests on the island, and 17 nests emerged on or before Aug. 10. 

“The surge from Hurricane Erin overwashed or submerged nests with ocean water,” which Allen said put the incubating nests in danger of partial or total loss of the nest, but four nests did emerge as the surge from Erin came close to the nests.

“Teams were able to inventory the nests, getting 424 hatchlings to their ocean home prior to nests being underwater. A visitor reported 20 hatchlings were emerging from nest 25. The team arrived as the egg chamber began to fill with water. The team was able to save 116 hatchlings from drowning,” Allen said. “We think we lost 18 nests but are hoping for a better outcome.”

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed on Thursday listing the southern hognose snake as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

The Center for Biological Diversity claimed the listing as a legal victory, but said the proposed listing decision exempts logging and herbicide use and fails to provide critical habitat for these snakes.

Southern hognose snakes live in the coastal plains of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, but they already have disappeared completely from Alabama and Mississippi, according to the center.

“It’s good that one of the South’s most distinctive and imperiled snakes will receive protections they urgently need, but I’m troubled by the loopholes in this proposal,” said the center’s Southeast director Will Harlan. “The Fish and Wildlife Service needs to remove the exemptions for logging and pesticides and designate critical habitat to give these snakes a fighting chance.”

The snakes are named for their distinctive upturned snouts, which help them burrow underground, where they spend most of their lives. When threatened, they will often puff up dramatically or play dead, opening their mouths and letting their tongue hang out.

Southern hognose snakes live in the longleaf pine ecosystem, a fire-dependent forest habitat that once covered 92 million acres in the Atlantic and Gulf Coast regions. By the 21st century, 97% of longleaf pine forests had been lost to forest clearing and fire suppression.

The snakes’ remaining populations are threatened by a number of stressors, including habitat loss, urbanization, climate change, collisions with vehicles, invasive species, disease, human persecution and collection for the pet trade.

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2012 to protect the species. Despite agency scientists predicting that three-quarters of its populations would be lost in the near future, the agency denied protection to the species.

The center successfully challenged the denial in 2023 and required Fish and Wildlife to issue a new decision.

“We will keep fighting for these extraordinary snakes and their longleaf pine forests,” said Harlan. “These snakes cling to survival in uniquely Southern landscapes that are vital to our own health.”

EAST LAKE — In the sadder, more gruesome labor of wildlife conservation, a new count of dead wildlife on the asphalt of two strips of highway within Alligator River Wildlife Refuge continues to reflect the merciless decimation of living creatures by vehicular traffic.

A new report, “US 64 Roadkill Monitoring Survey Year One Interim Report,” released Aug. 13 by the nonprofit Wildlands Network, counted more than 5,000 vertebrates representing 144 species, as well as 1,050 snakes, 1,186 turtles, and 1,529 frogs dead alongside the highway or flattened on the pavement. The first year of the two-year study covered Aug. 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025.

“It’s pretty remarkable carnage, and we’re sure that’s an underestimate, because some things get removed by vultures,” Ron Sutherland, the conservation group’s chief scientist, told Coastal Review.

The updated information will be valuable to planning for proposed wildlife crossings under sections of U.S. Highway 64 and nearby U.S. 264, a need highlighted over the years by numerous vehicle strikes of critically endangered red wolves. Huge bear and deer that run into the road are also increasing hazards to human life, especially at night. 

Although the red wolf had once roamed much of the Southeast, the only wild population of about 30 red wolves, including about a dozen pups, is currently managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes refuges within a five-county recovery area in northeastern North Carolina, a good portion of which is intersected by the two highways. 

“One happy surprise is we didn’t see any red wolves,” Sutherland told Coastal Review. “One of the reasons we set out to do the project, one of our goals, was to keep the road clean of roadkill.”

Vehicle strikes, in addition to gunshots, have threatened recovery of the species.  Wolves have been known to be drawn to the highway to eat the dead animals, and tragically suffer the same fate as their would-be meal.

“Research is an important step in the construction of wildlife crossing structures,” the report states. “In order to be cost effective, it is imperative to know where hotspots of wildlife road-crossing activity occur so the sites can be chosen that are most effective both in mitigating wildlife road collisions and maintaining habitat connectivity.”

The study route was chosen to inform planning efforts by North Carolina Department of Transportation, Fish and Wildlife, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to develop proposals for wildlife crossings and fencing installations on U.S. 64, the report stated, “with the immediate goal” of reducing wolf strikes.

“We also realized that providing more recent roadkill data would be essential as a fresh baseline for evaluating any future wildlife crossings that were installed on the highway,” according to the report.

Earlier roadkill surveys along U.S. 64 were completed between 2008 and 2011 as part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation planning for a proposed 27.3-mile-long widening and bridge replacement project. The road-widening plans, which had included numerous wildlife crossings, have since been dropped, but construction of a replacement bridge connecting Dare and Tyrrell counties over Alligator River is underway. Construction plans include wildlife crossings and under-road tie-ins at both ends of the bridge.

Sutherland said that the survey team chose to drive at a less pokey pace, about 35 mph or so, and skipped weekend surveying, due to the increased amount of traffic now on the highway. Wildlife officers were informed about large carcasses such as bear so they could be promptly removed, and smaller creatures were scooped up and tossed into the woods. Not pleasant, but unfortunately dead animals along the road are not unusual.

“Overall, you know, I’ve had a lot of years of experience working down there and seeing the wildlife before we started the survey,” Sutherland said. 

While he wasn’t shocked by the continued high numbers of roadkill, he said he didn’t expect to see so many birds. In one period of time, after a rare snowstorm, the technicians found hundreds of deceased yellow-rumped warblers alongside the road, many of which were apparently struck while seeking patches of grass without snow cover. It may not prove Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but intelligence matters even for birdbrains.  As Sutherland noted, of the 68 different types of dead birds — totaling about 800 — there were only three crows, the geniuses of the bird world.

“We know how to keep all these other wildlife species from getting hit on the road, because you can build crossings under or over the road, with fencing to steer them to the right places,” he said. “And it works for basically everything, but the birds. That’s going to take some work to figure out.”

Last December, U.S. Federal Highways’ Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program awarded a $25 million grant to build crossings on U.S. 64 by Buffalo City Road, a red wolf “hot spot” in East Lake on the Dare County mainland where the animals often cross into the refuge. Wildlands Network teamed up with the Center for Biological Diversity, another conservation nonprofit, to raise an additional $4 million in private donations for matching funds, Sutherland said.

If all goes as hoped, Sutherland expects that construction of the crossings could start in late 2026

“It’s expensive because they’re having to raise the road up to be able to put underpasses underneath,” he said, adding that design details are still being worked out.

With the project construction including what he described as a kind of “big ramp,” there will be opportunities to also put small crossings and tunnels on each side for the little crawling, slithering and hopping species, hopefully allowing a total of six to 10 crossings.

“But that’s going to be kind of a win-win situation, because that way that at least part of Highway 64 is going to be elevated,” Sutherland said. “And with sea level rise and storms and hurricanes and so forth, it’s going to be a good for climate resiliency, too, to have the road elevated.”

RALEIGH – Nearly 40 years after the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service launched an innovative program to save the eastern red wolf from extinction, a nonprofit conservation group is challenging the agency’s prior decision to not upgrade to a more protective management designation, despite its outsized importance to the species’ survival.

Arguments were heard Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Terrence Boyle for the Eastern District of North Carolina in a federal court case filed by the Center for Biological Diversity that contends the Wildlife Service acted unlawfully when it decided to continue classifying the critically endangered population of red wolves as “nonessential.”

“Judge Boyle is so engaged on this issue … that he’s really able to dig in at this extremely deep, detail-oriented level,” said Perrin de Jong, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, during an interview Thursday about the 90-minute hearing. 

Following listing the wolves in 1966 as “threatened with extinction” on what later became the Endangered Species Act, the Fish and Wildlife Service about 20 years later established an experimental “non-essential” population of wild red wolves. and released four pairs into Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern North Carolina.

It is the only known wild population of red wolves in the world.

The intensively managed recovery program had promising success until about 2010, when management was scaled back. That was before court actions restored much of the program.

The Center for Biological Diversity had petitioned the agency in 2016 to reclassify the red wolf population as essential. The petition was denied in January 2023.

“The service is violating its duty to consider the best available science and the facts that have taken place since 1986 that affect the survival of the red wolf in the wild,” de Jong told Coastal Review.

In a request for comment on the case, a spokesperson for the U.S. Interior Department responded in an email Thursday that the agency does not “provide comment on active litigation.”

Mortality by vehicle strikes and gunshots have been an increasing challenge to the wolves’ survival, de Jong said.

Changing the classification to “essential” would extend more protective measures for the animals, he said, including allowing another layer of protection with a critical habitat designation.

The conservation group also is asking the agency to change their enforcement code to match a 2018 court ruling by Boyle that banned property owners from shooting red wolves unless they were threatening animals or people.

“The science indicates that the greater protections will result in greater conservation success, and inversely, lower protections result in higher poaching pressure,” he said.

The Wildlife Service is not disputing the conservation group’s argument that the agency has the authority to change the essentiality determination, the legal term for the classification, he added. 

“You could describe it as, ‘We’re not going to revisit the essentiality determination, because we don’t have to.’”

Today, there are believed to be 18 known red wolves surviving in the program’s five-county recovery area, in addition to unconfirmed numbers of wolves and wolf pups that do not have collars and have been born or fostered in the wild this year.

Updated data on the Red Wolf Recovery Program was not available on the Fish and Wildlife Service website, but a spokesperson said the new data is expected to be posted in early August.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores has planned a handful of one-time events for August, in addition to its regular weekly programming.

The aquarium will open its doors for a special “Sip and Paint” night for ages 21 and older starting at 6:30 p.m. Aug. 11. Participants will paint a beach sunset scene in front of the 306,000-gallon “Living Shipwreck” habitat. Bring your own snacks.

Teachers and educators can have a bit of fun during the “Project WILD” teacher workshop 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Aug. 14. “Project WILD” offers wildlife-based conservation and environmental education that fosters responsible actions toward wildlife and related natural resources. Educators will receive the “Project WILD” activity guide, containing 81 activities focused on terrestrial habitats and wildlife, and qualify for continuing education unit credits and Early Education and Care Criteria I credits.

To learn more about either of these events, visit www.ncaquariums.com/pks-special-events.

Regular weekly programs include the “Sea Turtle Trek” that takes place 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Aquarium staff shares information on the conservation work the aquarium does to help these endangered and threatened marine reptiles before heading to a nearby public beach access to see the sea turtle habitat and learn about the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission volunteer sea turtle monitoring project. For ages 5 and up. $20 per person.

The aquarium staff lead kayak paddle trips on Mondays and Wednesdays and stand-up paddleboard trips every Friday. Both programs are 9 to 11 a.m. and are weather permitting. Ages and prices vary.

During the “Fishing Fanatics” program held 6 to 8 p.m. every Wednesday, participants ages 5 to 12 can enjoy the sights and sounds of the maritime forest along Bogue Sound just before sunset. Staff will help bait hooks and offer instruction on casting and information on sustainable fishing practices. Gear and bait provided. Cost is $25 per person.

More information and registration can be found about these programs at www.ncaquariums.com/pks-outdoor-programs.

There are plenty of behind-the-scenes tours offered daily inside the aquarium. “Feeding Frenzy” takes place every Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. “At A Glance,” which offers a view of the largest exhibit in the facility, is held daily. And “Shark Snack” takes place Tuesday and Friday.

For behind-the-scenes tours visit www.ncaquariums.com/pks-behindthescenestours

Located 5 miles west of Atlantic Beach, the aquarium is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. The aquarium is under the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

To purchase tickets for entry to the aquarium, visit www.ncaquariums.com/pine-knoll-shores or call 252-247-4003.

A noted wildlife biologist and zoologist involved in researching North Atlantic right whales and credited for his work to conserve manatees, sea turtles and other endangered species has died.

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium announced Tuesday that Dr. James “Buddy” Powell, chief zoological officer at the aquarium and executive director of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, or CMARI, died Saturday, July 19, after a brief illness.

Powell, along with other CMARI scientists, collected more than 20 years of aerial survey data on North Atlantic right whales, an endangered species with only 360 individuals remaining, according to the announcement. Working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, CMARI’s data from wintertime, daily flights from North Carolina to Florida, the only known calving areas for this species, led to ship speed reduction, expanded habitat protection and halted whale mortality in the Southeast, the organization said.

For more than 50 years, Powell approached conservation issues using science and education and resulted in coastal protected areas in Florida, West Africa, Belize and Cuba.

“Buddy’s passion for marine research and his unwavering dedication made a lasting impact — not only on our mission, but on all of us who had the privilege of knowing him,” said Clearwater Marine Aquarium CEO Joe Handy. “Buddy was an integral part of our CMA and CMARI family. His intelligence, warmth and leadership will be deeply missed.”

For 20 years, CMARI researchers and staff were involved in rescuing and releasing manatees, along with other organizations in the Manatee Rescue and Rehabilitation Partnership. Powell long dreamed of making the Clearwater Marine Aquarium a home for manatees and spent years chasing that dream, navigating government funding and rallying private donors.

The CMA in August opened its Manatee Rehabilitation Center and welcomes manatees in need of care.

A native of Crystal River, Florida, Powell’s work began in the 1970s with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service as a biologist and manatee specialist. In 1986, he moved to West Africa where he studied manatees and forest elephants for the Wildlife Conservation Society. He moved to Belize in the 1990s to manage WCS’s Glover’s Reef Marine Research Station.

Upon his return to Florida, Powell administered the state’s research program on marine mammals and sea turtles for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. In 2001, he became a vice president at Wildlife Trust where he oversaw the aquatic and national divisions. Powell also conducted research with North Atlantic right whales and the recently discovered Rice’s whales.

In 2008, Powell co-founded the Sea to Shore Alliance, a research, education and conservation organization, to improve the health and productivity of coastal environments for the endangered species and human livelihoods that depend on them. In 2019, Powell joined CMA as vice president of research and conservation when Sea to Shore Alliance merged with Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Powell remained executive director of Sea to Shore Alliance doing business as CMARI after the merger.

Powell was pivotal in creating the Right Whale Festival in Fernandina Beach, Florida, during the past 17 years. Co-hosted by Clearwater Marine Aquarium and NOAA Fisheries, the festival is held each November to celebrate the arrival of North Atlantic right whales as they migrate to the waters around Amelia Island from November through April. Each year, the event educates more than 25,000 people about these critically endangered whales and the efforts to protect them.

He was recently involved in research on Rice’s whales, a new species found in the Gulf of Mexico. He also helped begin the CMA Speaker Series in 2023, bringing Dr. Sylvia Earle, world-renowned oceanographer, to CMA in May.

Powell is survived by his wife, Maureen, and daughter, Morgan “Catherine.”

Powell received his bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from the University of Florida, his Master’s in marine affairs from the University of Washington, and his doctorate in zoology from the University of Cambridge in England.

He was the recipient of the prestigious Pew Award in Marine Conservation in 2000, has been featured on “Champions of the Wild” and National Geographic’s “Wild Chronicles” documentaries, and has been honored with multiple awards and certificates. Powell has authored two books, numerous scientific publications and popular articles.

North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island released last month seven sea turtles that have been under long-term care, and plans to recognize the endangered reptiles June 16 during World Sea Turtle Day.

The aquarium’s Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, or STAR Center, spent the last five months treating the sea turtles that suffered from conditions related to cold-stunning, including kidney failure, frostbite, an eye injury, low weight, barnacles and swelling.

Aquarium staff released the rehabilitated patients May 7 offshore into the warmer waters of the Gulf Stream and May 23 into the Croatan Sound. One sea turtle remains under the center’s care.

The aquarium announced Friday that releasing the turtles concluded the “record-breaking cold-stun season” and the special activities scheduled for both World Sea Turtle Day and the STAR Center’s 11th anniversary. Sea turtle-themed programming, crafts, and talks with sea turtle experts and rescuers are planned for June 16. For more information or to reserve an admission ticket, visit the aquarium’s website.

From December 2024 through March, the aquarium took in nearly 800 cold-stunned sea turtles. Cold-stunning happens when the reptiles are exposed to low water temperatures and become stranded in a hypothermia-like state.

The six species of sea turtles found in U.S. waters are green, kemp’s ridley, loggerhead, hawksbill and olive ridleys, all protected under the Endangered Species Act, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This winter the facility cared for greens, Kemp’s ridleys and loggerheads, which cannot be housed together, the aquarium states in a release. While the sea turtles were slowly warmed upas part of the rehabilitation process, the animals were housed in public areas, multiple exhibits and outdoor bathrooms. A few sea turtles exceeded 200 pounds.

After transferring some sea turtles to other facilities, the aquarium said it has rehabilitated and released more than 600 cold-stunned sea turtles since December 2024.

The stranded, cold-stunned sea turtles were rescued and brought to the aquarium to for care by multiple teams across the Outer Banks, including volunteers from the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or NEST.

“Thanks to the incredible teamwork of every organization and agency involved, turtles were rescued, healed, and returned to the wild. We’re fortunate to be supported by N.E.S.T., Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Wildlife Resources Commission, the U.S. Coast Guard, and local charter captains, so we can share these amazing conservation stories,” said Christian Legner, aquarium associate director and husbandry and operations director, in a statement.
 
Leslie Vegas, the aquarium’s husbandry curator said she couldn’t emphasize enough how proud she is to work with everyone at Roanoke Island aquarium.

“I want to give a special acknowledgement to the animal care staff that came together beautifully to assist. I am so grateful to all staff, volunteers, and partners for helping us with this event. We couldn’t have made such a broad impact on conservation, education, and rehabilitation without all these pieces coming together,” she added in a statement.
 

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting public comments on its 2025 draft management plan that identifies and prioritizes animals and plants of greatest conservation need in the state.

Comments will be accepted through July 5.

The North Carolina State Wildlife Action Plan also establishes research and management priorities for other fish, wildlife and plant species in the state and describes 40 types of habitats important to those species.

The plan is designed to prevent a species from being listed for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

“This comprehensive Plan is meant to chart a course for conservation actions with detailed priorities to protect and conserve species and habitats,” Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Director Shannon Deaton said in a release.

Deaton said the plan “captures the threats and impacts being faced today and for the next 10 years.”

Following input from agency partners, officials now want to hear from residents and academia. This includes their concerns, suggestions and desires for wildlife and habitats, whether related to development, protected areas, research interests and needs and how they can participate, from a broad or localized level.

“People can pick and choose chapters they wish to provide feedback on, or they can provide input to all of it,” Deaton said, adding that state residents “should be able to visualize themselves participating in the implementation of the plan.”

The draft is an update to the 2015 plan and includes new research, biological knowledge, survey findings, improved conservation actions targeted at resiliency, and a stronger understanding of impacts from changing weather patterns, according to the release.

The changing climate, which is resulting in more historical weather events, including Hurricane Helene, an uptick in the number of extremely hot days, more frequent flooding, sea level rise and associated saltwater intrusion into freshwater and inland habitats, are impacting wildlife resources. Compounding those impacts is the increase in the state’s population.

“We are seeing an increase in climate-related impacts to aquatic species that require cold-water habitats,” Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator Cindy Simpson said in the release. “Helene devastated extensive acres of forested habitats, including riparian areas that provide shade for cold-water streams. Storm debris added additional barriers for aquatic species to be able to move upstream as previously cold waters are now warming. Our coastal regions are also at a high risk of habitat loss due to climate change, characterized by intensified storms that lead to increased saltwater intrusion, resulting in the emergence of ghost forests.”

The agency is working with various partners, organizations, stakeholders and interested residents providing input during the revision of the plan. The state’s first plan was published in 2005.

“Now we need your assistance to make sure we have comprehensively addressed the conservation priorities for species of greatest conservation need and at-risk habitats. We look forward to your comments to finalize this document so that it can be used as a guide for conservation actions,” Commission Executive Director Kyle Briggs said in the release.

Comments on the draft may be submitted online and, anyone who would like to submit additional written comments after filling out the online survey may email cindy.simpson@ncwildlife.gov with the subject line “2025 Draft SWAP comments.”

Additional comments may also be mailed to: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Attn: 2025 Draft State Wildlife Action Plan, 1721 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1700.

With eyes roughly the size of softballs, it may stand to reason that one of the largest mammals on Earth should have exceptionally sharp vision.

Humpback whales have some of the biggest eyes of any animal on the planet, or the oceans in which they migrate thousands upon thousands of miles during their lives.

But their journeys through open seas are done with limited vision, according to a newly published study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and Duke University.

These mammoth creatures have to be very close to an object in order to see it in fine detail, which explains why they are particularly vulnerable to getting tangled up in fishing gear.

“Humans have exceptionally high spatial resolution of vision by comparison to most animals,” said Dr. Lori Schweikert, an assistant professor of biology and marine biology at UNCW. “But what is surprising is the fact that whales have the structure of the eye to support even better vision, but they don’t have that.”

Using a specimen of a humpback whale eye archived more than a decade ago at UNCW’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program, researchers were able to measure a humpback whale’s vision at 3.95 cycles per degree, or CPD.

CPD measures the number of black-and-white line pairs that appear within 1 degree of space.

To grasp this measurement of sight, Schweikert gave this example: hold one arm straight out and put your thumb straight up. The width to your thumb is about 1 degree of your visual space. Human eyes can resolve about up to about 60 cycles per degree.

Most animals have low spatial resolution of vision. In animals, the larger the eye, the greater their spatial vision. But for humpback whales, “they are just way off the line,” Schweikert said. “Way off.”

What researchers found when they cut into the eye is that humpbacks have unusually thickened eye walls. Nearly half of the depth of the whale’s eye was filled with its own wall, shortening the distance from the center of the lens of the eye to the retina.

That distance is called focal length.

“The longer the focal length, the sharper the vision that’s possible,” Schweikert said.

Researchers also found that the cell density in humpback whale eye retina was exceptionally low. These cells send visual information to the brain.

Based on their calculation of 3.95 CPD, researchers then modeled how humpback whales might visually perceive things in their natural environment.

The reality is, their vision, or lack thereof, is suited to their environment.

Humpbacks prey on huge bait balls of fish or krill that silhouette against an open light field, or light that is projected directly into a space without being redirected. They have few predators – mainly orcas, or killer whales, false killer whales, and large sharks, particularly great whites. And, when a humpback whale searches for a mate, it can see a potential love match well enough from a distance.

So, humpbacks did not need to evolve with the ability to see fine-scale things, Schweikert said.

Where a humpback whales’ sight gets it into trouble, she said, is when it comes across a structure in the ocean that has more visual fine-scale information, such as a net or gillnet. One of the leading causes of humpback whale deaths is entanglement in fishing gear.

“In our modeling of how they might be able to resolve this detail in the environment is that, at roughly three to four body lengths away would be where they might be able to start resolving the structure of the net. Based on swimming speed, that only leaves them a few seconds to get out of the way,” Schweikert said.

This helps explain why humpback whales get entangled as frequently as they do.

Humpback whales live in every ocean on the planet. They have one of the longest migrations, with some populations swimming up to 5,000 miles, of any mammal on the planet.

In additional to entanglements, vessel strikes are also a leading cause of humpback whale deaths.

To figure out ways to try and mitigate such human impacts to humpback whale, more studies will need to occur.

“I think that understanding how animals will interact with things in their environment is certainly more complicated that any one study or even a mix of studies that would take in all their sensory abilities to detect what’s in their environment,” Schweikert said. “It’s one thing to know if an animal can see it, but it’s totally another thing to know how they will respond. It’s quite possible that they can see some of the threats in their environment, but behaviorally, they are just not making the decision early enough to move out of the way.”

This study could be considered in the larger puzzle of those types of considerations, she said.

Editor’s Note: After Sam Bland retired from his position as superintendent at Hammocks Beach State Park, he joined the staff of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. While a coastal specialist in the 2010s, he would periodically write about his time in the field for Coastal Review. Now traveling the country, Bland drops a line every once in a while to share a new adventure with his readers, such as the following:

With the silent curtain of darkness kissing the horizon, we rode down the dusty ribbon of a remote dirt road in western Wyoming. The departing sun left a thin orange glow on the horizon, hanging low like a colorful fog. Straight ahead in the sky, a sliver of the waxing crescent moon grinned sideways like Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire cat.

Following the directions, we turned off the road and on to an eroded washboard of rocks and stones. With silent glances, we wondered if this was the right way to go. Soon, the path ended in a clearing where we parked the car. Stepping out, we immediately heard the clear sharp song of the northern saw-whet owl piercing the cool clear mountain air. Over and over, it called, beckoning.

Cautiously, we headed down the ankle-twisting cobble path, our flashlights leading the way. In the distance, we could see a faint glow of light suppressed by the walls of a nylon tent. Not far from the tent, a stand of fir trees stood tall, silhouetted against the evening sky. The door flap of the tent swung open and we were greeted by Noah Price, his face illuminated red by a filtered headlamp.

A contracted field biologist, Noah specializes in documenting the migration of small forest owl species such as saw-whets, boreals and flammulated owls. Stepping inside the dimly lit tent, there were a few chairs and a table. Neatly arranged on the table was all the accouterment necessary to band owls. A digital scale, rulers, clipboards thick with data forms, a tool box filled with banding supplies, clamping pliers, and a variety of short PVC tubes were at the ready. We — my wife Bright, and I — had ventured to this secluded location for the opportunity to observe the banding of northern saw-whet owls.

Saw-whets are one of the smallest owls, standing at only 8 inches. It is a fluffball of feathers weighing a scant 5 ounces, at the most. Although diminutive, it is a solid-looking bird with a large facial disc and stunning yellow eyes. With deadly talons, it flies the night skies searching for prey.

Even though it is rarely seen, it is one of the most common forest owls within its northern range, which includes the entire width of North America. Its breeding range includes the northern and western states, southern Canada as well as central Mexico. During the winter months, they can be found to venture into central and southern states.

In North Carolina, they have been documented in 31 counties and have been found wintering along the islands of the Outer Banks. High in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, there is a small breeding population as well. It is listed as a threatened species in state by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Northern saw-whet owls were long thought to be nonmigratory and remained permanent residents within their northern range. But in the early 1900s, a number of saw-whets were found dead after a severe fall storm in an area where they were not thought to exist. This was a light-bulb moment and ornithologists realized that these owls might indeed be migratory.

Many ornithologists were skeptical of their migratory movement and it took decades before research proved it to be true. To study migratory patterns and routes, banding programs were established. Using fine mist nets to capture the nighttime migrants, they banded the owls as they moved south during the fall months. The results concluded that saw-whet owls were indeed migratory.

In the mid-1960s, banding stations started using an audio lure to attract the birds. It was a game changer. Like a moth to a flame, the amplified song of a male saw-whet proved irresistible in attracting the owls. The capture rates were so impressive that this is now the go-to method for increased banding success. This was the flute-like song that we heard when we first arrived at the banding station, a recorded saw-whet song playing on a continual loop.

With their migratory nature more well-known, researchers are trying to unravel the mystery about the biology of these secretive owls. Being strictly nocturnal, these birds are experts at hiding during the day. They will seek out dense vegetation and blend in within the branches looking as if a knot on the tree.

Ornithologists have become enamored with these cute and charismatic birds with their big bright alluring eyes. Their large facial disc makes them look like a child’s cuddly stuffed animal.

Remember in 2020 when the nation fell in love with Rocky, a saw-whet owl that was roosting in a spruce tree that was cut down for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and trucked to New York City? Its charm undeniable, the unwittingly abducted owl became a star. The owl inspired the center to designate an owl mascot, Roxy, as their official ambassador. The plight of Rocky is also depicted in the Disney animated film “An Almost Christmas Story” as well as a number of children’s books.

Research on these owls has really accelerated over the past 30 years with the formation of Project Owlnet, a collaboration of researchers dedicated to the study of saw-whet owls. The project established standardized protocol and data collection methods to keep the research uniform for scientific integrity.

As we wait in the tent, Noah steps out into the darkness and walks toward a stand of fir trees where the mist nets are located. About 15 minutes later he returns with a saw-whet owl snuggly confined in a plastic PVC sleeve. As a cavity nester, saw-whets are familiar and comfortable in confined spaces. His headlamp creating a reddish aura, Noah went about examining the owl. Under his gentle touch, the owl calmly endured the inspection as if at a doctor’s appointment.

Each fall and spring, hundreds of researchers like Noah participate in capturing, banding and monitoring the movements of these tiny owls. In addition to banding the birds, their overall condition is evaluated. A lightweight metal band, with its own unique engraved number, is applied to the leg. The birds are then examined to record weigh, wing length, sex, age, fat deposits, and molting progress. Isotope analysis is also conducted to help determine specific nesting areas.

After the birds are released, as time goes by, information is gathered through sightings, recapture and mortality. The information is archived with the United States Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory where the data, along with recapture data, is available for researchers studying the birds.

As the most banded owl in North America, it is estimated that 400,000 saw-whet owls have worn the silver bracelet over the years. The banding helps ornithologists determine migration routes, when they migrate, peak migration, and how fast they migrate. It also establishes where they overwinter, overall population numbers, lifespan, and reproduction and survival rates. This information is essential for targeting habitat preservation along migratory corridors and wintering and nesting areas.

The data is also crucial when calculating the impact of climate change not only for the saw-whet, but for all owls. The North Carolina coastal plain is permanent residency to the great horned, barred, eastern screech and American barn owls. The short-eared owl is a winter resident while the long-eared owl is a rare winter visitor. Snowy owls are rare winter visitors during irruption years and burrowing owls are extremely rare as they have only been documented a hand full of times in the state.

Long-term variations in climate can result in more frequent severe weather events, hotter temperatures, habitat changes, drought, flooding and persistent wildfires. The impact these changes have on wildlife can be measured by what has been termed as “climate change vulnerability.” This is the risk associated with exposure to changing precipitation, temperature and severe weather events. For example, nests of ground nesters, such as burrowing and snowy owls, are destroyed by heavy rain events and melting permafrost.

Owls that are dependent on niche habitat might be forced to abandon part of their range destroyed by wildfires. It also includes their dependency on certain habitat types and their sensitivity to changing conditions along with their ability to adapt to these changes.

Some of these owls may simply adapt by transitioning to a different habitat, developing a taste for new prey or simply relocating to cooler northern regions. However, this may create a butterfly effect of competition that is detrimental to other species. Overall species populations may not decline rapidly, but they will be slowly chipped away as their habitat shrinks.

Eventually, if their ranges shift, they might be considered invasive if they out compete native species in that range. This is already happening with the expansion of the barred owl into the northwestern states and their competition with the Northern Spotted owl.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that their movement was significantly influenced by human activities decades ago. As such, they must be killed by the hundreds of thousands. Is this the fate that awaits other owls that might be displaced due to climate change? Historical ranges might need to be reconsidered and management practices revisited.

Since it is anticipated that owl species will be pushed further north with rising temperatures, biologists recommend that conservation practices be proactive. Conservation strategies should be directed to preservation, protection and restoration of prime habitats now rather than later. Even put out a welcome sign and embrace new diversity to the neighborhood.

Animals are adaptable, but it may just come down to how fast and intense changes occur in the future and their ability to adjust. Importantly, for the fitness of owl populations, is the impact of climate variations on their food sources. Will prey items such as rodents, insects, birds and reptiles be abundant in the changing landscape.

Under the illumination of his headlamp, Noah is finishing his checkup on the feathered patient. He blows a small puff of air onto the breast of the owl and a fine mist of powder down explodes into a crimson fog that hangs in the air. Startled, the bemused owl looks up at Noah and the two appear to share a laugh. As the feathers part, exposing the breast, Noah can determine a fat score that indicates fat reserves. Kind of like checking the gas gauge and how many snacks are in the car during a road trip.

Noah wears his passion for these birds on his sleeve like an epaulet. Enduring two months of long cold nights, Noah’s research station banded 321 saw-whet owls along with 68 boreal owls and three long-eared owls. With the owl in one hand, Noah finishes scribbling the data on a clipboard.

The wide-eyed owl stands straight, patiently awaiting its release. As we step outside, Noah asks if I would like to release the bird. I humbly accept this once-in-a-lifetime offer. Placing the owl on my hand, it holds firmly onto my finger, as if on a tree branch. I can feel its tiny talons gripping into my flesh.

Face to face, the deadly eyes of this fierce hunter shoots daggers into my soul anchoring a lasting memory. In an instant, it launches from my hand and lands on a low branch of a nearby fir tree. It gathers and composes itself, then flies off into a dark and uncertain future.

Volunteers with the Holden Beach Turtle Watch Program are getting ready to offer weekly educational sea turtle programs this summer.

Often called the “Turtle Patrol,” the program was founded in 1989 to monitor and protect the sea turtle population on Holden Beach, a seaside town in Brunswick County. This all volunteer, nonprofit conservation organization operates under the authority of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

The family-oriented Turtle Talks are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. June 18 and be held each Wednesday until Aug. 13. A volunteer will speak, a slideshow and film will be shown, and the night will close out with a time to ask questions.

The evening program “focuses on the life cycle of the sea turtle and how the Turtle Patrol aids in the preservation of sea turtles, a volunteer will speak about nesting sea turtles, what to look for when visiting the beach, and current nest information,” organizers explained in a release.

The first Children’s Turtle Time for the summer is scheduled for 4 p.m. Wednesday, June 25, and is to take place every Wednesday through Aug. 6.

“The program introduces young children to the world of sea turtles through hands-on play, games, books and puzzles,” organizers said.

This program is designed for two age groups, 3-4 and 5-6. An adult should remain with their child during the 45-minute program. If a family has two or more children that fall within both age groups, organizers advise that two adults attend.

Volunteers are available to speak to clubs, classrooms and organizations to promote awareness during the educational outreach program “Turtle Talk on the Road.” Contact theoutreach program coordinator by email at outreach@hbturtlewatch.org for more information or to schedule a program.

Sea turtles nest on Holden Beach from mid-May through August, and their nests hatch July through October. When the 2025 turtle season began May 1, Turtle Patrol members started patrolling the island each morning looking for signs of a nesting sea turtle crawl on the beach.

For details about these educational programs, number of nests, and recent news, www.hbturtlewatch.org.

Debbie Swick has been waging a single-handed campaign describing how dangerous a balloon is after it has been released.

“I promise you, with every fiber of my being, helium balloons do not go to heaven,” she said and suggested alternatives.

“Blow bubbles, plant a tree, scatter wildflower seeds,” the Southern Shores resident continued.

“There’s so many other things that you can do besides releasing balloons,” adding, “I would not tell people not to celebrate. I would not tell people not to mourn those that have passed on.”

For over a year, Swick has been, in her words, “a one-woman crusader.”

She describes herself as a “devout Christian” who believes “this is God’s planet, and we’re just visitors here, and let’s leave it a little better than we found it.”

Something happened to her one morning over a year ago when “God spoke to me that morning when I watched this balloon release on TV.”

