Update Aug. 17: The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission has modified its draft agenda for the Aug. 19-20 meeting regarding the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan. The commission will hear a presentation on the 2026 draft amendment, as previously planned, but will not vote on sending it out to public comment, as indicated in an earlier draft of the agenda.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, when it meets this month in Raleigh, is expected to vote on sending out for public and advisory committee review this year’s draft changes to the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.

The commission is set to meet Wednesday and Thursday, Aug. 19-20, at the Doubletree by Hilton Raleigh Midtown, 2805 Highwoods Blvd. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

The meeting sessions begin at 1 p.m. on Aug. 19, and at 9 a.m., Aug. 20.

The Coastal Habitat Protection Plan was first adopted in 2004 as a long-term roadmap for improving coastal fisheries by protecting, restoring and enhancing critical fish habitats. It’s a requirement of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, and it must be updated every five years. While it was amended in 2021, the plan hasn’t been substantially reworked since 2016.

Work on the rewrite began earlier this year.

The commission is also expected to consider approving the final determination of 335 commission rules as part of the mandatory 10-year review of existing state agency rules.

Members are also expected to set the number of licenses in the Standard Commercial Fishing License Eligibility Pool for the 2026-27 license year.

Electing a vice chair is also on the meeting agenda, in addition to presentations on the following:

• The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries’ Annual Fishery Management Plan review and accompanying draft Fishery Management Plan review schedule.
• Summary of North Carolina Kingfishes Stock Complex data analysis to aid in the review of the Kingfishes Fishery Management Plan.

The period for public comments begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Thursday. Those wishing to speak may do so at either time, but not during both comment periods.

If attending in-person, sign up at the hotel prior to the public comment sessions. To facilitate the meeting, and to accommodate as many speakers as possible, the chair will limit each speaker to three minutes, according to meeting materials. Those who wish to provide handouts to the commission during the public comment period should bring at least 12 copies to the meeting.

The public may also submit written comments via an online form; by mail to: MFC Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557; or by dropping of a hard copy at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters at 3441 Arendell St. The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. Monday, Aug. 17.

The full agenda and meeting materials, as well as a link to the YouTube livestream, are available on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

Guest Commentary

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

Note: National Estuaries Week is Sept. 20-27

When most people think about fighting climate change, they think about cutting tailpipe emissions, swapping coal plants for solar panels, or driving electric cars. But there’s another powerful tool right in front of us: coastal habitats like salt marshes and submerged seagrass meadows. These living ecosystems are not just fish nurseries, wildlife havens and storm buffers — they are also massive storehouses for carbon, helping slow the pace of global warming.

Nature’s Carbon Vaults

Every blade of marsh grass and every seagrass frond pulls carbon dioxide out of the air and water through photosynthesis. Some of that carbon goes back into the atmosphere when plants die and decay — but much of it gets buried in the wet, oxygen-poor soils beneath. Think of these habitats as nature’s deep freezers: once carbon is locked in the muck, it can stay there for hundreds or even thousands of years.

This storage is so effective that acre-for-acre, coastal wetland ecosystems can hold several times more carbon than forests on land. That’s why scientists call this “blue carbon.”

Beyond Storage: The New Science of Carbon Flux

For years, we assumed the carbon benefits of these habitats came mostly from how much carbon they locked underground. But new research — including work my colleagues and I have been doing — shows that the story is bigger.

Wetlands and seagrass beds aren’t closed systems. They interact constantly with surrounding waters, exchanging organic matter and nutrients in what scientists call lateral flux. In plain English: tides, currents, and groundwater move carbon in and out of these habitats.

Here’s the exciting part: the more we study this flux, the more we see that coastal habitats are exporting “good carbon”— forms that stimulate carbon storage in seawater or reduce greenhouse gases in the water column. In other words, their climate benefit isn’t just what they store in their soils, but also how they influence the chemistry of surrounding waters.

Early estimates suggest this added benefit may be as large, or even larger, than the carbon stored directly in the soil. That means we’ve been dramatically underestimating how valuable these habitats are for slowing climate change.

Research Coming to North Carolina

This fall, I’ll be bringing this research to North Carolina, where salt marshes play a defining role in both the coastal landscape and economy. With support from the North Carolina Coastal Federation, my team and I will be monitoring marshes in the state to measure their carbon values. These field studies will help determine just how much carbon is being stored and exported — and how that compares with other places along the East Coast and nationwide.

By putting real numbers on the carbon services provided by North Carolina’s salt marshes, we can give policymakers, landowners, and communities the science they need to make smart investments in protecting and restoring them.

More Than Just Carbon

Of course, carbon storage is only one of many economic and ecological gifts coastal wetlands and seagrasses provide. They buffer shorelines from storms, filter pollutants, support fisheries, and provide nurseries for countless species. Protecting and restoring them is not just smart climate policy — it’s smart coastal policy, period.

A Call to Action

We’re still learning just how much carbon benefit these habitats provide, but one thing is clear: Every acre we lose is a lost opportunity to fight climate change and protect coastal communities. Protecting and restoring degraded marshes and seagrass meadows is one of the rare win-win strategies that helps people, wildlife, and the planet’s climate at the same time.

As new science on lateral flux continues to emerge — and as fresh fieldwork in North Carolina fills in key data gaps — we’ll have an even stronger case for investing in these natural climate powerhouses. Protecting coastal habitats isn’t just about saving pretty places — it’s about giving our coastal communities and working lands a fighting chance against rising seas and extreme storms.

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

This week, Sept. 20-27, is National Estuaries Week, an annual opportunity to raise awareness and encourage protection of these natural resources,

Sponsoring organizations Restore America’s Estuaries, National Estuarine Research Reserve Association and the Association of National Estuary Programs are partnering with the National Environmental Education Foundation to highlight estuary conservation projects as a part of National Public Lands Day Saturday, Sept. 27.

National Public Lands Day is a single-day volunteer event for public lands on the fourth Saturday in September. Groups hosting a clean-up or restoration project may submit the project description via an online form to be featured in a 2025 National Estuaries Week Project Map.

National Estuaries Day was first observed in 1988 as a way to promote the importance of estuaries and the need to protect them.

“Estuaries — where salty seawater mixes with fresh water draining from the land — are one of many coastal habitats in which we work. Estuaries provide homes for fish and wildlife and support recreation, jobs, tourism, shipping, and more,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Estuaries are called “nurseries of the sea,” because numerous marine animals reproduce and spend the early part of their lives in estuaries, which include habitats like marshes, seagrass beds and oyster reefs.

“Most of the fish and shellfish we eat — including salmon, herring, crabs, and oysters — spend some or all of their life in estuaries. Estuaries provide habitat for nearly 70 percent of the United States’ commercial fish catch and 80 percent of recreational catch,” NOAA explains in a release highlighting National Estuaries Week.

These natural resources provide a home for species that help improve water quality. Oysters are filter feeders that trap and remove pollution from the water. A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.

In addition to being a home for marine life, nearly 40% of Americans live on or near a major estuary, which also serve an economic role. An analysis by Restore America’s Estuaries found 39% of jobs are connected to estuaries and support 47% of economic output.

Another benefit to estuaries is that “habitat like salt marshes and seagrass beds serve as natural infrastructure. They protect communities from flooding and erosion by soaking up water and dissipating storm energy,” NOAA said.

North Carolina’s coast is made up of more than 2 million acres of estuarine habitat, transition areas where fresh water from rivers meet the salty water of the sea.

Restore America’s Estuaries, the National Estuarine Research Reserve Association and the Association of National Estuary Programs have sought to draw attention to these fragile ecosystems that are continually facing challenges by celebrating National Estuaries Week, Sept. 21-28.

National Estuaries Week is a time to appreciate “the countless recreational, economic, and environmental benefits that our estuaries provide while acknowledging that they are under threat from a warming climate and continued development that can damage these national treasures,” Daniel Hayden, president and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries, said in a statement. “We hope you take time during National Estuaries Week to enjoy your local estuary and celebrate the benefits it provides.”

First held in 1988, National Estuaries Day later was expanded to a weeklong celebration. Last year, there were 36 events in 11 different states with more than 11,400 volunteers. This week, around 40 projects have taken place or are scheduled across the country, a handful of on the North Carolina coast. For a full list of events, visit the website.

The North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve Program Manager Rebecca Ellin said there is still time to take part in activities planned to celebrate North Carolina’s estuaries.

The reserve program is made up of 10 state-protected sites totaling more than 44,000 acres of estuarine land and water. Four of the sites are under federal protection as well, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, the land acquisition program was established in early 1980s as part of the North Carolina Coastal Area Management Act that went into effect in 1974.

Taking place all week is the Bioblitz at three reserve sites: Masonboro Island, Kitty Hawk Woods, and Rachel Carson in Beaufort. Visitors are encouraged to take photos of flora and fauna and upload them to iNaturalist, a website for the public to record observations while out in nature.

“Documentation of species at reserve sites contributes to natural occurrence records and provides baseline data for existing species,” Ellin said.

Reserve staff will have booths 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday at Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market in Beaufort for Celebrate Estuaries Day and at the Femme in STEM event 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the North Carolina Aquarium at Fort Fisher.

Femme in STEM showcases the variety of science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields that are open for career paths, and is a celebration of women in STEM fields. The event “reminds how important it is for young girls to see someone like themselves in science and other STEM subjects. Reserve staff will have a booth for the event and engage all ages in hands-on learning activities,” Ellin explained.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is kicking off its weekend with an estuaries-themed movie night starting at 6 p.m. Friday in its Wrightsville Beach office. Staff will have a booth at the Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market Saturday as well.

The nonprofit is a member-supported organization with offices in Wanchese, Newport and Wrightsville Beach, and is one of the 10 member organizations of Restore America’s Estuaries.

But first, what is an estuary?

Coastal Federation’s Education Coordinator Bonnie Mitchell in the Wrightsville Beach office said that estuaries “create a unique habitat abundant with life.”

“These coastal water bodies support a diverse range of species, filter pollutants from the water, and act as natural buffers against storms. They play a crucial role in maintaining healthy ecosystems that directly impact public health by improving water quality, supporting fisheries that provide nutritious food, and protecting shorelines from erosion and flooding,” Mitchell said.

Often called “nurseries of the sea,” Coastal Education Coordinator Rachel Bisesi with the central office said that “estuaries provide a safe haven for many baby sea animals to grow up, since there is a plethora of food and hiding spaces, and fewer large predators than in the open ocean. Almost all seafood spends part of its life in an estuary and keeping them healthy is important for coastal communities and the economy.”

