North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality staff are in the process of updating the state’s long-term strategy to protect coastal habitat, a necessity for a sustainable seafood industry.

According to the strategy called the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, the need for a coastwide habitat plan came about in the 1990s because of growing concerns about fish populations, declining coastal habitats, and deteriorating water quality.

The CHPP was mandated by the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, and the first plan was adopted in 2004 by the Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management and Coastal Resources commissions. The document, which was designed to “achieve the long-term enhancement of coastal fisheries by identifying, protecting, restoring, and enhancing critical fish habitats,” and is updated every five years.

CHPP is to provide “information on the habitats’ distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitats, and includes recommendations to address threats,” according to DEQ’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

The Division of Marine Fisheries staff that make up the CHPP team, with guidance from a steering committee, have been working on the 2026 update. Charlie Deaton, habitat protection supervisor with the division, presented an status update to the Environmental Management Commission during the July 9 meeting in Raleigh.

He said the staff are drafting issue papers for the 2026 update that are broadly organized under three different themes: ecosystem-based management for coastal habitats, seagrass protection and restoration, and planning for multi-decadal wetland change, all of which build on previous editions of the CHPP.

The outlines of these papers are to be presented to the steering committee by web conference 1-3 p.m. Wednesday, the division announced July 15. The full agenda and link to the meeting are on the NCDEQ website.

Deaton said that the last full rewrite of the plan was in 2016. New issue papers were added to the 2016 CHPP as the 2021 update, and “we are continuing efforts on these issue papers and introducing a few more with this edition of the CHPP.”

Deaton reminded members that the 2021 CHPP prioritized submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, protection and restoration through water quality improvements. The chapter on seagrasses “had 13 different recommended actions, but the big one that this commission has heard the most about is the recommended water clarity standard to ensure that adequate light penetration allows for seagrass growth.”

According to that document, seagrasses are “critical for healthy fisheries, such as shrimp, blue crab, red drum, and flounder and provides valuable ecosystem functions.” The state has one of the largest seagrass habitats on the East Coast, but water quality impairment coupled with climate change stressors can limit their growth, reproduction, and distribution.

The chapter for the 2026 update on seagrasses will use data from the Albemarle Pamlico National Estuary Partnership’s recent findings on seagrass decline. APNEP, a partnership of NCDEQ and the Environmental Protection Agency, has been fundamental in CHPP development in some capacity since its inception.

From 2006 to 2020, the state’s estuaries continue to lose more than 1% per year of its seagrass extent, which “might not sound like a lot, but that’s 15% in the time period. And if you look 30 years into the future, that’s another 35% that we would be losing if we continue at this rate. So, it’s a concerning rate of loss,” Deaton said. “We’ve lost 50% of our continuous seagrass meadows, and the losses have been most notable at the deep edge of the seagrass beds. So that implies a connection to water quality and decreased water clarity, light not penetrating deep enough.”

This new seagrass chapter is to build on the 2021 CHPP’s proposal to develop a water clarity standard, which was referred to the Environmental Management Commission’s water quality committee where it’s on hold. 

Turbidity “remains the biggest threat we see to seagrasses, and so it’s something we really want to get some action on,” Deaton said. Staff are also going to work on a permitting framework for active seagrass restoration projects, which could be planting seeds or transplanting seagrasses in areas that no longer have seagrass but should still have the conditions to support it.

The paper is also to explore habitat protections under the Marine Fisheries Commission authority. The commission considered restrictions for shrimp trawling in 2023 but decided against those. Instead, staff was asked to look into what that rulemaking might look like.

For the ecosystem-based management chapter, Deaton said that staff are reviewing how the Division of Marine Fisheries uses mapping and monitoring data to guide species management work. Staff will determine goals and targets on how to better integrate the research, as well as create indicators with data from the North Carolina Collaboratory’s study on 25 years of the Fisheries Reform Act.

“The other half of the ecosystem-based management chapter is advancing strategic habitat areas,” Deaton said, that were identified in the first edition of the CHPP as a priority. “These are areas that are defined as high quality, connected habitats that were identified to protect biodiversity and ecological function through a nonregulatory approach.”

The “Planning for wetland change” chapter concentrates on laying the groundwork for thin-layer placement. Other states are exploring this method to accent natural sediment accumulation by taking dredged material and placing it directly on the marsh in a layer of 6 to 18 inches.

North Carolina doesn’t have a permit for the process, meaning any applications for thin-layer placement must be approved through the Coastal Resources Commission’s variance process for rule exceptions.