Since then, she has been indefatigable, writing letters to every county manager and board in the state, innumerable municipalities, visiting counties and towns to talk about the dangers of balloons. And learning some things along the way.

She describes the impact on marine animals and wildlife, including the 2023 death of a juvenile Gervais’ beaked whale beached on Emerald Isle. The whale starved to death after a plastic balloon became trapped in its digestive tract.

“I tell everybody, speak to our commercial fishermen, ask anybody that goes out in the ocean and ask them how many balloons they encounter. It’s staggering,” Swick said.

Yet after speaking to Camden County commissioners, a new danger emerged, telling Coastal Review that a commissioner, “was saying how a farmer was complaining that he wrapped (a balloon) around his combine and broke this very expensive piece of equipment.”

And now, after months of lobbying, letter writing, cajoling and presentations, it may be that her efforts will be rewarded.

North Carolina Senate Bill 20, “An Act to Prohibit Certain Mass Balloon Releases,” filed Jan. 29, 2025, currently is in the senate’s rules and operations committee.

The bill’s primary sponsor, Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, told Coastal Review that there is “unanimous support on both sides of the aisle, both chambers, manufacturers, retailers, associations, everyone has come out in support of it.”

Hanig explained early this month that the bill would likely to stay in committee as the senate worked on their version of the budget, which was introduced April 17.

“We’ve been dealing with the budget process, so I’m hoping that over the next couple of weeks, things will start getting pulled out of Rules and start moving to committees,” Hanig said.

Cosponsored by Sen. Gale Adcock, D-Wake, and Woodson Bradley, D-Mecklenburg, the bill does appear to have the bipartisan support Hanig touted.

Adcock, Hanig said, “was a senator I worked with on several piece of legislation. We served together in the House. We have a great relationship. And Woodson Bradley, she’s new this year, she said she wanted to be on (the bill).”

Underscoring the support for the bill, Adcock wrote in an email that “I heard from a dozen or so of (her district’s) constituents after the bill was filed, and after I had signed on to the bill.”

The bill is short, less than 250 words, and straightforward in its language.

“The General Assembly finds that the release into the atmosphere of balloons inflated with lighter-than-air gases poses a harm to the scenic beauty of the State and a danger and nuisance to wildlife and marine animals,” the bill reads.

The bill includes fines for releasing balloons, and the fines can be substantial at $250 per balloon.

For Swick, that’s important. Her hope is that people will look at that and realize, “I’m not even going to chance it, because at $250 per balloon,” she said. “Four balloons is $1,000. I don’t have that kind of money to part with.”

As she continues to work to bring awareness to the issue, Swick said she has found a wide spectrum of interests supporting her efforts, including the Surfrider Foundation, and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

“We have the CRC, which is the Coalition for Responsible celebrations, who works directly with Dollar Tree and Party City,” she said.

Even the balloon industry “has taken on a responsible attitude about balloons. They understand their negative impact on the environment, so they’re joining with groups like me to educate and say, ‘Listen, enjoy your balloons, but dispose of them responsibly.’”

That the legislation is enjoying bipartisan support is, to Swick, part of the backing she has seen as she has worked on the issue.

“We waste so much time fighting each other,” she said. “This is one of those things where it shouldn’t be, ‘your side, my side.’ This is for the good of all people and all things living,” she said.

At first glance, the stretch of coast near the Bennett Street beach access point in Kitty Hawk blends seamlessly with the rest of the coastline. 

It’s impossible to tell that, just a few months ago, this sand cradled the lifeless, 19,000-pound carcass of a humpback whale. 

Now, the soft tissue of the humpback lies below the sand. Its skeleton is housed in the neighboring town of Corolla, where students are analyzing remains for a school project, said Marina Piscitelli-Doshkov, stranding coordinator for the Marine Mammal Stranding Network. 

Under the beach, the humpback will join a number of other whales buried along the shore. Since 2016, humpback whale mortalities have increased, along with a rise in the deaths of minke and North Atlantic right whales along the Atlantic coast. 

North Carolina coastal communities are actively debating the cause of the increase in whale mortalities, with concerns surrounding political agendas at the heart of the discussion.

Marine scientists have identified human interaction with ships as the leading cause of these whale mortalities, causing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to attempt tightening vessel speed restrictions.

Fishermen have largely opposed stricter regulations, blaming numerous economic struggles on what they see as a mountain of NOAA rules. 

Others call out the construction of offshore wind turbine facilities as disrupting whales’ migratory paths and hearing, pushing them into waters where fishing and shipping vessels often transit. 

“Everybody’s got an opinion,” said Dewey Hemilright, a commercial fisherman based in Wanchese and a former member of the Mid-Atlantic Fisheries Management Council. 

‘A Huge Shift’

Piscitelli-Doshkov has spent her career working on necropsies of beached mammals for the stranding network.

“I’ve been doing this for 20-plus years,” Piscitelli-Doshkov said. “There’s been a huge shift in the past few years with people — just in general.” 

Five years ago, when the network was called to investigate a whale in the process of shoring and start the process of determining a cause of death — performing a necropsy — no one would show up, she said.

Now, people flock to the scene.

In addition to the political climate surrounding wind energy, Piscitelli-Doshkov attributes the attention that recent whale beachings receive to social media and the spectacles “going kind of viral.”

The network responded to Kitty Hawk Police officers’ report of the juvenile female humpback on the morning of Dec. 27. After the network finished the necropsy, the Kitty Hawk Public Works Department handled the burial. 

“All we could tell on the necropsy was that it was a blunt-force trauma, and that is usually done by a ship strike,” said Piscitelli-Doshkov. 

Whether the whale was alive or dead when it was hit was to be determined after histopathology and diagnostic analyses were run. NOAA must pay for all samples to be researched, so the stranding network was left “just waiting” for the agency to officially approve more tests, she said.

But the network can’t always determine a whale’s cause of death through necropsy. 

Because whales generate so much heat within their internal insulation system, once they die, “they start pretty much cooking from the inside,” said Craig Harms, director of the marine health program at North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology. 

Harms, who often works with the network, added that “once you do a post mortem exam, you might be going through a lot of mush.”

‘Barely holding on’

In April 2017, NOAA declared an Unusual Mortality Event, or UME, for humpback whales. The agency defines a UME as a “marked increase in the magnitude or a marked change in the nature of morbidity, mortality, or strandings when compared with prior records”. 

“Most of those increased mortalities are being caused by ship strikes,” Harms said. 

According to NOAA, necropsies conducted on approximately half of beached humpbacks since 2016 showed that around 40% of their deaths involved a ship strike or entanglement. 

NOAA has determined two other whale species — the minke and North Atlantic right — as also experiencing UMEs.

Currently, under NOAA’s North Atlantic Right Whale Reduction Rule — regulations intended to specifically protect right whales — vessels over 65 feet cannot go more than 10 knots in certain areas of the ocean called seasonal management areas.

“There’s only about 360 of these whales left,” Harms said. “And we could very well drive them to extinction within 10 to 20 years if we don’t do something more than what we’re doing.”

In 2022, NOAA proposed to apply the 10-knot speed rule to vessels longer than 35 feet. This suggestion was officially withdrawn Jan. 16 due to “ongoing requests from the public for further opportunity to review and engage with the Agency on the proposal.”

Hemilright said the majority of commercial fishing vessels operate under 10 knots, so recreational fishermen, such as charter boat operators, would suffer most under these speed limitations. 

The speed restrictions make running charters extremely difficult for recreational fishermen, whom Hemilright said have been “devastated” by the regulations. 

“And these are individual, small businesses,” he added. “These ain’t corporations.”

Cane Faircloth, a former recreational fisherman and board member for the North Carolina For-Hire Captains Association, who currently manages a few charter boats, said the reduction rule would mainly affect larger recreational boats.

But many recreational fishermen, he added, are worried that restrictions will continue to apply to smaller and smaller boats. 

“If you start getting into that under 30-foot range, then that hits the majority of boats that are going out in the ocean fishing,” Faircloth said.

It’s not fair, he continued, for speed restrictions to be placed on boats that have never hit or come close to hitting a right whale. Slowing from an average speed of around 25 knots to 10 could double the travel time to fishing waters and hurt business, he said.

Faircloth, a 49-year-old fifth-generation fisherman, said that he has never heard of a recreational fishing boat hitting a whale. 

“I think when those whales are hit, it’s more of your big freighters, big ships,” he said. “Because those big ships, they move as fast as us little boats do, and they take up such a big area — it’s a lot harder for a whale to get away from them than it would be to get away from one of us.”

Between 2022 and 2023, NOAA filed 53 complaints against vessel operators, totaling nearly $1 million in civil penalties. The agency uses satellite technology, portable radar units and active patrols to detect speeding and enforce restrictions. 

While paying a violation can be detrimental to local fisheries, large shipping vessels incur the fees as “just the price of doing business,” Hemilright said.

For big companies, “What the hell’s a $20,000 fine?” he added. 

Where Hemilright sees the largest economic loss for North Carolina’s fishermen under NOAA regulations is competition from imported seafood.

“If every other country had to fish by the same regulations that I have, it’d be a lot more fish in the ocean,” he said. 

According to NOAA, the U.S. imports 70-85% of its seafood.

“We’re barely holding on as an industry, because there’s so many regulations,” Hemilright noted.

‘Doesn’t make any sense’

But fishing charters and cargo shippers aren’t the only entities being blamed for increased whale deaths. Offshore wind turbine facilities have also faced criticism. 

“These facilities are being placed in whales’ migratory paths and feeding and calving areas, and their construction and operations are excessively noisy, which is especially dangerous to whales who rely on sonar, pushing them into shipping and fishing lanes where they suffer deadly boat strikes and fishing entanglements,” Jon Sanders, a research editor for the John Locke Foundation, wrote in a Jan. 3 blog post. 

Harms, however, said humpback, right or minke whales are among the species of whales that do not use sonar. 

Andrew Read is director of the Duke University Marine Lab on Pivers Island in Beaufort and primarily studies longer-living marine species including marine mammals, namely the effects human activity can have.

Read noted that marine scientists such as him and Harms have been documenting whale deaths since before there were offshore wind activities. 

“The science is really clear that there’s no evidence whatsoever that any of these whales are being killed by any activity associated with offshore wind turbines,” he said. 

But Faircloth said he doubts some people performing necropsies “check for the right stuff.” 

While he understands the Dec. 27 whale that washed ashore in Kitty Hawk faced a ship strike, he questions whether its eardrums or communication abilities were affected by the Kitty Hawk Wind offshore turbine being built 27 miles off the coast.

People have linked whale deaths to offshore wind, Read said, to advance a political agenda against the development of green energy sources.

On the opposite side of the political spectrum, Faircloth said people “are all in on green energy” and don’t want to hear about the harm facilities are doing to the environment. 

Besides Kitty Hawk Wind, another offshore wind project has been proposed 22 miles from Bald Head Island — Carolina Long Bay. The project and location is still being assessed and construction has not started.

Hemilright, who works as a fishery representative to Kitty Hawk Wind, said people who are anti-wind “would do anything that would stop a wind turbine from being built.”

The Kitty Hawk Wind project is in a dead zone, a “pass-through” for fishermen, Faircloth said, but Carolina Long Bay would be encroaching on a bustling fishing area. 

“So you’re going to build this wind farm on one of our best fishing grounds, most productive reefs, habitats that are millions of years old, and you’re going to build a wind farm on it where there’s 13 endangered species — that doesn’t make any sense,” he added. 

Both sides of the offshore wind debate are loud, Hemilright said, and there is an incredible amount of complexity and a wide array of parties involved. 

“If I thought there was a smoking gun, then it’d be easy,” he said. 

Editor’s note: Coastal Review regularly features the work of North Carolina historian David Cecelski, who writes about the history, culture and politics of the state’s coast. More of his work can be found on his personal website.

From Cecelski: This is the 26th photograph in my photo-essay “Working Lives”– looking at the stories behind the photographs in the N.C. Department of Conservation and Development Collection (1937-1953) at the State Archives in Raleigh.

In this photograph, we see workers slaughtering and canning sea turtles at a cannery in Marshallberg, N.C., September 1938.

According to a story in the Raleigh News & Observer that was published a year earlier, March 21, 1937, the cannery’s owner, Carroll Crocket, hailed from Crisfield, Maryland, one of the busiest fishing ports on the Chesapeake Bay.

In the 1890s, Crockett’s father, A.R. Crockett, was among a group of Crisfield oyster dealers that began coming south in search of new oystering grounds. He was drawn above all to Core Sound and particularly to the stretch of quiet bays and marshlands between Harkers Island and Smyrna.

In or about 1897, he established an oyster cannery at Marshallberg, a village located on that part of Core Sound.

The village sits on a a peninsula shaped by Core Sound, a lovely bay called Sleepy Creek, and a body of water called the Straits that runs between Marshallberg and Harkers Island.

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Crisfield fishermen also played an important role in bringing the soft-shell crab industry to Marshallberg. In the late 1930s, when this photograph was taken, soft-shell crabbing was still a big business on Core Sound and Marshallberg was home to the state’s busiest soft-shell crab fishery.

A.R. Crockett’s oyster cannery does not seem to have lasted very long. However, following in his father’s footsteps, Carroll Crockett opened his cannery in Marshallberg in 1937.

At that time, Marshallberg was a threadbare but bustling little village. If you had visited that part of Down East in those days, you would have found a cluster of homes, a highly regarded boatyard, a crowd of fish houses, a crab-packing plant, two or three general stores, a pair of churches, and a school.

In the 1930s, Marshallberg was also an important shipping point for local truck crops, especially sweet potatoes.

A generation earlier, the village had also been the site of an important preparatory school called Graham Academy. Launched by northern missionaries after the Civil War, the Star of Bethlehem Church, most often just called the “Star Church” by locals, got its early support from women associated with the Methodist Missionary Society of Boston in 1874.

Founded 12 years later, in 1888, the academy was renown for providing a classical education to the children of oystermen and fisherwomen, as well as to the well-heeled from many other parts of eastern North Carolina, and for turning out some of the the region’s finest teachers.

The academy also had a lasting impact on Marshallberg. Again and again, old-time Marshallbergers have told me how the school’s teachers, the influx of students from other parts of eastern North Carolina, and the cultural events held at the school shaped them and gave the village a somewhat different air than other villages Down East.

Though Marshallberg remained a busy fishing port in the 1930s, the Great Depression was still hard in the village, as it was on all of Down East. For many people, soul-cripplingly hard.

To learn more about Marshallberg’s history, be sure to visit the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island. The museum’s webpage also includes a special section on Marshallberg’s history.

In addition, in 1938 many local people were still just getting their feet back on the ground after the great 1933 hurricane.

The ’33 storm had laid waste to much of Marshallberg. According to news reports, the hurricane washed away docks, fish houses, and boats by the score and destroyed or seriously damaged some 30 homes.

When the cannery opened in 1937, Carroll Crockett announced that he expected to employ some 150 seasonal workers. Given the hard times, the Marshallbergers must have welcomed the cannery’s arrival.

In addition to the cannery in Marshallberg, Carroll Crockett established at least half-a-dozen other canneries on the North Carolina coast in the 1930s and ’40s: a shrimp cannery in Wilmington, oyster canneries in Beaufort and Washington, and canneries focused more on tomatoes and other truck produce in Kinston, New Bern and Windsor.

* * *

According to the News & Observer, the Marshallberg cannery’s workers canned tomatoes in the summertime.

Then, in the fall and winter, they shucked and canned oysters and clams.

Shucking clams and oysters was cold, wet work, hard on the body and not infrequently debilitating. Many a time, when I was younger and more of them were still with us, the men and women who used to do that kind of work in Down East canneries told me how it made them feel old before their time.

On the other hand, Marshallberg’s people were no strangers to hard work, and times were hard. Few turned down a job because it wasn’t easy, if only because there were no easy jobs to be had.

Evidently, when they had neither clams nor oysters, nor tomatoes or other truck crops, they at least occasionally turned to canning sea turtles.

* * *

I am not aware of any cannery on the North Carolina coast that focused primarily on sea turtles.

In the late 19th century, such canneries did exist for a short time in the Florida Keys and in a few places on the Gulf of Mexico, where the most desirable of sea turtles for making turtle soup — green turtles, (Chelonia mydas) — were far more abundant than on the North Carolina coast.

Those canneries in Key West and the Gulf Coast did not last long. Even by the 1890s, the mass killing of sea turtles, as well as the harvesting of their eggs, had driven them close to extinction in many parts of the Florida and Texas coast.

As early as 1900, the sea turtle fisheries in Florida and other parts of the Gulf Coast had, with one or two exceptions, shut down. From that time on, the harvesting of sea turtles was done almost exclusively for local consumption or when sea turtles were caught as “by-catch” by fishermen engaged in other fisheries.

The highly prized green turtles were also found in North Carolina’s coastal waters, but far less frequently than in more tropical seas.

Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) were far more common on the North Carolina coast.

Though their meat was darker, oilier, and considered less desirable than that of green turtles, loggerheads were still sold to be used in turtle soup. I can’t be sure, but I assume that loggerheads made up the bulk of the sea turtles caught on the Outer Banks and other parts of the North Carolina coast.

The luxury market for turtle soup was always the driving force behind the sea turtle fishery in the United States. However, the oil of sea turtles was also put to use at least occasionally. According to an article called “The Origin, Evolution, and Demise of the U.S. Sea Turtle Fisheries” that appeared in NOAA’s Marine Fisheries Review in 1994, the oil of loggerhead turtles was sometimes sold as a leather softener and fishermen in some places coated the bottom of their boats with loggerhead oil in order to discourage worm damage.

Compared to Florida or the Caribbean, a far smaller fishery for sea turtles had existed on the North Carolina coast since at least the 1880s.

In 1885, for instance, according to the June 9, 1885, issue of New Bern’s Daily Journal, a man identified as “Mr. K. Willis” was “the champion turtle hunter” on the waters around Swansboro.

The newspaper reported that Mr. Willis used a 20- or 30-yard-long, wide-meshed net to capture  29 “large sea turtle” over a two-day period.

More than likely, he was the kind of man that did a little bit of everything around the water, a “progger,” they would have called him on some parts of the North Carolina coast.

However, on most parts of the North Carolina coast, a fisherman or woman might make a turtle stew now and then, but they were unlikely to make much profit from catching them.

* * *

That could be seen on Hatteras Island in 1901. According to a visitor to the island that winter, the keeper at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse spied a dozen sea turtles just offshore a couple weeks before Christmas.

Writing in the Baltimore Sun March 31, 1902, the visitor recalled that the lighthouse keeper used some kind of meat as bait to catch three of the turtles with a hook and line.

The Sun’s correspondent asked the lighthouse keeper what he had done with the sea turtles.

According to the article, “he replied that there was no market there, and the lighthouse crowd didn’t eat turtles, so he sent them as a present to the Cape station of life savers, where they were acceptable.”

I think that was quite typical on the Outer Banks, where, to my knowledge, there were never any canneries that handled sea turtles.

Of course at that time, there were also no restaurants on Hatteras Island that might have been interested in putting turtle soup on their menu. There were no restaurants at all on the island. For that matter, no bridges to the island had yet been built and no roads on the island had yet been paved.

Now and then, an Outer Banks waterman might stow a live sea turtle in a shipment of salt mullet or shad and make a few dollars if it found a buyer at the docks in Norfolk or New Bern or Elizabeth City.

But overall, at least on the Outer Banks, sea turtles were generally one of the sea’s creatures that the islanders kept for themselves and, even then, partook of only every once and awhile.

* * *

On the Outer Banks, that did not seem to change later in the 20th century. On April 7, 1929, for instance, a correspondent of the News & Observer reported that Ocracoke Island fishermen had recently captured “dozens of sea turtles weighing from 200 to 500 pounds.”

The turtles, he said, were bound either for local kitchens or cast back into the sea.

“Here the natives bring the turtles ashore and make soup or hash from them, or if they are not in a turtle eating notion they throw them overboard as there is hardly any market for this species of turtle.”

There were canneries just to the south, though.

Even in the late 1800s, canneries operated in North Carolina’s larger coastal towns, including Morehead City and Beaufort, but now and then also in some of the more remote fishing villages along Core Sound.

For a few years, for instance, a Long Island, New York, company operated a clam cannery in Atlantic, called Hunting Quarters then. Smyrna was home to an oyster cannery, and there was even a cannery or two at Diamond City, out on the island called Shackleford Banks, prior to all the villagers leaving the island in the late 19th and early 20th century.

How often, if at all, those canneries handled sea turtles, I do not know. Their real business was elsewhere — in oysters, above all — but perhaps like the cannery in Marshallberg, they may sometimes have slaughtered and canned sea turtles on a small scale when the turtles were available and the cannery workers did not have anything more profitable to do.

As was always the case with catching and butchering the sea’s larger creatures — whales, dolphins, sharks — sea turtle canning was a grim business.

A casual visitor with a weak stomach or a soft spot for the welfare of wild animals was bound to be alarmed by a visit to any of those enterprises.

In September 1938, the same month this photograph was taken, such an individual did visit the cannery in Marshallberg.

That individual’s name was Edward Peyton “Ted” Harris, and he was a playwright and theater actor originally from Greenville.

I do not know how Harris came to be in Marshallberg. Judging from the timing of a letter that he wrote to the Raleigh News & Observer, he and the photographer who took this photograph very likely visited the cannery together.

I only know about Ted Harris’s tour of the cannery because the News & Observer published his letter. In that letter, he expressed outrage over the treatment of the sea turtles at the Marshallberg cannery.

He had seen the holding pen in which the sea turtles were kept until it was time to slaughter them. That was standard practice: sea turtle canneries typically kept captured turtles alive until the workers had enough to make it worth their while to slaughter and can them. In some cases, that was days, but in other cases they were held in captivity for weeks or months.

Of the turtles’ living conditions at the cannery, Ted Harris wrote:

“Yesterday… an attendant showed us a dozen sea-turtles penned up for slaughter. Boxes hedged them about on a dry concrete floor. There was  no provision for feeding them or giving them the water they need worse than food. One had already died. The workman assured us … that this one would not become the main ingredient for some unsuspecting purchaser’s soup. However, those that remained alive could not be in good condition when the ax ends their suffering.”

In his letter, Harris indicated that he wanted to bring the sea turtles’ living conditions to the attention of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, as well as to the local health department.

He also noted, by way of a coda, that the worker that was his tour guide at the cannery had told him, on the side, that “he himself would never eat canned turtle, having watched the canning.”

 * * *

The Status of Sea Turtles Today

In a 1994 article titled “The Origin, Evolution, and Demise of the U.S. Sea Turtle Fisheries,” a NOAA marine scientist named W. N. Witzell wrote:

“Commercial fisheries, habitat destruction, and pollution has had a devastating impact on both U.S. and world sea turtle populations. The U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973 and subsequent amendments has provided the legislation needed to prevent the extinction of these magnificent animals in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean [including the North Carolina coast].”

Today, with the aide of the N.C. Wildlife Commission’s NC Sea Turtle Project, more than 20 different community groups are monitoring sea turtle nesting and stranding activities on the North Carolina coast. (You can find a list here.)

At the same time, state and federal agencies are increasingly working hand-in-hand with the commercial fishing industry to protect sea turtles from being accidentally caught in fishing nets.

Through their efforts, sea turtle populations have begun making a significant comeback in recent decades.

Much progress has been accomplished in the last half century. However, recent political developments in the U.S. have put into doubt the future of sea turtles and all other endangered species that rely on the protections of the Endangered Species Act, the vitality of the Environmental Protection Agency, and/or the ongoing research work of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, all of which have played key roles in the preservation of sea turtles here in the U.S. and around the world.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting nominations for members of an advisory committee that oversees operations of the state’s new nongame and endangered species program.

Eligible nominees for the Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee include North Carolinians who may contribute scientific, academic and habitat expertise to advise the state Wildlife Resources Commission on nongame wildlife conservation measures for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.

The committee provides guidance on changes to the North Carolina protected species list and advises in the development of conservation plans for endangered, threatened and species of special concern.

“This advisory committee provides valuable stakeholder insight into the NCWRC, expands our scientific awareness and helps grow our partnerships that support and protect North Carolina’s at-risk species and habitats,” the agency’s Habitat Conservation Division chief Shannon Deaton said in a release. “The primary role of an NWAC member is to provide expert input, particularly with the state’s listed species process as well as the North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan revision process, and on other agency nongame and endangered wildlife initiatives.” 

Nominees for the commission’s expert affiliate seats must have extensive biological, regional, academic, scientific research and/or habitat expertise as well as experience with nongame wildlife conservation in the state.

Professionals from representative organizations such as federal or state natural resource agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, universities, land trusts serving the state, industries that operate in and/or manage landscapes and associated wildlife, or other organizations that provide “a stakeholder voice in wildlife resources conservation,” are eligible for nomination to the committee’s at-large seats.

The committee meets quarterly, typically at the commission’s Raleigh headquarters.

Nominations may be made by completing an online form and including a cover letter and résumé, if available. Self-nominations are welcome.

Though electronic submissions are preferred, hard copies will be accepted by mail to the Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee, Attn: Shauna Glover, Wildlife Management Division, MSC 1721, Raleigh, NC  27699-1700.

Nominations will be accepted through April 18.

Glover may be contacted at 919-707-0064 for additional information about the nomination process or the committee. 

A proposed federal rule designed to add another layer of protection for a critically endangered species of whale has been taken off the table.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, announced last week its withdrawal of proposed speed limits for vessels under 65 feet long in waters used by North Atlantic right whales.

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS, has been reviewing the proposed rule for more than two years, during which time it received some 90,000 public comments.

In a brief statement, NOAA said those comments reflected “views on all sides of the issues addressed.”

“Despite its best efforts, NMFS does not have sufficient time to finalize this regulation in this Administration due to the scope and volume of public comments,” NOAA said in a release put out days before President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration Monday.

The decision drew immediate and sharp criticism from conservation groups advocating for additional North Atlantic right whale protections. Opponents of the proposal praised the agency’s decision, saying the speed limit would have resulted in economic losses.

Vessel strikes and entanglement in fishing gear are the leading causes of injuries and deaths to North Atlantic right whales, scientists say.

Only about 370 right whales remain in existence.

Following NOAA’s announcement, Oceana Campaign Director Gib Brogan fired off a statement calling the withdrawal “bureaucracy at its finest.”

“North Atlantic right whales don’t belong on our beaches, and they don’t deserve to die because of political incompetence and a blatant disregard for science-backed solutions,” he said in a release. “We hate to state the obvious but, we need a solution, and we need it now. It’s our sincere hope that the new administration does not want the first large whale to go extinct in centuries in U.S. waters because of federal red tape. The Trump administration must find a solution that keeps fisheries on the water, sustains the marine economy, and supports the recovery of the North Atlantic right whale.”

At least 16 North Atlantic right whales have been injured or killed in collisions with boats and ships since 2020, according to information provided by conservation groups. The fatalities include two females and dependent calves that died last year.

Last month at least three right whales were entangled in fishing gear. One of those, a juvenile male, was seen about 40 miles off the North Carolina coast. The other two, an adult female and adult male, were spotted off the Massachusetts coast.

“The gross inaction and delays by this administration over the past four years to release this rule is inexcusable,” Conservation Law Foundation Senior Counsel Erica Fuller stated in a release. “We exhausted every avenue available to us to move this forward as the right whale body count from vessel strikes continued to grow.”

The Conservation Law Foundation joined the Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife and Whale and Dolphin Conservation in resubmitting a petition calling for National Marine Fisheries Service to beef up its 2008 speed rule. Specifically, the petition asked the agency to apply the rule to additional areas in which right whales are known to travel and include speed limits to smaller vessels.

“Research has shown that a vessel traveling at 10 knots or less is much likely to harm a whale in a collision,” according to a joint statement released by the environmental organizations.

Opponents of the proposed rule argue that right whale injuries and deaths from vessel strikes are caused by ships that fall under the current speed limit rule.

Congressman Greg Murphy, R-N.C., fought the proposed expanded speed limit, one he called “unscientific and ridiculously burdensome” in a statement released by his office last week.

“The Biden Administration pushed this rule even though it knew that the vessels it targeted were not responsible for the death of Right Whales,” Murphy said. “Regardless they pushed it on to the bitter end. Eastern North Carolina understands the importance of being good stewards of our environment while utilizing our God-given resources to help grow our economy and provide for our families. This is a tremendous victory for our fishermen, boaters, and countless businesses in our coastal economy who would have been devastated if this rule went into effect.”

If the rule were to be enforced, it would have affected nearly 16,000 vessels, 810,000 jobs and $230 billion in economic activity, according to Murphy’s office.

Current speed regulations require vessels 65 feet or longer, with the exception of government, law enforcement and some foreign boats and ships, to reduce speed to 10 knots in designated areas and during specific seasons along the U.S. East Coast.

But conservation groups contend few vessels actually comply with the rule.

“NOAA Fisheries has kept the right whale waiting for improved vessel strike protections for years,” Defenders of Wildlife Senior Attorney Jane Davenport said in a release. “In attempting to make everyone happy, the agency turned years of delay into an outright denial of the needs of a critically endangered species. The agency has a mandate to protect the right whale, but ran out the clock, leaving the whale with an out-of-date rule that we know is not enough.”

Kristen Monsell, oceans legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity, called NMFS’s withdrawal of the proposed rule “cowardice and politics.”

“The agency’s inaction means that more right whales will suffer and die,” she said in a release. “The survival of these whales as a species depends on more protections from deadly ship strikes and deadly entanglements in fishing gear. If we don’t curb these manmade threats, these beautiful animals will vanish forever.”

An animal conservation organization has created an online educational package designed to help students better understand how development affects habitat.

The North Carolina Wildlife Corridor released the curriculum packet this week that be downloaded from the website at no charge.

Curriculum documents include a lesson-planning checklist, PowerPoint presentation, comprehensive teacher’s guide, three separate building projects including step-by-step instructions with photos, and an award certificate for participating students.

Related: Future U.S. 64 wildlife crossings aim to spare red wolves

The curriculum focuses on habitat fragmentation and the species it affects, wildlife crossings and habitat connectivity, existing crossing structures and more.

Habitat fragmentation happens when an animal’s natural environment is broken up into isolated pieces by human activity, while habitat connectivity is the opposite, or when an animal can freely move between habitats.

“Last year, we had the opportunity to be in the classroom and in our communities teaching students, educators, families, conservationists and the general public about the plight of red wolves specific to habitat fragmentation. What we uncovered was a lack of education available to students and educators surrounding habitat connectivity,” the organization said on social media. “Our hope is that this curriculum will spark the hearts of the next generation to become involved in future habitat connectivity work.”

Designed for middle school students, the program can be modified to meet any age group’s learning level, organizers said.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation and Wildlife Resources Commission shared photos with the organization of existing wildlife crossing structures, organizers said.

This is a developing story.

Residents and visitors in kitty Hawk are being asked to steer clear of a dead whale found washed ashore on the town’s beach Friday morning.

Oceana scientist Nora Ives has confirmed to Coastal Review that the marine mammal is a humpback whale.

The whale was found near the Bennett Street Beach Access. Kitty Hawk Police have contacted wildlife authorities for assistance, according to the department’s social media.

WAVY TV 10 out of Portsmouth, Virginia, reports that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said the female whale is about 27 feet long and has signs of shark scavenging, which is when sharks eat an animal that is already dead.

NOAA officials told the television news station that whale strandings on the North Carolina coast are common this time of year as whales migrate south.

COLUMBIA — The only wild red wolves in the world have been thrown a lifeline for Christmas.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation has been awarded $25 million to construct wildlife crossings that can provide safe passage for the critically endangered species, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration announced Dec. 20.

Only 17 to 19 of the red wolves are believed to remain within the designated 1.7 million-acre recovery area made up of public and private lands in six northeastern North Carolina counties.

Despite renewed success in recent years under U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service management, the wolves’ survival has been threatened by numerous vehicle collisions on a main route to the Outer Banks, a popular beach resort area.

“Red wolves are one of the most endangered animals on the planet, and for the last four years, vehicle strikes have been their number one source of mortality,” Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the nonprofit Wildlands Network, said in an email. “Building the first set of wildlife road crossing structures on US 64 through Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge is a vital step towards pulling the red wolves back away from the edge of extinction in the wild.”

Habitat loss and overhunting in the 20th century had decimated the population of red wolves, which had once roamed much of the Southeastern U.S. In 1980, the red wolf, which is a separate species than its cousins the gray wolf and Mexican wolf, was declared extinct in the wild under the Endangered Species Act.

Seven years later, four pairs of captive-bred red wolf pups, offspring of a few wild red wolves captured earlier in Louisiana, were released at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

Through a series of innovative management techniques, the population of red wolves in the recovery area rebounded to as many as 120 or so. But after 2010, the program lost much of its political and public support, and management measures were scaled back.

As a result, the wild population crashed to as few as seven known red wolves, as well as 20 or more un-collared red wolves. Numerous lawsuits by nonprofit conservation groups resulted in restoration of the program by 2022 and successful reintroduction of pups into the wild. Sadly, vehicles deaths have undone much of the population’s recovery momentum.

The grant from the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program will provide funds to build 11 wildlife underpasses of various sizes along sections of the highway through the refuge, according to a Dec. 20 press release from the Defenders of Wildlife.

“We know the benefits wildlife corridors can provide to species traversing our state’s roadways, and perhaps none are in more need of safe passage than Red Wolves,” Ben Prater, Defenders’ Southeast program director, said in the release. “In the face of environmental changes that are increasingly transforming and fragmenting the landscape, this funding comes at a critical time, when we have the opportunity to make our roadways safer for motorists and wildlife alike.”

As part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the five-year program included $350 million for grants awarded competitively to states, tribes and federal agencies, the release said.

For 2024, Federal Highways awarded $125 million for 16 grants to design and build new wildlife crossings around the country. NCDOT applied in September for funds to build crossings and associated fencing to guide animals to the crossings on a key stretch of U.S. 64 that for years has been a hotspot for Red Wolves, bears and other species being struck by vehicles. 

Construction of the wildlife passages will also be supported by $4 million in private donations raised by the Center for Biological Diversity, Wildlands’ Network and an anonymous donor.

NCDOT applied in September for funds to build crossings and associated fencing that would guide animals to the crossings. The agency is contributing more than $6 million in matching funds for the project. The Volgenau Foundation, the Felburn Foundation, and the Animal Welfare Institute also provided a total of $305,000.

“Marissa Cox and her team at NCDOT prepared an excellent proposal, with help from Joe Madison at US Fish and Wildlife Service and Travis Wilson at NC Wildlife Resources Commission,” said Nikki Robinson, North Carolina project manager at Wildlands Network. “We’re also really thankful that NCDOT Secretary Joey Hopkins gave this effort his strong and enlightened support.”

As Sutherland added, not only will the project save numerous other animals from vehicular demise, it will also spare many humans the injuries and damages inflicted by striking the creatures.