Education and Outreach Director Sara Hallas in the Wanchese office added that estuaries are her “favorite habitat” and loves “that there’s always dynamics that keep the estuary ever changing and there’s always something new to discover. Just as the estuary is important for animals to rest and find refuge, it serves a similar purpose for people to reflect and connect.”

Hallas echoed Bisesi that these habitats are important nursery grounds for animals to find shelter in calm water from larger predators, and for aquatic wildlife to lay their eggs and raise their young, and swim out to deeper waters when they’re ready.

“This supports the Federation’s motto, ‘No Wetlands, No Seafood,’ as the majority of the seafood that’s harvested — commercially and recreationally — depends on the estuary at some point in its life cycle. Estuaries are also important areas for animals to rest and refuel during long migrations,” Hallas said.

Ellin said that there is a lot of diversity found in the coastal and estuarine habitats along North Carolina’s coast since it includes two different biogeographic regions — the northern extent of southern species and the southern extent of northern species — and different tidal ranges and types of sounds.

The reserve sites “protect a range of coastal habitats found in North Carolina and are representative of the diversity of these conditions. Example habitats protected by reserve habitats include salt marsh, maritime forest, ocean beach, mud flat, maritime forest, swamp forest, pond pine woodlands, adding that these coastal habitats comprise North Carolina’s estuaries.”

Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, or APNEP, Director Bill Crowell said that preserving estuaries is crucial for several reasons, including estuaries’ ecosystem function and biodiversity, economic value, water quality, flood mitigation and cultural significance.

Like the reserve program, APNEP is under the state Department of Environmental Quality. APNEP is one of the first of 28 National Estuary Programs established by the Clean Water Act in the late 1980s, and protects around 28,000-square-mile watershed in southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina.

The Albemarle-Pamlico region is one of the largest and most productive estuarine ecosystems in the United States, Crowell said.

“Estuaries are essential for functional ecosystems as they serve as vital habitats for a wide range of species, including fish, birds, and invertebrates. They provide breeding and nursery grounds, supporting both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” he said. “Estuaries support important economic activities such as fishing, tourism, and recreation. Healthy ecosystems contribute to vibrant local economies, providing jobs and supporting livelihoods.”

Estuaries improve water quality because they act as natural filters, by trapping pollutants and sediments,” Crowell said. “This is essential for maintaining the health of both the estuary itself and the coastal waters it connects to,” Crowell said. And estuaries help with flooding. “Healthy estuarine ecosystems can absorb excess rainfall and storm surge, reducing the risk of flooding in surrounding communities and enhancing resilience to climate-related impacts.”

There’s also the social connection. “Many communities have deep cultural ties to estuaries, relying on them for food, recreation, and heritage. Preserving these areas helps maintain cultural identities and traditions,” he said.

Ellin explained that the reserve sites that stretch from North Carolina’s northern border to the southern border are protected for long-term research, education and stewardship.

“Research and stewardship work informs management of our sites and North Carolina’s coastal resources as they face increased use and changing environmental conditions by monitoring change and testing and evaluating restoration techniques such as living shorelines,” Ellin said. “Teachers, students, and decision-makers learn about the importance of our estuaries through interpretive field trips at the sites and how to incorporate science into their classrooms and daily decisions that may impact the coast and estuaries.”

Estuaries not only protect habitat and provide platforms for research and education, estuaries offer storm protection and economic benefits for nearby communities. “Protecting estuaries protects coastal habitat and the contributions they provide to healthy ecosystems and communities,” Ellin said.

All three of the Coastal Federation’s educators recognized that these ecosystems are increasingly under threat.

“Habitat loss and development, as well as stormwater pollution and climate change impact the health of the estuary,” Bisesi said.

Mitchell said that pollution, overdevelopment and climate change jeopardize these vital resources. “If we don’t act now to protect estuaries, we not only risk losing critical wildlife habitats but also endanger the well-being of our communities. Protecting estuaries is essential not only for biodiversity but for safeguarding public health and ensuring the sustainability of coastal life.”

Hallas added that, in addition to the risks Mitchell mentioned, estuaries are also at risk from the recent ruling that drastically reduced protections of wetlands across the United States. “How could we not protect something that’s so valuable to all living things, including the source of life: clean water.”

Hallas said that because estuaries provide protection from flooding, storm surge, erosion and water quality, “I feel like it’s our job to protect them in return.” Estuaries are “a haven of beauty on the North Carolina coast, a refuge for both humans and wildlife.”

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Threats to the state’s 220,000 acres of salt marshes spurred the development of a five-year strategy designed to protect and restore this vegetation that helps protect shorelines from erosion and provides habitat for juvenile seafood to grow.

Released Wednesday, the North Carolina Salt Marsh Action Plan has the overarching goal “to protect, restore, and facilitate the migration of salt marshes in North Carolina to minimize loss of function, benefits, and acreage through 2050 and beyond.”

There are numerous persistent and emerging threats to current and future salt marshes such as incompatible land and water uses, wave energy caused by boat wakes, and, as a result of climate change, more intense and wetter storms and sea level rise. The state plan offers strategies to address these threats, plus ways to promote the plan’s goals and actions, and a five-year monitoring and evaluation strategy to track success.

“Salt Marshes provide numerous benefits to the health and productivity of the coastal environment, economy, and culture. These benefits include essential fish habitats, water quality enhancements, climate change mitigation, and enhanced community and ecosystem resilience through flood and erosion protection,” Coastal Federation Salt Marsh Program Director Jacob Boyd said in a statement. “We can’t afford to lose that through inaction, especially with the ever-increasing impacts from climate change.”

The state plan was developed to implement the regional marsh plan, “Marsh Forward: A Regional Plan for the Future of the South Atlantic Coast’s Million-Acre Salt Marsh Ecosystem” the South Atlantic Salt Marsh Initiative, or SASMI, released in May 2023.

The Pew Charitable Trusts and Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and Sustainability formed SASMI in 2021. The regional initiative is an effort of more than 350 partners to preserve and enhance the existing million acres of salt marsh between North Carolina and the northern Atlantic coast of Florida. The states are developing implementation plans specific to their needs.

“The development of the NC Salt Marsh Action Plan that builds off the SASMI regional efforts highlights the importance of protecting and restoring salt marshes in North Carolina and the region,” said Sarah Spiegler, North Carolina Sea Grant coastal resilience specialist. “The Plan’s emphasis on partner collaboration is vital to ensure we effectively build more resilient coastal communities and habitats throughout North Carolina.”

There are numerous partners who will contribute to plan implementation as members of the Salt Marsh Steering Committee that the Coastal Federation is leading, including the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, Audubon North Carolina, Carolina Wetlands Association, Department of Environmental Quality, Duke University, East Carolina University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Eastern North Carolina Sentinel Landscape and others.

WASHINGTON WATERFRONT– A nonprofit environmental education center perched on the Pamlico River is set to undergo a major transformation.

A Partnership for the Sounds facility that focuses on estuaries and coastal rivers, plans are in motion to expand the North Carolina Estuarium’s reach through a new Seafood School.

“The Seafood School is designed to educate and entertain visitors of all ages. There is a deep heritage in eastern North Carolina of both enjoying and providing seafood, and we will work with everyone who wants to share in that,” Estuarium Director Tom Stroud explained to Coastal Review.

The Seafood School is to feature new exhibits highlighting the estuary’s role as a nursery for marine life and will have an educational kitchen where programs for the public on cooking and preparation of key species can take place.

“Our goal is to use seafood — or ‘soundfood’ — to create a full circle of appreciation for healthy estuaries,” Stroud said in a release. “For many people the closest connection they have with estuaries is eating things that come from them – oysters, blue crabs, shrimp, fish. That’s great, but there is a through-line between enjoying a fried oyster and the condition of the ecosystem it came from. The Seafood School will link the health of the estuary, the effort it takes for harvest, and the process of creating a great seafood meal in a single space.”

Currently, the 12,500 square-foot center features more than 200 exhibits that describe estuaries and coastal rivers, including aquariums with crabs and other estuarine life, art, interactive displays, artifacts from life on the Pamlico River, explorations of hurricanes and sea level rise, Pamlico River boat tours, and special programs on natural and cultural heritage, according to its website.

Stroud said in an interview that the renovation is “significant” and “will fully transform our existing classroom space, update current exhibitry, and provide incredible access to the Pamlico River as well.”

Preliminary work on the buildout will begin by June, and the Seafood School is expected to be in operation by early 2025.

The space where the Seafood School will be located is not in the main part of the exhibit hall, “so we’re hoping the renovations will have a minimal impact on our regular operation,” Stroud said, adding he believes programming will increase.

The Seafood School was inspired by the state’s efforts to restore oyster habitats because of the ecosystem benefits and the economic boost to coastal communities, and folds in other key fisheries to expand the view of why estuaries need to be sustained and protected, the announcement states.

The Estuarium evolved from the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study in the early 1990s, and since then, the goal has been to promote awareness and stewardship of the Albemarle-Pamlico, and that won’t change, Stroud said in the announcement. “But it’s time to engage new generations in new ways. We feel like the Seafood School is an approach that will elevate our message and make us uniquely identifiable among science education facilities.” 

Stroud expounded in the interview that the Seafood School will have two main learning attractions: the educational exhibits and a Cooking Classroom.

The classroom, or kitchen, will be the most noticeable new piece, Stroud said, and will allow for all types of cooking programs including steaming, baking, frying for groups of up to 16 people. The space also is going to be available as a rental venue for groups of 20 to 30 people “who want to socialize in a beautiful spot right on the Pamlico River,” he said.

“We envision having noted local chefs — and hopefully some from farther away — lead programs on how to prepare all types of seafood caught in North Carolina’s estuaries,” Stroud said.

Next to the kitchen will be exhibits that highlight the water quality needs of these species, and look at how different seafoods are harvested in state waters, especially from sustainable methods.

“The exhibit piece will look like a classic waterfront seafood shop along an estuarine shoreline in eastern N.C.,” Stroud said.

A planning grant from Nutrien, the Canadian fertilizer company in Saskatchewan, helped fund the Seafood School’s planning.

“We approached Nutrien with the basic concept in fall of 2022,” Stroud said. The funding allowed the creative consultant, Harbor Peoples, to work for about six months with chefs, watermen, building inspectors, exhibit designers, kitchen suppliers and an architect on design concepts and flesh out a definitive plan before going for bigger funding.

“We started with the idea that the exhibit and kitchen would focus specifically on oysters, but as we met with people and thought it through, we felt the story would be stronger if we expanded to include other key species from the estuary to tell a broader story of the ecosystem, which is indeed the mission of the Estuarium,” Stroud said.