“The wildlife road crossings that will be built with funding from Federal Highways will benefit not just red wolves but all kinds of other wildlife too. US 64 cuts right through the top end of the immense and biologically diverse Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, and the combination of busy beach highway and high density of wildlife leads to carnage on the asphalt every year.”

As many as 22,000 collisions with large wildlife were reported annually between 2021-2023 in North Carolina, resulting in 20 human fatalities, 2,754 injuries and more than $200 million in damages.

Within the last five years, six red wolves have been struck and killed by vehicles on U.S. 64. A notably tragic loss happened in June 2024, when the death of a breeding male red wolf on the highway led to the deaths of his five young pups in the wild.

A daily roadkill survey conducted by Wildlands starting Aug. 1, 2024, counted to date more than 2,400 dead animals on U.S. 64, including bears, birds, bats, deer and, among others, more than 700 each of turtles and snakes and 600 frogs, Sutherland said.

A 2008-2011 study along U.S. 64, done for NCDOT by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, determined that 890 black bears, which can exceed 600 pounds, crossed the road from March 2009 to March 2011 in the 147,432-acre Alligator River refuge. In addition, the study found 15 GPS-collared black bears crossed the highway 99 times over three years.

“Providing wildlife with safe passage under US 64 will save thousands and thousands of animal lives each year,” Sutherland said.

The hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles that washed ashore after temperatures fell earlier this month on the Outer Banks have been given a second chance.

Over the last few weeks, staff at the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island have been caring for close to 600 sea turtles that were cold stunned, which happens when water temperatures quickly drop before sea turtles can migrate to warmer water. Cold stunning can lead to death if not treated. 

The Roanoke aquarium’s Animal Husbandry Curator Leslie Vegas told Coastal Review Thursday that most of the sea turtles are rescued in the Pamlico Sound. They enter the sound through inlets because they are foraging for food in the subaquatic vegetation, or seagrass, beds. A few wash up on the ocean side, but the vast majority are rescued from the sound.

Vegas is among the more than 135 aquarium staff and volunteers to care for the 553 cold-stunned sea turtles delivered to the aquarium between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7.

As of Dec. 17, the aquarium had received 576 sea turtles including the state’s most common species, the loggerhead, green and Kemp’s ridley, according to the aquarium.

“Because we are still ensuring our numbers are accurate, we don’t have exact species counts yet — and because the event is not technically over — but for this event so far, we have received approximately 580 turtles, with the most being 163 in one day,” Vegas said. So far, 399 turtles have been released as part of this event, some are being cared for at other facilities and about 50 arrived dead or died shortly after arrival.

As of Friday afternoon, the STAR Center was caring for 60 animals, and more releases were expected to take place in the coming weeks, Vegas said subsequently. With temperatures expected to drop again, aquarium staff are preparing for more cold-stunned turtles. 

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission manages the state’s sea turtles, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The great success in returning these turtles quickly to the wild is due to the combined efforts of many different volunteers and collaborators with the NCWRC Sea Turtle Project,” Commission biologist Matthew Godfrey said.

More than 20 different sea turtle project groups along the coast help monitor sea turtle nesting and stranding activities along the coast, including the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T, the National Park Service, North Carolina Aquariums, the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State University, the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

For this recent cold-stunned event, aquarium staff, the STAR Center, and N.E.S.T. volunteers worked with Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Wildlife Resources Commission, the Outer Banks SPCA, area veterinarian clinics, Phideaux fishing vessel, and the U.S. Coast Guard Stations at Hatteras Inlet and Fort Macon worked together to care for and release the sea turtles.

“Sea turtles are important to coastal ecosystems,” and because sea turtles are endangered species, any efforts to protect them are important, Vegas said.

Green sea turtles use sea grass beds as feeding grounds and they eat the subaquatic vegetation itself. “Just like plants on land, the SAVs and sea grass beds require ‘maintenance’ and ‘pruning,’ which the sea turtles provide. Without that maintenance, it’s possible that those beds would suffer enough damage to not thrive,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles use oceanic coastal shorelines to nest and lay eggs and these nests provide stabilization and nutrients to an ecosystem that is often nutrient depleted. These nutrients support the minimal plant life that exists on dunes, which also aid in shoreline stabilization, she continued.

Vegas explained that cold stuns occur naturally.

 “If the decrease in temperature is gradual, the turtles will naturally migrate to southern waters, but if there’s a rapid decrease, the turtles miss the environmental cue to migrate, and the stunning event occurs,” she said.

Sea turtles are exothermic and they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. When the temperature drops, typically below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the sea turtles become weak and lethargic, sometimes appearing deceased due to their extreme inactivity and lethargy. The turtles usually float to the water’s surface and from there, winds, tides or both can wash the turtles onto the shore, she added. Cold-stun events have been documented since the 1800s, and because it is not preventable, the response to these events is human intervention and rehabilitation to rescue as many as possible.

When temperatures drop, “our partners with the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, the National Park Service, and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission scout the soundside shore for turtles and transport them to us at the aquarium,” Vegas said.

NEST Director Jerrica Rea told Coastal Review that the volunteer-run nonprofit organization is thankful for partners in the NPS, ferry system and aquarium.

“Without the collective work from everyone, managing an event like this would not be possible,’ Rea said.

During the cold-stun season that takes place from December to around March, NEST volunteers patrol the soundside waters of Hatteras Island looking for sea turtles.

“We monitor different things like wind direction and water temperature to determine when the turtles may start to struggle. Sea turtles will generally migrate to warmer waters as our water cools in winter but occasionally we will have a perfect storm like this event,” Rea said, referring to the cold-stunning from earlier this month.

The sea turtles are typically juveniles who are content to feed in sound waters and don’t get the cue to leave when the temperature goes from warm to cold quickly. The sudden drop in temperature and the prolonged nature of it led to NEST finding over 560 sea turtles in one week.

Those turtles are taken to a staging site in Buxton where NEST volunteers take measurements, photos and document them, Rea said. They are then transported to STAR center at the aquarium, a more than 100-mile round trip ride.

“As an all volunteer organization, we are extremely proud of the efforts from our cold stun team. They work in the worst conditions-rain, snow, wind and freezing temperatures. We have over 20 patrol responders, 50 staging site volunteers and many more transporters,” Rea said. “The dedication our volunteers have to rescuing sea turtles is indescribable. It’s an honor to be part of such an incredible team and to see the community come together to help this endangered species.”

Turtle triage, treatment

Once the turtle arrives at the aquarium, staff administer fluid therapy since the turtles have likely been exposed and may have become dehydrated while stunned.

The length, width and weight of each sea turtle is recorded as well as any abnormalities or injuries. Blood work determines if there are nutritional or other deficiencies, like organ impairment. Because their organs are not functioning optimally while stunned, additional medication is not typically dispensed until they are gradually brought to healthy, warm temperatures, Vegas explained.

Bringing sea turtles up to the right temperature cannot happen fast, either. For this process, the turtles are moved to different sections of the aquarium, each set at a slightly warmer temperature, to ensure that the warming is gradual.

The Roanoke Island aquarium uses an incident command system and emergency response in the form of triage, like how humans are triaged in emergency care, to rehabilitate the sea turtles.

“We split the turtles up based on the level of care necessary to release them, as well as by species and size. Some species can be housed together and some cannot. In an event this large, those that are most likely to survive are prioritized to maximize our number of turtles released,” Vegas said. “We provide supportive care to those with more complicated medical issues until we can devote more time to them, after healthier turtles are released.”

The sea turtles that only needed to be warmed up were released within two to four days of rescue. “The more complicated medical cases could be here for weeks or months depending on their rate of progress and the care they may require,” Vegas said.

“If the individual turtle has additional medical needs, we keep the turtle in house for treatment, to go through the full rehabilitation process that addresses their specific medical needs,” Vegas added, but if no other health issues are identified beyond cold stunning, the turtles are released to the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible after they are at temperature, their bloodwork is cleared by veterinary staff, and they exhibit normal sea turtle behaviors.

“The releases are made possible through our relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard at Cape Hatteras, who are kind enough to transport our turtles to the Gulf Stream,” Vegas said.

The incident command system ensures that all departments within the aquarium are engaged to provide excellent turtle care and supportive care for humans,” Vegas said.

“This event involved many partners and staff, and that has been the highlight of it all for me. Seeing the dedication and teamwork that was fostered, along with the animals that were saved, are the things we are most proud to share,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles that appear still or sluggish in the sound water or on a beach during winter months should not be pushed back into the water or moved. Report any turtles under duress to the Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline via N.E.S.T. at 252-441-8622.

The N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island operates under the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Sea Turtle Permit No. 24ST46.

Coastal Review will not publish Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

Black Heart’s sighting wasn’t necessarily unusual, but exciting nonetheless.

The North Atlantic right whale, around 19, made her celebrated debut a little more than 2 miles east of Cape Lookout National Seashore’s High Hills on Nov. 20, five days into the start of calving season.

The mom of one, on the record at least, was spotted roughly 1,000 feet above by a small survey team panning ocean waters off North Carolina’s shores.

And, until April 15, when another calving season comes to an end for the critically endangered species, this same survey team will take to the skies every day. Weather permitting, of course.

It’s been five years since the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute’s North Carolina Early Warning System, or NCWS, survey team was financially resurrected by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Since the early 2000s, three-person teams collected information and aerial imagery off the North Carolina and South Carolina coasts regularly before the mid-2010s, when funding ceased for the program.

Now survey teams, including one based in Beaufort, one in Georgetown, South Carolina, another in St. Simons Island, Georgia, and a survey team with Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, take to the skies to scour hundreds of miles of the southern eastern seaboard each week through this crucial five-month period for right whales.

“More eyes in the sky has been fantastic,” said Melanie White, a research biologist and North Atlantic Right Whale Conservation project manager. “We’ve seen that there are sightings of whales that are being seen in the past years off the North Carolina coast that have not made their way further south into South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Every single whale is so vitally important to the population, especially those adult females. Anything that can be done to help give these animals a chance is really, really important because their numbers are so small.”

There are an estimated 370 North Atlantic right whales. About 70 of those are reproductively active females, which carry their pregnancies one year and birth no more than one calf in a season.

Researchers can only hope Black Heart has made her return to warmer waters to give birth this season. It’s simply not possible to tell whether a female is pregnant, White said.

Several hours after White spoke with Coastal Review, Oceana publicly confirmed the first whale calf of the 2024-25 season had been spotted with its mom by a boater off Cape Romain, South Carolina.

The yet-to-be identified mom and calf were first documented four days after Black Heart was spotted by researchers.

“The first calf of every calving season brings hope and excitement for the future of this critically endangered species, with only around 370 remaining,” Oceana Campaign Director Gib Brogan said in a statement. “Unfortunately, this first calf also evokes the fresh and painful memory of the first calf from last season that was killed by a boat strike after only a few months of entering this world.”

North Atlantic right whales migrate hundreds of miles between their northern feeding grounds south during calving season.

Their long-distance treks along the East Coast of the United States make them particularly vulnerable to human activity.

Boat strikes and fishing gear entanglement are the leading causes of right whale deaths.

“So, part of the reason for us to be conducting these surveys is to know their location so that information can be relayed to the maritime community,” White said.

When a whale is sighted, its location is added to a whale map, which is a public site.

Information gathered during each sighting is share between various research organizations, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Georgia and South Carolina’s departments of natural resources, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command, U.S. Navy, Duke University and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

“We’re really just trying to keep these animals safe,” White said.

By federal law, vessels must remain beyond 500 yards of right whales.

Seasonal management areas have been designated offshore from North Carolina down to northeast Florida to reduce the risk of vessel strikes. During calving season, vessels 65 feet and longer must maintain a speed of 10 knots or less.

Mariners also play an important role in helping report right whale sightings because they have an advantage aerial survey teams do not. Right whales are capable of holding their breaths for almost an hour at a time, which means they can be submerged and out of sight as a Cessna flying a survey team overhead makes a sweep of the area.

“The more eyes on the water the better,” White said. “Even though there are four aerial survey teams that are conducting work in the southeast each winter, we can’t be everywhere at the same moment so we do rely heavily on any public sighting information that comes in. Every sighting is an important sighting.”

Every good weather day – clear skies with winds 15 knots or less — aerial early warning system survey teams typically remain in the air around six hours at a time before landing, refueling and, as daylight allows, returning to the sky to what are called track lines. There are 107 track lines, well over 400 miles nautical miles of coast line, between North and South Carolina.

These track lines are flown in an east-to-west direction up to 40 miles offshore.

While two members of a survey team look out for whales, the third is a dedicated ground contact, relaying information about the airplane’s location to a field team on the ground.

Each whale that is spotted is photographed and can be individually identified by the callosity pattern on its head. These patterns are similar to human fingerprints.

Right whales are born with these patterns, which are rough patches of skin, on their heads. Within the nooks and crannies of these rough patches live colonies of tiny crustaceans known as cyamids. Cyamids are bright white, which allows researchers to see a whale’s callosity pattern.

And this is how many, but not all, of the whales get named, “based on that kind of pattern on the top of their heads,” White said.

All of the whales are, however, identified by a four-digit code that is referenced for cataloging purposes.

As of last week, Koala and Curlew have been tallied in the sightings this calving season.

Anyone who sees a right whale is asked to call 1-800-WHALE-HELP or go to SCG on VHF Ch. 16. #givethemspace

Deep-diving whales that rely on sound rather than vision to hunt in the ocean’s darkest depths are confusing plastic marine debris for prey, new findings suggest.

For the study, “Acoustic signature of plastic marine debris mimics the prey items of deep-diving cetaceans,” researchers from Duke University as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, compared the way sound bounces off plastic that is floating underwater to that of typical whale prey, in this case, squid and squid beaks.

It is widely assumed that seals and toothed whales mistake plastic for food because of appearance, particularly plastic bags and films that look like squid and jellyfish, according to the study, but that doesn’t explain why deep-diving species like sperm whales and beaked whales that use echolocation are ingesting plastic. To echolocate, the whale emits sounds that reflect off an object. The whale then interprets the object’s target strength, or measurement of the intensity of the sound’s echo.

“Assuming these animals are ingesting plastic at depth and not at/near the surface, they are consuming plastic without visually identifying it. Deep-diving toothed whales may therefore be misinterpreting acoustic cues when echolocating; presumably plastic’s acoustic signature resembles that of primary prey items, driving plastic consumption,” the study states.

Researchers for the new study found that 100% of the plastics they tested that are typically found in stomachs of stranded whales — plastic bags, rope and bottles — have either similar or stronger acoustic target strengths, which is how strong a sound wave is reflected off an object, compared to that of squid.

The findings support the study’s hypothesis that deep-diving whales are consuming plastic because of “a misperception of acoustic signals.”

Duke University doctoral candidate Greg Merrill Jr. led the peer-reviewed study published a few weeks ago in Science Direct.

From California, Merrill has been at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort for the past few years to examine the impacts of microplastics and large plastic marine debris on whales.

Merrill graduated from the University of California, Davis, with a bachelor’s in biological science in 2014. He then pursued his master’s at the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he worked with northern fur seals, trying to understand how climate change was impacting their breeding success. That experience planted the seed for this study.

While he was working on his master’s, Merrill said he spent many months on the remote Pribilof Islands of Alaska in the middle of the Bering Sea where the threatened northern fur seal breeds.

“All too common a sight was a seal entangled in plastic debris, such as packing bands and discarded fishing net. The animals often died as a result. This motivated me to study the impacts of plastic pollution on other marine mammals like the deep-diving sperm whales and beaked whales off the North Carolina coast,” he said.

Merrill explained that these animals, in particular, hunt especially deep in the ocean where there is no light to see. Instead, they rely on echolocation, or biosonar.

“In other words, they use sound waves to locate and identify food. Because we know from autopsies of stranded whales that they are eating plastic, it occurred to me that plastic may be causing whales to misinterpret their echolocation signals. So, we wanted to see if that was true,” Merrill explained.

He said in simple terms, the study was to see if plastic in the water confused echolocating whales into believing it was instead food.

“We collected plastic trash from the beach and then blasted those objects and whale prey with various sound waves at sea using an instrumented called an echosounder mounted to the bottom of our research vessel. The plastic objects were strung up on monofilament fishing line and held underneath the instrument while the measurements were recorded,” he said.

An echosounder is a device that uses sound waves to measure the water depth or where objects are in the water. The hull-mounted echosounder tested three different sounds at the same frequencies of whale clicks.

“Based on the measurements we recorded, plastic has similar or stronger echoes than the whale prey items we tested. The way an object reflects sound depends on what it’s made of,” Merrill explained, for example what the plastic is made of or (its) thickness. “Plastic unfortunately ‘sounds’ the same as whale food.”

The study notes that plastic pollution in the oceans is pervasive and increasing with more than 1,200 marine species known to ingest plastic debris. For marine mammals, there are hundreds of examples of whales, seals, sea lions and manatees “consuming plastic, ingestion of which constitutes a major threat to individual health,” the study states. “Consequences of macroplastic ingestion include abrasion and perforation of tissues, infection, reduced reproduction and growth, suffocation, clogging the baleen filter false satiation, occlusion of the gastrointestinal tract, starvation, and ultimately death.”

The finding underscores just how complex the plastic pollution issue is, Merrill said, adding the most common plastics found in whale stomachs are plastic bags, single-use packaging, and fishing gear such as nets, ropes, and lines.

“I’m not sure many people would have ever imagined that the way something sounds could have such big consequences as affecting large whales who hunt so very far away from human activities. The scale of the plastic pollution problem is enormous, a global issue that requires policy action at the level of local all the way to international governments. And it is having so many impacts on our planet and on human health, Merrill said.

He encourages “anyone who cares about this issue” to contact their elected officials and let them know you want to see action on this front.

Michael Cove, a conservation ecologist and mammologist, told Coastal Review that “this research was fascinating and provides some much-needed insights into how and why marine mammals might intentionally ingest plastic waste that could severely impact them and ultimately lead to their deaths.”

The research curator for the mammalogy at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, Cove explained that so much of our perception of food and foraging is based on visual cues, because humans use their eyes to find food, “and that has been shown in research with seabirds and sea turtles, but many deep-sea-diving marine mammals are going off of sound through echolocation and not sight.”

Studies like Merrill’s show that there’s still a lot to learn about how some of the sperm and beaked whales forage. In many cases, there’s still much to understand about what they forage because they are feeding at such great depths, Cove explained. He has often assumed that most plastic consumption is incidental or intentional based on visual cues, citing Mylar balloons looking like squid as an example.

But this study, “points to intentional consumption of plastics based on their sound, which spells trouble for deep sea diving whales since the accumulation of plastic in our oceans continues to increase and it persists for thousands of years.”

Cove said that this work highlights and renews that calls to end balloon releases, especially in coastal areas, should be revisited and policies to reduce plastics entering marine food webs will be critical to maintaining maintain diverse marine mammal communities into the future.

“After all, marine mammals along with sharks and large fishes make up the top of the food chain, which largely regulate the lower trophic levels (links in the chain) and the loss of any species and that top-down regulation can have cascading effects throughout the community that could even influence fisheries and ecosystem health processes well beyond the deep ocean,” he said.

Coastal Review will not publish Monday in observance of Veterans Day.

The recent reclassification of the red-cockaded woodpecker from endangered to threatened came some 25 years earlier than initially anticipated.

Wildlife officials attribute the downlisting, announced Oct. 24, to widespread, collective efforts between government agencies and multiple organizations that have worked to restore and manage habitat on which the small birds depend.

But some conservation groups argue that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision prematurely removes protections for the species because its habitat remains fragmented, which keeps the birds isolated to certain areas, making them particularly vulnerable in a changing climate.

The red-cockaded woodpecker was listed as endangered in 1970 following decades of habitat loss – largely longleaf pine forests – to logging, fire suppression, urban development and agricultural sprawl. Those practices stripped the nation’s Southeastern landscape of longleaf pine forests from Virginia to Florida to Texas.

John Doresky, Fish and Wildlife Service red-cockaded woodpecker recovery coordinator, said the downlisting “speaks volumes” to the work that continues to be done on the ground to recuperate the birds’ habitat.

“What it says to me is that the scientific advisory committee that was put together that developed the recovery plan, their vision of how we needed to move forward was spot on,” he said.

Here in North Carolina, ongoing collaborations between state agencies, Department of Defense installations, and numerous conservation organizations are actively restoring longleaf pine forests.

Last year alone, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission burned tens of thousands of acres for the sake of red-cockaded woodpecker habitat creation and restoration.

“The red-cockaded woodpecker is pretty nuanced in that it responds well to active management,” said Nick Shaver, the commission’s coastal eco-region supervisor. “If you create the habitat where it wants to be it will more than likely move there and that’s the reason for the success story. Lots of partnerships have been formed that benefit that critter and lots of land management has been done in the name of the red-cockaded woodpecker and they responded.”

Moving toward recovery

The downlisting means that protections are still in place for red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Under what is often called the “4(d) Rule,” which the Fish and Wildlife Service uses to issue regulations tailored to conserve a threatened species, land managers will continue to have to follow best management practices and rules established by state agencies, Doresky said.

But the rule somewhat loosens what have been historically restrictive land management practices, giving property managers some liberties they have not had these last 50 or so years – as long as the intention is to create old-growth forest habitat for the woodpeckers.

“Generally speaking, the protections remain the same as they were when (the woodpecker) was listed as endangered,” Doresky said.

Land managers will not have to go through some of the more laborious processes they did before to get approval to apply certain management tools such as prescribed fire and chemical applications.

For example, land managers who want to treat a landscape with chemicals have to ensure they’re not making an application of a chemical too caustic or apply it at the wrong time of the year.

Managers who choose to use prescribed burns or thinning to spur healthy pine forests with the goal of creating old growth, which is essential to red-cockaded woodpeckers, will not have to take as many cautions to protect and preserve each tree that has a woodpecker cavity.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers bore cavities into living pine trees, a process that takes the little birds, on average, about a year. These woodpeckers live in groups, or clusters, and help each other raise their young.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers prefer mature, longleaf pine forests that are generally more than 80 years old.

“Because the status is better we’re willing to accept some of those short-term potential risks,” Doresky explained. “We have enough tools now to stabilize and increase these activities in addition to these management strategies in the recovery plan. Once those are in place you’re really just waiting on time and you’re hoping that there isn’t some catastrophic event.”

Too soon?

Opponents of the downlisting say now is simply not the right time, particularly as the Southeast is experiencing more frequent, powerful coastal storms, sea level rise, and rising temperatures fueled by climate change.

According to an Oct. 24 Center for Biological Diversity release, Hurricane Helene destroyed 18 nest cavity trees in one area in Florida alone.

“The recovery of an endangered species is always something to celebrate but, in this case, it’s premature,” Ben Prater, Defenders of Wildlife Southeast program director, said in a statement. “It’s ironic that the decision to downlist has been made in the wake of one of the largest and most destructive storms to hit the Southeast in recorded history, fracturing crucial connections between red-cockaded woodpecker habitats. Decades of significant progress have been made to recover this species and manage habitats effectively — progress which could now be upended at a critical time.”

Defenders of Wildlife was among two dozen conservation groups that signed off on a 39-page letter in 2022 imploring the Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain the red-cockaded woodpeckers’ endangered status.

The letter, submitted on behalf of the groups by the Southern Environmental Law Center argued Fish and Wildlife had not justified downlisting the species

“While it’s encouraging that the service responded to many of our concerns by retaining more of the bird’s prior legal protections, the downlisting decision is still not based on the best interest of the species,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney and Wildlife Program leader Ramona McGee said in a 2022 statement. “The service has not met its own scientific recovery plan criteria to justify loosening protections for this imperiled Southern icon.” 

The letter was signed by organizations in North Carolina, including Audubon North Carolina, North Carolina Sierra Club and North Carolina Wildlife Federation.

“These beautiful birds are making an incredible comeback thanks to the Endangered Species Act,” Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Decades of active management by local, state and federal agencies have paid off, but a lot more still needs to be done to protect the long-leaf pine forests these woodpeckers and hundreds of other species call home.”

The future for recovery

The red-cockaded woodpeckers’ new status is more than two decades ahead of when the scientific advisory committee that created the recovery plan for the species anticipated.

While that may be a testament to the effectiveness of the strategies included in the recovery plan, it’s no indication of when the woodpeckers could be delisted.

The delisting criteria for the species includes that they are no longer dependent on artificial cavity inserts, which are used to stabilize and increase populations. Inserts expedite the creation a tree cavity.

Cavities are critical to the red-cockaded woodpeckers’ survival.

“That, to me, is sort of the variable that makes the prediction hereafter almost impossible because almost every single population has false cavities that are sustaining these populations at probably 50%, maybe larger,” Doresky said. “So, trying to anticipate how long it will take for properties to get trees old enough and to no longer be dependent on those cavities that we put in, yeah, that’s a tough one.”

In North Carolina, multiple agencies are partners are working to expand longleaf pine forests, also referred to as stands, in the state by actively replacing what have been commercial loblolly pine forests, which are forests grown and harvested for commercial purposes, with longleaf pines.

But the longleaf pine is one of the more slow-growing pine trees, Shaver said, and they take decades to mature.

“You’re looking 50, 60 years for stands that we’re establishing right now to be mature,” he said. “But because of the vast effort of longleaf restoration that really kicked off 30 years ago, 40 years ago, those initial stands are going to be mature in 20, 30 years. The outlook is really good because the expansion of longleaf restoration across the southeast, as those trees grow up through time, it’s going to give more and more and more land for those birds to expand.”

A marketing campaign to highlight the birth of six Asian small-clawed otters at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher was given national recognition.

“Whole Lotta Otta” is one of the 28 projects recognized in September during the Association of Zoos and Aquariums annual conference held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

The aquarium earned the Excellence in Marketing Award for a campaign with a budget under $175,000.

“Whole Lotta Otta” tells the story of parents Leia and Quincy welcoming two litters of three pups in less than a year as well as work of the aquarium to save this vulnerable species.

These otters are native to Southeast Asia, southern India, southern China, Indonesia and the Philippines. The aquarium is working to save them through the AZA Species Survival Plan Program.

The marketing campaign featured the otters on static and digital billboards, buses, shuttles, social media posts and digital ads to raise awareness about the otters at the aquarium and share their story of survival. 

“We were thrilled to bring home the AZA top honors marketing award as the Aquarium team has embraced the conservation focus and engaged the community in the individual action they can take to save this species. The excitement over having two births in less than a year gave us the idea for Whole Lotta Otta and the opportunity to shine a light on how critical it is that the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is saving species through our work with the AZA,” said Deyanira Romo Rossell, communications manager at the aquarium.

Did you hear the one about the alligator?

An alligator walks into … a road, a pool, a miniature golf course, onto a beach, underneath a car, up to the front door of a storefront, by a back entrance of a police station.

Stop me if you read about this while perusing the headlines of your local newspaper, heard about it on the 6 o’clock news, or saw it plastered across social media platforms this past summer.

Alligators have made quite the splash (pun intended) in recent months here in southeastern North Carolina, where seemingly numerous public appearances by these living dinosaurs have produced dramatic headlines and videos shared not only across the state, but the country.

But these typically reclusive reptiles aren’t looking for all the attention they’ve been getting, experts say.

They just want to be left alone. Problem is, they’re being squeezed out of seclusion as housing developments and retail centers continue to crop up along the coast.

“The ever-growing population along the coast of North Carolina is the biggest threat to wildlife in general,” said John Harrelson, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “Habitat loss is the biggest threat to wildlife in general, not just alligators, and when people move in and we build communities in places that haven’t historically had people, then that leads to lots of interactions.”

And the more interactions that occur, the more comfortable alligators become around people.

Harrelson puts alligators into one of two categories: country alligators and city alligators.

Country alligators inhabit areas up the Northeast Cape Fear River. Those alligators generally try their best to steer clear of humans, he said.

But city alligators get used to seeing people and, just like squirrels, birds, deer and other animals, they become habituated, “realizing that people, for the most part, don’t mean them any harm and that there’s nothing to be worried about,” Harrelson said.

Think of it like a cost-benefit analysis where an alligator weighs the risk of being around people and decides whether the reward is worth the risk.

“And often times the reward is great enough,” Harrelson said.

While development strips away their natural habitat, it tends to provide pockets of prime real estate for alligators in the form of retention ponds.

Harrelson works in the commission’s District 4, which includes Brunswick County, and is home to a reported 30 scenic golf courses (think about all of the water hazards — well, not a hazard from a gator’s point of view — on just one of those courses).

Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender counties are home to the largest populations of American alligators in North Carolina and their turf runs from the state’s coastal plains to Texas.

With its barrier island beaches, proximity to Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and its numerous golf courses, Brunswick County has become a draw for retirees who, for many, move in from areas where there are no alligators.

Pair that with the influx of tourists who flock to the county each summer – Oak Island’s population more than quintuples between May and August – and odds are high people are going to encounter alligators.

Boiling Spring Lakes Police Capt. Windy Hager knows that when tourism season picks up, so too do the number of calls going in to the Brunswick County town’s law enforcement center about alligator sightings.

“When it’s warmer (alligators) become more active and, when you’ve got people who are not familiar with alligators they get a little excited about, ‘Oh, there’s one in the lake!’ Well, yes, that’s where they live and that’s what we have to tell them a lot of times,” Hager said.

Hager has lived in the area more than 10 years. She’s accustomed to seeing alligators pretty regularly in their own habitat.

But one had to be removed from a swimming pool a couple of weeks ago and the unnamed storm that pummeled Brunswick County with catastrophic rainfall Sept. 16 means there’s a lot of water in places that were previously dry.

“I know that there’s two (alligators) in what used to be somebody’s front yard right now in the city because their front yard is flooded,” Hager said. “But they’re just doing their thing and the people who live there are giving them their space. The people are not messing with them and the alligators aren’t messing with the people so they’re sharing space right now.”

Two days before he spoke in a telephone interview with Coastal Review, Sunset Beach Police Animal Control Officer Bill Arp had removed a small alligator hanging out underneath a car.

“They’ll wind up in people’s garages and on people’s porches, underneath decks, under cars. We find them all over the place,” he said. “Unfortunately, because of such huge development down here, their habitat is starting to shrink and that’s what’s happening. People are calling us and wondering, ‘Why’s it under my car? Why are they on my porch? Why are they in my garage?’ Well, that’s why because the development is robbing them of their other habitat.”

Alligator Do’s and Don’ts

If an alligator settles in an area near you, wildlife and law enforcement officials have tips on how to safely cohabitate.

“A lot of people think, even with birds and deer, it’s nice to feed them,” Arp said. “But alligators, you don’t. Everybody knows an alligator is an apex predator. They’re nice to watch. They’re nice to take pictures of, but to feed them, that’s not a good idea.”

Remember what Harrelson said earlier in the story about city alligators?

“Individual people feeding alligators is the worst thing you can do,” he said. “Alligators are wild animals and they’ve got to work for their food. An easy meal means, ‘hey I don’t have to continue to fail and fail and make all these attempts when I’m not successful. I can just wait for this person to walk over and, if I approach them, they’re going to give me chicken or bread or marshmallows, a fish scrap or whatever else they’ve got.’ We deal with this all the time, particularly with folks who aren’t locals.”

It is illegal to feed alligators. It is also illegal to kill them.

American alligators are protected by the Endangered Species Act as threatened. In North Carolina, a permit is required to hunt alligators. The monthlong season is limited to population control at the request of municipalities in Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Hyde, Jones, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, and Pender counties, according to the WRC website.

“The Commission does not plan to issue permits to take American alligators, outside of municipality requested population reduction hunts, until further research is conducted to determine the conditions under which alligator populations would be sustained while allowing limited harvest,” the site states.

Harrelson said that alligators are relocated only as a last resort because they, like other wildlife, have a propensity to travel long distances to return to where they were captured.

“This is something that we face ongoing and, as biologists, something that we have to figure out how to address going forward because our agency isn’t going to pick up and move animals,” Harrelson said. “We want to let wildlife be wildlife for as long as we can and maintain the ecosystems that are out there.”

As people build, alligators move. Males can occupy areas greater than 2 miles so, when they move, they’re crossing roads, ditches and yards.

An alligator may be removed from a property when it is considered a nuisance – at least 4 feet long and poses a threat to people, pets or property. To report a potential nuisance alligator, call the N.C. Wildlife Helpline at 866-318-2401.

Experts say simply spraying an alligator with a water hose usually prompts the animal to move away.

If you’re taking a walk and spot an alligator in or near your path, give the alligator a wide berth and go around it. Never walk up to one or try to touch one.

“When an alligator is on a sidewalk or up on a roadway, he’s not hunting, he’s not searching out food. If we give them an opportunity to make that move on their own, most of the time, they will,” Harrelson said. “Our biggest thing, of course, is to keep people safe and then let the animals be animals. That’s what we’re always striving toward.”

Nearly two dozen organizations have filed a petition seeking federal protection for the only coastal estuarine-dependent turtle species in the world.

Diamondback terrapins, living mostly in coastal marshes from Massachusetts to Texas, have been killed off by the tens of thousands over the past few decades, making it one of the most endangered species on the planet, according to a 130-page petition filed last month with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity and 20 other organizations have partnered to petition NOAA Fisheries to list diamondback terrapins as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, a move supported by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a global environmental network of scientists, environmental experts, governments and civil organizations.

“We talked with every diamondback terrapin biologist out there, dozens across a 15-state range, from Massachusetts to Louisiana,” said Will Harlan, Southeast director and senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It was clear from talking with all the biologists that they are very concerned about this species. We’ve seen 75% declines across most of their range and several complete extirpations of populations in certain places, so they’re declining and not recovering.”

That’s despite efforts to bring attention to the plight of these elusive turtles, identifiable by the diamond-shaped patterns on their shells, in coastal states along the Eastern Seaboard and across the Gulf of Mexico.

While development and rising seas are depleting the diamondback terrapins’ habitat — up to 60% of their coastal marsh habitat is expected to be wiped out by the end of this century — their greatest threat today is the crab pot.

Each year, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 terrapins drown in crab traps, Harlan said.

Terrapins are air-breathing reptiles that may climb through a crab pot’s funnel-like entrance to get to bait or simply because they are inquisitive animals. Once inside, a terrapin, like a crab, cannot get out of a trap.

“Their natural curiosity can cause a domino effect, whereby Terrapins may follow each other into the pots, particularly during the breeding season,” according to the petition.

Commercial and recreational crabbers drop an estimated 3 million crab pots each year into inland coastal waters. Each year an estimated 25-50% of all crab traps are lost or abandoned.

There are an estimated 150,000 of these “ghost traps” in Chesapeake Bay alone, Harlan said. An estimated 250,000 derelict traps are left in the Gulf of Mexico each year, he added.

“We’ve got to get the bycatch reduction devices on crab traps,” Harlan said. “That’s priority number one. It’s a very inexpensive and easy solution that won’t affect crab harvests, but will save a very threatened species.”

The Center for Biological Diversity has been working at the grassroots level up to the state level to advocate that crabbers install bycatch reduction devices on their traps.