The Estuarium was awarded a $250,000 grant in this year’s budget that will cover about half of the estimated cost.

In the release, Stroud expressed the center’s gratitude to Nutrien for their support on the planning grant and to Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, and also representing Dare, Hyde and Pamlico counties, for help with the state grant, “but we’ll need additional funding to fully achieve our goals. We look forward to sharing our vision with donors so they can have an opportunity to be part of the Estuarium’s programming evolution and show their support for keeping the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary healthy.”

Kidwell, of Chocowinity, told Coastal Review on Wednesday that he supports the Seafood School because the fishing industry is a large driver of the economy in Eastern North Carolina.

“For many years, the fishing industry has been in decline. The Seafood School will help to shine a spotlight on the importance of fishing and seafood and relates directly to North Carolina’s efforts to expand oyster fishing and fishing in general. When correctly managed, seafood is an excellent source of sustainable protein,” Kidwell said in an email. “The coastal waters in NC are a natural resource that provides some of the world’s best oysters and fin fish. Let’s do our best to manage and support the fishing industry.”

The plan is to initiate a major fundraising campaign soon, “but anyone interested in supporting us now can contact me at tmstroud@embarqmail.com and I can provide information,” Stroud said.

A study of the country’s two largest estuaries reveals that inshore coastal waters are not necessarily experiencing what scientists say is a worrisome global trend of increasingly acidic oceans.

The recently published paper is the latest in a small collection of studies highlighting the complexities of coastal zones onshore.

In this case, researchers looked at trends from data collected more than 20 years within the Neuse River Estuary-Pamlico Sound waters and Chesapeake Bay and found that things like nutrient pollution and algal blooms play a role in how carbon dioxide is dissolved in inland coastal waters.

Research Assistant Professor Nathan Hall with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City and co-author of the study explained that eutrophication is effectively causing, in some cases, estuarine waters to have lower acidification than that of the ocean.

Eutrophication happens in waters that become overloaded by nutrient runoff, leading to harmful algal blooms, fish kills and areas of low oxygen where aquatic life cannot survive.

“We think of ocean acidification as bad, eutrophication as bad,” Hall said. “But eutrophication also in these estuaries can prevent, at least in the surface layers, the effects of ocean acidification from showing up. So, it adds a lot of complexity in the coastal zone. It’s not just as simple as gauges going down everywhere because we’re pumping CO2 into the air. In a lot of cases estuaries, because we load them with so much organic matter and the rivers feeding into them usually have more CO2 than they can take to begin with, they usually are releasing CO2 back into the atmosphere.”

The release of that CO2 into the atmosphere means that the carbon dioxide does not often have the same influence on the pH — or measure of how acidic or basic water is — alkalinity, in an estuary.

The measure of pH ranges from 0-14. A measurement of 7 is neutral, those less than 7 indicate acidity and those greater than 7 indicate a base.

Scientists say increased levels of CO2 in the atmosphere driven by human activity is causing the ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide, which decreases pH, causing the ocean to become more acidic.

Increasingly acidic seas are threatening species like oysters, corals and some calcifying planktons. Threats to these species, scientists say, will create a rippling effect up the ocean food chain.

The Neuse River Estuary-Pamlico Sound and Chesapeake Bay study corroborates previous findings of how production of phytoplankton, or microalgae that float in the upper layer of fresh and marine waters, swamp out from estuaries signals that detect acidification in the ocean.

But the study also found something Hall was not expecting.

Scientists assess the amount of phytoplankton in water by measuring concentrations of chlorophyll. Phytoplankton contain chlorophyll to carry out photosynthesis by absorbing atmospheric carbon dioxide to create sugars for fuel.

“If chlorophyll is going up we assume that there’s more production,” Hall said. “And, in most cases, we think that should increase the pH as CO2 is taken out of the water from phytoplankton production. But what we actually saw in both of these estuaries is that, during the summer, periods of high chlorophyll were correlated with low pH water and that was a real headscratcher. The pH is going down during these phytoplankton blooms.”

Researchers think that, during the summer, nutrient loading that cause algal blooms also load a lot of dissolved organic carbon, which is fuel for bacteria. As the bacteria break down that organic carbon that produces CO2.

“So even though the phytoplankton are growing on the nutrients that came in from the pulses of runoff, the bacteria are growing and producing more CO2 than phytoplankton are taking the CO2 up,” Hall said. “It’s not something that I think had been seen or really shown before. It just makes things complex. The more you learn about something the more you realize, holy cow, this really is not straightforward.”

He theorizes that swamps in the watershed inundated by flooding from tropical cyclones load a lot of that organic matter into the estuary while, at the same time, dumping a lot of nutrients into the estuary that cause algal blooms.

“I think that’s fuel and the production of all the carbon dioxide that ends up making the pH go down,” he said.

This complicated system makes it challenging for researchers to provide definitive answers for how to try and manage these waters.

As Hall sees it, the study reveals eutrophication in estuaries as a kind of double-edged sword, a trade-off.

“I think that’s something that people are really just starting to talk about,” he said. “I think another thing the study shows is we have this global pressure of higher CO2 levels in the atmosphere, but how that affects pH is very estuary-specific and so we just can’t make assumptions that estuaries are going to decrease in pH. A lot of estuaries are probably not going to be really sensitive to the increase in atmospheric CO2 and some may be. We’ve really got to take it by an estuary-to-estuary basis to really understand which ones are going to be more sensitive and which ones are not.”

Daniel Bowling, a doctoral student in Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University, will study oyster habitat over the next two years at the North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve as a Margaret A. Davidson Fellow recipient.

Bowling, who holds a bachelor’s in environmental science and marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, will assess the effectiveness of using remote sensing to monitor intertidal oyster habitat during the fellowship. This work is to advance his dissertation research to develop methods for a fishery-independent survey program for oysters in the state.

The Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship provides funding to graduate students to conduct estuarine research within one of the 30 reserves in National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

Recent estimates find that North Carolina has nearly 5,000 acres of intertidal oyster reef habitat, but reefs are often hard to access, and mapping is very labor intensive, according to the Coastal Reserve.

Bowling is to help develop an approach that uses remote sensing to map the distribution of intertidal oyster reefs with unoccupied aircraft systems, or drones, and high-resolution satellite imagery. He will pair on-the-ground sampling with high resolution drone images to verify the efficacy of employing remote sensing to measure the distribution and health of intertidal oyster habitat at the Rachel Carson Reserve.

His research will provide the information and analytical tools to facilitate the development of new population assessment techniques for the Reserve’s resource managers and beyond.

He has worked with a stakeholder committee of representatives from North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, North Carolina Coastal Federation, The Nature Conservancy, commercial fishermen, and academic partners.

Through this partnership, he will ensure that mapping protocols and proposed sampling design also meet the needs of the Division of Marine Fisheries to sustainably manage the North Carolina’s oyster fishery.

He also plans to provide hands-on research experiences for undergraduates during the summer through the N.C. State’s Bob Simpson Minority Scholars program, which provides opportunities for North Carolina undergraduate students who identify as belonging to groups that are typically underrepresented in marine science.

Though “geographically small,” estuaries are “economically huge,” according to a recently released update to a decade-old report on the economic value of these coastal regions where rivers mix with salt water.

Restore America’s Estuaries and The Ocean Foundation released in 2009 the report, “The Economic and Market Value of America’s Coasts and Estuaries: What’s at Stake?” Backed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, this first report examined economic impacts of estuaries during that time to gross state and domestic product in 21 regions of the continental United States. It also reviewed the benefits of five major sectors of the economy: fisheries, energy infrastructure, marine transportation, real estate and recreation.

The 2021 update presented Nov. 3, prepared by TBD Economics and the Center for the Blue Economy, expands on the previous report and looks at natural infrastructure such as wetlands and oyster reefs, and coastal blue carbon, or the carbon captured by marine organisms and stored in coastal ecosystems, in the local economies of six case study sites: Pamlico Sound in North Carolina, Great Egg Harbor in New Jersey, Florida’s Tampa Bay, Terrebonne-Haute Basin in Louisiana, San Pablo Bay in California, and Snohomish Estuary in Washington.

“Estuaries are small places with huge economic impact. They’re 4% of the continental landmass in the U.S., eight of our 10 largest cities are along estuaries, 40% of our U.S. population and 47% of our gross domestic product are all generated from estuary counties. So what happens in estuaries affects all of us,” Restore America’s Estuaries President and CEO Daniel Hayden explained during the Nov. 3 press conference to present the report update.

Hayden said that since the first report, 15% more Americans live in coastal communities, especially within the Gulf Coast region. This means there’s more people and more property at risk than ever before. Also, there are two times the number of billion-dollar-plus storms as there were just a decade ago, resulting in 69% more deaths.

“These are trends that we’re seeing across the entire country,” Hayden said, citing a study from The Pew Research Center that found 63% of Americans say they’re seeing the effects of climate change today. “So this is no longer a future problem. It’s today’s reality.”

These storms and extreme weather are not affecting all communities equally. “There’s an increasing body of research that shows that economically disadvantaged communities are impacted much worse by coastal flooding and storms than other communities,” Hayden said. He added these storms take an immense human toll and cause disruption to families and communities, which makes it even harder for communities that are already struggling.

Hayden said there is a clear case for investment in the coast. For every $1 invested in mitigation, $6 is saved in recovery and this investment can help avoid human suffering and improve habitats. Every $1 million invested in habitat restoration creates an average of 17 jobs. “This is a much higher rate of return than the traditional industries such as coal, gas or nuclear energy generation, there’s a lot of opportunities for us to continue to invest in our coasts while investing in our economy.”

The update includes two new categories, “coastal blue carbon” and “natural infrastructure,” in its assessment of conditions in the continental U.S. This new information was included to fill considerable gaps in understanding the benefits provided by coastal natural infrastructure and blue carbon, according to the update. The values for natural infrastructure flood resilience and carbon sequestration presented in the case studies illustrate the current economic benefits provided by these two services in regions across the country.

The report explains that conserving and restoring estuaries rich in coastal blue carbon –greenhouse gas carbon dioxide sequestered in the soil — mitigates the effects of climate change and provides additional benefits such as nursery habitat for fish and reduction of storm surge impact. NOAA defines natural infrastructure as healthy ecosystems including forests, wetlands, floodplains, dune systems and reefs, that offer many benefits like storm protection through wave attenuation or flood storage capacity and enhanced water services and security.