These little, plastic devices typically cost no more than $1 each. They keep out turtles, reducing terrapin deaths by 94%, according to biologists.

Harlan said there has been some success in getting bycatch reduction device requirements implemented in Florida and “a few other states.”

“But it’s clearly not enough and not the scale needed to save these turtles,” he said.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries a few years ago created two terrapin management areas – one in the area of the Masonboro Island Reserve and the other around the Zeke’s Island Reserve and Bald Head State Natural Area. Fishers who crab in these designated areas have to use state-approved terrapin bycatch reduction devices on their pots between March 1 and Oct. 31.

Hope Sutton, eastern wildlife diversity supervisor with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, said in an email that there have been “a number of studies” in the state examining different types of bycatch reduction devices and the potential impacts of these devices to crab harvests.

Diamondback terrapins are listed as a species of concern in the state. Terrapins are included as a species of greatest conservation need in the state’s Wildlife Action Plan.

But the lack of a federal listing status makes it difficult for states to take measures to protect both the species and its habitat.

Diamondback terrapins have different status and different rules “across the states that comprise the species’ range,” Sutton continued. “The mix of statuses and protective measures across the states this species occurs in contributes to confusion for fishers as well as making collaboration across state lines more challenging for researchers and resource managers. It also makes communicating with the public about the species more challenging. Federal status could make some of these activities easier by reducing this confusion and allowing collaborative efforts to be simplified and efforts to be more efficient.”

When a species is listed, funding sources are available to cover the costs of developing and implementing conservation programs for that species.

“If the diamondback terrapin became listed, these funding sources could be pursued by individual states or cooperatively by a group of states,” Sutton said.

NOAA is required to issue a preliminary decision within 90 days of the petition filing.

“If it gets a negative finding then that’s the end of the process,” Harlan explained. “But a positive 90-day finding kicks off a 12-month status review. During that one year they will conduct a much deeper dive into the population status of this species. They will fund additional research for assessing the threats and getting stronger population estimates in certain areas.”

After the one-year review, NOAA fisheries will release its final decision on whether to list the species.

If the agency declines to list the diamondback terrapin endangered, Harlan said organizations will continue advocating for state-level enacted bycatch reduction rules.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has confirmed that a litter of five endangered red wolf pups has died after their father was killed by a vehicle on U.S. Highway 64, leaving fewer than 20 of their species remaining in the wild.

The pups were the offspring of a 2-year-old female red wolf named Chance, otherwise designated 2413F, and her partner, 2444M and were born in the spring. The father was killed by a vehicle soon after the pups were born.

The highway runs through the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Five other red wolves have been killed by vehicles in the past 14 months. Pup survival is always a concern after the mortality of one of the breeding pair, particularly red wolves with their first litter, such as was the case with this pair, officials said.

“The tragic deaths of these five pups might have been prevented if we had wildlife crossings in red wolf country,” said Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s shocking to see how a single vehicle collision has ripple effects across the critically endangered wild red wolf population. Wildlife crossings can protect people and save red wolves from extinction, but we need to build them before it’s too late.”

The organization noted how red wolves are monogamous and mate for life, and both parents participate in caring for their pups. “After the death of her partner, Chance was likely unable to feed and care for her pups by herself as a first-time, single mother,” the group said.

The group has also called for wildlife crossings to be built along Highway 64, which it said would benefit more than two dozen other species, including black bears, bobcats, spotted turtles and river otters.

“The crossings also protect human lives. Wildlife collisions kill more than 200 people in the United States every year and cause $10 billion in damages. Wildlife crossings have been shown to reduce vehicle collisions by 97%. Crossings along Highway 64 would safeguard animals and an increasing number of motorists traveling to and from the Outer Banks,” according to the group.

In a campaign to build wildlife crossings along U.S. 64, an anonymous donor pledged a $2 million match. More than $1 million has been raised. The wildlife crossing fundraising deadline has been extended to Oct. 31. Donations to the matching fund can be made at SaveRedWolves.org.

On Aug. 1, with funding from Defenders of Wildlife and Animal Welfare Institute, the Wildlands Network launched a roadkill monitoring survey on U.S. 64. During the first month of surveys, more than 1,300 dead vertebrate animals were documented between Columbia and Manns Harbor, along with about 6 miles of U.S. Highway 264 south from the U.S. 64 junction. The group said the total included nearly 300 frogs, more than 400 snakes and about 500 turtles, in addition to a dead bear, bobcat, and mink.

“Building wildlife road crossings and fencing (to guide the animals to the crossings) on US 64 would help prevent this incredible carnage and help save the red wolf from extinction in the wild, in addition to boosting public safety as well (no one wants to hit a 600-lb black bear on the way to their beach vacation!),” said Dr. Ron Sutherland, chief scientist with the Wildlands Network.

The Fish and Wildlife Service estimates the current red wolf population at 17-19.

Featured Image

Blaze, a piping plover shown here on the beach in Waukegan, Illinois, has returned for the second consecutive year to winter at Masonboro Inlet in New Hanover County. The small, but determined piping plover was abandoned before she hatched and became among the first captive-reared chicks to be released in Illinois from the University of Michigan Biological Station in 2023. Within about two months of her release into the wild, Blaze migrated south to spend the winter at Masonboro Inlet, according to Audubon North Carolina. Audubon officials spotted Blaze Aug. 15 at the inlet, returning from Waukegan, where she successfully raised three chicks.

Piping plover are federally listed as threatened on the East Coast and listed as endangered in the Great Lakes region.

Sandy spits created by inlets provide havens for shorebirds to rest and roost and, for some, nesting habitat.

“No one else would be monitoring for Piping Plovers in these areas if we didn’t,” said Lindsay Addison, coastal biologist at Audubon North Carolina, in a statement. “We monitor the areas around Wilmington as part of ongoing shorebird surveys, along with our regular work to protect and manage shorebird habitat, including at the south end of Wrightsville Beach.”

Photo courtesy of the Lake County (Illinois) Audubon Society.

Contributed by the Jennette’s Pier staff

Along coastal Carolina’s beach towns, parks and residential areas, there’s a building movement to reduce artificial lighting that negatively impacts wildlife.

The North Carolina Aquariums are proud to be joining an ever-growing movement of migration to wildlife-friendly lighting, which often shine an amber hue.

In Nags Head, Jennette’s Pier has transformed its nighttime outline with new shielded fixtures with amber lighting, which ultimately creates less light pollution, according to Director Mike Remige.

“This specific color temperature is far less disruptive to insects, bats, birds, and, most importantly along the oceanfront, sea turtles,” he said. “It also reduces eye strain for people, better preserving our night vision.”

The idea of transforming lighting at the three aquariums and Jennette’s Pier has been developing for years, according to Dr. Carol Price, conservation research coordinator for the North Carolina Aquariums.

The North Carolina Aquariums’ Conservation Action Plan first prioritized the use of wildlife-friendly lighting at Aquarium facilities back in 2021, Price said.

In January 2023, sea turtle conservation groups from near and far assembled for the North Carolina Sea Turtle Symposium at the University of North Carolina Wilmington where light pollution was a “huge topic,” Price said.

Conservation leaders met again in March for the Southeast Regional Sea Turtle conference in Orange Beach, Alabama, where the topic was again discussed. The pair of meetings were an “inspirational call for action,” Price said.

Scientists have been collecting data on how light pollution impacts nesting turtles and their clutch of babies or hatchlings.

“We know nesting mothers may not nest where there’s light pollution,” Price added.

Another problem light pollution creates has to do with hatchlings making their dash to the sea.

When sea turtle nests erupt or “boil” with the tiny babies, the reptiles are hard-wired to use natural environmental cues, such as following the brightest horizon like the reflection of the moon and stars on the water and the downward slope of the beach, to find their way to the ocean.

Light pollution confuses this innate navigation system, resulting in hatchlings becoming disoriented and unable to reach the ocean before they fall prey to predators or succumb to dehydration, according to aquarist Michele Lamping with the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

She has spent the last 20 years working with sea turtles, which include three endangered species: Kemp’s ridley, Atlantic hawksbill and leatherback, as well as two threatened species loggerhead and green sea turtles.

She has a passion for protecting them all and is currently involved in several important projects including the operation of the N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores’ sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation operations.

She also is the volunteer coordinator for the Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Patrols, which protects sea turtle nests.

Lamping has attended numerous lighting workshops and conferences. She says there’s a movement to curtail and negate harmful artificial lighting across all of North Carolina.

“We’re also trying to address negative impacts to wildlife from all lighting including residential, municipal and pier lighting along our beaches,” Lamping said. “Northwest Florida has already gone through lighting retrofits, now Southwest Florida is going through it too.”

Price and Lamping worked directly with Kristi Spohn of SESCO Lighting’s Florida Branch who crafted the plan for Jennette’s Pier’s refit. There is a growing need in North Carolina for industry leaders specializing in wildlife-friendly lighting, they said.

Price and Lamping said it took many steps and many years to get the project to this point. They each hope it will inspire other piers and properties to do the same.

Remige reports that a significant amount of unrestricted support funds from the N.C. Aquarium Society paid for the 200 new fixtures. These include low mounted pathways lights along with wall sconces, overhead recessed can lights as well as bollards and lampposts.

“Fortunately, the changeover came right when many of the old bollards and lampposts were starting to fail,” Remige said.

A certified electrical contractor plans to wrap up installation of Phase 1 soon, Remige noted. The 29 tall parking lot lights will be changed in Phase 2 of the project as more funds become available.

Remige said that the town of Nags Head has already deployed LED lighting at several crosswalks and sea turtle-friendly lights at several beach accesses.

“We’re all trying to make a difference for wildlife,” Remige added.

A handful of additional Carolina coastal towns and ocean piers such as Oak Island Pier also use wildlife-friendly lighting.

With 330 miles of sandy ocean beaches, it’s going to take a lot of work to protect sea turtles which have roamed the seas and nested on North Carolina beaches for 150,000 million years.

Update: The Division of Coastal Management announced late Wednesday afternoon that it had been granted an extension to review NOAA’s federal consistency submission on proposed amendments to the North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule. The comment period was scheduled to end at 5 p.m. Wednesday but has been extended to 5 p.m. Aug. 31.

Original post:

When it was veterinarian Dr. Craig Harms’ turn to speak during a public meeting Tuesday on the proposed speed rule to reduce North Atlantic right whale mortalities, he recalled being “waist-deep” while doing a post-mortem exam to determine what caused a stranded whale to die earlier this year.

He was one of the 19 who spoke during the public comment meeting the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management hosted in the Crystal Coast Civic Center.

Harms has been the director of the marine health program at N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, in Morehead City since 2000.

Harms explained during his allotted three minutes that he is involved in mammal stranding organizations and takes part in the post-mortem exams, or necropsies, of mammals that wash up on the beach.

Of the 41 dead right whales that have washed up since 2017, half of the mortalities were caused by vessel strikes, he said.

Over the last few years, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been going through the rulemaking process to amend the existing North Atlantic right whale vessel strike reduction rule, “to further reduce the likelihood of mortalities and serious injuries to endangered right whales from vessel strikes, which are a leading cause of the species’ decline and a primary factor in an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event.”

State accepting public comments

The Division of Coastal Management staff is tasked with determining whether the proposed changes are “consistent to the maximum extent practicable with the enforceable policies of North Carolina’s Coastal Management Program,” according to its website.

As part of that, the division has been accepting public comments for the last month. The public can still submit comments. The deadline as of Friday afternoon is 5 p.m. Wednesday. However, division leadership asked NOAA for a deadline extension to allow more people to comment and were waiting for response as of deadline for this report.

Details on how to submit are on the NCDEQ website.

A division representative told Coastal Review that the state invites the public to review and comment on the proposed federal actions as part of the review process.

“These comments will be considered in developing the State’s federal consistency response to NOAA,” they said.

Division Federal Consistency Coordinator Daniel Govoni started the meeting by explaining to the roughly 30 attending that NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service had submitted to the state a federal consistency determination for the proposed amendments. This is a requirement for federal agencies that propose an activity that can affect a coastal resource or coastal use.

“The proposed actions include modifying the boundaries and the timing of seasonal speed restrictions of 10 knots or less to better align with areas characterized by the elevated collision or related mortality risks. It also will create a dynamic speed zone that will program to implement temporary mandatory speed restrictions when whales are known to be present,” he said. “This will be applied and also extend the size of the threshold of regulated vessels to include all vessels, or most vessels, 35 feet or greater in length. They will also update the speed fuel safety deviation provision.”

Currently, the rule states that most vessels 65 feet or longer must travel at 10 knots or less in certain areas along the East Coast during certain times of the year. For North Carolina, those areas are around Morehead City and from Wilmington to the South Carolina line, and the time of year is Nov. 1 through April 30.

With the proposed change, the rule would apply to a section of the northern Outer Banks Nov. 1 through May 30 and from Nov. 1 to April 30 for the rest of the North Carolina coast.

In addition to educators like Harms, commercial watermen, educators, conservation organization representatives, college students and researchers took the podium.

Some were in support of the speed reduction rule and some were against, but all spoke with conviction, and there was a handful of folks who appeared to misunderstand the role the division plays in the federal rulemaking process.

The speakers in support of the rule noted how critically endangered the north Atlantic right whale is as a species.

“So, what do we know about the North Atlantic right whales?” asked Penny Hooper, on behalf of the North Carolina Sierra Club, during her public comment.

They are one of the most endangered whales on the planet, with only an estimated 360 remaining whales are in the entire population. The 2008 vessel speed rule is meant to just slow vessels near the North Atlantic right whale to prevent devastating strikes that result in injuries and deaths. In 2022, NOAA proposed an update and protect these whales, she explained.

“What we have to think about is how critical it is to save this population,” Hooper said.

Many of the commercial watermen in attendance who were vehemently opposed to the rule change cited economic concerns.

Patrick Kennan of Morehead City called it “just a ridiculous rule” that will “affect more than the guy who owns the boat,” it will affect a lot of people all up and down the East Coast.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission also voiced its concerns with the rule in a letter to NOAA that it decided to send during its May meeting.

“While we fully support the protection of the critically endangered North Atlantic Right Whale, we have apprehensions about the potential impacts of these amendments on North Carolina’s fishing and boating communities,” according to the letter dated July 10. “The proposed changes could negatively affect the charter fishing industry, recreational boaters, the commercial fishing industry, and other marine operations in our state. We urge NOAA Fisheries to consider these potential impacts carefully and to continue engaging with local stakeholders to ensure that the regulations balance whale conservation with the economic and operational realities faced by our communities.”

‘Blunt-force impact’

Harms, who has spent his career studying marine mammals, told Coastal Review Thursday that his most recent experience with a right whale postmortem exam was in April. The whale was found dead offshore of the Virginia-North Carolina border and towed to shore in Virginia Beach for examination by a multi-state and multi-institution team.

“I was thinking specifically about this case when I mentioned being waist-deep in whale innards during my public comments. This whale had lower back vertebrae the size of a beer keg that had been shattered by blunt force impact, despite all of the thick blubber and muscle surrounding and cushioning them,” he said.

There are only about 360 right whales left in the world. Since the North Atlantic right whale unusual mortality event was declared in 2017, there have been 142 known cases, including 41 dead, 35 seriously injured,and 66 were slightly less than lethally injured or ill individuals.

“Of the 41 confirmed dead whales, 19 were first documented in the United States, and 22 were first documented in Canada. This does not account for offshore undetected injuries and deaths,” Harms said.

There were 24 confirmed, probable or suspected deaths as a direct result of human interaction out of the 41 whales. There were nine entanglements, 15 vessel strikes, three due to unknown causes, two perinatal deaths, one cause of death is pending, and 11 carcasses were not examined.

“It is not a simple task to retrieve a 10- to 20-ton dead animal for a postmortem examination. Nor is it a simple task to determine cause of death if they have been dead for any length of time that they decompose so much that they bloat and expel their stomachs out of their mouths. So ‘unknown’ is not due to lack of effort,” he explained.

Harms said these proposed rule changes could be a step in the right direction for right whales and other whales, including humpbacks, that suffer from ship strikes.

“But they will only help if there is compliance and enforcement, and reasonable loopholes aren’t exploited as a universal free pass. For instance, not every naval vessel transit of the Chesapeake Bay mouth is critical to national defense,” he said.

Harms said that he truly did appreciate hearing the perspective of charter boat captains and the challenges they face that are inherent in complying with speed limits.

“Although they didn’t acknowledge the seasonal or area restrictions attempting to reduce economic impacts, speed restrictions clearly will affect their livelihoods. I don’t have 100% win-win solution to offer,” Harms said.

One of the speakers at the public meeting alluded to offshore wind energy development being more responsible for the ongoing unusual mortality events of right whales, humpback whales and minke whales than vessel traffic, Harms noted.

“The wider geographic and time range of these unusual mortality events do not coincide with what is so far more limited scope of wind energy development,” Harms said. “There are justifiable concerns about potential impact of offshore wind energy development offsetting the critical need of addressing climate change impact of our current energy portfolio, but as of now, we know that vessel strikes and gear entanglements are far and away the primary causes of whale deaths along the US and Canada east coast, and we are not adequately addressing these known threats now, before worrying about potential future threats.”

Drivers can show their love for the Venus flytrap and other native plants with a new specialty license plate that supports the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation.

The specialty plate that reads “Home of the Venus Flytrap” features the state’s well-known carnivorous plant.

The foundation gets $20 of the $30 plate fee and it has committed to using the proceeds to support native plant conservation and the restoration of healthy landscapes across the state.

The plates are expected to be available in a few months through the Division of Motor Vehicles, which gets the other $10.

The specialty plate received nearly 800 preorders before heading to the state legislature for approval. Rep. Allen Buansi, D-Orange, and Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, sponsored the plate that was included in the larger transportation bill signed by Gov. Roy Cooper on July 3, according to a release.

The plate was designed by Preston Montague, a Durham-based artist, educator, and landscape designer.

The main threats to the Venus flytrap, which can be found in longleaf pine habitats in the coastal plain and sandhills of North Carolina and South Carolina, are habitat loss and poaching, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

North Carolina Division of Coastal Management staff are encouraging the public to speak about proposed changes to vessel speed restrictions determined on the federal level.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, or NOAA Fisheries, proposed the amendments to what is often called the “speed rule” to further reduce “the likelihood of mortalities and serious injuries to endangered right whales from vessel collisions, which are a leading cause of the species’ decline and a primary factor in an ongoing Unusual Mortality Event.”

The state is in the process of reviewing the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s consistency determination to see if NOAA Fisheries’ proposed amendments to the speed rule are as consistent as possible with the state’s enforceable coastal management policies.

Division officials said that the changes include the following:

• Modifying the boundaries and timing seasonal speed restrictions of 10 knots or less, renamed seasonal speed zones, to better align with areas characterized by elevated collision-related mortality risk.
• Creating a dynamic speed zone program to implement temporary mandatory speed restrictions when whales are known to be present outside active seasonal speed zones.
• Extending the size threshold of regulated vessels to include most vessels 35 feet or greater in length.
• Updating the speed rule’s safety deviation provision.

The public can submit comments during a meeting 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 23, at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City. The meeting will end at 6:30 p.m. or until comments are concluded, whichever comes first. Each speaker will be allowed 3 minutes each.

Written comments can be mailed to Federal Consistency Coordinator Daniel Govoni, 400 Commerce Ave., Morehead City, NC 28557, or emailed to DCMComments@deq.nc.gov. Include “North Atlantic Right Whale Vessel Strike Reduction Rule” in the email subject line. Deadline is 5 p.m. July 31.

All comments will be considered in developing the state’s consistency response. Notice of the decision regarding this matter will be provided upon request, officials said.

The deaths of a dozen federally listed sea turtles found trapped this past spring in a canal that leads to the Brunswick Nuclear Plant’s cooling system intake has prompted a government review on the limit of turtle species that can be unintentionally harmed by the facility’s operation.

King tides coupled with high winds “generated increased tidal forces and elevated river flows” that damaged screens on a large diversion structure meant to block marine life from entering into the 3-mile-long canal from the Cape Fear River, Karen Williams, the plant’s communications manager said.

A series of large “turtle blocker” panels are installed in the concrete structure.

“Those all functioned as designed,” Williams explained in an email. “There are small gaps in the structure – about two feet wide – which are covered with protective screens. It was these screens that were affected by the tidal conditions and river flow.”

Williams said in a telephone interview that one of the screens broke loose.

These screens are routinely inspected and cleaned of debris at the Duke Energy plant near Southport, Williams said, but turtles were able to swim into the canal before the broken screen was repaired. The turtles were found between April 15 and May 19.

Williams described the turtles as relatively young. Larger turtles would not have been able to fit through the gap left by the broken screen, she said.

Turtles that get into the canal undetected during patrols and sonar sweeps eventually get pulled against the cooling system intake where the force of the water flow is too great for turtles to swim away.

“If both units are running we pull a million gallons of water a minute so it’s a lot of force,” Williams said.

In all, 13 turtles, including an endangered Kemp’s ridley and 12 green turtles, which are listed in the north and south Atlantic regions as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, were found dead.

An injured turtle was transferred to a N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission technician, who transported it to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City.

The green turtle deaths exceed the number of annual incidental “takes” granted to the facility through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Fisheries, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, or NMFS. “Takes” are the unintended death or harm of an endangered or threatened species caused in a lawful activity.

“The diversion structure normally does its job,” Williams said. “This was just an unusual situation. We’ve been operating this plant for almost 50 years and this is the first time in five decades that we’ve had any kind of event like this that have exceeded our limits. We’re not happy that this particular event has happened.”

She said the plant is working with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the independent government agency that regulates commercial nuclear plants and other uses of nuclear materials, and NOAA Fisheries.

“If in their assessment they determine that we need to do additional actions we will follow up on those,” Williams said.

NOAA communications specialist Allison Garrett said in an email that the plant has tried to improve its response and equipment to ensure sea turtles’ safety.

Those improvements include increasing underwater inspections of the intake diversion structure during periods of extreme tides, high winds and elevated river flows; installing cameras at the intake structure to remotely monitor for turtle impingements; installing high-resolution, side-scanning sonar devices on intake canal boats to help detect the presence of turtles in the canal; and increasing turtle patrol tours in the event of turtle strandings.

Garrett said that green sea turtle nesting “seems to be increasing lately” in the continental U.S., “but how that exactly translates into numbers showing up at the plant we don’t know, although you could assume that it might mean more animals there (we have to be careful jumping to too many conclusions yet).”

However, the largest nesting population for green turtles included in the continental U.S. in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, has “significant problems,” Garrett said.

Nuclear power plants in coastal areas are required to notify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, when listed animals are inadvertently harmed or killed by plant cooling water systems, according to Dave Gasperson, a public affairs officer with the NRC’s Region II office in Atlanta.

Gasperson said in an email that prior to this year, only four green turtle deaths had occurred since the plant began operations.

“Because the 12 incidental takes in 2024 exceed the take limit established in the biological opinion, the Endangered Species Act regulations require the NRC to reinitiate consultation with NMFS,” he said in the email. “NRC is coordinating with NMFS and preparing the request to reinitiate consultation. The process for consultation includes a 135-day timeline, followed by a 45-day period for NMFS to issue a new biological opinion.”

Post has been updated

Did you know that a group of sharks is called a shiver? And did you know that there are nearly 500 species of shark found worldwide? File those facts away for the shark-themed trivia taking place as part of a conservation fundraiser in Atlantic Beach.

Scheduled for 5:30-8 p.m. Wednesday, July 10, at Crystal Coast Brewing Co. in Atlantic Beach, Suds for Sharks is a family-friendly event highlighting shark conservation and research.

In addition to trivia, there will be a silent auction with shark-themed items donated by local artists, and an exclusive sand tiger shark-themed beer. The brewery will donate $1 from every shark-themed beer sold to conservation projects. Tanja’s Hella Fat Food of New Bern will also be on-site.

“Events like Suds for Sharks is a way that we can bring the community together for a great conservation cause,” said Emily Fessler, aquarium education curator. “The more we can learn about and understand sharks, the better we’re able to protect these animals and their habitat to help them not only survive but thrive for future generations.”

All donations will go to the nonprofit North Carolina Aquarium Society to support the North Carolina Aquarium Conservation Action Committee’s shark conservation projects for shark field research, outreach, and conservation.

 “We’re grateful for community partners like Crystal Coast Brewing Company who are able to get involved in conservation efforts and help make events like Suds for Sharks a fun experience,” Fessler said.

To learn more about the nonprofit aquarium society and to donate, visit the website.

Second of two parts. Read Part 1.

EAST LAKE — Before guardrails were installed about 20 years ago along U.S. Highways 64 and 264 in rural northeastern North Carolina, residents avoided driving at night in fear of striking a large animal and then sliding unseen into the abyss of a roadside canal.

Even now, with the barriers in place, locals know to drive with caution through the dark wilds of Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, scanning the edge of the forest for glowing eyes or sudden movements of creatures on night hunts — raccoon, possum, bobcat, fox, bear, deer, coyotes and red wolves.

Vehicle strikes are a serious hazard to humans and animals, but they can be especially devastating to the recovery of the endangered wolves that number only about 22 in the wild, 18 of which are collared and within the 1.7-million-acre management area encompassing public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

When a wild red wolf is killed, the loss can destroy the cohesion of a pack, creating a negative impact on reproduction that is so critical to the species’ survival.

Last year, for example, in two separate instances, wolves from the same pack were struck and killed on U.S. 64, said wildlife biologist Joe Madison, manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program.

Madison told Coastal Review that one of the males and one of the pups were killed. “So that family group kind of got messed up, and we ended up capturing and placing the female for that family group back in captivity.”

With the loss of her mate, Madison explained, the female had started wandering to a different area and creating issues, such as getting into chickens that made her no longer suitable for the wild. “But it was going well until that mortality of the male and one of the pups, and then it kind of went downhill from there.”

After years of study in the early 2000s, the North Carolina Department of Transportation had developed plans to construct numerous wildlife crossings along U.S. 64 in Dare and Tyrrell counties as part of a proposed 27.3-mile-long road widening and bridge-replacement project. The department has since dropped the widening project, but $110 million provided recently by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allowed NCDOT to replace the 60-year-old Lindsey C. Warren Bridge over Alligator River. That $270 million project, which began this spring, will include wildlife crossings and under-road tie-ins at both ends of the bridge.

But it’s not enough, conservation groups say. Granted, more wildlife crossings would be costly to build in Alligator River’s swampy land, but considering the enormous investment that’s been put into the life of each red wolf in the interest of restoration of a unique species, these groups contend they’re worth it.

“That’s why one of the things we’re stressing this year is trying to make progress on getting (assistance from) NCDOT, who’s making great strides in the wildlife road crossings department,” Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the nonprofit Wildlands Network, told Coastal Review recently. “We want them to try to put in for federal grants to build wildlife crossings and fencing on 64 through the refuge in particular.”

Sutherland had connected with an anonymous donor who recently pledged $2 million in matching funds for a grant to fund wildlife crossings in the refuge to protect red wolves, and the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity stepped in to help raise the match, he said in recent email.

“I’m working directly with NCDOT to try to bring a big proposal for U.S. 64 to Federal Highways, which can only happen if we have enough nonfederal matching funds to work with, he said, adding that the state would have to provide a 20% match to the Federal Highway Administration money.

Although the costs versus benefit of keeping red wolves away from vehicle tires is clear, he said, wildlife crossings through a refuge teeming with wildlife would provide plenty of benefits to every creature dashing, hopping, galumphing, scurrying, slithering or crawling across the highway.

“That stretch of Highway 64 through the refuge and through the Alligator River game lands, it’s got to be up there in terms of national priorities for reducing roadkill in terms of the sheer numbers of wildlife,” Sutherland said. “There were like tens of thousands of dead animals that they recorded in the DOT-funded study. And so it’s definitely not just the wolves, but bears and deer and bobcats and so many turtles, so many snakes … that I’ve seen dead on that road. Nobody wants to see that.”

According to the draft environmental impact statement for the then-proposed widening project, 36% of all crashes and 77% of night crashes on the two-lane road were because of animals. Five crashes occurred within a milelong stretch in Tyrrell County about a mile west of the bridge.

Between July 1996 to June 1999, the fatal crash rate for the project area was 4.13 crashes per 100 motor vehicle miles. After the guardrails were installed along the canals on U.S. 64, the fatal crash rate went down to 1.02 per 100 miles.

The proposed widening had called for about 11 overpasses or underpasses and dozens of smaller structures for amphibians, reptiles and small mammals. Four wildlife crossings that were installed decades ago off U.S. 64 between Columbia and Plymouth had been shown to be about 90% effective, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist had said in 2013. Designed with 6- to 8-foot-high fences at the road edge and both sides of the opening, the fence corrals animals toward underpasses, culverts or a bridge.

Travis Wilson, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Division, said that the east and west sides of the proposed 3.2-mile Alligator River bridge replacement will be lengthened to accommodate culverts for fencing and wildlife passage.

Based on his years of monitoring the commission’s wildlife crossings, Wilson said he expects that all species will use the passages, although white-tailed deer tend to be more skittish.

“I have documented most every large mammal, medium-sized mammal, in North Carolina using culverts fairly frequently, from black bear to coyotes, on down,” he told Coastal Review.

If funding is found for additional crossings beyond the bridge, he said they would be designed in different sizes for different species. Vegetation at the crossings, and the fencing would need to be maintained, and some areas in front of passages would need a timber pole “bridge” over a canal.

“That’s really what the crossings are there for,” he said.  “It’s not for a single species — it’s to reduce wildlife mortality by vehicles … to make the highway more permeable to all wildlife.”

While the recovery team would welcome wildlife crossings, the staff’s focus will remain on keeping wild-born and captive-bred wolves who have been introduced into the wild away from any human interactions and activity whatsoever. The less habituated wolves are to humans, the better for both species. The staff also takes pains to minimize contact as much as possible, Madison said, and when handling is necessary, it is done as gently as possible, with voices low and no petting.

In addition to using a hand-held antenna to keep track of the collared wolves, which wear lightweight GPS devices on reflective collars, or for some, smaller VHF radio devices, there are more than 55 remote sensing cameras to see who is where and when.

GPS collars, which cost about $2,000 and weigh 1.3 pounds, cannot exceed 4% of the animal’s body weight. The VHF collars are lighter but don’t send points from satellites.

A red wolf known as No. 2191 was recently sighted in the Milltail area of the Alligator River refuge. Madison said that the young male’s fear of people gives him a better chance to avoid becoming one of the unfortunate number of casualties suffered by red wolves from too-close encounters with people.

Madison held a small radio telemetry antenna during a visit to the Milltail area in late April. A steady beep revealed that the wolf — or more specifically his GPS collar — was close but too far away to see without field glasses. The wolf was born at Wolf Haven International in Washington state, one of the 50 zoological institutions and wildlife centers that participate in the captive-breeding program that is critical to repopulating the species in the wild.

When 2191 — the animals purposely are not named — was deemed ready for life in the wild, he was transferred to Alligator River.

“They did an excellent job,” Madison said, referring to Wolf Haven, “because he wants nothing to do with people.”

After his arrival, 2191 was placed in an acclimation pen before being released on Jan. 29 to meet a female who had come into heat, “in the hopes that they could become a pair,” said Madison.

The good news is that it appears that the handsome wolf is the father of a litter of eight pups born in the refuge in May. It’s the third year in a row that the Milltail pack has produced a litter, and this was the first sired by 2191. The previous breeding male that had sired two litters was killed by a vehicle last year.

Madison said he understands why zoos and conservation centers name the wolves, but it’s against the recovery team policy. The studbook number that is assigned to each animal identifies them in sequence that is vital management information.

American red wolves once had an enormous range in the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast. But because of habitat loss and hunting, the population collapsed. The red wolf was listed as endangered in 1973 and declared extinct in the wild in 1980. In 1987, four pairs of captive-bred wolves were released at Alligator River refuge.

Innovative management practices, such as pup fostering and coyote sterilization programs, grew the population, and by 2010, there were about 130 red wolves in the wild. But politics and funding shortages led to management cuts, and the population plummeted to seven before a federal judge ordered the program to resume in 2021.

Starting over has had its challenges. When 11 captive-born wolves were released in 2022, three wound up dead from gunshots and five were killed by vehicles. In the last year alone, four wolves have been killed by vehicles.

Still, the new litters provide hope, and the restored pup fostering practice — where a captive-born pup is slipped into a wolf den with a litter of pups about the same age — has been successful. So has the renewed coyote sterilization program, which allows hormonally-intact coyotes to hold territory, keep out fertile coyotes and prevent hybrids.

From November until March, the recovery team is kept busy doing captures to collar older pups, perform health check on the mature wolves and sterilize coyotes. There are 16 pens in the Sandy Ridge area, each double-fenced, but only 13 are currently usable. Interns and other staff enter the pen to water and feed the wolves and check on them. At that point, the wolves either go to the farthest distance and pace, or they go to their den box. The never try to escape.

“They don’t want to come near you,” Madison said. “They’re very nonaggressive.”

The pens are especially useful in letting wild wolves visit the captive wolves and start making friends. Recovery staff can watch with the remote-sensing cameras for signs that courtship may be blooming. Once they’re let free, all bets are off.

“We’ve had bonded pairs that came from captivity,” Madison recalled. “They were bonded in captivity, had had previous litters together, they had a litter in the pen, and they still left each other when we opened it up. It was like, ‘Now that I have options, you ain’t it!’”

Sutherland said that he is encouraged that the red wolf population is rebounding and that wildlife crossings are a critical component in its recovery. Healthy numbers of red wolf packs also would go far in pushing out a lot of the opportunistic coyotes and raccoons that swooped into vacated wolf territories, he said.

As they’ve done out west, he said, wolves can keep other species in check not just by eating them, but also by creating a climate of fear that works for the good of the entire ecosystem.

“So that’s the value of having the wolves back,” he said. “Not only are they the only thing that seems to control coyotes, but they also do kill the raccoons and we think that’s important from the standpoint of bird populations.”

“The red wolf was a success story of the Endangered Species Act, and it’s been saved from extinction,” Sutherland said. Now the question is whether the program can rebuild, without the apex predator being plowed down on a strip of asphalt.

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Wednesday in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday.

First of two parts.

EAST LAKE — From a half-mile away, the red wolf was a blur on the flat farmland within Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Through binoculars, the young male was strikingly muscular, striding with confidence on the dirt access road, seemingly unperturbed by the spying humans.

“He’s a big guy — yeah, he’s close to 80 pounds,” said Joe Madison, manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, while peering through his field glasses in late April from the cab of his truck. “If we got closer, he’d definitely start running, but I don’t want to do that.”

Madison, a wildlife biologist who has had earlier stints with grizzly bear and gray wolf management, is keenly focused on conservation and protection of the only wild red wolves in the world. He knows that the wolves’ instinctual fear of people is critical to their survival. The two biggest contributors to wild red wolf mortalities are directly related to interactions with humans: The first is intentional killing by gunshot or poisoning, the second is vehicle strikes.