Hayden added that the value of blue carbon sequestration totals $600 million to $3.7 billion at the six sites studied, and natural infrastructure helped avoid between $1 billion and $3.1 billion in property losses. “So we can sort of imagine the impact they have on our country as a whole,” he said.

“We also know the value of this natural infrastructure,” he said. There’s been a lot of studies that show that property behind wetlands have less storm damage, but the value depends on keeping existing wetlands intact, and thereby preventing or reducing economic losses.

Hayden said it’s critical to sustain and increase federal and state investments in our coasts.

“It’s estimated the voluntary carbon markets would grow to about $50 billion by 2030 and this provides an opportunity to fund investments in our coasts, particularly in blue carbon, as an incremental finance tool, and a chance for the attribution of blue carbon value to the wetlands increases their value,” he said. “There’s a lot of opportunity here to develop collaborations between federal, state and local governments as well as the private sector to continue investment in our estuaries.”

NOAA Office of Habitat Conservation Director Carrie Selberg Robinson explained during the Nov. 3 presentation that her office and Restore America’s Estuaries had worked about two years on the update.

“Estuaries play a really important role in protecting communities from the impacts of flooding, climate change and sea level rise. And habitats like salt marshes and seagrass beds serve as natural infrastructure that protect coastal communities from flooding and erosion,” she said.

When RAE proposed the update, Robinson said her office “wholeheartedly agreed that a more current look at the economic value of estuaries would be an important tool for all of us at NOAA and for all of our partners in conservation to better understanding of what these valuable systems are worth is a really critical tool for preserving and restoring the coastal habitats in these places that are important to our communities.”

TBD Economics President Tracy Rouleau said that the first report was a primer on the value of ecosystem services. The original report addressed the best known, at least at the time, ecosystem services, that make up the ocean, or marine, economy: tourism and recreation, commercial fisheries, ports and shipping, and energy infrastructure.

The authors included a “more contemporary view of ecosystem services” in the update with the six case studies that “connect estuaries directly to the climate crisis facing our nation in the world.”

The update estimates the value over the next 30 years of certain wetlands helping reduce flood damage and storing carbon in the soils that could offset carbon releases from other sources.

Rouleau said that the case study works under the assumption that the coastal blue carbon and the natural infrastructure values are present today and those benefits are continued over 30 years. “But if the wetlands are developed, the values are lost,” she said.

“Beyond these measurable benefits, estuaries are at the heart of so many of our coastal communities. Without healthy estuaries, ways of life that have defined our communities for generations would disappear. The value of restoring and strengthening our estuaries can, in the end, really only be measured by the value each of us place on the quality of life we pass on to our future generations,” Hayden wrote in a release about the report.

Snapshot of Pamlico Sound findings

Pamlico Sound makes up the southern part of the Albemarle-Pamlico system, which spans more than 3,000 square miles of water, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Outer Banks.

The sound’s wetlands, oyster reefs and subaquatic vegetation are features that improve water quality by reducing erosion and wave activity and filtering water. Seagrass meadows are considered some of the most important natural carbon sinks in marine environments, according to the 2021 update.

Though Pamlico Sound is a largely undeveloped estuary, with a small amount of low- and medium-intensity development, many worry that nutrient runoff from stormwater, agriculture, wastewater treatment and industrial facilities will contribute to a long-term, coast-wide problem worsened by prolonged flooding and saltwater intrusion. The report also finds concerns that wastewater, stormwater and transportation systems will be affected by saltwater intrusion, more severe and prolonged flooding and storm surge.

In 2016, recreational fisheries had a $1 billion impact on the state economy, commercial fisheries had a $180 million impact, and saltwater fishing created almost 17,000 jobs. In 2019, commercial fishers landed more than 10 million pounds of seafood valued at more than $15 million in and around Pamlico Sound. The economic impact of tourism in 2012 by Dare, Carteret, Currituck and Hyde counties exceeded $1.37 billion.

The estimated benefits from natural infrastructure in Pamlico Sound range from $48.8 million to $109.9 million over a 30-year period, assuming a flood that historically would occur only once in 100 years. This is the present value of potential flood damage totals over a 30-year period, according to the update.

“Climate change may double the risk of a severe flood occurring, in which case benefits would increase to between $97.7 million and $219.8 million. These values are for damages to property exposed to flooding and do not include the damage to business sales or employment, tourism, and recreation, nor the value of possible losses from effects on human health. These damage estimates should thus be considered conservative, that is they are likely to be low,” according to the update.

The value of coastal blue carbon benefits ranges from $3,374 per hundred hectares to $19,465 per hundred hectares. The total value for the 37,000 hectares in the estuary range from $124.8 million to $720.2 million, depending on the scenario. The low-probability, high-impact climate outcome scenario resulted in a coastal blue carbon value of $1.4 billion.

The broad range in these benefit estimates is due to several factors, including variation in the “wetlands effect” coming from differences in the precise location, and amount of wetlands between the valued assets and the water; uncertainty about future economic conditions reflected in differing discount rates in the coastal blue carbon study; and assumptions about the increasing severity of storms due to climate change, the report says.

Coastal blue carbon and natural infrastructure provide complementary services. Combined, the natural infrastructure and coastal blue carbon benefits range from $173.6 to $940.0 million.

The report warns that these are preliminary estimates intended to help shape overall strategies to manage wetland resources on the Pamlico Sound.

The report as a whole

The 21 regions examined are comprised of 380 counties bordering the Atlantic, Gulf
of Mexico, Pacific, and Great Lakes, making up 4% of the land area of the U.S. From that 4% is 47% of the output of the U.S. economy, or $8.8 trillion in gross domestic product, 39% of the employment — around 59.4 million jobs and 40% of the population, about 130 million people, in 2018.

From 2009 to 2018, employment and gross domestic product grew faster in estuary regions than in the U.S. as a whole, while housing and population rates grew at a similar pace, according to the report. Employment growth rates during that window were fastest in the estuary regions on the Pacific and South Atlantic coasts, with population and housing growth fastest in the Carolinas, western Gulf of Mexico and Puget Sound, Restore America’s Estuaries noted about the update.

A key component of the estuary regions’ economy are those sectors directly connected to the oceans and Great Lakes, which provided 3.1 million jobs and contributed $301.9 billion to the U.S. economy in 2018. These sectors tend to be largest in the major urban areas but water-dependent industries are more important in less urban areas such as the coastal areas of North Carolina, with 45,000 jobs but 12.4% of employment.

More than 70% of the employment in coastal communities is in recreation and coastal tourism generates an economic value of about $531 billion, measured by employment. This employment tends to tie closely to the environmental and ecological health of estuaries.

Estuaries produce more food per acre than the most productive mid-western farmland and provide habitat for more than two-thirds of U.S. commercial fish harvest, the update states.

A new law expands an Environmental Protection Agency program to protect and restore estuaries of national significance, including in North Carolina.

The Protect and Restore America’s Estuaries Act, which had bipartisan support and that President Trump signed Wednesday, also nearly doubles the annual funding authorization for the National Estuary Program established in 1987 as a result of amendments to the Clean Water Act. Program funding supports grants and research proposals that address the increasing threats to estuaries, such as pollution, accelerated land loss and risks to biodiversity in 28 estuaries.

“These actions demonstrate a clear recognition by Congress of the economic and environmental importance of wetlands and coastal environments in the United States,” Rob Shane of the national nonprofit Restore America’s Estuaries said in a press statement. The organization established in 1995 leads a national alliance of 10 coastal conservation organizations that protect and restore bays and estuaries as essential resources.

Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was the original sponsor of the bill introduced in July 2019. Fellow committee members Reps. Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, and Garret Graves, R-La., were cosponsors.

“Estuaries nurture a vast array of marine life, filter pollutants from rivers before they reach the sea, and are the natural infrastructure that protects human communities from floods and storms,” said Malinowski. “As extreme weather events increasingly threaten these nurseries of the sea, I’m very proud this important legislation was signed into law, so these critical waterways will continue to be protected.”

In addition to funding grants, the National Estuary Program ensures that the management plans governing nationally significant estuaries consider the effects of increasing and recurring extreme weather events and develop and implement appropriate adaptation strategies. It also expands eligibility for grants to organizations working to address storm water runoff, coastal resiliency and accelerated land-loss issues.

The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary System is a study area in the nonregulatory program, which develops and implements long-term conservation and management plans based on local priorities. The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership was among the first 28 National Estuary Programs and works to identify, protect and restore significant resources in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuarine system under an agreement with the EPA and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Last year, APNEP, along with the North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs and others, began work to develop a project to increase engagement among Tribal communities, government agencies and universities to bring in these communities’ cultural perspectives regarding the impacts of climate change.

In celebration of National Estuaries Week this week, six North Carolina and Virginia environmental and natural resources agencies reaffirmed their commitment to work together to protect and restore the water and ecosystem resources in the Albemarle-Pamlico watershed and estuarine system.

Each September, National Estuaries Week celebrates bays and estuaries and the benefits they provide. This year from Saturday, Sept. 19, to Saturday, Sept. 26, hundreds of organizations throughout the country host events in celebration of National Estuaries Week.

The six organizations released Thursday a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, recommitting to work together to foster interstate collaboration within the shared waterways of the Albemarle-Pamlico region, which spans 43 counties in North Carolina and 38 counties and cities in Virginia.

The watershed of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary watershed is almost 31,500 square miles and the estuary is more than 3,000 square miles of open water, the second largest estuarine complex in the contiguous United States.

The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, or APNEP, which works to identify, protect and restore the region’s resources, facilitated the MOU. The document highlights the importance of working together to improve the water quality and ecological health of the states’ shared river basins that flow into Albemarle Sound, including the Roanoke, Chowan, and Pasquotank River Basins, according to the release.

“It is fitting that the renewed MOU be released during National Estuaries Week, which is an is an annual celebration and campaign to increase public awareness of estuaries and to encourage people to become involved in the protection of these important natural resources,” said APNEP Director William Crowell. “This MOU is another step in bringing people together to conserve our shared resources and improve water quality in the estuary.”

The memorandum will help the agencies coordinate with APNEP to manage regional issues such as nonpoint source pollution, restoring fish passage and spawning habitat, and controlling invasive species. Agencies will also continue to explore opportunities to assist state, regional and local governments in incorporating climate change and sea level rise considerations into their planning processes.

The North Carolina departments of Environmental Quality, Natural and Cultural Resources, and Agriculture and Consumer Services, as well as the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, are joining with the  Secretaries of Natural Resources and of Agriculture and Forestry of the Commonwealth of Virginia, as well as others named in the APNEP Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan are the participating agencies.

“We are proud to continue our partnership with our neighbors in Virginia and our fellow state agencies to protect this beautiful natural resource,” NCDEQ Secretary Michael S. Regan said. “The Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary is a reminder of how our actions impact our environment and why we must work together to restore and preserve these waters, especially as we face the potential impacts of climate change in our region.”

In addition to furthering the intent of the MOU signed in 2017, the new MOU identifies additional joint efforts to advance shared goals toward the protection and restoration of water and ecosystem resources throughout the Albemarle-Pamlico watershed and estuarine system.

“Congress designated the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary ‘an estuary of national significance’ in 1987, and the watershed supports a great deal of habitat and biodiversity, all the way to the Blue Ridge Mountains at the headwaters of the Roanoke River,” Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Matthew J. Strickler said. “Virginia is committed to being a good steward of this region by advancing the identification and protection of critical lands with a deep-rooted Native American tribal history. We look forward to continuing the partnership with North Carolina to conserve and restore precious shared resources in the upper watershed.”

Read the full text of the memorandum and find out more about Interstate Collaboration in Shared Waterways at apnep.org, or contact Stacey Feken at stacey.feken@apnep.org.

Applications are due by 5 p.m. Aug. 3 for the 2020 Graduate Fellowship in Estuarine Research.

The fellowship, which will be up to $10,000, will fund a graduate student based in North Carolina to conduct applied research within the North Carolina portion of the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership boundary.

APNEP and North Carolina Sea Grant are accepting applications from graduate students for hypothesis-based research that addresses one or more of the following areas: estuary spatial planning, submerged aquatic vegetation, coastal water quality, ecological flows and/or oyster restoration.

Complete instructions, including more information on focus areas for these proposals, are available online at ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/Fellowships and all applications must be completed through the Sea Grant portal, go.ncsu.edu/ncesg.

“We are excited to continue our partnership linking the Sea Grant and National Estuary Program networks in support of this research fellowship opportunity, which helps inform the conservation and management of the nation’s second largest estuarine system,” said Tim Ellis, APNEP’s quantitative ecologist.

John Fear, Sea Grant deputy director, added that this year the fellowship takes on new meaning. “Providing student opportunities is one of our program’s overarching aims and we are excited to be able to continue to seek outstanding applicants.”

Proposed work should relate to the APNEP Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan and to North Carolina Sea Grant’s Strategic Plan, as well as Sea Grant’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Graduate students at historically Black colleges and universities and minority serving institutions or from traditionally underserved and underrepresented communities, as well as from graduate students who can demonstrate how their work and related outreach will benefit underserved and underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply.

For more information, contact John Fear at Sea Grant, jmfear@ncsu.edu, or Tim Ellis of APNEP, tim.ellis@apnep.org.

Daniel Hayden has been appointed the new president and CEO of Restore America’s Estuaries, which focuses on the protection and restoration of bays and estuaries as essential resources for the nation.

Hayden is to take over for Jeff Benoit, who is set to retire May 31, after having served as president and CEO since August 2007.

“After a comprehensive and competitive search, the Board was most impressed by Daniel’s commitment to coastal conservation, organizational strategy and leadership experience, and proven record of building successful partnerships,” Board Chair Todd Miller wrote in an announcement. Miller is executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which published Coastal Review Online.

Hayden has more than 25 years of experience as a leader in both the private and public sectors.

His experience includes leading programs, building multi-million-dollar partnerships and overseeing quality and learning for a decade for Rare, an international nongovernment organization enabling organizations to use social marketing to drive pro-environmental behaviors.

Most recently, Hayden led business operations for Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) at the UN Foundation, which grew from $3 million to $13 million in annual investments during his tenure.

In a previous role as senior campaign director at PCI Media, Hayden organized UNEP’s Webby award winning “Wild for Life” Campaign generating over 3 million pledges, and assisted the UN Environment Program to design a global campaign to reduce marine plastics (CleanSeas) which pre-engaged 10 countries to make policy commitments.

Daniel earned a bachelor’s in economics and history from Hamilton College and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

MOREHEAD CITY – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is asking for feedback by Nov. 27 on the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve draft revised management plan, available on the state’s Department of Environmental Quality website.

A program of DEQ’s Division of Coastal Management, the North Carolina Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve protects natural areas for education, research and recreation. NOAA’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System requires periodic revision of management plans for sites in the system.

The Review 2020-2025 Draft Management Plan not only looks at priorities for the public including program visibility, visitor use, research awareness, and partnerships but also threats and stressors of concern to reserve sites, including invasive species, water quality, sea level rise and storms, and outlines the following:

• A strategic plan.
• Administrative structure.
• Research and monitoring, education, stewardship and training programs of the reserve.
• Resource protection and manipulation plans.
• Restoration management plan.
• Public access and visitor use plan.
• Consideration for future land acquisition.
• Facility development to support reserve operations.

Meetings on the draft revised plan and to gather comments on behalf of DEQ are scheduled for Nov. 4 at the Donal C. O’Brien Jr.  Sanctuary and Audubon Center in Corolla, Nov. 5 in the NOAA Beaufort Lab auditorium on Pivers Island and Nov. 6 at the Center for Marine Science Auditorium at University of North Carolina Wilmington. All meetings begin at 5:30 p.m.

The federal register notice will be posted on the Federal Register website and written comments on the draft management plan can be sent to Stephanie Robinson, NOAA’s Office for Coastal Management, 2234 South Hobson Ave., Charleston, S.C. 29405 or at Steph.Robinson@noaa.gov.

Created in 1989, the program has preserved more than 44,000 acres of unique coastal environments at 10 sites along the coast, four of which make up the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve: Currituck Banks on the Outer Banks, Rachel Carson in Beaufort, and Masonboro Island and Zeke’s Island near Wilmington. The N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve is managed through a federal-state partnership between NOAA and the Division of Coastal Management.

For additional information, contact Reserve manager Rebecca Ellin at 252-838-0880.

BEAUFORT — It’s National Estuaries week, and Olde Beaufort Farmers’ Market is celebrating Saturday with a special Estuaries Day.

The market, which is open 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday under the live oaks on the grounds of Carteret County Courthouse on Turner Street, will welcome North Carolina Coastal Reserve, North Carolina Coastal Federation, University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences, town of Beaufort and Duke University Marine Lab to share with market goers the importance of estuaries.

“Market Fans! As September slides in with warm days, but cooler evenings, the green tail shrimp appear and the jumping mullets get ready to run down the beach. Both are signs of healthy estuaries. Let’s join together to learn and appreciate this most important resource,” the organization’s Facebook states.

National Estuaries Week is a nationwide celebration of our estuaries and the many benefits they provide to local communities, according to the website.

Each year, hundreds of organizations throughout the country host local events in celebration of National Estuaries Week, from beach cleanups and marsh restoration events, to kayaking tours.

ONSLOW COUNTY —  Volunteers can help celebrate National Estuaries Week this week with the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

Federation staff will train volunteers to monitor and maintain the oyster and salt marsh restoration projects 9 a.m.-noon Friday at the Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve. Volunteers should register online.

Monitoring oyster and salt marsh restoration helps the federation evaluate the progress of the project and report these findings to the permitting agencies and funding sources.

Participants can park on the side of the road to meet federation staff at Morris Landing on Stump Sound. Work will be taking place along the shoreline in varying conditions including wet, dry, sandy and muddy areas. Hot and humid temperature are expected, so please dress appropriately. Expect to get wet and dirty.

The oyster reefs and wetlands, along with other estuarine habitats, provide critical fish nursery areas, buffers from storms and improve water quality, provide economic resources and are often the focal point of many coastal communities, according to the federation.

No previous experience is needed to join in the work. Volunteers will be trained upon arrival to monitor salt marsh, which will include estimating how much and what kind of vegetation is growing in the restored area and using survey equipment to measure the shoreline profile changes, and oyster monitoring, which entails opening up shell bags from the reef, measuring and counting oysters and identifying other organisms.

All project supplies and equipment, as well as snacks and refreshments, will be provided. There are no restrooms at the site, but a port-a-potty will be available. This event is suitable for ages 12 and older.

Volunteers should wear closed-toe shoes such as sneakers but boots will be available for those who do not wear appropriate footwear, such as Chacos, Tevas, Crocs or flip-flops. Participants should also dress for the weather in clothes that can get wet and muddy, including bringing a hat and sunglasses, and bring a reusable water bottle, no single-use plastic bottles, and any necessary medication.

MOREHEAD CITY – Hans Paerl has a good idea of his perfect storm.

“If I had to choose what kind of storm I’d want, in terms of minimizing water quality impacts, just from what we’ve learned, you want a fast-moving storm with relatively little rain, get it over with fast, minimal impacts on the watershed,” he said.

After more than 20 years of studying the Neuse River estuary and Pamlico Sound, Paerl is well-qualified to characterize the relationship between hurricanes and coastal water quality. Paerl, professor of marine and environmental sciences at the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, and his colleagues have analyzed water samples, built models, deployed instruments and collected data via ferry to better understand the Neuse-Pamlico system.

In the meantime, the climate has been changing, with more frequent severe storms counted among potential consequences. As the baseline shifts, scientists are faced with the challenge of isolating the effects of hurricanes.

To that end, Paerl and other researchers performed a “comparison, of all these different properties, like salinity and nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton biomass, following storms compared to non-storm periods during the storm season, which was May through October,” said Nathan Hall, a research scientist at UNC IMS. “How does (storm activity) really stack up compared to the natural variability of weather in eastern North Carolina?”

The answer, recently published in Biogeochemistry, summarizes major trends that the researchers extracted from their troves of data. In general, they found that hurricanes swept organic matter through the Neuse River estuary, contributed to phytoplankton blooms, and even released carbon dioxide from the water into the atmosphere.

“There’s a lot of useful information there for management,” Paerl said, “but also I think for the public at large, just to know what the water quality and for the bigger-picture impacts are going to be, particularly with higher frequency (of storms).”

Hall agreed.

“The main effects of storms are wind, storm surge, and precipitation and the flooding associated with it,” Hall said. “So those are the three main things that affect the ecology or the people that live around the waterbody.”

Paerl explained that those features could vary among individual storms, with disparate environmental consequences.

“The individuality really matters a lot in terms of how much gets in (the estuary), nutrient-wise and carbon-wise, but also (in terms of) the subsequent impact on secondary effects, like algal blooms, low oxygen, fish kills,” Paerl said.

Organic Matter on the Move

As rain falls on land, it sweeps away all types of debris. “These large hurricane systems drastically alter how much organic matter is flushed from the watershed into the estuary and sound and represents a significant fraction of the annual carbon load,” said Alexandria Hounshell, a doctoral student at UNC.