After establishing cooperative programs with landowners and others in the community to prevent wolf shootings, officials with the refuge are now working with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina Department of Transportation on constructing wildlife crossings at both ends of the planned replacement bridge over the Alligator River on U.S. Highway 64 between Tyrrell and Dare counties.

The hope is that, beyond the bridge project, funding also will be available to build numerous crossings along U.S. 64, said Travis Wilson, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Division.

“It’s kind of a standalone discussion on wildlife improvements in highway permeability improvements,” Wilson told Coastal Review. “It’s outside the scope of a highway project.”

The Center for Biological Diversity announced last week that an anonymous donor had pledged a $2 million match of other donations toward wildlife crossings across U.S. 64, which bisects the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes wildlife refuges. If the additional $2 million can be raised by the nonprofit center and its supporters by the target date of Aug. 1, it could leverage an additional $16 million in federal funds.

Funding for $350 million in grants was provided in the Wildlife Crossings Program, established in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

A million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur in the U.S. annually, costing more than $8 billion and resulting in thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities, according to the Federal Highway Administration website.

A second round of Highway Administration discretionary grants will be opened this summer under the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program with the stated mission of reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions while improving habitat connectivity for terrestrial and aquatic species.

Marissa Cox, the Western Regional Team lead with NCDOT’s Environmental Policy Unit, said that her team intends to apply for a grant, but it does not know yet what the total cost of the project would be. NCDOT is using information from the proposed — and since dropped — U.S. 64 widening project design plans to try to estimate costs for the structures, she said in an interview.

“It’s very competitive, and there’s not a lot of funding,” Cox said about the grant program.

During the first round, she recalled, the amount of project applications far exceeded the available funds.

Although Cox said there are about 26 wildlife crossings in North Carolina, Wilson said that when standalone structures are included, there are “dozens and dozens” of crossings.

As part of a wildlife stewardship memorandum of understanding signed in March 2023 with Wildlife Resources, NCDOT is currently compiling information and Global Positioning System data on all the crossings that it has committed to, designed and constructed, she said. The agencies are also finalizing a joint Wildlife Crossing Guidance document to be made available online.

With U.S. 64 and other less-traveled highways cutting through the 1.7 million-acre management area encompassing public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, the wildlife crossings could benefit not only the survival of the red wolves, but also the taxpayer who is supporting the recovery program.

A recently updated red wolf management plan estimated costs of $328 million over 50 years, and that does not include the millions spent over the decades since the wolf conservation program began.

The red wolf had once roamed much of the Southeast, but overhunting and habitat loss decimated its population. In 1973, the species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Fish and Wildlife, the agency charged with implementing the Endangered Species Act, first listed the red wolf as endangered in 1967, and it was declared extinct in the wild in 1980.

As part of an effort in 1987 to restore the species in the wild, four pairs of captive-bred red wolf pups, offspring of the few remaining from the wild population captured earlier in Louisiana, were released at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

After a series of setbacks beginning around 2010 — with the wild population plummeting from as much as 130 to seven — the recovery program has been renewed and reinvigorated since 2022.

Currently, there are 18 known and collared red wolves and a total of about 20 to 22 wolves in the wild and 263 in the captive-breeding population.

Wildlife crossings have been studied, planned and – sometimes – built along roadways in northeastern North Carolina, but in coming years they are to be a more significant part of the focus on conservation of the fragile population.

“Wildlife crossings along one of North Carolina’s most dangerous highways are crucial to protecting the world’s most endangered wolf,” stated Will Harlan, southeast director the Center for Biological Diversity.

In a study done for NCDOT by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed in 2011, hair samples caught on a barbed fence were from 890 black bear crossings from March 2009 to March 2011 in the 147,432-acre Alligator River Refuge. The Virginia Tech study also found that 15 GPS-collared bears crossed the highway 99 times. In addition, 170 white-tailed deer, 200 bobcats and raccoons, and an additional 260 bear were caught on camera.

Surveys of roadkill from November 2008 to July 2011 showed eight deer killed. Between January 1993 and July 2011, factoring in historical data, there were 63 bear, 75 bats, 82 small mammals, 134 mid-sized mammals, 1,153 birds, 4,014 reptiles and 7,498 amphibians killed on the road. And in 2012, refuge biologists reported that 11 bear were hit by vehicles, not including those who ran off into the woods after being struck.

Data from the Virginia Tech study will be used to guide project estimates for crossings through the refuge, Cox said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, in its February red wolf recovery program five-year status review, said that between 1987 and 2013, vehicle-wildlife collisions resulted in 34% of all mortalities related to humans; and there were 11 vehicle-related mortalities between 2019 and 2023.

“This mortality level would be expected to increase as habitat becomes more fragmented by roads and with increasing human traffic that would be expected with increased development,” the report said. “Additionally, this threat would also likely increase with increases in the population size of red wolf.”

Madison said that there is now orange reflective material on the GPS collars placed on the wild wolves to increase their visibility at night. There are also roadside mobile electronic message signs to warn drivers on all the highways.

Any wildlife crossings that are proposed separately from an NCDOT project, which would absorb some of the costs, will “not be inexpensive,” Wilson said.

“We have been successful in putting underpasses in coastal North Carolina in various places,” he said. Swampy Alligator River, with its numerous roadside canals, “has its own unique features and soil conditions,” Wilson said.

“That’s a big part of the conversation, building in the soil types that are out there, the fill and the engineering that have to go in place there. And as you know, anything that becomes more complex, the dollar figures begin to increase with that complexity,” he said.

“When it comes to the mammals that we’re talking about, if your structure is designed correctly and located correctly, and you have appropriate fencing, then you’re going to have mammals find those crossings and use those crossings,” he said. “And once they start, they’ll keep using them.”

The crossings provide habitat connectivity, as Wilson explained it.

After the New York Times recently published an article about wildlife crossings that included video of wildlife using an overpass, public interest in wildlife passages nationally increased dramatically.

“My phone blew up with reporters and the public wondering when is North Carolina going to do these things. And it felt like I spent a year on the phone every other day explaining to people that North Carolina has been doing it for two decades,” Wilson said. “The documents are memorializing a lot of what we’ve done but also will be good tools to give to people who have interest.”

Next in the series: Wildlife crossings dovetail with red wolf conservation science.

North Carolina Maritime Museum system staff have planned a range of programs at its three facilities next month.

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras, N.C., Maritime Museum at Beaufort and N.C. Maritime Museum at Southport make up the system that is part of the Division of State History Museums in the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum

Reopened May 20 after extensive renovations, the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras is named in honor of the thousands of shipwrecks that sank off North Carolina’s coast.

Dedicated to the preservation and presentation of the state’s coastal culture and maritime history, highlights include a Monomoy surf boat, a first-order Fresnel lens from the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse, and interactive displays showcasing shipwrecks off the coast. The exhibits cover periods from pre-colonial times to the present, offering a comprehensive journey through the region’s history.

The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Friday. For more information, visit graveyardoftheatlantic.com.

Staff have the following talks planned for June as part of the Salty Dawgs Lecture Series:

• North Carolina Whales: Diversity, Distribution and Conservation 11 a.m. June 4. Keith Rittmaster, Beaufort museum natural science curator and Bonehenge Whale Center director, is to share an overview of species he encounters through his work and some of the conservation issues they face.
• Early NC Ferry Crossings 11 a.m. June 11. Benjamin Wunderly, Beaufort museum education curator, will discuss some colonial-era river crossings and the ferry systems that carried vehicles and passengers to the outer barrier islands of the state’s coast.
• In the Eye of the Storm: Hurricanes, Archaeological Sites, and Environmental Change in Coastal NC 11 a.m. June 18. Join Allyson Ropp, a maritime archaeologist and historic preservation archaeological specialist with the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology, for a presentation that looks at how hurricanes impact the work of finding and preserving history.
• U.S. Life-Saving Service 11 a.m. June 25. James Charlet has planned an informal lecture on the U.S. Life Saving Service.

Beaufort museum

The Beaufort site reflects coastal life and interprets lighthouses and lifesaving stations, the seafood industry, motorboats, and is a repository for artifacts from Blackbeard’s wrecked flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, including cannons, grenades, belt buckles and beads. The Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center teaches boatbuilding for all ages.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

Many of the following events require registration, which can be done by calling 252-504-7758 or at ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com:

• Behind the scenes at the Whale Center 10 a.m. June 7. Free, 40-minute program on the marine mammals, including bottlenose dolphins, that live off the coast. Registration required by noon the day prior.
• Introduction to Wooden Boat Building 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. June 8-9. Two-day, hands-on course. Fee is $200, or $180 for Friends of the Museum members. Advance registration is required.
• Kids’ Cove 11 a.m.-1 p.m. June 9 and again 11 a.m.-1 p.m. June 12. Free-play program for ages 0-5 and their caregivers. Different maritime themed craft and wiggle activity each month. Registration preferred.
• Exploring Coastal Habitats on the Rachel Carson Reserve 9 a.m.-noon June 18. Guided hike through different habitats and sandy, muddy, and wet terrain found on Town Marsh and Bird Shoal. Cost is $25. Registration required by noon the day prior.
• Fish and Fishing 9 a.m.-noon June 20-21. Third and fourth graders can learn about coastal fish and fishing methods. Fee is $90. Registration required. Contact Wunderly at 252-504-7741 or ben.wunderly@dncr.nc.gov for information on the limited scholarships available.
• Kayak the Salt Marsh 9 a.m.-noon June 25. Basic kayak instruction and safety lessons on shore followed by a 1.5-mile paddle through the salt marsh in a sit-in cockpit touring kayaks. Cost is $35 or $30 with own kayak. Registration required by noon the day prior.
• Sailors Life 9 a.m.-noon June 25-26. Young mariners entering first and second grade can learn how sailors lived aboard a ship. Fee is $90. Registration required. Contact Wunderly at 252-504-7741 or ben.wunderly@dncr.nc.gov for information on the limited scholarships available.
• A General History of Mermaids 11 a.m. June 27. Associate Education Curator Christine Brin will share some of the iconic tales of mermaids, as part of its Maritime Heritage Series. No charge or registration needed.
• Seashore Life I 9 a.m.-noon June 27-28. Students going into first and second grade can investigate the coastal marine life of the tidal flats, salt marshes, and sounds on local islands during this two-day class. The field-based classes include ferry ride, barrier island hiking, and animal identification. Fee is $90. Registration required. Contact Wunderly at 252-504-7741 or ben.wunderly@dncr.nc.gov for information on the limited scholarships available.

Southport museum

The North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport features exhibits that tell the story of the region’s people and their relationship with the Atlantic Ocean and the Cape Fear River, which converge nearby.

The North Carolina Maritime Museum at Southport is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  The museum is open to the public at no charge.

The following programs are being offered at no charge, but donations are accepted:

• Skipper’s Crew: Light It Up with Lighthouses 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 1. Program features hands-on activities that combine arts and history. Lights will be dimmed and interactives muted during the first two hours to provide a calmer environment for those with sensory sensitivities.
• Anchors Aweigh: Go the Distance: Map Reading and Orienteering 11 a.m.-3 p.m. June 12. Hands-on activities that focus on a specific part of Lower Cape Fear and North Carolina history. 
• Anchors Aweigh: Declaring Independence 11 a.m.-3 p.m. June 26. Hands-on activities that focus on a specific part of Lower Cape Fear and North Carolina history. 

Endangered Species Day, celebrated the third Friday in May, recognizes gains in protecting endangered species and also is a call to conservation action.

To share the research on endangered species taking place at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, its researchers plan to discuss their work on red wolves, right whales, jaguars, black rhinos and black-footed ferrets.

The series of short presentations is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Friday, which is Endangered Species Day, in the museum’s SECU Daily Planet Theater and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

Dr. Roland Kays is head of the Biodiversity Research Lab at the museum, studies mammals and also teaches conservation at N.C. State University. He plans to present the findings of his study on eastern North Carolina’s endangered red wolf population.

Once common throughout the region, the intensive predator control programs and the degradation and alteration of their habitat in the early 20th century destroyed the red wolf populations, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Now the most endangered wolf in the world, the species was designated as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967, when the service said it initiated efforts to conserve and recover the species.

“Today, about 15 to 17 red wolves roam their native habitats in eastern North Carolina as a nonessential experimental population, and approximately 241 red wolves are maintained in 45 captive breeding facilities throughout the United States,” the service states on its website.

Kays told Coastal Review that he is working on a project on the red wolves in eastern North Carolina, “where we evaluated their effect on the ecosystem by comparing how common other species of mammals were before and after the wolf population crashed.”

He said they found that most species increased in numbers when the red wolves declined, including competitors such as bears and bobcats, as well as prey including raccoons, deer and turkey. 

“This shows how important it is to have apex predators on the landscape,” Kays continued. “Since our study the wolves have increased a little bit, starting having litters again, and have also been supplemented by additional captive releases.”

Hopefully they can not only survive but even thrive, to help maintain a balanced ecosystem in eastern North Carolina, he added.

Others to join Kays in the special presentation Friday include the following:

• Dr. Elizabeth Kierepka, senior research biologist with the museum and N.C. State.
• Dr. Mike Cove, research curator of mammalogy mammals and research associate at Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.
• Lisa Gatens, collections manager of mammalogy.
• Dr. Alex Jensen, postdoctoral researcher in the museum’s Biodiversity Research Lab.

Officials say a 2-year-old wild male red wolf was killed April 15 by a vehicle strike on U.S. Highway 64 in the East Lake area of Dare County.

This is the fourth death of an endangered eastern red wolf in the past 10 months, according to the Center for Biological Diversity.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service referred to the wolf as No. 2410, born in the Milltail pack in 2022, but the Center for Biological Diversity said its name was Muppet. The Milltail Pack, one of only two families of red wolves in the wild, is composed of a breeding male and female and nine surviving offspring.

The service said necropsy results were pending, but that prior to its death, monitoring indicated the wolf had been crossing the highway in the area and efforts were ongoing to haze him away from the highway and to capture or relocate him.

The Center for Biological Diversity noted that Muppet’s father also was killed by a vehicle strike six months earlier along the same stretch of U.S. 64, which runs through Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina.

“Muppet’s tragic death brings North Carolina’s beleaguered red wolves one step closer to extinction,” said Will Harlen, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity. “The world’s most endangered wolves should not be roadkill, especially when we know that building wildlife crossings could save them from being hit by vehicles. We owe it to Muppet and his family to give red wolves a fighting chance.”

Fewer than 20 red wolves remain in the wild, making them the most endangered wolves on the planet. Vehicle strikes are the second leading cause of mortality for red wolves.

The center said Muppet was named for his long, thick neck and was the first-born and of his pack’s juvenile wolves. The organization said that Muppet had stepped up to fill in its father’s role, helping protect the younger pups and its mother.

The organization said wildlife crossings could benefit red wolves and other species at the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges, including river otters, bobcats and black bears.

“Wildlife crossings also protect human lives. Wildlife collisions kill more than 200 people in the U.S. every year and cause $10 billion in damages. North Carolina is considered by insurance companies to be a high-risk state for wildlife collisions, and 7% of all vehicle crashes statewide involve animal strikes,” the group said.

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized $350 million in federal funds to support wildlife crossings nationally. A coalition of 15 national and regional organizations is requesting $10 million in funds from the North Carolina legislature to fund wildlife crossings across the state, including crossings along Highway 64 in red wolf territory.

“To stop cars from killing these desperately endangered animals, we need to create wildlife crossings in their last refuges,” Harlan said. “Wildlife crossings can protect human lives and save red wolves from extinction.”

With sea turtle nesting season at Cape Hatteras National Seashore beginning this month, Outer Banks Forever, the official nonprofit partner of the national parks there, has begun its annual Adopt A Sea Turtle Nest program.

Supporters can symbolically adopt an active sea turtle nest on the national seashore. Nesting season is typically May through September. The supporter will receive an official adoption certificate and information about their specific nest when it hatches later this summer or fall.

“Our Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest program is a fun way for people to learn more about these special island visitors and the work our national park staff does every day to help protect them,” said Jessica Barnes, Director of Outer Banks Forever.

Launched in 2020 to support projects and programs that protect and enhance the seashore, the program has raised $73,313 in the time since.

“It’s also fun for us to send updates to each person who adopts a nest, particularly sharing the number of sea turtle hatchlings that make their way out of each nest. It’s a great way to feel connected to these amazing creatures while also supporting Cape Hatteras National Seashore,” Barnes added.

A tax-deductible donation of $100 or more will reserve a 2024 sea turtle nest. There are a limited number of nests each year and they are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

Organizers noted that no individual or group that participates in this program can claim ownership of a sea turtle nest, eggs or hatchlings. For the safety of the sea turtles and in alignment with National Park Service guidance, adopted nest locations will not be shared until after it has hatched.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are working together to save the endangered Carolina gopher frog.

The commission staff collected 47 egg masses from Holly Shelter Game Land for this initiative, which were delivered to the aquarium team to care for until the froglets can be released back in the wild. The goal is to replenish the ponds with gopher frogs and restore their natural habitats across the state.

Visitors to the aquarium from 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 20, can learn more about the work to protect these amphibians during Community Croak for Conservation. There will be three stations for visitors to learn how to identify frog calls, share an encounter with a state-endangered Carolina gopher frog, and inspire conservation action through tracking the life cycle of a frog. Visitors will collect stamps on a passport at each station and take home a prize once they’ve completed the frog lifecycle and their passport is full.

The aquarium implemented the initiative in 2011 to help build wild populations of the endangered amphibians by giving them a head start at life. In 2023, the effort had a 91% success rate. The commission delivered 28 egg masses to the aquarium, which yielded 560 tadpoles and, ultimately, 512 frogs that were released at the same locations where the eggs were collected.

Gopher frogs require breeding ponds large enough to retain water throughout the three to five months of its tadpole stage but shallow enough to dry periodically, because the gopher frog prefers to breed in isolated, fish-free ponds.

Challenges for these species in the wild include when there is a lack of rain causing ponds to not have enough water, destruction of the ponds and significantly altered ponds deepened and stocked with fish, the aquarium said. The wetland ponds where they live and breed have declined from 53 to just 14.

“For the gopher frog, the habitat must be ideal, and with so many breeding habitats lost or destroyed, our team steps in to create the right conditions for the eggs to hatch, and we raise the tadpoles to metamorphosis before releasing them back into the same pond,” Ryan McAlarney, husbandry curator, said.

Through the initiative, teams have released thousands of juvenile frogs into the wild populations. However, survival is low with only an estimated 3 to 4% of these animals surviving to adulthood, according to the aquarium.

The discovery in 2021 of a new species, the Rice’s whale, which is directly connected to Beaufort’s Bonehenge Whale Center, will be one of the topics covered during the whales and whaling symposium at the North Carolina Maritime Museum scheduled for Friday.

The program is to begin at 10 a.m. in the museum, 315 Front St. in downtown Beaufort. The symposium is being offered at no charge but because seating is limited, reservations are requested. For more information or to reserve a spot, visit ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com or call 252-504-7758.

“The symposium is an opportunity to learn about the whale species off the coast of North Carolina and the history related to the harvesting of whales directly off our shore,” museum Education Curator Benjamin Wunderly said in a statement. “By bringing in guest speakers, the community gets an opportunity to learn about topics we couldn’t typically cover in our regular programming.”

Wunderly is an organizer of the symposium, working with North Carolina Maritime Museum Natural Science Curator Keith Rittmaster on the day’s lineup of speakers. Rittmaster is director of Bonehenge Whale Center, which is adjacent to the museum’s Gallants Channel property, and has been helping organize the symposium since the first held in 20165.

“This symposium has been very popular,” Rittmaster said in a release. “I think it’s fun too.”

Rittmaster is the first presenter and will discuss “Whales in North Carolina: Diversity, Distribution, Seasonality & Conservation” starting at 10 a.m.

“North Carolina has impressive whale diversity,” Rittmaster said, noting that up to now, 34 species have been documented off the state’s shores. “As far as I know, that’s more than any other state.”

Russell Fielding of Coastal Carolina University and Nippon Foundation Ocean Nexus, University of Washington, will follow at 11 a.m. with “So Wide a Chase: Melvillian Whaling in the Twenty-first Century Caribbean.”

John Ososky of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History will present “From ‘Save the Whales’ to ‘Save the Rice’s Whale’: A History of Modern Smithsonian Whale Conservation” at 1 p.m. After the bones for the new species were treated at Bonehenge Whale Center in 2019, the bones were then taken to Washington, D.C., where it was identified in 2021 as a newly discovered species, the Rice’s whale.

Wunderly will speak at 2 p.m. on the “The Old Whale Fishery of North Carolina.”

After a break for dinner, the symposium will wrap up with a 6 p.m. presentation by the North Atlantic Right Whale Aerial Survey Team. Meghan Bradley, Renee LaGarenne, and Rylie Gonzales of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will discuss their survey methods and address the need for right whale conservation. They will also highlight some special cases of right whales in North Carolina waters.

In addition to the programs, there will be displays showcasing marine mammal bones, teeth, baleen, oils and skeletons, as well as educational games.

The North Carolina Aquariums teamed up with U.S. Coast Guard stations Hatteras Inlet and Fort Macon to release 81 rehabilitated cold-stunned sea turtles.

Station Hatteras Inlet released 22 rehabilitated sea turtles from the Sea Turtle Assistance & Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center at the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island Jan. 30. These small, juvenile Kemp’s ridley and green species were released in waters by the Coast Guard station.

The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Richard Snyder Feb. 12 released 59 turtles as part of their cruise from Station Fort Macon. The healthy turtles were transported to Station Fort Macon by volunteers from the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center as well as biologists from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

The 59 rehabilitated turtles from both the N.C. Aquariums and Karen Beasley center included loggerhead, green, and Kemp’s ridley, the state’s most common species.

Most of these turtles were brought to rehabilitation centers because of cold-stunning, which occurs when the water temperature drops quickly before the turtles can migrate to warmer water. This condition primarily affects juveniles of the species.

At this time, the state aquarium system is caring for 62 cold-stunned patients with 41 at the STAR Center, 15 at the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium and six at the Fort Fisher facility.

If you find a stranded sea turtle in North Carolina, which happen throughout the year, call 252-241-7367 or your local stranding response team.

Nearly two dozen organizations have petitioned the federal government to list the American horseshoe crab as an endangered species.

Overharvesting and habitat loss has caused a sharp decline of horseshoe crab populations in recent decades, prompting the call for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to list the marine animal under the Endangered Species Act.

“We’re wiping out one of the world’s oldest and toughest creatures,” stated Will Harlan, a senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “These living fossils urgently need Endangered Species Act protection. Horseshoe crabs have saved countless human lives, and now we should return the favor.”

Horseshoe crabs are harvested for their blood, which is used to detect toxins in drugs and medical devices, the center said.

Nearly 1 million were harvested for their blood in 2022, according to the center.

“The continued reliance on horseshoe crab blood by pharmaceutical manufacturers has led to a rapid decrease in the population of this important species,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice president for animal research issues at the Humane Society of the United States. “Fortunately, there are non-animal alternatives that can replace the use of horseshoe crab blood and help protect these amazing animals from further overharvest.”

Synthetic alternatives are being used in Europe, the group said.

The center and 22 partner organizations petitioned NOAA to list the prehistoric creatures – a species that has been around for more than 450 million years – that are also harvested for bait by commercial whelk and eel fisheries.

Their largest populations, which are found in the Delaware Bay, have declined by two-thirds in the last 30 years, the groups said.

These brown, body-armored animals have also lost spawning grounds up and down the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where they lay their eggs. The petitioning groups attributed the habitat loss to development, shoreline hardening and sea-level rise.

Horseshoe crabs’ decline has impacted other species, including the rufa red knot, a shorebird that eats horseshoe crab eggs to pack on calories as it flies 19,000 miles from South America to the Arctic. The rufa red knot was listed as threatened in 2015.

“Horseshoe crab eggs are incredibly nutrient dense, sustaining the federally threatened red knot on their long migratory journey,” stated Steve Holmer, vice president of policy at American Bird Conservancy. “Greater protection of the horseshoe crab is needed to fully recover the red knot, as well as conserve other shorebird species, such as the ruddy turnstone and semipalmated sandpiper.”

Asia’s tri-spine horseshoe crab, a sister species to the American horseshoe crab, is nearly extinct.

“It is clear from the available science that the current fisheries management policies are failing to protect and sustain these ancient mariners,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “We must do more to keep them and the red knots and other life that depend on them from disappearing from this Earth.”

Other organizations that joined in on the petition include: Humane Society of the United States, American Bird Conservancy, American Littoral Society, New Jersey Audubon, Delaware Audubon, Delaware Ornithological Society, Healthy Gulf, Humane Society Legislative Fund, League of Women Voters of New Jersey, Maryland Ornithological Society, Revive & Restore, One Hundred Miles, The Safina Center, Wild Cumberland, Forest Keeper, Coastal Expeditions Foundation, Mobile Baykeeper, Shark River Cleanup Coalition, Southeastern Massachusetts Pine Barrens Alliance, Save Coastal Wildlife, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

Dozens of sea turtles pulled from frigid waters in the recent cold snap that sent temperatures plummeting along the East Coast are being treated at North Carolina Aquariums.

The N.C. Aquarium at Roanoke Island as of Tuesday had 111 cold-stunned sea turtles in its care and more are reported to arrive, according to a release. And, the aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is caring for 42 sea turtles that lost their ability to swim as water temperatures quickly and drastically dipped, causing the turtles to suffer a hypothermia-like state.

This winter so far has resulted in more than 200 sea turtles requiring treatment at the state’s aquariums.

Juvenile green, loggerhead, and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles feed in shallow sounds throughout the summer and fall, after which time these cold-blooded animals typically head for warmer waters.

But rapidly plummeting temperatures can catch sea turtles off guard, leaving them little time to make it into warmer waters.

Their heart rate and other functions slow, leaving them lethargic and unable to swim,” Michele Lamping, Pine Knoll Shores aquarist and sea turtle specialist said in a release “Prolonged exposure can result in paralysis, and the turtles float on the surface or wash up on beaches.”

So far, 63 cold-stunned sea turtles have been rehabilitated at the state’s aquariums and released back into the wild.

Cold-stunned turtles being treated at the aquariums have been recovered from Cape Lookout National Seashore, Core Sound, and areas spanning between Ocracoke to the Virginia state line.

Biologists with Cape Lookout National Seashore, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, or WRC, and sea turtle conservation volunteers find, record and transport cold-stunned sea turtles to regional facilities.

Turtles found stranded in the southern part of the state are taken to North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, to be assessed and initially treated. The turtles are then sent to various rehabilitation centers, including the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City and the state aquariums in Pine Knoll Shores and Fort Fisher.

Cold-stunned turtles rescued from Ocracoke north are moved to a staging site on Hatteras Island then transported to the STAR Center for initial assessment and treatment under the supervision of a veterinary team.

Rehabilitation can take anywhere from two weeks to several months, according to Amber Hitt, Sea Turtle and Rehabilitation Center, or STAR, coordinator at the Roanoke Island aquarium.

“We work closely with our veterinary team (to) administer individual care to be sure that they are ready for release,” Hitt said in the release.

During rehabilitation, sea turtles are provided nutritional care and various treatments, including fluids, antibiotics, eye drops and wound care. Each turtle must receive a final health check by a veterinarian and microchipped, which allows researchers to trace the turtle’s locations and growth.

Once turtles receive a clean bill of health they are usually released near the Gulf Stream, where waters temperatures are at least 70 degrees. The turtles are returned to the wild by various crews, including those from Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, U.S. Coast Guard Stations at Cape Hatteras and Fort Macon, and private fishing vessels.

The WRC heads sea turtle rescue and rehabilitation efforts and collaborates with several federal, state and private organizations, including the aquariums, CMAST, N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Cape Lookout National Seashore, Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., Cape Hatteras National Seashore, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

What to do if you see a struggling turtle

Sea turtles spotted not moving or seemingly sluggish in the water or on a beach during winter months should not be pushed back into the water or moved. 

Anyone who sees a sea turtle that appears to be in distress should call the Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline, which will dispatch a response team to transport the turtle for triage.

For turtles found south of Ocracoke Island, call 252-241-7367.

Turtles stranded on Ocracoke and Hatteras Island may be called into the Cape Hatteras National Seashore at 252-216-6892. 

Sea turtles found along Oregon Inlet and north should be reported to N.E.S.T. at 252-441-8622.

Maverick hasn’t left the building, but he’s being moved out of the public eye.

The popular bald eagle at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is being moved from his open-air habitat as a precaution to protect him from contracting avian influenza.

New cases of the highly contagious disease in eastern North Carolina wild birds prompted the call to move Maverick, who is healthy and symptom free, according to a news release. This is the second time this year that the aquarium has taken precautions against avian flu.

“This disease, if spread, could have devastating effects on poultry farms, both commercial and backyard flocks, and birds living in zoos, aquariums, and wildlife centers,” North Carolina Aquariums Chief Veterinarian Emily Christiansen said in a statement.

Aquarium officials have ramped up biosecurity for staff, allowing only specific teams who work with the aquarium’s feathered animals to care for Maverick.

“Our visitors really treasure Maverick, a majestic ambassador for birds, and we are taking every precaution to ensure he stays safe and healthy, so he can quickly return to his habitat for everyone to enjoy,” said Hap Fatzinger, director of the Fort Fisher aquarium.

The aquarium is working with the N.C. Aquarium Division veterinary team, N.C. Department of Agriculture, and U.S. Department of Agriculture to decide when Maverick may be safely returned to his public habitat.

Sick or dying wild birds may be reported to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission helpline at 866-318-2401 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Ill birds in human care may be reported to area veterinarians, the N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services Veterinary Division at 919-707-3250, or the N.C. Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory System at 919-733-3986.

Additional information is available at NCDA&CS and USDA Defend the Flock. 

Disclosure: Coastal Review correspondent Kip Tabb also serves on an informal citizens advisory board for the Outer Banks Field Site.

WANCHESE — Artificial light at night did not adversely affect sea turtle nesting north of Oregon Inlet from 2014 to 2022, undergraduate students found this fall during a four-month study.

A University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment program, the semester-long Outer Banks Field Site combines environmental research and community engagement into the collaborative capstone research project. Coastal Studies Institute, a multi-institutional research partnership, and the East Carolina University Outer Banks Campus, host the program.

In addition to measuring the affect of artificial light, which they call ALAN, on sea turtle nesting, the students examined what the public thinks about artificial light at night.

The students presented their findings Dec. 12 during the monthly “Science on the Sound” program on campus.

Senior Drew Huffman, in introducing the study, noted that artificial light at night studies are often focused on inland areas, rather than shorelines.

“There’s a scarcity of existing literature on artificial light at night and coastal systems, as opposed to what we know about more terrestrial systems,” he said. Adding that’s another aim of their research, “to try to expand that knowledge so that we have of a grasp of what things are like for coastal systems and artificial light at night.”

Numerous studies show a repeated pattern of sea turtle hatchlings crawling toward artificial light, such as a street light, rather than toward the ocean.

The students wanted to gauge the effects of artificial light on nesting.

“Is there a relationship between sea turtle nesting and artificial light at night across the Outer Banks over the last nine years? And if so, what is it?” Those were the questions senior Laura Montague posed in describing the study.

The study area extended north from the north side of Oregon Inlet to the north end of Corolla, but did not include Carova, because, as one student explained, no one had a four-wheel-drive vehicle able to navigate the oceanfront area with no paved roads.

Reported sea turtle nesting data from 2014 to 2022 shows a trend of increasing nesting activity, although overall activity, including false crawls and nests laid, fluctuated during that period, the students found.

During that period, activity hit a low point in 2017 where only about 35 active sites were reported, comparted to 100 active sites in 2022.

“False crawls refer to instances when a female sea turtle comes ashore on a beach but instead of nesting, turns back around to re-enter the ocean,” according to the paper.

Although there was no clear reason for the trend toward more activity, junior Kenza Hessini-Arandel told the audience that she and the other students felt conservation efforts could account for the increase in activity.

“(The) Endangered Species Act that protected a lot of these species and also management efforts that organizations like (the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles) and the National Park Service perhaps helped increase the number of turtles that we’re seeing along the coast,” she said.

There was at least one anomaly in sea turtle activity that the students could not explain.

The Outer Banks is at the north end of the range where sea turtles nest, and Corolla, at the north end of the study area, saw significantly less nesting activity than sites at the south end near Oregon Inlet, which is considered to be a more compatible nesting area for turtles.

Though the number of Corolla nesting sites was significantly less than those on the south end of the study area, the number of false crawls was the same there as areas where activity was greater, representing a much higher percentage of false crawls compared to nests.

“However, we do not see the same pattern when looking at false crawls; there seem to be more false crawls in the northernmost and southernmost areas compared with areas in between,” the paper noted.

“There are a lot of variables that come into play with false crawls and we don’t know exactly why we are seeing this trend,” Hessini-Arandel said.

The students included environmental research in the study, as well. They explored the social science of artificial light, whether people attach significance to artificial light, and their perception of how it affects the environment.

The public perception survey included about 500 responses, with respondents divided into residents, seasonal residents and visitors.

The students found a strong indication that the public perception is that artificial light has a significant impact on the environment, and regardless of age or sex, or even where people lived, they were concerned about the effect.

Although there were small variations in the degree of concern among the groups, the overall response showed a clear level of unease with the amount of artificial light on the Outer Banks.

Junior Julie Yakaboski noted that a significant majority of people said they were either concerned or very concerned.

“Taking these two together, that’s about 70% of our responses,” she said.

Significantly, almost no one – fewer than 5% — said they were “not concerned about it at all.”

That attitude appears to correlate closely with whether respondents felt artificial light should be reduced. Asked whether they felt artificial light on the Outer Banks should be reduced, 90% of respondents said they either agreed or agreed strongly. More than 60% said they “agreed strongly.”

Because of the timing of the recent survey, answers were somewhat skewed by the number of full-time and seasonal residents, students said. However, the results would seem to indicate there is support for local governments to implement regulations or ordinances controlling artificial light.

“Public perceptions of ALAN have the power to affect the development of policies that regulate it,” according to the paper.

OCEARCH founder and expedition leader Chris Fisher will give a short presentation on white shark conservation at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

Aquarium admission is not needed to attend the presentation taking place in Soundside Hall. Seating will be limited to the first 130 people who arrive for the program. To tour the facility afterward, regular admission tickets will need to be purchased.

By connecting multi-disciplinary experts to tag and track white sharks, OCEARCH gathers much-needed and previously missing information about many aspects of white sharks that directly help the conservation of this species and its habitats.

 “We are excited to have Chris Fisher visit the Aquarium and share the story of OCEARCH and white shark conservation,” Pine Knoll Shores Aquarium Director Clint Taylor, said in a statement. “Being able to host mission-based presentations like this for our visitors, staff, and volunteers helps inspire the appreciation and conservation of our aquatic environments and animals.”