Organic matter refers to plant or animal matter in varying stages of decay. Larger bits, like pieces of leaves or chunks of tree trunk, are classified as particulate organic carbon, or POC, whereas dissolved organic carbon, or DOC, has been broken down into pieces small enough to pass through a paper filter.

Hounshell said that satellite photos reveal the impact of organic matter delivery: The Neuse looks browner after storms. That’s also evident from analyzing post-hurricane water samples, which have higher concentrations of DOC.

“We get floods without tropical cyclones, but we get big floods with tropical cyclones that really put a lot of water out onto areas that don’t normally get wet, and that changes things like how much DOC is going to be delivered,” Hall said.

The researchers use the ratio of carbon to nitrogen in organic matter to confirm that it came from land, as opposed to originating in the estuary.

Under normal circumstances, microbes in the Neuse can break down some DOC before it reaches Pamlico Sound, but that’s not always the case.

“For example, following Hurricane Matthew we found that the vast majority of the huge influx of DOC to the Neuse from the river water was simply passed right along to the Pamlico Sound with little degradation,” Hounshell said.

She explained that more frequent extreme weather events could result in repeated deliveries of DOC to Pamlico Sound. That could lead to murkier water in the sound’s fish habitat.

According to Paerl, strategies such as no-till agriculture or riparian buffers could temper DOC loadings. Such practices could help by “keeping things on the land as much as possible and allowing processes that deal with nutrients and carbon to occur in the soils and in the watershed as opposed to in estuarine and coastal systems,” he said.

Phytoplankton in Living Color

In addition to organic matter, stormwater washes nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus into estuaries. Nutrients can fuel the growth of phytoplankton, which can become problematic in high concentrations.

Whereas one can walk through a forest and identify plants by sight, it’s generally not possible to know which phytoplankton are present in a water sample at a glance. Karen Rossignol, a research technician at UNC IMS, uses a technique known as high-performance liquid chromatography, or HPLC, to describe phytoplankton.

Rossignol processes water samples to extract pigments from phytoplankton. Pigments like chlorophyll a give plants distinctive colors. “Each pigment has a very signature spectrum to it of what light’s absorbed and reflected, and from that I can identify what pigments are present,” she said.

Rossignol explained that some pigments are more likely associated with certain types of phytoplankton. She can use that information to understand trends in phytoplankton presence and abundance in the estuaries.

At least, that’s the way it works in theory. “The Neuse is a very, very complicated system,” Rossignol said. “There are a lot of different algae, and some of them have the same pigments.” She cautions that, especially over a long period, “it is difficult to say just one thing about all the pigments in general, except for the fact that it is very complicated and very involved and very variable.”

Disclaimers aside, Rossignol has managed to find some signals in the noise. “You’ll see some of these pretty persistent dinoflagellate blooms that occur, and they last sometimes for many, many months and over large sections of the estuary,” she said. Dinoflagellates have been in the news recently as the cause of Florida’s persistent red tide.

Blooms have also been documented during non-storm conditions, and Rossignol pointed out that the frequency of dinoflagellate blooms has increased over the past 10 years. The pigment records also reveal the impacts of specific storms, such as a spike in a pigment associated with cyanobacteria after Hurricane Joaquin.

“I’m hoping, with funding, that we can continue working on this and also continue to better give recommendations on how we can help these systems recover from eutrophication and from nutrient input,” Rossignol said.

Excuse You, Estuary

This study also expanded on the idea that estuaries may be sources of carbon dioxide, or CO₂ after storms.

“These coastal ecosystems can accumulate a lot of carbon over time, but they can lose it even faster,” said Joey Crosswell, a biogeochemist for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, or CSIRO, Oceans and Atmosphere who contributed to the research as a doctoral student at UNC. “(Major storms) stir up an otherwise stable carbon reservoir, like coastal sediments, which leads to a large release, or ‘burp,’ of CO₂ to the atmosphere.”

In the face of climate change, scientists have been working to identify global sources of carbon dioxide. It could be important for them to include storm-induced burps from estuaries on that list, especially if hurricanes become more frequent.

Whether storms rush in with pounding rains or driving winds, they have the potential to release carbon dioxide. Windy hurricanes can churn up the estuary, ventilating carbon dioxide accumulated in water near the bottom, explained Bryce Van Dam, a postdoctoral researcher at Florida International University who recently completed his doctoral studies at UNC.

“In addition to that, you have resuspension of sediments because (if) there’s enough wind energy, it whips up waves that are big enough to mix up sediments from the bottom, and all the CO₂ that was dissolved in porewater is then also released to the atmosphere,” Van Dam said. Porewater refers to the tiny volumes of water trapped in the spaces between sediment particles.

Hurricanes may also bring unusual amounts of rain to upland habitats like forests or wetlands. As the water seeps into the ground, it picks up porewater that had been trapped in the soil, accumulating carbon dioxide respired by roots and microbes. “And that high CO₂ water then gets flushed into rivers and down into receiving estuaries during flooding events following wet storms,” Van Dam said.

There are still some unresolved questions, such as resolving the physics of sediment movement, but the wealth of data has allowed the researchers to confidently sketch out the estuarine carbon cycle.

“The long-term dataset in the Neuse-Pamlico is one of the most comprehensive for any estuary in the world,” Crosswell said. “After six years of CO₂ surveys, we also now have one of the best resolved datasets for estuarine CO₂ fluxes. Coordination of intensive, targeted field work and long-term monitoring is a powerful research tool. This allowed us to identify the major drivers of coastal carbon cycling, and then put these in a broader context by looking at these same drivers in the long-term dataset.”

Overall, the study demonstrates the value of routine monitoring that captures unpredictable events.

“Without having that monitoring in place, you would not be able to assess natural or man-imposed impacts or changes in these systems,” Paerl said.

In its own way, the work may also be a perfect storm – a detailed and methodical snapshot that helps explain a habitat on the verge of change.

BEAUFORT — Groups have organized cleanups in the waterfront town on foot, bike and boat Sept. 22 in celebration of National Estuaries Day and National Public Lands Day.

In addition to picking up trash, volunteers are to help collect data on debris collected for the International Coastal Cleanup. The information gathered can help with debris management and education.

Volunteers on foot are to meet at 10 a.m. to cleanup a nearby marsh location in downtown. Cleanup supplies are to be provided. Registration is required.

Volunteers on bicycle are to focus their efforts starting at 10 a.m. along Front Street. Meet at Grayden Paul Park, across from Beaufort Town Hall. No registration is needed to participate in this cleanup.

There is also the opportunity to cleanup by boat the Rachel Carson Reserve. Cleanup supplies and boat transportation will be provided. Registration is required for this cleanup.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Coastal Reserve and Outsiders Bicycle Club have partnered to clean up the waterfront town.

Organizers suggest wearing weather-appropriate clothing that may get wet and dirty and bring work gloves. Closed-toe shoes are required. Trash-collection supplies, snacks, water, sunscreen and bug spray are to be provided. This event is weather dependent.

Dozens of organizations throughout the country celebrate National Estuaries Week by hosting events including beach cleanups, marsh restoration events and kayaking tours, according to the National Estuaries Day website. Found where river and ocean meet, estuaries have distinctive plants and wildlife that thrive in the mix of fresh water draining from the land and saltwater from the ocean, also called brackish water.

For more information, contact Paula Gillikin, Rachel Carson Reserve site manager, at paula.gillikin@ncdenr.gov or 252-838-0886 or Rachel Bisesi, coastal education coordinator with the Coastal Federation, at 252-393-8185 or rachelb@nccoast.org.

NORTH CAROLINA COAST — Have an eye for nature photography?

If you have any images from the four National Reserve Sites in the state, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office for Coastal Management wants you to submit your work to its third annual photo contest that is part of recognizing National Estuaries Week, Sept. 15- 22.

Estuaries are where rivers meet the sea, creating brackish, or partly salt, waters and provide a safe and protective nursery for small fish, shellfish, migrating birds and coastal shore animals, according to the coastal management website.

Photos can feature education, research, recreation, beauty and photos of folks smiling at  Currituck Banks Reserve, Rachel Carson Reserve, Masonboro Island Reserve or Zeke’s Island Reserve national estuarine research reserves plus the about two dozen more coastal sites in the United States.

NOAA Office for Coastal Management is hosting its third annual photo contest of images from a national estuarine research reserve. Photo submission deadline is Aug. 31.

These photos can feature education, research, recreation, beauty and photos of folks smiling in the reserve, which is new category this year, within the reserve.

Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges and will be featured in our social media campaign during National Estuaries Week.

To enter, submit no more than 10 photos, a minimum than 1200 pixels wide but bigger is prefered, to CM.NERRS.PhotoContest@noaa.gov. Submit photos under the categories “Learn,” “Work,” “Play,” “View” and “Smiles.”

All images must include the photographer’s name, a short description of when and in which national estuarine research reserve the photo was taken, and what is shown in the photo. The National Estuarine Research Reserve System is a network of 29 coastal sites designated to protect and study estuarine systems. Established through the Coastal Zone Management Act, the reserves represent a partnership program between NOAA and the coastal states.

During National Estuaries Week in September, reserves will host events throughout the week to build awareness of the important benefits provided by estuaries. Visit the National Estuaries Week website to find out more about scheduled activities.

Learn More

• Contest details, including additional rules

Researchers using a new forecasting tool say lower than normal levels of dissolved oxygen are likely this summer in the Neuse River estuary, creating conditions favorable for fish kills, according to North Carolina Sea Grant.

A team that includes researchers from North Carolina State University and University of North Carolina Chapel Hill has developed an experimental model to study the condition known as severe hypoxia, or oxygen deficiency, which can lead to problems that include fish kills.

The model shows water quality drivers in the ecosystem and has allowed researchers to forecast dissolved oxygen levels based on nutrient loads and flows over the last nine months, explained the lead researcher on the project, Daniel Obenour of N.C. State.

Through a project funded by North Carolina Sea Grant, Obenour, an environmental engineer, is collaborating with coastal ecologist Hans Paerl of the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences.

The new model builds on decades of data Paerl’s laboratory has collected through the Neuse River Estuary Modeling and Monitoring Project, known as ModMon, the release continued. That larger project has collected data along the estuarine portion of the river, between New Bern and the Pamlico Sound. The Neuse River’s headwaters, including Falls Lake, are located in the Triangle.