Since founding OCEARCH in 2007, Fischer’s team has engaged with more than 190 researchers from global institutions, safely tagged more than 400 animals, and worked globally with partners across varying sectors. OCEARCH has advanced science through 75 peer-reviewed papers, 20 of which Fischer is a co-author.

The OCEARCH shark tracker launched in 2013, allowing nearly 2 million annual users to learn about sharks while tracking them across the planet in near-real-time.

Undergraduate students at the Coastal Studies Institute on the East Carolina University Outer Banks Campus are set to share their findings on how artificial light affects sea turtles and the community.

Their presentation, “Artificial Light at Night: Public Perception, Sea Turtle Nesting, and Spatio-temporal Change in North Carolina’s Outer Banks,” is set for 6 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12, at the campus and should take about 90 minutes, including time for questions and discussions.

The presentation is the culmination of a semester-long, interdisciplinary residential learning experience at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute for the Environment’s Outer Banks Field Site, hosted by the Coastal Studies Institute on the ECU Outer Banks Campus. Each fall since 2001, students spend the semester taking classes, engaging in internships with area organizations, and completing a capstone research project as a group.

This year’s capstone research addresses artificial light at night on the Outer Banks, including changes over the past nine years, what Outer Banks residents and visitors think about artificial light at night, and how changes relate to sea turtle nesting patterns.

Attendees will also have the opportunity to view posters about the students’ internship projects before the presentation and to talk with the students about their experiences during a reception afterward. Light refreshments will be provided.

“Science on the Sound” is a monthly, in-person lecture series that brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in northeastern North Carolina.

There is no charge for the public to attend. The program is to be livestreamed on the CSI YouTube channel.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore officials estimate that 25,000 sea turtle hatchlings made their way to sea this summer from the more than 370 nests tracked along the park’s beaches.

Outer Banks Forever, the seashore’s official nonprofit partner, shared this and more Friday about the nest and sea turtle statistics park rangers collected during the 2023 nesting season.

The nonprofit was established in 2019 and supports the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Fort Raleigh National Historic Site and Wright Brothers National Memorial.

Of all the sea turtle nests in the state, 19% were found at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

Park staff tracked 378 sea turtle nests this year. Of those, 86% were loggerheads, 50 green sea turtles, three Kemp’s ridleys and one leatherback nest. Total eggs counted were 39,085, the average eggs per nest were 119, and average incubation time was 56 days.

Outer Banks Forever supporters adopted 283 nests this year through the nonprofit’s Adopt A Sea Turtle Nest program, raising $28,987 to help fun projects and programs at Cape Hatteras.

“Sea turtles are some of our favorite visitors here in the Outer Banks,” Outer Banks Forever Director Jessica Barnes said in a statement. “We’re so grateful to our national park staff who help protect the sea turtles, their nests and the habitat they need to thrive. Each donor who adopts a nest on the Seashore helps us invest in protecting and enhancing this amazing place.”

Slow down, offshore boaters.

The migratory and calving season for one of the rarest marine mammals in the world is about to kick off and operators of vessels 65 feet or longer are being reminded they must travel no faster than 10 knots through federal seasonal management areas, or SMAs, in the mid-Atlantic.

Lower speeds are enforced to help reduce the threat of collisions with endangered North Atlantic right whales, of which scientists say there are fewer than 350 individuals remaining, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Since boats of any size can strike and injure a right whale, the administration is urging operators of vessels shorter than 65 feet in length to also travel no faster than 10 knots within active SMAs.

SMA’s off the North Carolina coast include areas around the Port of Morehead City and Beaufort and within 20 nautical miles from shore between Wilmington and Brunswick, Ga.

SMAs in the mid-Atlantic open on Wednesday and remain in effect through April 30 of next year.

North Atlantic right whales give birth generally between December and March in nearshore waters of the southeast coastline and migrate south in the fall and north in the spring. Females are, on average, 9 to 10 years old before giving birth for the first time.

In the summer, most right whales swim in feeding and nursery grounds between New England and the Bay of Fundy between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada.

These whales are protected and approaching one closer than 500 yards is a violation of federal and state law.

In 2017, NOAA Fisheries declared an “Unusual Mortality Event” in right whales. That designation allows the agency to further jointly study and reduce whale deaths with other organizations.

Vessel operators can download the Whale Alert app for iPad, iPhone, and Android for real time updates on Slow Zones, SMAs, and other right whale sightings. Additional information may be obtained by downloading Recent right whale sightings and real-time acoustic detections along the eastern seaboard.

Boaters from Maine to Virginia and other interested parties may sign up for email or text notifications about the latest Right Whale Slow Zones. Announcements will also be shared on Facebook, @NOAAFisheriesNEMA, and Twitter, @NOAAFish_GARFO.

For more information about slow zones and conservation efforts, visit noaa.gov.

Two, tiny loggerhead sea turtle hatchlings have new names and will soon have a new home.

These newest conservation ambassadors for North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher are named Aleta, pronounced A-leta, which means “flipper” and Pico, pronounced Pee-koh, which means “beak” in Spanish.

Students picked the names for the two hatchlings that will make their debut at the aquarium.

The students represent classrooms in Fort Fisher aquarium’s Adopt-a-Turtle program. By adopting a sea turtle, students receive monthly updates with information including the animal’s weight and length. Each class receives a certificate of participation. The aquarium shares photos with the students as the turtles grow.

“Inspiring students in conservation is a priority for the Aquarium. Through the Adopt-a-Turtle program, we ensure that the students are truly engaged and learning about the sea turtle hatchlings from the beginning and that includes naming them,” Gail Lemiec, aquarium’s unique experiences coordinator, said in a release.

The aquarium collaborates with local sea turtle protection organizations to take in two hatchlings each year that did not make the initial trek to the ocean.

The nonprofit Pleasure Island Sea Turtle Project volunteers rescued these hatchlings from a nest excavation on Kure Beach. Now under the care of Fort Fisher’s aquarist team, the two turtles will soon be in the loggerhead conservation habitat at the aquarium.

The hatchlings will make their public debut after the aquarium team bids farewell to the yearlings, Pip and Scout who have been with the aquarium since September 2022. That farewell is to be announced on Facebook and Instagram.

To find more information about how to protect sea turtles through all stages of their lives, visit the aquarium’s sea turtle conservation website.

After a recent decline in health, Nimbus, the 13-year-old leucistic loggerhead sea turtle at North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, was humanely euthanized Wednesday evening.

Nimbus went into emergency surgery that afternoon at North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine. During surgery, severe stomach disease was confirmed. This diagnosis in addition to concerns with his other internal organ function and additional health issues, prompted a discussion about quality of life, aquarium officials said Friday. After five hours of in-depth surgery, and a review of Nimbus’ medical history, the decision was made to move forward with euthanasia.

“Nimbus was loved by our staff, volunteers, and guests. This was not an easy decision, and you could see it on the faces and hear it in each person’s voice when we discussed the situation,” Aquarium Director Clint Taylor said. “Based on the severity of the internal issue, it was extremely important for us to look at his overall health and quality of life.”

Nimbus was found as a hatchling in August 2010 by N.C. Sea Turtle Project volunteers during a nest excavation on Pine Knoll Shores. The Sea Turtle Project watches over sea turtle nests and nesting sea turtles on the state’s beaches and is overseen by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

The aquarium’s veterinary and animal care team cared for the turtle born with mouth and nasal deformities and vision problems associated with leucism, a rare genetic alteration found in animals, similar to albinism, which caused the turtle’s unique coloration.

“Nimbus quickly became one of our guests’ favorite animals to visit. Many people remember when the turtle came to the Aquarium as a hatchling and watched him grow and thrive,” Taylor said.

Nimbus, meaning a radiant light or shining cloud, was the name chosen during a public naming contest where over 500 names were submitted.

The aquarium team is currently developing a memorial opportunity for guests and staff in honor of Nimbus.

In the last two years, second graders at Perquimans Central School have raised $2,000 to donate to the sea turtle rehabilitation program at North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island by making and selling bracelets.

The students learned about endangered sea turtles by visiting the aquarium with financial support through the Aquarium Scholars grant program.

A partnership through NC Aquariums, public schools and the nonprofit North Carolina Aquarium Society, educators at Title 1 and Title 1-eligible schools can apply for these grants.

That’s what second grade teacher Laura Duncan did and encourages other teachers in Title 1 schools, which are schools with high poverty levels, to apply as well.

Application deadline is Sept. 15. Apply for the program through the aquarium website.

Duncan explained in the announcement that the Aquarium Scholars grant program has supported visits to the aquarium allowing her students, who may never have left their county, to experience the coastal environment, and to see the animals there.

“This opens their eyes to learning more about animals, helping to conserve and care for our world — and they can build background knowledge of species and habitats. It is the platform for learning when we return — we’ve had the shared experience, and it makes all the difference,” Duncan said.

The program Duncan and her students have created begins with a visit to the aquarium in March, where the students see the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center. Then, in the classroom, they learn about sea turtles, and begin making bracelets with supplies Duncan purchases.

“In addition to creating the bracelets, the class makes commercials for the school news, works on marketing, and produces sea turtle books, pamphlets, magnets, and a website,” she said. The project wraps up with a virtual meeting with sea turtle expert Dr. Stephen Dunbar from Loma Linda University.

The Aquarium Scholars grant program is funded by the North Carolina Aquarium Society.

“Since the program started in 2018, we’ve been able to connect over 12,000 North Carolina students from 78 counties with the amazing education experiences offered by the three Aquariums and Jennette’s Pier at little to no cost to the school,” Society Communications Manager Colleen Shytle said in a statement. “Regardless of the school’s proximity to the coast, learning opportunities are available that are relevant and accessible to engage students.”

Featured Image

The female pigmy rattlesnake in this photo by Daniel Murdoch was spotted with her hatchlings in the Newport area near Croatan National Forest.

Wildlife Resources Commission biologists request that if you see a snake, do not harm it, instead give it plenty of space, and if you see a pine snake or rattlesnake, report it.  

“Snakes play crucial roles within ecoystems and help control the rodent, slug and insect populations,” Jeff Hall, reptile conservation biologist with the Wildlife Commission, said in a release about reporting snake sightings. “There are many ways to coexist with snakes, which is important because of 38 of North Carolina’s native snake species, ten are listed endangered, threatened or of special concern.”  

The agency partners with the HerpMapper mobile app to track amphibian and reptile species. To report a sighting, download the app to your mobile device or tablet and enter information about your sighting. If reporting by email send a photo, the date and time the snake was observed and location to rattlesnake@ncwildlife.org.

The smallest rattlesnake species in the state, pigmy rattlesnakes give birth to up to nine babies in late summer or early fall, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “Pigmy rattlers are rare but can be found in the southeastern Coastal Plain and in the Sandhills of North Carolina in pine flatwoods and scrub oak habitats. They have also been found at Crowder’s Mountain State Park in Gaston County.”

Of the six native venomous snake species, three are rattlesnakes. The pigmy, along with eastern diamondback and timber, are the three rattlesnake species in the state and are all protected under the North Carolina Endangered Species Act. The eastern diamondback is endangered and the timber and pigmy rattlesnakes are considered species of special concern because of declining populations.

“Public assistance in recording and documenting the pine snake will be a huge help, because it’s difficult to conserve a species when we don’t know all the places it occurs,” Mike Martin, wildlife technician with the Wildlife Commission, said in a release. “We are partnering with several organizations and agencies to conduct surveys in the areas where pine snakes have either been seen or areas with potentially good habitat.”  

Contact Hall at jeff.hall@wildlife.org or 252-917-1683 for more information.

Guest commentary

We in the Carolinas share space with a wonderful but imperiled plant, the Venus flytrap.

People everywhere know and love this unique carnivorous plant for its remarkable ability to ensnare insects within toothed, snap-trap leaves with a hair-trigger, allowing them to snap shut around a struggling insect within milliseconds. A century before “Little Shop of Horrors,” Charles Darwin was so enchanted he had collectors send him these “most wonderful” plants for experiments. 

Although they are known around the world, we only find wild Venus flytraps in a few special habitats scattered across the coastal plains of North and South Carolina within about 100 miles of Wilmington. This highly restricted range reflects the flytrap’s needs for open, sunny, nutrient-poor, and wet habitats scattered among seasonally flooded depressions in longleaf pine savannas and along small creeks with shrub thickets in the Sandhills. Flytraps also need recurrent fires. Without them, woody shrubs quickly overtop and shade out these plants.

Development has shrunk the range of the flytrap and extinguished many populations. If you’ve driven to the beach in recent years, you’ve seen golf courses, housing, and commercial areas where flytraps once grew. In addition, poachers who illegally dig up the plants to sell them have depleted many flytrap populations.

The flytrap’s highly restricted range makes it particularly vulnerable. Remarkably, more than 75% of all wild plants occur in just four large populations on Marine Corps Base Camp LeJeune, NC state game lands, and in the Green Swamp (owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy). Small populations on private lands are vulnerable to losing the habitat patches or the fire and water regimes that sustain them.

These threats and concerns led botanists and conservationists to petition the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 2016 to list the Venus flytrap as federally endangered. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assigned the plant to “Vulnerable” status on its Red List in 2020.

Despite these threats, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has ruled that the Venus flytrap “is not facing an imminent threat of extinction now or in the foreseeable future” (July 25, 2023, decision). They point in particular to eight “highly resilient” populations they rate as stable, protected, and well-managed, which should suffice to sustain this species, eliminating any need for federal regulatory protection.

We hope the USFWS is right. We fear they acted on incomplete information and with more optimism and confidence than is warranted. They pin hopes for this species on land managers’ abilities to successfully protect and manage a few remnant populations. History is littered with failures to sustain large and apparently stable and well-managed populations of other species that crashed unexpectedly from unforeseen threats.

In making this momentous decision, the USFWS underestimated the risks Venus flytraps face from climate change. The large flytrap populations that the USFWS rates as most resilient and crucial for viability grow at low elevations along the coast. Sea level is now rising faster than predicted even a few months ago, increasing risks from saltwater flooding during storm surges (which are also increasing). Prolonged droughts are also becoming more common, threatening the moist habitats flytraps depend on. 

The pace of development has accelerated on the Carolina coastal plain. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in its Sackett decision that isolated wetlands beyond navigable waters are no longer protected from development. This halves the area of wetlands formerly protected. Compounding this threat, the North Carolina Farm Act of 2023 (Senate Bill 532) strips North Carolina wetlands of longstanding safeguards and compensatory mitigation. This further frees developers to drain ephemeral wetlands like those that support flytrap populations on private lands. The USFWS’s decision did not anticipate how these actions would threaten flytrap populations.

The smaller flytrap populations on private lands play important roles by connecting large and small populations that enhance viability and slow inbreeding. They also provide the pathways for flytraps to migrate north and inland as climates change.  

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service decision not to federally protect the Venus flytrap doesn’t mean this unique species is secure. To ensure that wild Venus flytraps remain part of our Carolina natural heritage, consider what you might do:

• Ask landowners with Venus flytraps on their property to request assistance at Venus Flytrap Champions. This organization recognizes and assists landowners and land managers in the Carolinas who want to ​care for populations of this rare species.
• In North Carolina visit Carolina Beach State Park and The Nature Conservancy’s Green Swamp Preserve and in South Carolina visit Lewis Ocean Bay Preserve to learn about the Venus flytrap.
• Donate funds to support the ongoing habitat protection and restoration efforts (see www.VenusFlytrapChampions.org website).
• Support the North Carolina Plant Conservation Program, which also maintains properties where Venus flytrap grows, via Friends of Plant Conservation.
• Spread concern for the Venus flytrap among your friends, social networks, and the media. Encourage writers or newspaper editors to cover this story in depth.

Extinction is forever. If these populations vanish, we lose a unique branch of life and the world’s most popular plant.

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or our publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

COLUMBIA — Whether red wolves will end up thriving in the wild is still a conservation conundrum, but now the critically endangered species is officially back in the game.

Wildlife conservation groups announced Wednesday a court settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that ensures continuation of successful management strategies and public engagement to restore the world’s only population of wild red wolves in northeastern North Carolina.

“These wolves and other endangered species across the South are a living testament to the fragile balance of our ecosystems and a symbol of the urgent need for conservation,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Ramona McGee and the group’s leader of its wildlife program, said in a prepared statement.

The agreement settles a 2020 lawsuit filed against the Wildlife Service in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina by the law center on behalf of the Red Wolf Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and the Animal Welfare Institute, contending the agency had violated provisions of the Endangered Species Act in its red wolf management.

In acknowledging the importance of the Eastern North Carolina red wolf population to the conservation and recovery of the species, the Wildlife Service confirmed in the seven-page settlement its commitment to manage the population “in a manner consistent with the ESA.”

In order to comply, the agency agreed to implement adaptive management strategies that include coyote sterilization and programs to release captive wolves and foster captive wolf pups into the wild population. Public engagement would be increased with stakeholders and property owners within the 1.7 million-acre recovery area that spans public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Tyrrell, Hyde, and Washington counties.

“For more than 30 years, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its partners have worked to conserve and recover the red wolf,” the agency said in a prepared statement, adding that increased transparency is a focus of improved communication. “The Service has been undertaking a concerted effort to reengage with the local community of eastern North Carolina regarding red wolf management and recovery. The success of the Eastern North Carolina Red Wolf Population sets the stage for the Service’s ability to fulfill our responsibility to recover the species – which we cannot do without the local community and our conservation partners.”

The settlement requires the Wildlife Service to continue the specified conservation strategies for eight years, but makes no mention of actions beyond that period.

Although McGee declined in an interview to go into how terms of the settlement were reached, or details of the negotiations, she said that Fish and Wildlife may choose to continue to publish release plans, or take another approach.

“Eight years is a long time — it’s roughly two generations of red wolves,” she said. “That will go a long way in getting the red wolf on the right path.”

As one of the earliest listings on the brand-new Endangered Species Act in 1973, the red wolf has been on a conservation roller coaster from the beginning.

By the time the canid was listed as endangered, its once-expansion population in the Southeastern U.S. had been depleted by loss of habitat and overhunting to a handful wandering in an isolated area of Louisiana. Not long after, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild. But in 1987, four pairs of captive-bred offspring of wild wolves from captures in Louisiana were transferred by Fish and Wildlife to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Manteo, and the animals were designated as “nonessential experimental population of wild red wolves.”

Through innovative conservation strategies, the population increased steadily to as many as 130 by 2015, leading to confidence that the species had a chance to recover. But at the same time, political support and public anger over species conflicts turned against the wolves, and conservation efforts declined while mortality from vehicle strikes, poisonings and gunshots increased. Before releases of captive wolves into the recovery area resumed after the Southern Environmental Law Center filed suit in 2020, the known red wolf population had been reduced to as few as seven, with only a total of 20 or so wild red wolves remaining in North Carolina.

Fish and Wildlife announced in February 2022 that it would restore the prior effective management tactics and work with community members to protect red wolves so the animals can co-exist safely on the land.

Since 2021, 20 captive adults and sub-adults were released, three were transferred from the St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge, a barrier island area where paired red wolves can roam free and breed, and five captive-bred pups were fostered by wild wolf mothers with newborn litters.

Emily Weller, the agency’s red wolf program coordinator, said that the current known population of wolves — those wearing a digital collar — in the recovery area is 13, with an estimated total population of 23 to 25 wolves in the wild. Those numbers take into account recent mortalities, including one found dead May 18 in Washington County with a gunshot wound in its torso, and a female found dead on July 20; but also pups born in the wild or captive-bred pups snuck into newborn litters.

There are also a total of 26 sterilized coyotes within the Eastern North Carolina red wolf population, Weller said. One of the successful management techniques is to sterilize coyotes, but leave them hormonally intact. When they’re released, they continue to instinctively hold territory, but they can’t breed with the wolves. The result is they serve as placeholders, while limiting the number of coyotes. Also, captured hybrids are euthanized to limit interbreeding. 

Of a number of red wolves released into the recovery area in the spring, some adjusted well, including a a captive-born family group comprised of a breeding pair and a yearling, Weller said in an interview. But unfortunately, a breeding male and a pup from that group have since died, she said, adding that the causes were still under investigation. Also, one of the captive-bred males that were released had to be recaptured and removed because of persistent visits to populated areas.

The settlement calls for the agency to submit a release plan every Dec. 1 for the next eight years. The final red wolf recovery plan is expected to be completed by late September 2023, the Weller said. That plan will incorporate the findings of the Population Viability Analysis, a draft of which is currently under review. Both plans will include details of what needs to happen for the species to recover, what they would look like, and what actions are required.

Although Weller said the specifics won’t be available until the plans are released, she said that the draft recovery plan estimated that recovery of the red wolf species could be reached in 50 years. Once the recovery plan is completed, she added, the agency will start working on the recovery implementation strategy, which will be a flexible plan that addresses the on-the-ground work and action needed to carry out recovery efforts.

Weller said that communication with community members and property owners is an important component of the success of the recovery program. To that end, earlier this year the agency signed a three-year contract with Francine Madden of Conservation Conflict, LLC., who will assist with transforming destructive energy in conflict to collaboration and progress.

“I think it’s going to help us engage better with the community and stakeholders, and help us build a better working relationship,” she said.

At a public information held in May, Weller said that increased population numbers depend on genetic diversity and decreased threats to the both captive and wild wolves. But true success will be evident when the red wolves don’t just need people not to hurt them, but also don’t need people to help them.

“For red wolf populations to ultimately be viable or successful, they must not be reliant on extensive human interventions, which we define as annual or frequent releases, fostering, translocations, and placeholder management,” she said at the meeting.

And the conservation effort must be collaborative.

“For any species, but particularly this one, effective recovery will require participation and involvement of all parties,” Weller said.

This report has been corrected to note that only one of the released captive-born male wolves had to be removed, rather than two as originally reported.

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH — A new type of barrier tape used to mark off turtle nests was unveiled in North Topsail Beach Wednesday, one that does more than simply cordon off an area.

The tape is made of a biodegradable material to keep plastics off our beaches, and it is a way to learn more about the creatures it protects.

Keith Dorman, founder and managing director of Love thy turtle, was on hand for the midday unveiling at Access No. 29 off Island Drive. To say Dorman is passionate about sea turtles may be an understatement. He flew into coastal North Carolina from South Florida for the event. The crew at Love thy turtle say they are dedicated to the protection and conservation of sea turtles and their habitats.

“I must confess, I love sea turtles,” Dorman said with a beaming grin during the press event held in conjunction with the unveiling.

Dorman and his team developed the eco-friendly turtle nest marker tape that features a QR code that allows anyone on the beach to scan it with their smartphone for access to more information about the nest in front of them and the organization working to protect it.

Scanning the code will take them to the sea turtle rescue organization in that area, in this case, the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Topsail Beach. Beachgoers can “adopt” sea turtles and make donations with all proceeds going to the Beasley Center from their website.

Terry Meyer, deputy and conservation director at the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, said that Love thy turtle initially provided six rolls of the marker tape free of charge. So far, the first tape marking active sea turtle nests has been up for six months and shows no signs of degradation.

The Beasley Center received additional tape Wednesday to get them through the rest of the 2023 nesting season, also free of charge.

Meyer noted the tape is reusable. “We can just roll it up after use,” she said. “It is not a hazard in the ocean if washes away.”

And the QR code allows the crew at the center to concentrate on saving turtles, rather than answering the phone.

“People can now get information with a smartphone instead of having to call us,” Meyer said. “They are able to get information on local sea turtles directly on the beach and specific local information on our center.”

Meyer said she was impressed on Dorman’s zeal to get information about sea turtles to the public.

The tape is intended to draw awareness and educate, Dorman said.

Dorman spoke about a turtle in the Loggerhead Marine Life Center, a nonprofit West Palm Beach, Florida, sea turtle rescue organization. The turtle had passed about 20 pieces of plastic during its first 24 hours there.

“I have to do something,” he said, visibly moved by the experience. “I wanted to create the tape with the QR code so that people can adopt the turtle and find out all the facts, and it becomes an information hub.”

It’s also a way for people to support the organizations that work to save sea turtles.

“The QR code scanning takes people to the Love thy turtle map site, and on that page there is an icon that will take them to the nearest adoption center website,” Dorman. “We don’t touch any of the money, it goes directly to the local center.”

As the group explained, female sea turtles have for millions of years returned to the beaches where they were hatched to make their nests and lay their eggs. Officials estimate only one in 1,000 hatchlings will survive to adulthood. That’s why Dorman and Meyer say it is vital that nests are protected to help improve the odds.

Over the last decade or so, the sea turtle population has declined by over 80%, Dorman said. He explained that in South Florida, they also mark sea turtle nests with yellow tape, but it was not enough protection.

“I was on the beach, and I heard a kid ask his mother, ‘Mommy, why are there so many dead bodies on this beach?’” Dorman said. “So I said, we really need to figure out a better way of letting people know what’s going on.”

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are asking the public for information in the investigation of the killing of a federally protected red wolf in Washington County.

Officials announced this week that the red wolf, or Canis rufus, was found dead along a fence line south of Newland Road on May 18. They said the red wolf was shot in the torso, causing the animal to falter and fall where it was ultimately found. A recent necropsy found the red wolf’s lungs were collapsed.

The Fish and Wildlife Service is offering a $5,000 reward for information that leads to successful prosecution in this case. Anyone with information on the death of the red wolf is urged to contact North Carolina Division of Refuge Law Enforcement Patrol Capt. Frank Simms at 252-216-7504 or Special Agent Matthew Brink at 919-856-4786 ext. 37.

Red wolves are governed by the rules established in 1995 setting up experimental, nonessential population. This means that landowners may be allowed to remove nuisance red wolf if it attacks their livestock or pets. Additionally, a red wolf that is taken incidentally to any type of otherwise legal activity, such as trapping coyotes following state regulations, on private lands in the red wolf recovery area does not constitute a violation of federal regulations provided that the taking is not intentional or willful and is reported to the Wildlife Service within 24 hours.

If someone accidentally kills a red wolf, they must report it by calling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service toll-free at 1-855-4-WOLVES (1-855-496-5837). It is important to report red wolf incidents quickly so that officials can minimize conflicts and retrieve any carcasses while they are still intact.

To learn more about red wolves and the Wildlife Service’s efforts to recover them, visit this website.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agreed Monday to reconsider extending Endangered Species Act protections to the nonvenomous southern hognose snake.

These small snakes are found in sandy fields and woods of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills region in North Carolina and are state listed as Threatened, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

The Center for Biological Diversity petitioned the Fish and Wildlife Service in 2012 to protect the snake, which also inhabits South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Fish and Wildlife denied the petition in 2019. As the result of a lawsuit filed in January by the center, the agreement made Monday requires Fish and Wildlife to make a new decision by August 2025.

“I’m thrilled the Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to reconsider protections for this unique little snake,” Chelsea Stewart-Fusek, an endangered species attorney at the center, said in a statement. “It’s critical to safeguard southern hognose snakes and their habitat if they’re going to avoid extinction in the face of rapid urban expansion and climate change. They should have never been denied protection in the first place.”

Stewart-Fusek added that the decision “is a win but there’s more work to be done to ensure these snakes will still be around for future generations to appreciate.”

The 2023 Southern Hognose Snake Conservation Plan for North Carolina from the Wildlife Resources Commission states that, historically, the species had been reported in 20 counties but that number had declined to 13 during the last two decades. Sightings were most recently been reported in Bladen, Brunswick, Cumberland, Duplin, Hoke, Moore, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender, Richmond, Robeson, Sampson and Scotland counties.

What remains of the snake population is threatened by habitat loss, urbanization, climate change, collisions with vehicles, invasive species, disease, human persecution and for pet trade, according to the commission. The conservation plan aims to prevent species decline and to increase population viability in North Carolina over at least the next 100 years.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher has special programing Tuesday in “shellabration” of World Turtle Day.

Five spots in the aquarium that are home to turtles are being highlighted as part of the activities.

“We hear from visitors all the time how turtles inspire them, and for staff at the Aquarium that inspiration is important to our conservation mission. This Shellabration is all about awareness of all turtles, many of whom need our protection,” said Karissa Bearer, lead special activities instructor with the Fort Fisher aquarium.

Visitors can play along and win a prize by taking a “shelfie” and posting on their social media pages with hashtag #ShellabrateTurtles. Show your selfie to the team outside the gift shop.

Organizers said spots to take the “shelfie” photos include the following:

• Buzzard Bay, home to the diamondback terrapin. Populations have declined considerably in parts of their geographic range and are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.
• Loggerhead Sea Turtle Conservation. The greatest threat to the loggerhead sea turtle is loss of nesting habitat caused by coastal development, predation of nests, and human disturbances.
• Cape Fear Shoals, 235,000-gallon home of Shelldon the green sea turtle. Green sea turtles face threats including bycatch in fishing gear, climate change, direct harvest of turtles and eggs, disease, loss and degradation of nesting and foraging habitat, ocean pollution/marine debris, and vessel strikes.
• Outdoor pond from the bridge on the aquarium walkway for yellow-bellied slider and eastern river cooter turtles. They are of “least concern” on the IUCN Red List.
• Eastern box turtle habitat. The official turtle of North Carolina is a vulnerable species. Habitat destruction has led to a decline of eastern box turtles in their former range.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is just south of Kure Beach, a short drive from Wilmington, on U.S. Highway 421. Advance tickets can be purchased at the aquarium admissions website. 

Learn about the threats that sharks face globally and how research off the state’s coast is helping to better understand shark behavior over a pint during Suds for Sharks.

The fundraising event is to take place 5:30 to 8 p.m. May 19 at Crystal Coast Brewing Co., 219 West Fort Macon Road, Atlantic Beach.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores and Crystal Coast Brewing Co. are partnering on the free, family-friendly event.

“Events like Suds for Sharks is a way that we can bring the community together for a great conservation cause,” Emily Fessler, aquarium education curator, said in a statement. “The more we can learn about and understand sharks, the better we’re able to protect these animals and their habitat to help them not only survive but thrive for future generations.”

During the fundraiser, the brewery will have a shark-themed beer available, Nacho Shack of Havelock will have a food truck on-site, there will be shark-themed trivia and a silent auction with local art. All donations will go to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums conservation program SAFE: Sharks and Rays for shark field research, outreach, and conservation.

Sharks like sand tiger sharks, a species which is found in abundance off the North Carolina Coast, are considered critically endangered in other parts of the world. Decades of mismanagement of the sand tiger shark and slow reproduction have caused sand tigers to be listed as a species of concern by National Marine Fisheries Service and listed as vulnerable by International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“We’re grateful for community partners like Crystal Coast Brewing Company who are able to get involved in conservation efforts and help make events like Suds for Sharks a fun experience,” Fessler said.

Ten loggerhead sea turtles touched down at Michael J. Smith Field in Beaufort Monday, May 1, ahead of their release back into the Atlantic Ocean.

The loggerheads were rehabilitating at the Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium in Springfield, Missouri, after being cold-stunned in early January near Cape Cod. The New England Aquarium in Boston transported the turtles to the nonprofit aquarium in Missouri.

“It’s not often we have loggerheads in Missouri,” Wonders of Wildlife Director of Animal Care Mike Daniel said.

A private company named Turtles Fly Too transported the loggerheads from Boston to Springfield and then from Springfield to Beaufort. Upon arriving at Smith Field, turtle biologist Matthew Godfrey with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission organized the offloading and transport to Fort Macon State Park in Atlantic BEach with the assistance of Wonders of Wildlife aquarists Holly Blackwood and Jacquelyn Denney.

“We are super excited to help out with the rehabilitation,” Blackwood said. “We have 30-foot-long tanks at our aquarium that can accommodate these larger sea turtles.”

After a few minutes’ ride across the three bridges linking Beaufort, Morehead City and and Atlantic Beach, the loggerheads arrived at Fort Macon State Park at the eastern end of Bogue Banks. There, Ranger Ben Fleming led the procession of off-road-vehicles down to the shore for unloading and release.

The crates were placed on the sand, tags were removed and a last goodbye from staff and volunteers was given before the loggerheads hit the waves.

“It’s bittersweet,” aquarist Jaquelyn Denney said. “These guys have been with us for four months!”

As the loggerheads hit the sand they charged for the waves.

“It’s amazing how fast they move once they hit the water!” Blackwood said.

A series of several feverish paddles and the loggerheads were headed out to the Atlantic Ocean.

“I started to cry when they went under the waves,” Blackwood said. “Now they are where they belong.”

N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores staff, with the help of students from Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, released four green sea turtles early Thursday morning along the Bogue Banks town’s shoreline.

The four sea turtles were stranded in March. Two were from Cape Lookout National Seashore, one was from Shackleford Banks, and another from Bogue Sound.

Park rangers and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission staff located the sea turtles and, after an initial intake evaluation by veterinary team with N.C. Aquariums, were brought to the aquarium.

Matthew Godfrey, commission sea turtle biologist who led the university class, said that students from Duke were learning about various aspects of sea turtle conservation, and “this was an excellent opportunity to better understand the role of the Aquarium in helping rehabilitate and release sick or injured sea turtles found in North Carolina.”

Michele Lamping, aquarium aquarist and sea turtle specialist, said that when the temperature drops in the sounds, “some turtles who can’t make it to warmer water bury themselves in the sediment. That’s where their food source is, but the water is too cold, and they aren’t able to forage like they normally do.”

She added that these turtles came in after the winter cold-stunning events and are the type of sea turtle strandings the aquariums usually see in March and April. They arrive covered in plants, algae, and animals, which is called biofouling.

The turtles are also emaciated from not eating. “Our priority is to get them eating again, which can take a little while,” Lamping said.

When the turtles start eating again, aquarium staff care for the animals in an effort get the animals’ body back up to an optimal healthy condition. After a final wellness check from the veterinary team, the turtles are tagged and released back into warmer waters.

Lamping said that the green sea turtles were able to be released Thursday because they were they right age and species that would normally be found in this area at this time of year.

“These greens were between 2 and 5 years old and this is their natural habitat this time of year because their food source is found here.” she said.

The N.C. Aquariums regularly care for sick or injured sea turtles throughout the year. Just last week, the Pine Knoll Shores aquarium released an additional five rehabilitated sea turtles.

The effort to rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles is led by the commission in collaboration with, in addition to state’s aquariums and the National Park Service, the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, N.C. State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The newest three Asian small-clawed otter pups had their first public outing Tuesday at North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

The pups, Gemma, Kai and Ren born Jan. 31, joined their siblings Stella, Mae and Selene born May 21, 2022, and parents that morning in the “Otters on the Edge” habitat. Their adventure was filmed live and shared on the aquarium’s Facebook page.

The Asian small-clawed otter populations are in decline. Native to Indonesia, southern China, Southeast Asia and the Philippines, they face threats from residential and commercial development, deforestation, the illegal pet trade, pollution, climate change and poaching.

“The popularity of these pups has given us a unique opportunity to tell the story of how vulnerable this species is in their native habitat and through them, inspiring individual action to protect them,” Director Hap Fatzinger said in a statement.