The model generates daily predictions of dissolved oxygen in the estuary’s bottom waters, the lowest 3 feet. While hypoxia can occur from spring through fall, July and August tend to be the most severe months for hypoxia and fish kills. Thus, predictions of July to August 2018 dissolved oxygen were aggregated to create this forecast. Average flow rates from December 2017 to April 2018 were 30 percent lower compared to mean flow rates over the two-decade study period.

Obenour and Paerl reviewed data from eight monitoring locations, which overall reflected the upper, middle and lower sections of the estuary.

The new model’s results suggest that a lower river-water flow rate in winter and early spring allows organic matter to build up in the estuary, instead of flushing out as usual. Because of high levels of precipitation in the spring of 2018, late spring and summer river flows are elevated by about 60 percent, compared to the mean over the past two decades. Higher flows typically carry higher nutrient loads through the estuary, which fuel algal production.

Obenour and Paerl anticipate another year of testing before their hypoxia forecasting model will be finalized. They stress that it is still experimental, even as it predicts a higher likelihood of severe hypoxia in the Neuse for July and August.

Paerl said in a statement that the experimental forecast is already beginning to be confirmed in the trend for conditions observed so far in July, and that the long-term value of the model is it will help predict the extent of hypoxia in future years.

Learn More

• Forecasting Hypoxia, Algal Blooms for the Neuse River Estuary
• Investigating Nitrogen Loading Trends in the Neuse River Basin

Against a backdrop of mutual challenges in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary from climate change and budget shortfalls, an updated partnership between Virginia and North Carolina is starting to flex its collaborative muscle with important border-blind issues: wetlands, algal blooms and fish travel.

The memorandum of understanding, or MOU, that was signed Nov. 1 by representatives of environmental agencies in both states will make it easier for sharing of information and resources in management of the second largest estuary in the continental United States.

“This provides authorization for us to work cooperatively with our governmental counterparts across state lines,” said Bill Crowell, director of the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, the federal-state program that facilitated development of the agreement. “It’s going to benefit all of us.”

The program, founded in 1987, encompasses the Neuse, Tar-Pamlico, Pasquotank, Chowan, lower Roanoke and portions of the White Oak river basins, a total of 3,000 square miles of open water. Water from 43 counties in North Carolina and 38 counties and cities in Virginia drain into the 31,500 square miles of total watershed area.

Crowell said that previous attempts to update a similar MOU from 2001 were thwarted by the states’ changing politics and agencies. But in light of new administrations in Virginia and North Carolina, he said, it was decided last spring to give an update another shot.

“One of the points of that,” he said, “is to make it consistent with governmental structures so that everybody knows their role.”

A significant difference in the current MOU is that it is more focused, and it requires staff to follow-up on progress with an annual review, said Kirk Havens, chair of the partnership’s leadership council.

“I think that’s a really important part of it,” said Havens, the assistant director of the Coastal Watersheds Program at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “It actually designates personnel to be part of the evaluation of the implementation.”

One of the first projects launched under the new agreement, he said, is a comprehensive combined wetlands inventory for the two states’ watersheds. Working off of existing GIS (geographic information system) maps from the National Wetlands Inventory, new maps will be created that show the totality of each wetland, irrespective of the state borders. Pertinent data on details such as submerged aquatic vegetation or invasive species could also be layered on the maps

“You look at them from the North Carolina side, and the Virginia side but we want to look at them from a watershed component combining GIS in a complement that’s shared,” Havens said.

Havens said he expects the new maps will be ready to be utilized by APNEP’s Wetlands Resource Monitoring and Assessment Team in a few months.

Considering that air and water, not to mention animals and plants, pay no attention to boundary lines, the partnership sees a lot to be gained overall in having a more holistic management option in the vast estuary.

For instance, in the Chowan River basin alone, it has been plagued in recent years by invasive hydrilla, an aquatic weed; blue catfish, a voracious non-native fish; and algal bloom, potentially toxic overgrowth of algae – all that threaten waters in both states.

The bi-state approach fostered by the new agreement is not reinventing the wheel, but instead is incorporating existing data sets and planning strategies, Crowell said. Now they can be more readily shared and coordinated. A lot of the communication will be done electronically, although there will also be meetings held in different locations throughout Virginia and North Carolina.

It won’t equal the star power of the Chesapeake Bay multi-state consortium, but it may help the Albemarle-Pamlico to gain more of the attention from the Chesapeake – the largest estuary.

Funding is not provided in the MOU, Crowell said, but the agreement can make is easier for states to co-apply for grants and share costs of a project.

Increasing impacts from sea level rise and climate change have exacerbated the ongoing stresses to the ecosystems. Still, saltwater intrusion, flooding, erosion and loss of habitat, among other related issues, have been on environmental management radar screens in the region for many years.

“That just adds to the problem rather than being a separate problem,” Crowell said of climate change.

Efforts have already been coordinated between state environmental agencies to coordinate data sharing in the Chowan and Pasquotank river basins.

On the North Carolina side of the Chowan basin, algal blooms that have persisted for several years are still not understood, and the partnership is hopeful that agreement will help both states to work to identify the cause.

“We’ve been doing cross-border things for years,” Crowell said. “Most of what we do is supportive of our partners mission.”

Other projects the partnership plans to tackle in coming months include work to address fish passage and spawning habitat issues, nutrient pollution from drainage and invasive aquatic grasses and fish. The agreement is also expected to improve communication and coordination with the Roanoke Bi-State Commission.

“I think it’s timely and we want it to be something that’s meaningful and shows consistent results,” Havens said. “A lot of this is trying to improve the quality of life and natural resources for those citizens living by those waterways.”

The agreement also expands the access to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which is Region 4 in North Carolina and Region 3 in Virginia, and expands contacts with non-governmental groups in both states.

“At the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, we see if we’re having better relationships with our northern neighbor, then that can only help us fulfill our mission with all our partners,” Crowell said. “It’s important that we actually do something under this MOU. I think we’ve started getting the conversations going.”

Learn More

• About the partnership

BEAUFORT – The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management’s Coastal Reserve is set to host a National Estuaries Day event Saturday in partnership with the North Carolina Maritime Museum.

This free, educational event is scheduled for 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. outside the museum at 315 Front St. Educators and scientists are to be on hand to present information and activities about coastal science and the importance of estuaries.

Exhibitors will include the following:

• North Carolina Sea Grant.
• Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership.
• North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST.
• University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences.
• Duke University Marine Lab.
• Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center.
• Cape Lookout National Seashore.

Learn More

• North Carolina Coastal Reserve

Last of two parts

BEAUFORT– As more people move toward the coast, estuaries are increasingly under stress. If not correctly managed, North Carolina’s estuaries may see the same fate as other overwhelmed estuarine systems in the country.

The Chesapeake Bay, for example, was once a thriving estuary with unmatched oyster harvesting. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, numbers have fallen to less than 1 percent of historic populations because of overfishing, poor water quality, habitat degradation and disease.

North Carolina is home to the country’s second-largest estuarine system behind the Chesapeake Bay, the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary. As with the Chesapeake Bay, national and state agencies have both worked to protect the resources and livelihoods the areas provide. Despite these efforts, over the years both areas have lost habitats, suffered from poor quality and seen increasing development nearby. Restoration efforts in both states are now focused on improving water quality and growing the oyster economy.

This week is National Estuaries Week, as designated by the nonprofit group, Restore America’s Estuaries. In this second installment of a two-part special report, we will look at the types of threats North Carolina’s estuaries face and what their futures may look like.

Coastal Living

In 2010, NOAA reported that about 40 percent of the United States’ population lived directly on a shoreline. This percentage is projected to increase, along with the risks estuaries face. North Carolina also has the fourth most beach visits in the country, adding more pressure to its coastal region.

Joel Fodrie, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, said coastal development presents estuaries with many different challenges at one time.

“Those local impacts, because they happen everywhere, those may be the real dangers,” Fodrie said.

Boating, as one example, can result in cumulative deterioration as thousands of vessels transit estuaries annually, disrupting ecosystems, Fodrie said. Construction of bridges and causeways can also add pressure to the various habitats in estuaries, including oyster reefs, mud flats and sea grass beds.

Lexia Weaver, a coastal scientist at the North Carolina Coastal Federation, said waterfront property owners who install bulkheads and seawalls are among the biggest offenders. The hardened shorelines cause the salt marshes along properties to disappear.

“Whenever they put a bulkhead in, it takes away all of that habitat in front of it,” Weaver said.

Stormwater runoff from development also affects estuaries.

After heavy rainfalls, chemicals, sediment and bacteria are carried by stormwater into estuarine systems. The Division of Marine Fisheries will temporarily close waters to oyster fishing and clamming if bacterial concentrations are high enough to keep consumers from eating contaminated shellfish. During these closures, it is unlawful to take or sell oysters, clams and mussels from the polluted areas.

Just this week, heavy rainfall and runoff associated with Tropical Storm Julia caused the division to close waters in Carteret, Craven and Pamlico counties, and continue closures of waters in five other coastal counties.

Continued coastal development can make this problem worse as roads and other impermeable surfaces prevent stormwater from filtering through soil naturally.

Pollution carried by stormwater has also affected the Chesapeake Bay. The bay has some of the most documented cases of dead zones, or low-oxygen waters, in the country. In July, an update from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources showed that 20 percent of the Chesapeake Bay suffered from dead zones. These areas can develop when runoff mixes fertilizers and other nutrients into the water, promoting algae growth. Algal blooms then draw oxygen out of the water, often leading to fish kills.

Both the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds are at heightened risk of low-oxygen waters because of their proximity to North Carolina’s industrial farming areas.

Poor water quality also puts the state’s commercial fishing economy at risk by disrupting habitats like sea grasses. Commercially important species of flounder, black bass and blue crab rely on North Carolina’s sea grasses for part or all of their life cycles.

Disease is another threat to estuarine habitats. In the Chesapeake Bay, disease and overfishing nearly wiped out once-thriving oyster populations. It is estimated there used to be enough oysters to filter the entire bay in a single week, but now it could take the remaining populations a year to do the same work.

The same trend of decline is visible in North Carolina’s oyster reefs, which were once rich fisheries. According to the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s 2015 State of the Oyster report, oyster harvests have declined 15-20 percent since 1889. The culprit is dermo, a disease that kills oysters before they reach a certain size.

Anne Deaton of the Division of Marine Fisheries habitat-assessment program said that there has been a historic loss of oysters, causing the fishery’s status to be “concern” because of disease, poor water quality and habitat loss.

“We’ve improved the regulations,” Deaton said, “but they just haven’t come back to what they used to be.”