Visit NCAFF Admissions for tickets to the aquarium to visit the otters and follow their journey on Facebook and Instagram using #OtterPupsNCAFF.

On Feb. 21, 1918, the world’s last Carolina parakeet died at the Cincinnati Zoo in Ohio. The bird, named Incas, was preceded in death by his mate called Lady Jane.

At one time, the Carolina parakeet had a range that spanned the Midwest and the Southeastern Seaboard — including coastal North Carolina. Not actually a true parakeet but a parrot, its plumage was bright green with yellow and red on its head, making it quite a sight when these birds would fly together in flocks from tree to tree.

It was also what made their feathers such desirable adornments for women’s hats in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Called the “plume boom,” different species of colorful birds were hunted at unsustainable rates, contributing to drive some like the Carolina parakeet, the United States’ only native parrot, to extinction.

The plume boom led to the passing of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, one of the United States’ first federal laws geared toward conservation. It was part of a growing awareness that wildlife was not an unlimited resource. Acts like this paved the way for even more groundbreaking legislation, such as the 1973 Endangered Species Act, which turns 50 years old this year.

“The Codex of the Endangered Species Act: Volume 1, The First Fifty Years” is a more-than-700-page volume detailing the context for and first 50 years of one of the most pivotal pieces of wildlife legislation in the country’s history.

In this book, author Lowell E. Baier, an environmental attorney and historian, explains the pitfalls, the successes, the lawsuits and the collaborations that have defined this chapter of the act, and then offers an insightful look into what the future could be, all with the hope of preventing more casualties like the Carolina parakeet.

“There are many other species at risk, just like those that have gone extinct,” Baier said. “And if we lose those species which are protected by the Act, we will be forever remorseful.”

Context for the act and its first 50 years

Today’s understanding of conservation in the U.S. was largely informed by a realization that grew in the late 1800s that wildlife could disappear from the planet forever. During westward Colonial expansion, it became more clear than ever that wildlife was not simply an unlimited resource. The American bison, for example, once roamed the west in numbers of 50 to 60 million. After western expansion and colonization, those numbers would drop to fewer than 100.

As this and other predicaments became more apparent, momentum was starting to coalesce in elite hunting clubs and sporting publications. Game hunters had an understanding that some kind of legislation was needed to prevent widespread catastrophe. The first of these laws began emerging in the early 1900s.

The next several decades informed the need for widespread legal protection of species. The Endangered Species Act was preceded by legislation in 1966 and 1969 that didn’t achieve what lawmakers had hoped. When the Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, it was a threshold piece of legislation the likes of which and breadth of which had not been seen before.

Between 1973 and 2023, the Endangered Species Act would experience several notable growing pains. Though it has not seen any significant amendments since 1988, it has been a consistent source of tension between environmental groups and industry.

“When the ESA was first written and enforced, for the first 10 or 15, 20 years, it was very top-down in its approach to management of the species,” Baier said. This approach was largely informed by a militaristic mentality of protection through control. While the intention behind this was to save as many species as possible, one of the results of this approach was that the ESA was not made to be flexible over time.

“It was intended to be rigid,” Baier said. And as a result, the first 50 years of the endangered Species Act featured litigation and tension, but also evolutions and accomplishments.

Some of these issues and successes can be best understood by looking at wildlife issues in North Carolina.

Woodpeckers, Fort Bragg and the creation of Safe Harbor Agreements

The U.S. Army Fort Bragg base in North Carolina is situated in prime red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. In the 1990s, this interrupted military training substantially. In February 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an opinion citing that military training was posing a threat to red-cockaded woodpeckers on the base. For two years, training at Fort Bragg was severely abridged, causing units at the base to miss their training objectives in every way.

Ignoring the Fish and Wildlife Service opinion wasn’t an option — in 1992 at a base in Georgia, three Department of Defense employees were charged with harming red-cockaded woodpecker habitat, which carried with it lengthy prison sentences and fines of over half a million dollars. The charges were dropped, but it became clear that some kind of other compromise was necessary.

But as mentioned above, the Endangered Species Act was written to be rigid, not to compromise and it took about 20 years from its passing for the federal government to realize that the act would work better if it were more flexible. This transition was largely due to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt under the Clinton administration. Babbitt came up with a 10-point plan to that end.

By 1995, a collaboration between Fish and Wildlife, the Department of Defense and the Environmental Defense Fund resulted in the creation of the first Safe Harbor Agreement, which is now an established tool used under the act. A Safe Harbor Agreement is an established plan that protects landowners from facing increased restrictions on their land as long as they fulfill agreed-upon requirements for preserving that habitat.

By 2017, there were 100 established Safe Harbor Agreements, and they have seen results. Those in the red-cockaded woodpecker’s habitat have resulted in a 20% increase in the bird’s population.

This new tool emerged because there was a need for it, but it hadn’t been written before. According to Baier, it is going to be very important for the future for the act to remain flexible to new ways to use it.

“I think it’s a great study that does demonstrate that humans can exist with species, provided that they give them room and don’t destroy their habitat,” Baier said. “It’s a wonderful example of how man has dealt with, in a very short period, a serious problem that engaged not only civilians but the military as well … That’s what really brought the military to recognize how much land they control that relates to species other than the cockaded woodpecker. And they become very, very involved in species conservation throughout America.”

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, red wolf recovery

The eastern red wolf is a type of gray wolf whose historic range is in the Southeast. In 1967, these wolves were listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. In 1980, all remaining wild red wolves — only about 50 — were taken into captivity to increase the chance of species survival.

Over the years, eyes turned to the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina as an ideal place to begin species reintroduction to the wild, and in 1987, eight wolves were released onto the refuge. This was pivotal because this was only the third 10(j) rule ever issued under the ESA — the 10(j) rule allows for the designation of listed species as “experimental,” so populations can be established outside of present range to support long-term recovery. The population grew to 130 wolves but then dropped back down to as few as 14 in recent years. Conflict over how to manage red wolves means that their future remains unclear.

Red wolves in North Carolina and Tennessee also led to an important court case in 2000: Gibbs v. Babbitt. Counties and private entities contested the federal government’s ability to restrict takes of red wolves on private lands. And the court ruled that this was a fair exercise of federal power under the Commerce Clause.

“The Commerce Clause has been widely used to extend the reach of the Endangered Species Act,” Baier said. “And red wolves are just one of the species that it has touched upon.”

The Next 50 Years

Both volumes of the “Codex” will be available for purchase in August. The second volume will focus on the things that Baier said will shape the next 50 years, until 2073. 

“The link between the last 50 years and the next 50 years, the real key is twofold,” Baier said. “One is flexibility, and two is collaborative conservation — working together, rather than fighting.”

Flexibility, as shown by the creation of Safe Harbor Agreements in North Carolina, will be necessary to keep the Endangered Species Act relevant and working towards collective goals. Collaborative conservation is the idea that the most successful conservation occurs when issues are addressed holistically — when environmentalists, regulators, people who work the land, and all other interested groups can come together and figure out solutions.

Moreover, as a society, we have to overcome what Baier calls “shifting baseline syndrome.” In other words, people’s metric for how urgent an environmental is can only be compared to what they already know. For those today who never got a chance to see the Carolina parakeet, now over 100 years gone, it’s hard to react with urgency to what we don’t even realize we’ve lost.

A lot of the solutions to these issues have got to start at the local level, Baier said. With local conversations and local problem-solving about local issues.

“When enough of that occurs, perhaps America will wake up again.”

The three Asian small-clawed otter pups born Jan. 31 at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher now have names.

The public overwhelmingly chose the names Gemma, Kai and Ren, the aquarium announced Friday.

Nearly 7,000 votes were cast during the weeklong voting period to choose the names for the pups. All the name recommendations came from aquarium volunteers and honored the pups’ native habitats of Indonesia, the Philippines, southeast Asia, southern China and southern India.

Gemma, which means gem or precious stone, is a female pup and the first to open her eyes and is the loudest of the three. Kai, which means sea, shell, warrior, is a very large male pup and enjoys a good nap. Ren, which means purity, lotus perfection, is also a male pup and is the smallest of the litter yet meeting milestones quickly. Find out more at Gemma, Kai and Ren. 

“We are so inspired by the thousands of people who have voted to name these new pups. Every moment that we can spend sharing their story is critical to saving this vulnerable species. We hope that the awareness it brings to everyone who voted will turn into individual conservation action,” Shannon Anderson, Fort Fisher aquarist and lead otter keeper, said in a statement.

Gemma, Kai and Ren remain behind the scenes with parents, Leia and Quincy and sisters, Stella, Mae and Selene.

The second successful birth of a litter of three otter pups in less than a year at the aquarium represents success in the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Species Survival Plan Program. Leia is among 13 breeding female otters in the AZA SSP Program in the United States.

These otters are the smallest of the otter species and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. Population numbers are declining because of many threats, including residential and commercial development, deforestation, the illegal pet trade, pollution, climate change, and poaching, according to information from the aquarium. Find out more at IUCN Red List. 

Keep up with their growth and find out when they will make their debut on NCAFF Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Reservations are required to visit the aquarium at NCAFF Tickets.

Separate efforts to conserve a butterfly species endemic to Bogue Banks and to incorporate certain species in coastal restoration efforts are among six new projects funded by a partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.

The funding announced Wednesday will combine scientific research and conservation activities to learn from and protect Earth’s biodiversity. It includes grants to North Carolina State University and the North Carolina Aquariums to conserve the crystal skipper butterfly in a coastal urban environment.

The project, “Connectivity for a complex life cycle: Conserving the crystal skipper butterfly in a coastal urban environment,” was awarded $429,687 to develop a rigorous, sustainable and unbiased survey methodology to estimate skipper population size and trends; evaluate the role of connectivity, or ease of movement, between host plants and nectar plants in limiting skipper populations; assess whether management can increase crystal skipper populations and offset effects of climate change; and implement adaptive, robust and strategic improvements to the existing crystal skipper conservation plan. 

NCSU received $442,219 and Duke University $255,423 for the project, “Collaborative Research: Incorporating secondary foundation species in coastal restoration efforts to increase ecosystem regrowth, biodiversity recovery and climate resistance,” to work in concert with conservation organizations including the Nature Conservancy and the North Carolina Coastal Federation to test and co-design evidence-based approaches that restore secondary foundation species to increase the growth of primary foundation species and site biodiversity, while enhancing key ecosystem functions such as climate resistance of restored habitats.

The projects are funded by $8 million in combined support from the two organizations in a new Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice, or PACSP, and focus on protecting diverse ecosystems and imperiled species across the United States.

“More than 1,000,000 species across the globe are threatened with extinction and these projects are a step towards decreasing that number and slowing the rate of biodiversity loss on Earth,” said Simon Malcomber, acting assistant director for the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Biological Sciences. “These efforts are critical as losing any species impacts society, whether by changes in disease patterns, decreases in natural pest control, ecosystem degradation, or by losing one of life’s unique solutions to problems that humans could’ve harnessed to our benefit.”  

The competition received broad interest, with numerous submissions coming from researchers who had not previously submitted to the National Science Foundation. The six projects will work to understand threats to biodiversity and conserve species across a diversity of environments.

Other awards go to the following organizations and agencies:

• Fresno Chafee Zoo, University of California Davis and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to protect the endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard. 
• Bernice Pauah Bishop Museum; Pamona College; University of Hawaii, Manoa; and Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Forestry and Wildlife to advance conservation for endangered Hawaiian land snails.
• San Diego Zoo and Iowa State University to study and enhance desert tortoises’ resilience to climate change.
• University of Wisconsin, Madison; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; and U.S. Geological Survey, National Wildlife Health Center; to develop tools to mitigate white nose syndrome, a lethal fungal disease decimating the North American bat.

“The breadth of biodiversity loss in the United States is reflected in the wide range of species covered in these six projects. While the approaches are different, each study addresses systemic issues that are much bigger than a singular species, and they leverage science and technology to accelerate conservation solutions,” said Lara Littlefield, executive director on behalf of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “The increased number of new-to-NSF applicants also tells us that there is untapped potential for more collaboration between primary research and applied technology.” 

In addition to their scientific and preservation work, the teams will work to engage policymakers, students, teachers and the public on topics related to conservation. Several of these efforts will focus on underrepresented minorities, including a paid internship program for underrepresented minority students from throughout California’s Central Valley, training of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in STEM integrated with indigenous research models, and recruitment of minority students from across North Carolina.

Awardees are to develop lesson plans for K-12 students, participate in after-school programs and summer camps, and host workshops for teachers. Broader public outreach will include social media, festivals and community meetings, museum and aquarium exhibits, interactive activities for children, and citizen science projects.  

Learn more about the Partnership to Advance Conservation Science and Practice program and view the full list of awards by visiting nsf.gov.

The three newest members of the Asian small-clawed otter family at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher are ready to be named.

With volunteer input, otter caretakers narrowed down the choices to five trios of names for the otter pups, one female and two males born Jan. 31, and now the public can vote through noon Friday, March 24, on their favorite.

“We are honored to have input from the volunteers at the Aquarium who researched and shared meaningful naming ideas based on the native habitat of Asian small-clawed otters. We’re sharing the top five trios of names and asking our community to vote for their favorite,” Shannon Anderson, otter keeper at the Fort Fisher aquarium, said in a statement.

The following are the trio of names and meanings:

Trio 1

• Mazu: Chinese goddess of sailors and travelers.
• Indus: River in India.
• Lu: Short for Lutrinae, the sub-family of Asian small clawer otters. Also, a Chinese character meaning blessings, happiness, and prosperity.

Trio 2

• Gemma: Latin for gem or precious stone.
• Kai: Chinese for shell, triumph, or victory.
• Ren: Japanese origins meaning purity. In Star Wars, Kylo Ren is the son of Princess Leia.

Trio 3

• Tala: In Tagalog mythology, Tala is the goddess of stars.
• Alon: Tagalog for wave.
• Bayani: Popular Tagalog name for males, meaning the hero.

Trio 4

• Rani: meaning queen.
• Lei: Chinese for bud.
• Aki: Japanese origins meaning bright, light, clear.

Trio 5

• Li: Chinese for power and beautiful.
• Ryu: Japanese for dragon.
• Bo: Chinese for wave.

Voting is open online at Name the Otter Pups, by QR code on the screens at the aquarium and at the Otters on the Edge habitat with advanced tickets required to visit the Fort Fisher aquarium. Reserve tickets online. 

The pups have reached some important milestones and preparations are underway to introduce them to their public habitat. Stay up with the pups by following their journey on Facebook and Instagram using #OtterPupsNCAFF.   

Asian small-clawed otters are native to Indonesia, southern China, southern India, Southeast Asia and the Philippines. They are the smallest of the otter species and listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Population numbers are declining because of many threats, including residential and commercial development, deforestation, the illegal pet trade, pollution, climate change, and poaching.

“Our hope is that by discovering more about Asian small-clawed otters, our community will both celebrate how special they are and take individual actions to prioritize their conservation,” Anderson said.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher is just south of Kure Beach, a short drive from Wilmington, on U.S. 421. The site is less than a mile from the Fort Fisher ferry terminal. Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

BEAUFORT — Bonehenge Whale Center is offering the public a rare peek behind the scenes during a free open house house April 1 and five tours planned throughout the year.

The facility is dedicated to research on marine mammals, stranded specimen collection, skeletal rearticulation, education and conservation of the state’s whales, dolphins and porpoise. Because of the nature of the work there, such as power tools being used regularly, and bones dotted about, the facility is typically not open to the public.

The April 1 open house tours are offered at the top of the hour starting at 10 a.m. with the last tour at 2 p.m.

The open house is part of the North Carolina Science Festival, a monthlong celebration of science every April headed up by the Morehead Planetarium and Science Center.

Behind-the-scenes tours will be held at 10 a.m. April 4, 10 a.m. June 10, 10 a.m. Aug. 25, 2 p.m. July 27 and 7 p.m. Oct. 13.

The more in-depth behind-the-scenes tours will allow the public to examine the work taking place, as well as previously prepared specimens, with additional attention on local whaling history, whale anatomy, rearticulation of whale skeletons and conservation of marine mammals.

Tours are $10 per person with proceeds supporting the work at Bonehenge, operated by the nonprofit Carolina Cay Maritime Foundation.

Advance reservations are required for both the open house and the behind-the-scenes tours. Register online at ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com or by calling 252-504-7758. Learn more about the Bonehenge Whale Center at bonehenge.org.

The North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort’s Natural Science Curator Keith Rittmaster operates the facility. Visitors to Bonehenge must be ages 12 and up.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officials are seeking public comment on the 2023-24 migratory game bird hunting seasons for waterfowl, webless migratory and extended falconry, as well as conservation plans for bog turtles and southern hognose snakes.

Each year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service provides season date frameworks from which the Wildlife Commission may choose hunting season dates within the established guidelines. Compensatory days are allowed for those states that do not allow hunting of migratory birds on Sunday. The season dates being considered include compensatory days for both waterfowl and webless migratory species.

The public can access a detailed overview of proposed changes in federal hunting season frameworks and/or changes to seasons and bag limits for 2023-24, as well as season frameworks for webless migratory and waterfowl species, extended falconry season frameworks, and Canada goose and duck hunting zones on the comment portal webpage.

Comments will be accepted until 5 p.m. Monday, March 20, on the Wildlife Commission’s online comment portal for the hunting seasons. The agency’s commissioners will review comments and select the season dates during its April 20 business meeting.

Species conservation plans guide agency efforts to maintain and increase populations of species that are declining in North Carolina and need additional conservation help to survive. Each plan presents biological information, causes of decline, conservation goals and potential conservation actions.

Bog turtles are the smallest turtle in North America that spends most of its time under water, buried in mud or hiding in thick vegetation in the western part of North Carolina and federally and state listed as threatened.

Southern hognose snakes are found in sandy fields and woods of the coastal plain and sandhills region of North Carolina and state-listed as threatened.

Public comments that will be accepted through 5 p.m. Sunday, April 9, at ncwildlife.org/draftplan. 

After collecting and considering all comments, Wildlife Commission staff will present the Bog Turtle Draft Conservation Plan and Southern Hognose Snake Conservation Plan to commissioners for their approval during one of its business meetings. Once approved, the plans will be used as blueprints for conservation of the species by the wildlife commission and partners.

A team documenting the existence and importance of right whales off the state’s coast will share their work at 6 p.m. Friday in the North Carolina Maritime Museum on Front Street in Beaufort.

North Atlantic right whale aerial observers with the Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute in Florida will present their program, “North Atlantic Right Whale Aerial Surveys in North Carolina.”

The researchers will address the need for right whale conservation, as well as highlight some special cases of right whales encountered in North Carolina waters.

Admission is free, and registration is not required.

“By explaining what we do — fly in small planes offshore over the Atlantic Ocean looking for and documenting whales — we aim to spark public interest about this critically endangered species,” Right Whale Aerial Team Leader Meghan Bradley explained in a statement. “We also hope to demonstrate that the plight of the North Atlantic Right Whale is directly related to the North Carolina coastal community.”

Bradley said the team collects data that directly impacts what is known of the species and contributes to their preservation such as information on behavior, body condition and calving rates. Their presentation will present that data as the team explores its significance on a broader scale.

“Our program is designed to share this ongoing research with the local community and contextualize it within the historical whaling practices of Beaufort and surrounding areas,” Bradley said.

For more information, call 252-504-7740 or visit ncmaritimemuseumbeaufort.com.

Nearly 250 cold-stunned sea turtles were rescued beginning Dec. 20 after sudden temperature drops during the holidays.

North Carolina Aquariums in Fort Fisher, Pine Knoll Shores and Roanoke Island, also home to the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation Center, or STAR Center, all care for weak or injured sea turtles throughout the year.

This winter influx of cold-stunned sea turtles included loggerheads, greens and Kemp’s ridleys caught in the frigid water and unable to swim, the aquarium announced this week. Sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles, which means their surroundings determine their body temperature. A sudden drop in temperature can cause cold-stunning, like hypothermia in humans. 

“They become lethargic, unable to swim, and can be pushed onto the shore by the tides and wind. If they can be rescued before they succumb to the cold, they have a chance to be rehabilitated,” Emily Christiansen, chief veterinarian for North Carolina Aquariums, said.

Wildlife Resources Commission leads the rescue and rehabilitation of sea turtles, collaborating with a number of federal, state and private organizations, such as the aquariums, state and national parks, and volunteer groups.

During cold-stunning events, turtles found from Ocracoke and north are taken to the STAR Center, and those found in the Cape Lookout area are taken to the North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, in Morehead City for triage. Following initial physicals, treatments and assessments, the aquarium veterinary team and state Wildlife Resources Commission staff distribute the turtles to rehabilitation facilities along the coast.

The aquariums and Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City took in cold-stunned sea turtles from Cape Lookout National Seashore, Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Core Sound beaches. The STAR Center admitted more than 200 cold-stunned sea turtles during a two-week period.

“Turtles came in steadily. A special thanks to the teams at the Aquariums and the other turtle heroes this season—the area National Parks staff and N.E.S.T. volunteers who spent their holiday patrolling the beaches in miserably cold temperatures for days on end to locate and rescue as many as possible,” Christiansen explained.

N.E.S.T., or Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization dedicated to the protection and conservation of sea turtles and other protected marine wildlife on the Outer Banks. 

The Fort Fisher aquarium is rehabilitating five Kemp’s ridleys and a green sea turtle.

“Together, our North Carolina Aquarium teams have been responding quickly and compassionately to support the rehabilitation of this large number of cold-stunned sea turtles. It is an honor to work with so many partners and volunteer organizations to rehabilitate these turtles and get them back to warmer waters in the ocean,” said Hap Fatzinger, director of the aquarium at Fort Fisher.

The rehabilitation process includes slowly warming up the turtles to their optimal body temperature, administering medications prescribed by the veterinary team, treating any injuries, building up the turtles’ body condition and making sure they can swim and resume appropriate turtle behaviors.

Once the turtles are healthy and have a final veterinary check, they are ready to be released. Before release, the veterinary team places a microchip tag in the shoulder area of each sea turtle. The chip can be scanned if the turtle ever is stranded again, and information for that turtle can be retrieved. 

Many of the turtles will make a quick recovery, and the aquarium teams have already released 16 of the rehabilitated animals.

Crews from Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, Wildlife Resources Commission, and the U.S. Coast Guard, N.C. State University’s CMAST, University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences, and other volunteers transport the turtles to the Gulf Stream where the ocean water is close to 70 degrees in the winter.  

The aquariums also care for cold-stunned turtles found outside of North Carolina. Earlier this season, a volunteer pilot program, Turtles Fly Too, Inc. transported cold-stunned sea turtles from Cape Cod to Beaufort that were then transported to rehabilitation facilities along the coast.

Blue whales off the coast of California may be consuming as many as 10 million pieces of microplastics per day, finds a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.

More research is needed to determine the extent of the problem for whales off the East Coast and beyond, where previous studies have identified microplastics in the ocean food chain.

These tiny pieces of plastic material have been commercially produced or are the breakdown of larger pieces of plastic like water bottles, children’s toys and disposable containers. Because of their small size, less than 5 millimeters, microplastics can be hard to detect, but when they enter the environment are a hazardous pollutant.

A group of California scientists decided to investigate the extent to which whales off the coast of California might be exposed to microplastics pollution.

“They’re really big animals that strongly affect the ecosystem if they’re going to be faced with other stressors,” said Dr. Shirel Kahane-Rapport, postdoctoral scholar at California State University, Fullerton, and lead author on the study.

Kahane-Rapport and her team used data collected by 191 tag deployments on baleen whales off the coast of California. The tags are noninvasive monitoring devices that attach to the whale via suction cups. The data collected by the tags helps the scientists record things like where the whales are, when they are feeding and how often they are feeding.

They were able to juxtapose this tag data with published works detailing the microplastics concentrations in both the water column and the prey species that the whales target.

Microplastics are likely primarily passed through the food web, and the scientists predict that the exposure to microplastics corresponds to the number of organisms the whales are eating.

Therefore, blue whales that go after many small krill are consuming much higher levels of microplastics than a humpback whale, which goes after smaller numbers of bigger fish. Blue whales off the coast of California could be consuming about 10 million pieces of microplastics per day, whereas humpback whales may be consuming 200,000 pieces per day.

Even though microplastics are small, plastic consumption at this volume is substantial. According to Kahane-Rapport, the size and weight of microplastics vary.

“You may have a piece of cellophane, or you may have a piece of more dense plastic, like the top of a water bottle — those of course weigh differently,” Kahane-Rapport said. “So people generally, in this work, have been counting pieces and not weight.”

But, Kahane-Rapport said, it could mean that baleen whales are consuming an average of 20 kilograms of plastic per day. That weighs roughly the same amount as a 5-gallon bucket of water.

According to Kahane-Rapport, quantifying the exposure of this human-caused pollution on whales is not just important for the health of the animals, but the rest of the ecosystem, too.

“It could seem like just a sad story about whales,” Kahane-Rapport said. “But it’s also a story about humans.” Humans eat many of the same fish species as whales, making us part of the same food web. “It’s all part of our ecosystem. And if that part of our ecosystem is damaged, it will affect us too. It’s not really just a story about whales, it’s also about us.”

Now that they’ve quantified exposure, Kahane-Rapport will continue studying the effects that microplastics have on whales, in terms of how it moves through the whale’s system.

The other aspect of this work is to examine this issue in other locations. Whales like the North Atlantic right whale, which depend on habitat off the coast of North Carolina, are already critically endangered, and yet nothing is truly known about their exposure to microplastics.

This is not just an issue in California, Kahane-Rapport explained, but in ocean waters across the world.

“Solving microplastic pollution is going to be a global project,” Kahane-Rapport said.

Editor’s note: The following report is drawn solely from Pete Benjamin’s comments as keynote speaker at the Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival and is not presented as representative of differing points of view on the controversial Red Wolf Recovery Program in northeastern North Carolina.

KILL DEVIL HILLS — Pete Benjamin has almost 10 years of hands-on experience supervising the red wolf recovery plan at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Benjamin, Fish and Wildlife Service Raleigh office field supervisor for ecological services, was keynote speaker Saturday for the 2022 Wings Over Water Wildlife Festival, telling attendees he was optimistic about the species’ recovery. But he also acknowledged the process had been a difficult series of twists and turns.

Red wolves at one time filled forests and fields here, Benjamin noted.

“The early naturalists noted that the wolves in the New World were a little smaller than the wolves they were familiar with from Europe,” he said, adding, “Europeans also brought with them all their prejudices and feelings about wolves. And they set about eliminating predators as quickly as they could.”

Related: Managers report positive shift in red wolf recovery efforts

Those prejudices against predators extended well into the 20th century.

“My agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, up through the 1940s had very active program of predator eradication. That was part of our job,” Benjamin said.

Eradication measures were effective — by the 1960s, the few remaining red wolves in the wild were cornered in a small area in southwestern Louisiana and southeastern Texas.

Nature, however, seeks balance, and if a predator is removed from an environment, another inevitably takes its place.

“The coyote took advantage at that point,” he said. “In the early 1900s, its range started to expand quite dramatically, and it took over that role that had been filled by the other predators.”

Canidae biology allows any animal of the species to mate with any other of the species. Typically, they prefer to mate within their own species, “But when populations fall really low, the habitat is highly altered,” Benjamin said, “they will breed with others from the genus Canidae.”

When the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 became law, the red wolf, Canis rufus, was one of the first species recognized as being in danger of extinction. Since then, there have been numerous attempts to preserve the red wolf.

The agency’s initial response was swift, Benjamin said.

“A guy named Curtis Carley was sent by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service down to Texas. And his job was to find the last remaining red wolves and establish a buffer zone around that population to keep the coyotes and the red wolves separate,” he said.

Carley quickly realized that was not feasible. He also concluded that there were already few “true” red wolves left, and that most were coyote-red wolf hybrids.

Recognizing that the original plan for saving the species would not work, Carley crafted another solution.

“Carley came up with an idea … and it took him a few years to convince his bosses to go along with it,” Benjamin said. “They decided that the way to save the red wolf was to eliminate it from the wild. Bring the last few animals they could find into captivity.”

It was considered a bold move. “The first time ever an animal had been eliminated from the wild for its preservation,” Benjamin noted.

The Fish and Wildlife Service began trapping red wolves in the 1970s, before genetic analysis was available. Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma, Washington, provided a captive-breeding facility, and Carley initially trapped 400 animals. He and his team developed criteria for what would be considered a red wolf, and as the captured animals bred, those criteria were applied time and again.

“They whittled it down to 14 animals,” Benjamin said. “That is the founding population of all red wolves that we know of existing today.”

The plan was never to keep the entire red wolf population in captivity. The goal was to reintroduce them to the wild. But that too was an unknown.

“Could wolves raised in zoos learn how to be wolves again in the wild? Could they find their own food? Could they defend and their own territory?” Benjamin said.

In the 1980s, agency biologists believed they had found the ideal release site: Bulls Island at the southern end of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge on the South Carolina coast. Somewhat isolated from populated areas by extensive marsh, it seemed a good location for the wolves to succeed in the wild, but results were mixed.

The wolves did successfully hunt and establish territory. The biologists found they could successfully track the wolves, including when they left the island and ventured into nearby towns. 

A larger recovery area was needed.

Then, in 1986, the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge was established, and it seemed to check all the boxes for red wolf recovery, especially its size — 140,000 acres. Combined with the adjacent Navy bombing range, the wolves would have almost 200,000 acres total. And, perhaps most importantly, coyotes had not yet reached the region. After outreach to residents living near the refuge, breeding pairs were released into Alligator River.

Again, the learning curve for the field biologists was steep. The wolves covered far more territory than originally thought, with some of them roaming to Manns Harbor.

“And they eat a lot of deer. They really like deer,” Benjamin said.

Elsewhere, that may not have been important, but area hunters had been assured the wolves’ diet consisted almost entirely of smaller mammals.

Nonetheless, the population thrived, so much so that another first for reintroducing a species into the wild was tried.

“We developed the technique of cross-fostering,” he said. “They learned that if there was a litter of puppies born in the zoo at very nearly the same time as a litter in the wild, they can take puppies from that captive litter and just insert them into the wild. Since wolves can’t count, they just raise those foster puppies as their own. Puppies will grow up with all the experience and knowledge that they need to succeed.”

That appeared to work until the coyotes showed up in eastern North Carolina in the 1990s. Although research has subsequently demonstrated that red wolves will only breed with coyotes when there is no other option, in the 1990s that information was not yet available.

“We really didn’t understand at the time the dynamics that leads to interbreeding between red wolves and coyotes,” Benjamin said.

To prevent interbreeding, wildlife management scientists came up with another idea. The 1999 red wolf adaptive management plan was the first of its kind for the agency and the keystone was that, instead of just trying to remove the coyotes, they instead sterilized them.

Coyotes, like all canids, are territorial, and a breeding pair of coyotes will continue to protect its territory even if they can no longer reproduce.

But the plan did not address the larger issue of the exploding coyote population. As coyotes became more prevalent, hunting restrictions were relaxed. Hunters, unfamiliar with red wolves, too often mistook them for coyotes.

“Up until that time, vehicle mortality had really been the leading cause of death, natural causes a close second, but in about 2004, 2005, or so, gunshot took over as leading cause of death,” Benjamin said.

As he explained, for red wolves, highly dependent on their well-developed social structure, the death of a breeding pair or even one of the breeding pair, could halt reproduction for the entire season. The population plateaued at 120, Benjamin noted.

“And then it got a bit worse,” he said.

Concerns about the coyote population intersected with law and politics and the result was a stunning drop in cooperative efforts to protect the red wolf.

In 2012, the North Carolina Wildlife Commission permitted coyotes to be taken in daytime or night and allowed hunters to use spotlights.

“That prompted a number of environmental groups to challenge the state in federal court, saying that was going to inevitably lead to more take of red wolves in violation Endangered Species Act.

For a while, the judge banned hunting of coyotes in the five-county Albemarle Peninsula, Benjamin said.

It was a legal victory, but the cost to the red wolf management program was nearly catastrophic. Landowners adjacent to the refuge, who had been cooperative or indifferent to the management plan, suddenly no longer permitted access to their property.

“A lot of landowners just said, ‘Fish and Wildlife Service, you’re not allowed on my land,’” Benjamin recalled.

Effective red wolf management requires a hands-on approach. Dens need to be located, collars and tags are important for tracking the species and the health of litters is important to note. Without that information, management became difficult, almost impossible, and the result was a collapse of the wild red wolf population.

“By the 2018 we were down to where there were no remaining breeding pairs in the wild” Benjamin said.

Yet even as the Alligator River program was teetering on the brink of failure, there was reason for optimism for the species overall.

“At that same time, we were working hard with the (wolf) population under human care in zoos in 49 facilities around the country to grow the size of capital population because with only 14 animals that was the starting population, retaining the genetic diversity of species is very difficult to gain,” he said.

Then a second site, St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, produced a litter in the wild.

“That project is going on very well,” Benjamin said.

Alligator River, though, is still the primary test site for wild red wolf recovery. Here, there has been some recovery from the 2018 low of eight wolves and no breeding pair. For the first time since 2014, the agency is again releasing captive-bred wolves into the wild.

Many of the problems that plagued the program in its earliest days returned.

“There were no wild mating pairs so you could not do pup fosters. So, we’re back to where we were in the beginning of releasing adult zoo raised wolves,” Benjamin said.

Some wolves have wandered into towns and had to be removed. Others were hit by cars. A few were shot. But earlier this year, a litter of six wild wolf pups was confirmed, the first wild litter since 2018.

And the agency is trying to do better at working with locals.

“We’re spending a lot more time trying to work with people, landowners, stakeholders. We spend a lot of time talking to folks, understand their concerns, do everything we can to address those concerns,” Benjamin said.

Recognizing that attitudes about coyotes are unlikely to change and hunting continues, released red wolves are now fitted with orange collars.

She was young and shy, and showed no interest in him. He was new to the neighborhood, and besides, she already had a boyfriend, albeit one with a sketchy reputation. But the matchmakers, determined to lure her to the better choice, used a time-honored ploy: get her mother’s approval.

To the relief of Joe Madison, North Carolina program manager and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, putting that relocated male red wolf into an acclimation pen at Alligator National Wildlife Refuge with the older resident female worked like a charm.

“Even though she was no longer breeding age, the thinking was if she accepted him into the area, then so would her daughter,” Madison explained during a virtual presentation held by the agency last week to discuss updates on the newly revitalized recovery program. “Over time … the daughter would visit the pen regularly. We timed the release of that male with when that younger female was likely in heat. After his release, he pretty much went straight to that female.”

The wild red wolf female quickly dumped the coyote she had been hanging out with, Madison added, and within a couple of weeks, the newly freed male red wolf dispatched his smaller rival.

Not only did he successfully bond with the young female, Madison said, the male wolf sired a litter of six pups this past spring — an unusually large litter for the critically endangered red wolf. And as of September, the now-teenage pups are still roaming in the same area with their mother and grandmother.

That is part of a positive shift for the species, which just a few years ago, after public and political hostility spurred agency cuts in the recovery effort, had seemed all but doomed in the wild.

But at a public in-person meeting held in Columbia last week, there was no adversarial remarks directed toward the refuge staff from the 50 or so attendees, Kim Wheeler, executive director of the nonprofit Red Wolf Coalition, said in a later interview.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has definitely recommitted to the (recovery) program, and part of that is transparency,” she said. “To me, that’s very encouraging … That’s not just words, it’s resources.”

It’s been a while since things were looking up for the species, the only known wild population of red wolves in the world. The spring litter of pups was the first born in the wild since 2018. New enclosures have been built to help introduce more captive-bred wolves into the 1.7-million-acre recovery area on public and private lands in rural Hyde, Tyrrell, Dare, Beaufort and Washington counties.

Despite some deaths from vehicles or gunshots, there are signs that the mortalities are decreasing thanks to better communication with hunters and landowners, reflective collars on wolves and signage on highways warning drivers to look out for red wolves.

As a policy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff don’t anthropomorphize wild wolves such as giving them names or birthday parties. In fact, they take pains to have as little contact as possible, in order to ensure that the animals maintain their fear of humans. But it’s helpful to have supporters of the Red Wolf Recovery Program cheer the survival successes for the social and intelligent creatures from the sidelines.

With the proposed update to the red wolf management plan expected to be finalized and implemented in 2023, the agency plans to continue its efforts to rebuild the species’ wild population, building on proven conservation strategies and protective measures as well as looking ahead to expanded options for habitat and genetic diversity.

Released in June, the draft revised recovery plan is open for public comments through Oct. 28. It is the first version of the recovery plan to be updated under the guidance of a 51-member recovery team that includes representatives from state wildlife agencies, wildlife and zoo biologists and researchers, residents and others.

“Part of that is a focus on collaborative conservation — that is, enhancing collaboration and communication and community and partner engagement,” Red Wolf Recovery Program Coordinator Emily Weller said during the presentation. “Because we’ve fully acknowledged that successful recovery for the red wolf will require collaborative efforts with those that are have a vested interest in red wolves, but most especially landowners in the local community.”

The wolf recovery staff has been meeting monthly with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which oversees coyotes, deer, bear and other animals that live alongside wolves on the landscape, to share information and discuss coordination on management actions and revenue issues.

The agency, which is charged with administering management of endangered and threatened species, has also been providing more regular updates on social media and its website about red wolf activities. The wildlife service’s red wolf public phone hotline has also been improved to ensure more timely responses.

A new outreach program for landowners, called Prey for the Pack, has been launched by Fish and Wildlife to provide funding and technical assistance to landowners for habitat work to meet their land management goals. In exchange, landowners agree to allow red wolves on their land and for them to be monitored.

And in the interest of clarity, the wild red wolves will no longer be described in government-speak. Instead of being referred to as “the North Carolina nonessential experimental population,” or the NCNEP, the wolves will instead be known simply as the eastern North Carolina red wolf population.

Although the NCNEP will remain as the legal designation, Weller said, the words “nonessential” and “experimental” were often misinterpreted in a way that undermined the value of the species.

Historically, the red wolf had once roamed much of the Southeast, but overhunting and habitat loss diminished its population. In 1973, the species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and subsequently it was declared extinct in the wild. Meanwhile, Fish and Wildlife had captured some wild red wolves scattered on land in Louisiana, and in 1987 four pairs of their offspring were transferred to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Manteo.

Over the years, the recovery team used innovative management tactics to limit coyote hybrids, release captive-bred adults into the wild and encourage wild red wolf mothers to foster newborn captive-bred pups. By the mid-2000s, there were about 130 wild wolves in the five-county recovery area. But in recent years, with much of those management strategies discontinued, the numbers of known wolves had plummeted to as few as seven.

Amid a series of lawsuits from conservation groups that accused the agency of violating the Endangered Species Act, among other violations, the U.S. District Court in January 2021 ordered the agency to draft a plan to resume release of captive red wolves into the North Carolina recovery area. According to Fish and Wildlife, the first two phases have been implemented, and Phase 3, covering through May 2023 and coordinated with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, was submitted to the court in September.

Currently, there are 10 red wolves within the recovery area who are fitted with orange radio collars, Madison said, and as many as 10 other red wolves without collars. Those numbers do not include the six pups, who are not yet big enough to wear the collars.

There were also 13 known mortalities in the last two years, 11 of them captive-born releases. Five of the deaths were from vehicle strikes, three from gunshots, and three had unknown causes. In addition, there are 243 captive red wolves in 49 zoos and other facilities throughout the country.

It is illegal under the Endangered Species Act to shoot red wolves. Although coyotes are smaller than red wolves in weight and height, they look fairly similar from a distance or in low light.

All wild wolves are tracked and monitored. If they stray on certain private land, the wildlife service will contact the property owner. Several wolves who seemed too comfortable in populated areas have been removed and returned to captivity, Madison said. There are also 24 sterilized coyotes, which wear white reflective collars, that are monitored by the Wildlife Commission.

It is legal to shoot coyotes during the daytime within the red wolf recovery area, but Madison urged people not to kill collared coyotes, which can’t breed but keep other coyotes from entering their territory. In the process, the sterile animals are helping to keep the coyote population down by holding territory, he explained. The adaptive management strategy, developed around the late 1990s, also prevents coyotes and wolves from mating, among other good effects.

“One of the reasons it was developed was that within well-established red wolf territories, you have a lower amount of total canids, and it’s made up mostly of red wolves,” Madison said. “I don’t mean that it will necessarily exclude coyotes, but there’s a much, much lower coyote population.”

In general, coyotes — a highly adaptable species, inspiring some to compare them to cockroaches and rats — have greater need for prey and diversity of prey, including many bird species, he added. They also have an uncanny survival tool: If one coyote is removed, it typically will be replaced by several coyotes.

“And areas where there are no red wolves,” Madison said, “there’s a much higher total density of canids made up of coyotes because they have much smaller home range sizes.”

Even though red wolves avoid people, once in a while they’ll attack livestock or other animals. To address that concern, the Red Wolf Coalition has developed a depredation compensation program to reimburse landowners who lose livestock to the wolves.

“But as part of that, I want to tell folks that there’s only been nine documented incidences of red wolf depredation over the 35 years since their reintroduction into North Carolina,” Madison said. “So, it’s an extremely rare occurrence.”

And when reports are investigated, he added, the real culprit is usually found to be a dog, fox, bear or raccoon. Or, of course, a coyote.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

With a total of 373 turtle nests recorded along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore as of the end of August, 2022 is a banner year for the sea turtle nesting season, with the second-highest number of nests reported since data collection began.

Sea turtle nests laid by loggerheads, green turtles, and leatherbacks have been monitored at the seashore since the 1970s. The Outer Banks serves as seasonal breeding grounds for endangered sea turtles, and the seashore has had several record-breaking years in the past decade when it comes to the annual number of recorded sea turtle nests.

In 2015, a nesting record of 289 nests was set, followed by a new record in 2016, when 325 sea turtle nests were recorded along the national seashore’s beaches.

In 2019, there were a total of 473 sea turtle nests recorded at the seashore, which blew the previous record of 325 out of the water.

2020 and 2021 were solid years for sea turtles as well, with a total of 228 nests recorded along the seashore beaches in 2020, and a total of 315 nests recorded in 2021.

However, with 373 nests reported to date, this has been one of the busiest seasons by far, second only to 2019.

The first sea turtle nest of the season was found on Ocracoke Island on May 20, and while the nesting season is winding down, nest hatchings are occurring on a regular basis, and visitors are advised to be aware of this activity throughout Hatteras and Ocracoke Islands.

Hatchlings are very sensitive to light as they emerge from their nests, and can become disoriented towards any light that mimics the moon or stars over the ocean. As such, visitors staying in oceanfront accommodations that are close to an established sea turtle nest are encouraged to turn off their outdoor lights and close their blinds or drapes after dark, so that the sea turtles don’t mistake a stray porch light for the ocean waters.

People on the beach after dark should also refrain from using flashlights or cellphones near sea turtle nests, as bright, artificial light can also send mixed signals to the newly emerged sea turtle hatchlings.

Beachgoers should also remove beach equipment, such as lounge chairs, umbrellas, tents, and other items from the beach when they leave. If left on the beach, these items can prevent nesting attempts, and can also be roadblocks for hatchlings who are trying to make a mad dash to the ocean.

Other tips to help protect sea turtles and hatchlings during the nesting season, per the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, include the following:

• Fill in all holes in the sand at the end of the day.
• Pick up all your trash when you leave.
• If fishing, properly dispose of any fishing line. Improperly discarded fishing line is often deadly to turtles, birds and other marine animals.
• Use your natural vision and moonlight when walking the beach at night.

Visitors who notice any sea turtle nesting activity are advised to call the Cape Hatteras National Seashore to report the sighting at 252-216-6892.

In the meantime, visitors can keep tabs on nesting activity at shorelines all around the world at http://www.seaturtle.org.

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast. 

Skeptics blamed the wind.

It was particularly windy during a series of days last month on the Crystal Coast when stakes marking off sea turtle nests were plucked out of the sand and the tape to them torn down.

But the evidence, according to Dale Baquer, Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol program coordinator, proved otherwise.

Four nights in a row at four different nests, a single stake had been pulled from the sand. Tape used to mark off the nesting sites was ripped down. On the two nights that immediately followed, signs at two other nests were plucked up and tossed onto the shore.

“The first night there were actually foot prints and a beer can left there,” Baquer said. “That’s why I was sure someone had done it.”

Be it curiosity, juvenile antics, or flat out malicious intent, sea turtle nests at beaches on North Carolina’s coastal islands are subject to human interference each nesting season.

The season, which begins in May and ends in October, falls within the three busiest beach tourism months, heightening the odds of human-to-nest encounters.

“It’s inevitable when you have so many visitors coming to North Carolina to visit the beaches here,” said Matthew Godfrey, a sea turtle biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “We do have turtle nests pretty much everywhere in the state on all islands.”

There’s no indication of an uptick this season in nest tampering, Godfrey said, but incidents where it’s apparent humans are purposefully messing with nests, like those in Emerald Isle, have been reported to his office this year.

Sea turtle nest monitoring is mostly done through volunteer-based programs. Monitoring includes identifying nest locations, marking them off, and tracking when eggs at each nest hatch.

Sea turtle monitoring programs are largely volunteer-based on all but one of the state’s coastal islands where turtles nest.

Federally owned Browns Island of the coast of Camp Lejeune is strictly off-limits to people because of unexploded ordnance on the property and live-firing training exercises conducted in the area.

The only option for tracking the numbers of nests on the island are through aerial surveys.

Godfrey said monitoring efforts generally work well protecting turtle eggs during incubation. Eggs typically take anywhere from 50 to 80 days to hatch.

But without a set of eyes on each nest 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it’s practically impossible to prevent even the occasional human disturbance.

“Sometimes it’s unclear why people interfere or mess with the areas that have been marked off, whether they rip down the tape or pull up the stakes,” Godfrey said. “It could be just curiosity. Sometimes people accidentally walk into them at night. There’s definitely some accidental or curiosity-based incidents, not malicious. In general, people are pretty respectful.”

Over a decade ago, there were a few instances where eggs were removed from nests.

Sea turtles are federally protected. Anyone caught disturbing them or their nests face the possibility of hefty fines and possible jail time.

Last year, a group of teenagers were caught after tampering with a series of nest areas on Emerald Isle’s shore where they yanked stakes from the sand.

Baquer said the teens were turned over to local police. The outcome of that case was not released to the public because the teenagers were minors.

“People breaking our stakes and pulling the tape down doesn’t seem harmful, but the thing is we set up the stakes and measure where the eggs are and use (the stakes) as a reference point as to how to find our eggs,” she said.

When it became evident someone — it’s unknown whether more than one person was involved — was tampering with nests there last month, Baquer took to social media, asking for the community’s help.

“After I put that post out it stopped,” she said. “I think my post says it all. It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it could be a very costly game for them. Sea turtles are protected and there is up to a $50,000 fine and a year in jail. None of our eggs were harmed, but you can still get yourself in trouble tampering with sea turtle nests. Not everybody has to be a sea turtle lover, but just do no harm.”

That said, a majority of people who live in and visit Emerald Isle respect the nests and turtles, Baquer said.

“They come to our excavations. We talk to them and let them know what the rules are. Usually they’re really good at helping us,” she said.

So far this season, more than 1,900 nests have been documented on North Carolina beaches.

Thirty nests had been documented on Emerald Isle this season. That’s not a record, but it is a larger-than-average number, Baquer said. Roughly 10 nests there have hatched.

Farther south at Oak Island in Brunswick County, more than half of the 136 nests hatched.

Suzan Bell, co-coordinator of the Oak Island Sea Turtle Protection Program, declined to go into details about nests there that were vandalized, saying the issue appears to have been resolved since getting the word out on social media.

“I think we addressed it and we’ve only had a couple of issues this season, it’s not been an uptick for us,” she said.

This year’s nests are the second highest number on record.

“We are one of the top numbers in the state,” Bell said. “There are so many more people on the beach. It is critical for us to have folks follow the rules.”

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is asking for public comment on proposed changes that would expand mandatory speed restrictions for vessels to reduce the likelihood of collisions with north Atlantic right whales.

Ship collisions are a leading cause of North Atlantic right whale injury and death.

The proposed changes would expand mandatory speed restrictions of 10 knots or less to include most vessels 35 to 65 feet in length and broaden the areas and timing of seasonal speed restriction zones along the East Coast.

Comments on the changes are due by Sept. 30, and webinars have been scheduled in August to detail the proposed changes and answer questions. The webinars are set for 2-3 p.m. Aug. 10, 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 16, and 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 24. Register and provide written questions in advance.

“Collisions with vessels continue to impede North Atlantic right whale recovery. This proposed action is necessary to stabilize the ongoing right whale population decline, in combination with other efforts to address right whale entanglement and vessel strikes in the U.S. and Canada,” said NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit in a statement.

Conservation group Oceana applauded the move, but said the proposed rule could go even further by removing the exemptions for federal vessels along with a commitment from NOAA to effectively enforce the regulations.

“There is a glimmer of hope for critically endangered North Atlantic right whales today — the government is proposing strong new measures to reduce the deadly threat of vessel strikes. Today’s proposed rule shows that the National Marine Fisheries Service is serious about addressing a top threat to North Atlantic right whales, which are constantly at risk from speeding vessels,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director at Oceana, in a statement. “It’s no secret that speeding vessels are rampant throughout North Atlantic right whales’ migration route, all along the East Coast. Oceana welcomes the proposed rule and urges the agency to remove dangerous exemptions, and commit to enforcing the rule to make waters safer for North Atlantic right whales.”

Oceana has an online tool for tracking vessel speeds in active speed zones called Ship Speed Watch.

NOAA said the proposed changes to the current speed rule address two key problems impacting right whale recovery, misalignment between areas and times of high vessel strike risk and current Seasonal Management Areas spatial and temporal bounds and the lack of mandatory speed restriction on vessels between 35 and 65 feet in length that present a lethal threat to right whales.

During the past two and a half years, NOAA Fisheries has documented four lethal (death and serious injury) right whale vessel strikes in U.S. waters, a problem that is impeding the species’ recovery and contributing to the population’s decline.

North Atlantic right whales are approaching extinction with fewer than 350 individuals and fewer than 100 reproductively active females remaining. There have been 51 right whale serious injuries and deaths in U.S. and Canadian waters since 2017. Climate-related impacts and prey availability have also contributed to the population’s reduced fitness.

However, vessel strikes and entanglements continue to drive the population’s decline and are the primary cause of serious injuries and mortalities, according to NOAA. North Atlantic right whales are especially vulnerable to vessel strikes due to their coastal distribution and frequent occurrence at near-surface depths. This is particularly true for females with calves.

Information on the rule and how comments may be submitted electronically at https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/amendments-north-atlantic-right-whale-vessel-strike-reduction-rule.

The North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores is raising two critically endangered Orinoco crocodile hatchlings until they are big enough to be returned to the wilds of their native habitat in Venezuela.

The two crocodiles arrived at the aquarium in mid-May and have been kept behind the scenes as they adapt to their new surroundings. Visitors can check in on the crocodiles when their exhibit, Journey to the Orinoco, opens later this month.

​The Orinoco crocodile, the largest crocodilian species in the Western Hemisphere, is on the brink of extinction.

The aquarium professional animal care team is raising the two Orinoco crocodiles for about two years until they are big enough to be returned to the wilds of their native habitat in Venezuela as part of a conservation effort, Project Return to the Llanos. The goal is to help preserve the crocodiles through a breeding and release program.

“This program presented us with a unique opportunity to help save a critically endangered species. While we tend to focus on North Carolina animals, we know that it takes all of us working together to help protect the diversity of animals found around the world. We are honored to be entrusted with their care,” said Liz Baird, director of the aquarium, in a statement.

The new exhibit will feature a crocodile habitat specific to the needs of the juvenile reptiles. There will be information about the crocodiles, their special characteristics, see timelines for conservation efforts, and learn ways to help species of concern like the Orinoco crocodiles as well as species closer to home.

Native only to the Orinoco River system in the Llanos of Venezuela and the Meta River system in Colombia, overhunting, habitat loss, and pollution have pushed this animal to the brink of extinction.

“Our American alligators were also once threatened with extinction, and we now see the successful recovery of that species. We must continue to protect habitats and reduce pollution to keep both the Orinoco crocodile and American alligator safe,” said Baird.

In the early 1970s there were an estimated 3 million Orinoco crocodiles, sometimes called “O-crocs,” living in their natural range, but by the early 2000s there were only 1,500 believed to be left in Venezuela and less than 200 in Colombia. 

The aquarium joins the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Gladys Porter Zoo, Zoo Miami, and The Dallas World Aquarium in this global conservation effort to save the critically endangered crocodile through the program that hopes to increase the wild population.

“The greatest challenge for projects like Return to the Llanos is not producing offspring, it’s rearing enough hatchlings to a size that can be successfully reintroduced to the wild. One facility would not be able to raise enough on its own. This is where we can help,” said Fred Boyce, herpetologist for N.C. Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores.

“Raising enough hatchlings to be released into the wild becomes an all-hands-on-deck situation requiring active participation from many accredited zoological zoos and aquariums,” Boyce said. “We are so honored and excited to be able to care for these exquisite creatures as well as share their incredible story with our visitors. We hope that we can spark curiosity in our visitors to learn more, as well as a desire to help protect these and other crocodilian species.”

Monday, May 23, is World Turtle Day, established in 1990 by the American Tortoise Rescue based in California to “shellebrate” and protect all species of turtles and tortoises.

For Deb Allen, who moved to Ocean Isle Beach more than a decade ago, every day is turtle day. 

She and her husband Fulton work as island coordinators for the Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization and are licensed by the North Carolina Wildlife Commission to handle sea turtles, as required by the Endangered Species Act.

A division of the Museum of Coastal Carolina, a natural history museum on Ocean Isle Beach in Brunswick County, the all-volunteer nonprofit works year-round to protect sea turtles, especially during nesting season, which began this month. Ocean Isle Beach had its first nest of the 2022 season Friday morning. 

Volunteers, which are trained by the Wildlife Commission, also transport cold-stunned, sick or injured sea turtles to the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center in Surf City.

Allen told Coastal Review that when she and her husband moved to Ocean Isle Beach in 2010, she became a volunteer and has been volunteering ever since. Beginning as a volunteer, she advanced to become assistant coordinator and is now island coordinator.

“During my time doing this, I was exposed to every aspect,” Allen explained, from rescue to nest certification to watching a turtle lay her eggs to making sure the hatchlings get safely to the water.

 “We get to spend time on the beach in the mornings for nest verification and the beautiful summer evenings under the stars, chatting with other volunteers and waiting for babies to emerge from a nest,” she said. 

Allen has about 150 volunteers and everybody helps as much as they want in whatever capacity they can. “We have volunteers that do a little bit of everything.” 

Nesting season

Allen said Ocean Isle Beach has mostly identified loggerhead turtles, but Kemp’s ridleys, greens and leatherbacks nest along the North Carolina coast. 

There were 44 nests with a total of 4,950 eggs on Ocean Isle Beach in summer 2021, but 161 were lost to predators or were submerged. Of those, 3,531 hatched and 287 did not make it. One nest last year was entirely submerged and another nest with 121 hatchlings was killed by foxes. 

Every morning during nesting season, volunteers head out on the beach to look for evidence of turtles nesting. Signs of a new nest are flipper tracks in the sand that look like tractor tire marks leading to a body pit in the sand, Allen explained.

If a new nest is discovered, the verification team gently shifts through the sand to find the egg chamber. If the nest is in a safe spot, meaning it will not likely be underwater, it’s left in place, but if it’s in danger of being submerged, volunteers relocate the nest to a safer location. 

Each egg is carefully moved one at a time, making sure not to rotate the egg at all. “We don’t want to detach the embryo from the inside of the egg,” she said. The nest is measured after the eggs are removed and volunteers will dig another chamber to the exact measurements. “We’ll relocate the eggs there and then.”  

While waiting for the nests to hatch, the nests are marked and protected with mesh. 

Kevin Stetson has been the nest verification coordinator with the organization going on four years. 

Stetson told Coastal Review Friday that he moved to Ocean Isle Beach from the Midwest after retiring about eight years ago.

He learned about the turtle protection group during a community event and decided to give it a shot. Coming from the Midwest, Stetson never had contact at all with turtles, he said. However, this volunteer effort evolved, for him, from something he thought would be interesting to do during the summer to being more concerned with the health and well-being of sea turtles.

Like Allen, before becoming nest verification coordinator four years ago, Stetson began as a volunteer. First as nest parent and watching the turtles hatch. After seeing the end of the cycle, he decided to see the beginning of the cycle by volunteering to verify nests. Verification involves digging in the sand to find the eggs. 

Stetson got back in the groove Friday morning with this season’s first nest. Four volunteers came out to help with the nest, which was in the dune area, and they didn’t have to relocate the nest — their preference. 

“For me it’s always a thrill anytime I get a call,” he said. “It was great getting the cobwebs shaken out this first one and get back into the groove of everything.” 

He finds it rewarding to know he has a small part in protecting sea turtles.  “You’re a small cog in this big wheel, if you will, of helping turtles since they were an endangered species.”

Light pollution

Allen told Coastal Review that it’s important to protect sea turtles to maintain the natural balance in the ocean. “Because sea turtles eat a lot of jellyfish, we want to make sure that there’s a good amount of turtles eating the jellyfish. If there’s an overpopulation of anything in the ocean, it disrupts the balance.”

The biggest challenge for sea turtles in Ocean Isle Beach, or any island beach, is light pollution, she said. 

“Last summer we had to classify 287 baby sea turtles as dead just because of light pollution,” Allen said.

The baby sea turtles will move toward lights from a house, the street or even a bright flashlight because that bright light looks like the moon, stars or waves and that’s where they think home is, they’re hard-wired to go back home to the ocean. 

If baby turtles end up in the dunes instead of the ocean, they get eaten by predators like crabs or foxes, get stepped on or run over if they’re in the street, or die from the chlorine if they end up in a swimming pool, which she said happened last year to every hatchling in a nest. They went toward a house and ended up in the pool and in the streets.  

“It’s a huge problem,” Allen said. The last hurricane wiped out our dunes from Caswell Beach to the South Carolina border, making streetlights, headlights, everything very visible on the street from the beach. “So these hatchlings see all that light and they go right to it.”

Allen said the volunteers do their best to block the light when nests are hatching. 

“Sometimes it can’t be done and unfortunately, in rare instances, we have to pick the hatchlings up, put them in a container and take them to a darker area on the beach,” to get them in the water. They’ve had instances where a house a fair distance away was so bright, the hatchlings would get in the water and start swimming but when they see that beach house, they make a U-turn, come back on the beach and go toward that house.

Beachfront residents can take measures to prevent their house from contributing to light pollution.

Allen recommends using sea turtle friendly bulbs, which are an amber color. The turtles don’t see the amber color but they do see the white. Residents can also cover their windows and turn off exterior lights at night if they’re not needed. 

“If you’re on the beach, don’t use a bright white flashlight because sea turtles will go toward the white light,” she said. 

The organization has a “Lights Out Sea Turtles Dig the Dark” initiative to reduce the amount bright lights that can be seen from the beach. Homeowners, condo owners and associations, property owners associations, hotels and businesses can participate by replacing light fixtures and light bulbs with a sea turtle safer option. The organization has a fundraising program to purchase sea turtle safe light bulbs and light fixtures.

Lights Out sponsorships are $100 are nonrefundable and immediately used to reduce light pollution on Ocean Isle Beach. Checks can be mailed to OIBSTPO, P.O. Box 6524, Ocean Isle Beach, NC 28469.

Public outreach

Allen said there have been changes in the group’s public outreach because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We love sharing information about sea turtles, but the North Carolina Wildlife Commission has kind of pulled back the reins since COVID started,” she said, adding that the commission takes measures to keep crowd sizes down to protect the public and the volunteers. But the beach is a good place to learn about sea turtles and the organization’s work.

“If you happen to walk by one of our teams and they’re at a nest, we absolutely encouraged you to go up and ask them any questions you want to ask and they’re going to share any information about that specific nest with you that they can,” she said. Sometimes there won’t be any changes with the nest or the volunteers will say they’re expecting the babies to emerge that night or in a few days. 

If babies are emerging from the nest at the time, “we encourage people to respectfully observe all that we’re doing to get the baby safely to the water,” she said.

Sometimes, while the turtles are hatching, Allen said volunteers helping with the nest will ask the public to help, especially with crowd control.

“I have to say our strongest advocates are the kids,” she said. When the hatchlings are about to emerge, volunteers tell the crowd gathered the rules, such as no flash photography or video. The kids “will correct their parents in a heartbeat if they accidentally have a flash on their camera and it’s really quite cool.”

Because the goal is to get the hatchlings to the water, volunteers clear a path for the turtles from the nest to the water, often putting up rope or drawing a line for the public not to cross. They sometimes will ask a 10-year-old to help ask everybody not to cross that line. “They are just excellent advocates. They don’t mind telling people that you’re not supposed to do that, don’t hurt a baby turtle.”

Beginning June 6, volunteers will lead family friendly educational programs about sea turtles nesting on Ocean Isle Beach.

The “Turtle Talk” programs will be at the Ocean Isle Beach Community Center every Monday at 5:30 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m.

The community center can only accommodate 85 at a time. She encourages people to come early for a seat. “We really love sharing our information about sea turtles,” Allen said. 

When visitors come to Ocean Isle Beach, sometimes the only locals they meet are volunteers at a turtle nest, so Allen said they want to make sure to provide educational information and welcome them to the beach.

“Because if we love our sea turtles, then we can get them to love and understand sea turtles. We’ve created another conservationist and that’s our goal,” she said. 

Fundraising efforts

To support the all-volunteer organization, there’s the opportunity to Adopt A Sea Turtle Nest on a first-come, first-serve basis. The sponsor will be able to name the nest. 

As of last mid-May, 44 nests were already sponsored with the standard sponsorship of $125, Allen said. 

The organization is also raising money for the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Hospital, which are $100. The nonrefundable donation will go directly to the turtle hospital. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are asking for anyone with information on the death of a federally protected red wolf found in Tyrrell County last month to come forward.

The service announced Friday a $5,000 reward for information that leads to the successful prosecution in this case.

The red wolf, found dead April 15 in a muddy farm field south of Newlands Road, was shot in the spine, causing the wolf to collapse on the field. The red wolf’s lungs were found to be full of mud during a later necropsy.

Anyone with information is encouraged to contact North Carolina Division of Refuge Law Enforcement Patrol Captain Frank Simms at 252-216-7504 or Special Agent Jason Keith at 919-856-4786 ext. 34.

Red wolves are governed by the rules established in 1995 setting up the experimental, nonessential population. This means that landowners may be allowed to remove a nuisance red wolf if it attacks their livestock or pets.

If a red wolf is wounded or killed during an otherwise legal activity, such as trapping coyotes following state regulations on private lands in the red wolf recovery area, that does not constitute a violation of federal regulation as long as it was not intentional or willful and is reported to the service within 24 hours.

If someone accidentally kills a red wolf, they must report it by calling the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service toll free at 1-855-4-WOLVES. It is important to report red wolf incidents quickly so that service personnel can minimize conflicts and retrieve any carcasses while they are still intact, officials said.

It’s sea turtle nesting season and Outer Banks Forever is offering a way to protect these critters through its annual Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest program at Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

A tax-deductible donation of $100 or more will allow the donor to symbolically adopt an active sea turtle nest at the seashore during nesting season May through October. Donors will receive an official 2022 adoption certificate and updates on their specific nest including sea turtle species, number of eggs, number of hatchlings and more once the nest hatches.

Outer Banks Forever, the official nonprofit partner of the Outer Banks national parks, launched the program in 2020. In 2021, the program raised more than $10,000 to support the seashore and was recently recognized by the Public Lands Alliance for Outstanding Public Engagement at its annual awards ceremony.

“The Adopt a Sea Turtle Nest program is a fun way for people to learn more about these popular island visitors and the work our national park staff does every day to help protect them. It’s also fun for us to send updates to each person who adopts a nest, particularly sharing the number of sea turtle hatchlings that make their way out of each nest,” said Jessica Barnes, Director of Outer Banks Forever, in a statement. “It’s a great way to feel connected to these amazing animals while also supporting Cape Hatteras National Seashore.”

To make a tax-deductible donation online visit www.obxforever.org/adoptaseaturtlenest or send by mail to Outer Banks Forever at P.O. Box 1635, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948, with “Adopt A Sea Turtle Nest” in the memo

Donors will be assigned an active sea turtle nest and will receive an adoption certificate by mail along with initial information about your unique nest including general location and sea turtle species. Organizers said that as sea turtles are beginning to arrive this month, it may take two to four weeks to be assigned a nest.

When the nest hatches, the donor will receive a personalized update with detailed information about your nest including where it was located and the number of hatchlings that made their way to the ocean.

There are a limited number of nests each year and they are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.

“Nature belongs to all of us – no individual or group that participates in this program may claim ownership of a sea turtle nest, eggs or hatchlings. For the safety of the sea turtles, your exact nest location will not be shared until after it has hatched,” organizers said.

Learn more about the sea turtles that visit the Outer Banks by watching Outer Banks Forever’s interview with Meaghan Johnson, Chief of Resource Management and Science for the Outer Banks national parks.

Australia’s decision to remove humpback whales from its endangered species list is a testament to the recovery of this majestic marine mammoth, a victory that should be celebrated and open the way for conservationists to shift attention on other, lesser known and heavily depleted ocean mammal populations, according to marine scientists.

Earlier this year, the Australian Ministry of Environment delisted humpback whales, citing evidence that the population there has recovered to preindustrial whaling numbers.

The recovery of humpbacks off Australia’s coasts mirrors most, though not all, of the species’ comeback globally since the International Whaling Commission in 1985 enacted a whaling moratorium to help stave off the near extinction of these animals.

“Once they exceed the statutory criteria that would release them from those listings then they should be delisted,” said David Johnston, associate professor of the practice of marine conservation ecology at the Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort. “It’s a really important concept to get people to get their heads around. It’s really difficult for people to understand how endangered species lists work and whether or not we should invest in those types of things if you never take species off the lists. Primarily, just by stopping killing them their populations have recovered and we should be excited that we’ve been able to actually reverse these trends that we’ve inflicted on these animals.”

Johnston, a conservation biologist who conducts population assessments and studies animals’ roles in ecosystems, has coauthored papers that examine the importance of celebrating conservation success stories and people’s acceptance of a species’ recovery.

One such example here on the East Coast is the gray seal, a species once found in large colonies as far south as Cape Hatteras.

Hunting and government-sponsored bounty programs in the 19^th and 20^th centuries nearly wiped out gray seals in this region. Then, in 1972, the U.S. Marine and Mammal Protection Act reversed the course of the species’ existence.

“A lot of people that live in the places where these animals are now recovering have spent most of their lives in a world without those seals there,” Johnston said. “There was this implicant assumption that they would never be part of the ecosystem again, which is really funny because, at the same time we’re enacting laws and spending a lot of money to try and recover these populations. I think it gets down to these baseline issues where we all have an experience that we consider as normal and that’s our baseline, but it’s probably very different to what things were like 100 years ago.”

Australia’s delisting of humpbacks follows that of other countries, including Canada and the United States.

The U.S. in the fall of 2016 removed nine of 14 distinct population segments of humpbacks globally from the Endangered Species Act list. The handful of populations that remain on the list are those off the Cape Verde Islands, western north Pacific, Central America and in the Arabian Sea. Central American humpbacks are threatened.

According to reports, Australia’s humpbacks have jumped in number from about 1,500 in the early 1980s to 40,000 today.

As humpback replenished in population, the whales are assuming their roles in the ecosystem, recycling nutrients as they eat, then poop, a process that evenly distributes nutrients to marine life that live in the upper part of the ocean.

Still, there are skeptics of Australia’s delisting who warn humpbacks remain vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

When asked whether there is a “but” to the success of humpback population recovery off Australia’s coasts, Johnston said, “I don’t really think so.”

“I think we have a lot of things in place to protect these animals even when they come off the endangered species list,” he said. “Even though many marine animals in the U.S. are not endangered it’s illegal for people to go out and kill them or harm them or harass them because they’re vulnerable. In this sense, they don’t really have to be on the endangered species list to trigger protection. It’s very similar in Australia. I think the key is to move past the concern about that and embrace the success story and then hopefully take the resources and effort that was going into a species that’s recovered and aim it at a species that actually needs the help.”

And, there are many species of marine mammals they require such help.

Take the vaquita, a small porpoise discovered in the late 1950s now on the very tip of extinction.

Vaquita live in Mexico’s Gulf of California, where as few as 10 remain, according to 2022 reports.

Marine mammal experts say this species, which gets caught and drowned in gillnets, could become extinct this year if illegal net fishing in Mexico continues.

Snubfin dolphin, natives of Australian waters around the Sahul shelf that extends from Australia’s northern coast to the New Guinea, are another species that may benefit from resources redirected from humpback whales’ recovery.

“I feel like we have the opportunity to be able to turn our attention to the species that are most at risk and hopefully make some headway,” Johnston said. “It’s just nice to think about this as a larger issue where we have to start recognizing conservation success stories and amplifying them. If we don’t do that then it’s going to be really hard for people to support actions to recover endangered species. If we’re never successful we can never show that we can get the job done, then it’s really hard to get people to invest in things like that. We all need to have this injection of optimism and hope that’s really significantly supported when we can demonstrate that we got the job done. That should be this lesson going forward that, even though we’ve done some pretty horrible things, that we can stop doing some of those things and do a few good things then we can have success.”

Learn more

• Embracing conservation success of recovering humpback whale
  populations: Evaluating the case for downlisting their conservation
  status in Australia.
• Lifting baselines to address the consequences of
  conservation success.