Climate Change

Fodrie said the threat of climate change is not as immediate as development along the coast. Species, he said, have for the most part experienced climate changes over geological time and may be able to adapt.

“In the historical record from 15,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago, they basically averaged a meter rise every century, so the animals and plants in the estuaries have seen that before,” Fodrie said. “They can handle that in a vacuum.”

Fodrie said the more interesting question is how estuaries will adapt to climate change while also dealing with humans.

“The new player is going to be us,” he said, “and so it’ll really be how we respond, how adamant we are to tow the line or how easily we are able to retreat away from a moving seashore. The plants and animals will be responding to us and to that change.”

Estuaries may be able to adapt to human-induced climate change if other, local threats are well managed.

“They’re certainly resilient as long as we don’t screw up too badly,” he said.

The Future of North Carolina’s Estuaries

If the future of North Carolina’s estuaries looks anything like the Chesapeake Bay, it is concerning. However, Fodrie said it’s difficult to predict what the future will look like for the state’s estuaries.

Restore America’s Estuaries, a nonprofit that works to protect the country’s estuarine systems, said on its website that as individuals, people can help protect the future of estuaries by recycling and minimizing vehicle emissions.

Weaver is optimistic about the future of the state’s estuaries. She said North Carolina is doing more than other parts of the country to protect its estuarine systems.

“I think here in North Carolina, because of all the efforts that are happening with respect to oysters and living shorelines and all the research that’s going on because all the marine labs are here, that its promising,” she said.

Funding and grants aimed at improving and restoring the state’s estuaries and fish habitats are also available, Weaver said. The federation uses this type of funding to restore living shorelines, salt marshes and oyster reefs.

It is difficult to know how the continued effects of human encroachment and rising sea levels will change estuaries and the organisms that will rely on them.

Estuaries’ blessing is also their curse. The calm, productive waters inspire people to protect them, while also fishing, recreating and living near them.

“The challenge,” Fodrie said, “is to make sure we don’t love the estuaries to death.”

To Learn More

• Restore America’s Estuaries
• North Carolina Coastal Federation

Read Part One

First of two parts

BEAUFORT — The products of North Carolina’s estuaries are found on dinner plates up and down the East Coast. Peek into a restaurant in New York, and you may see a blue crab that once lived in the sea grasses of Bogue Sound. Stroll into an oyster bar in South Carolina, and you may dine on oysters harvested from Pamlico Sound. Many of the creatures that make up North Carolina’s fishing industry at some point in their lives, depend on the humble, shallow waters of an estuary — waters that are facing increasing pressures from human activities.

This week is National Estuaries Week, as designated by the nonprofit group, Restore America’s Estuaries. In this two-part series that begins today, we will explore what estuaries are, the role they play in the state’s economy and environment, the problems they face and their future.

Danielle Keller, a doctoral candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, studies these unique areas. On a cool summer morning, she’s releasing flounder into the estuarine waters near the Rachel Carson Reserve, across Taylors Creek from the Beaufort waterfront.

As she tosses in the first flounder, Keller points out a small, red surgical spot on the juvenile fish. She explains she’s implanted tracking devices in 20 flounders and 20 gag groupers, and will follow their movements as they travel through the estuary.  She is hoping to understand what changes in estuarine sea grass habitats, which are influenced by water quality and climate change, will have on local fish populations.

Studying these waters, she said, is important, because our health is linked with the health of estuaries.

“Everyone is in some way connected to the ocean,” Keller said.

What are estuaries?

Estuaries are shallow, partially enclosed areas usually found in sounds, inlets or bays. The freshwater flowing to the sea from inland rivers mixes here with the salty ocean, creating brackish waters. Their shallow nature creates the ideal environment for marine grasses and plants that can easily capture sunlight. On this day, the deepest waters Keller wades in only reach her chest.

One of the nation’s largest estuarine systems is found here in North Carolina in the Albemarle-Pamlico region that includes Core, Croatan, Back, Bogue, Currituck and Roanoke sounds.

There are probably few places on earth as productive and mysterious as estuaries. On any given day, these shallow, productive areas appear calm and quiet. However, below the water’s surface, estuarine systems are teeming with organisms ranging from worms, rays, baby fish and shrimp. Species including red drum, black sea bass and stone crabs rely on the habitats within estuaries.

According to the Fish and Wildlife Service, about 90 percent of commercially important fish in North Carolina live in estuarine habitats, such as mud flats, salt marshes and the water column itself, at some point in their lives.

“Every parcel of water, every acre of habitat out there is valuable to some species,” said Joel Fodrie, a professor at the institute who studies estuaries and is also Keller’s faculty adviser.

North Carolina’s estuaries

North Carolina’s estuaries are particularly notable due to their size and biodiversity.

Fodrie said warm water coming up from the Gulf Stream mixes here with the colder waters of the Labrador Current to create a unique environment. The result of this is a variety of species, including the sea grass Keller studies.

Eel grass, a northern species that likes cooler waters, has its southernmost range in North Carolina, and shoal grass, a southern species that prefers warmer waters, has its northernmost range here, too.

Keller is observing to see if animals use the two grasses differently, and if any shift in the grasses’ ranges would affect the animals. This is especially concerning as the range of eel grass may pull out of North Carolina as waters warm because of climate change.

That’s not the only reason why the state’s estuaries are unique.

North Carolina has more sea grass than all other East Coast states, except Florida, combined. It is also home to the Albemarle-Pamilco estuary, which is the second-largest system in the lower 48 states. The area is one of the only remaining places the endangered Atlantic sturgeon still goes to breed annually.

“North Carolina is just replete with resources and issues to consider our role, the role of estuaries, and our balance with estuaries,” Fodrie said.

Congress in 1987 established the National Estuary Program as an amendment to the Clean Water Act after the importance of estuaries was realized. The non-regulatory program created 28 regional organizations across the country. In North Carolina, the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, or APNEP, was created to research, restore and protect the area.

In addition, the North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve was created through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state to protect more than 10,500 acres across four sites in Currituck Banks, Rachel Carson Reserve, Masonboro Island and Zeke’s Island.

The North Carolina Coastal Reserve, managed by the state’s Division of Coastal Management, protects six more sites, including Bird Island in Brunswick County and Permuda Island in Pender County.

What do estuaries provide?

Summing up the importance of estuaries is not an easy task. They provide a variety of “ecosystem services,” according to Keller, or resources important to both humans and wildlife. Fodrie said their role is extensive, from nutrient cycling to fish production to wave-energy absorption.

The list goes on.

One of the most important services estuaries provide, in terms of the state’s economy, is as a nursery to marine life, promoting the state’s $1 billion fishing industry.

“All the birds that you enjoy looking at when you’re on your boat, all of the fish and crabs,” Keller said, “all of them really grow up in the estuaries.”

The fish Keller studies, gag grouper and flounder, are born in estuaries and take refuge amongst the sea grasses and gentle waters. Keller says one reason for estuaries’ popularity with wildlife is because the area is full of the nutrition larger organisms need to survive, including phytoplankton.

“There’s a lot of food at the bottom of the food chain that other baby fish and crabs can consume,” Keller said.

She added that estuaries are just as productive as rainforests with a variety of habitats and species that call them home. The waters are so nutrient-rich that taking pictures underwater is virtually impossible during Keller’s day of field work, with green phytoplankton creating murky waters.

“People don’t realize that because they don’t see it, essentially because it’s all underwater,” Keller said. “But, estuaries have so many different habitats and provide homes for so many different organisms.”

Habitats like oyster beds and sea grasses filter the water, keeping it clean and fresh for humans and marine life. An oyster can filter water at a rate of up to 50 gallons per day. The areas, along with salt marshes, also buffer storm surges and stabilize shorelines as the spiky beds absorb wave energy.

Estuaries also serve in the frontlines against climate change.

Ian Kroll, another doctoral student at the institute who joined Keller on the water, said estuaries are also known to store carbon. The plants that call estuaries home photosynthesize, meaning they absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Over time, these plants die and are covered by sands, along with the carbon they absorbed.

“Instead of coming back to the atmosphere,” Kroll said. “It floats to the bottom of the ocean, deposits there and builds up.”

Fodrie said the unique nature of estuaries is what makes them special.

“Estuaries are just tremendously important both because people are living right around the edge of estuaries,” he said, “but also because they’re pretty dynamic given their nature and the interface between and land and sea.”

To Learn More

• Restore America’s Estuaries
• Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership

Wednesday: Threats facing our estuaries

Estuaries like this one along the White Oak River in Carteret County give North Carolina the second-largest estuarine system in the country. Photo: Bill Meserve

By Christine Miller

OCEAN — Here at the N.C. Coastal Federation, we may be gearing up today with chocolate and flowers for Valentine’s Day for that special someone, but we know it’s what you do over the long haul that really shows love. And we love estuaries, long time. One might even say we ‘heart’ them, because we’re told that’s what the kids are saying these days.

Here’s why.

North Carolina’s estuary system is the second largest in the nation (and let’s face it, size matters). More than that, it is unmatched in its generally pristine state — far more than other US estuaries, we have something worth protecting. It’s not broken, at least not badly, and we want to keep it that way. You can help—keep reading.

This magical zone where fresh water and salt water meet is where fish and crustaceans find love, too. All the critters we love to eat—shrimp, fish, crabs, oysters—they come here to meet and mate and provide us with delicious meals. Salt marshes and other shallow estuarine areas serve as nursery areas for 90 percent of saltwater fish and shellfish in North Carolina. If you like to fish or crab or shrimp, you, too, heart estuaries.

Blue crabs are just one of the many animals that depend on estuaries.

And they’re gorgeous. Call us shallow, but one look at a sunset over the marsh, or a glimpse of the wild horses of Shackleford Banks, and we’re goners. Paddling through the marsh, surrounded by birds and the occasional dolphin is relaxing and brings peace. What’s not to love?

Showing our love means protecting these special places. That takes time and it takes money. With all that’s going on in Washington, it looks as though the programs that help us take care of our estuaries might slip through the cracks and disappear. We need to stand up for our love and make sure that legislators know how much we love our estuaries, what they mean to us, and that they deserve support.

To do this, several groups, including Restore America’s Estuaries, of which we’re a part, have started the “i heart estuaries” campaign. We need to let leadership in Washington know that we love NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program, USFWS Coastal Program, NOAA National Estuarine Research Reserve System, and EPA’s National Estuary Program. And that we want them to love them, as well.

Tell our leaders that love is in the air for these programs; here are the links to do it:

• The White House
• U.S. Department of Commerce
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
• N.C. delegation

Share the love on Facebook or Twitter.

Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone. You look particularly lovely today.