“We have a couple projects in the hopper right now that may reach the variance process in the coming year or two and seeing those as potential pilot projects. If they show promise, this is something we could explore to make a little easier to for restoration practitioners to implement,” Deaton said.

“The other half of the sea level rise and coastal wetlands picture is marsh migration,” he said.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has announced opening dates for the 2026 commercial flounder season in internal coastal and joint fishing waters.

Opening dates for pound net management areas are as follows:

• Tuesday, Sept. 15 in waters north of Pamlico Sound.
• Wednesday, Sept. 30 in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries.
• Wednesday, Sept. 30 in waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line.

Trip limits will not apply to pound net management areas.

The opening date for commercial fishers who use mobile gears, which are all gears other than pound nets, is Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Mobile gear management areas are split between the northern coast and the southern coast. The northern management area runs from waters south of the North Carolina/Virginia border to a line in Core Sound that runs approximately from the Club House on Core Banks west to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker 1. The southern management area extends from waters from the line in Core Sound described above the south to the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

For large-mesh gill nets, waters in both of those management areas will open for the harvest of flounder one day per week beginning Sept. 30 and every Wednesday thereafter while the quota remains available. Nets may be set no sooner than one hour before sunset on the prior Tuesday.

Waters for all other mobile gears will open seven days a week beginning on Sept. 30 in both the northern and southern management areas.

Division officials will announce closings by proclamation as necessary during the season. Harvesting periods for each management area and gear category will close “when the allowable landings are approached to maintain harvest within the landings sub-allocation,” according to division officials.

The size limit for flounder is 15 inches total length. Commercial flounder landings, including fish kept for personal consumption, must be reported on a trip ticket through a licensed fish dealer, who must report landings daily to the division.

These management measures follow requirements under Amendment 4 to the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan. Additional information will be available in a forthcoming proclamation.

From N.C. State University

North Carolina State University and Carteret Community College have signed a new agreement designed to create a streamlined transfer pathway for students seeking to earn bachelor’s degrees in fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology. 

Under the agreement, students enrolled in Carteret’s transfer-track Associate in Applied Science in Aquaculture Technology program will be eligible to transfer into NC State’s Bachelor of Science in Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology program. 

Carteret students who complete the transfer-track associate degree with a 3.0 GPA or higher — and meet all other university admission requirements — will be admitted to the fisheries science concentration of NC State’s fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program. 

Erin Sills, head of the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State, said the partnership reflects a shared commitment to expanding educational opportunities and preparing the next generation of professionals in natural resource conservation.

“Through our partnership with Carteret, students will graduate with valuable hands-on experience in aquaculture paired with a four-year education at a world-class research institution,” Sills said. “This combination of practical experience and advanced study will equip students with the skills needed to address the complex challenges of managing and conserving fisheries and other natural resources.”

Tracy Mancini, president of Carteret Community College, added that the partnership builds on Carteret’s strengths in aquaculture education while creating new opportunities for students to continue their academic and professional journeys.

“We are delighted to form this meaningful partnership with NC State,” Mancini said. “The articulation agreement will allow our highly skilled and qualified students to complete an undergraduate degree that might bring them back to Carteret County’s rich marine sciences landscape.”

Mancini added that the partnership also builds on the strong marine sciences presence already established in Carteret County. With the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology on Carteret’s campus and established partnerships with CMAST faculty and NC Sea Grant staff, the agreement “promises to have positive, long-term implications for the pipeline and network of prepared marine sciences researchers and technicians.”

Carteret’s aquaculture technology curriculum is well-aligned with NC State’s fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program, according to Lara Pacifici, director of undergraduate programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State.

The program prepares students for careers in one of the nation’s fastest-growing food production industries through hands-on training and classroom instruction. Students learn every stage of aquaculture production, from fish genetics and breeding to hatchery management to business principles such as marketing and distribution.

“Students from Carteret will bring skills and knowledge specific to aquaculture that many of our fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology students have not yet been exposed to,” Pacifici said. “Students will learn from each other and broaden their understanding of possible career paths.” 

NC State will accept up to 57 transfer credit hours from approved Carteret courses completed with a grade of C or higher. Students will enter NC State with sophomore standing, and those who complete additional approved coursework may qualify for junior standing.

Sarah Griggs, assistant director of undergraduate programs in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at NC State, will work closely with students in Carteret’s aquaculture technology program to help them navigate their transition to NC State.

Griggs said the new pathway is already generating interest among Carteret students. She is in communication with at least one student about transferring into the fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology program at NC State. 

For Carteret students interested in transferring, Griggs encouraged them to begin planning early and work with program advisors to ensure they meet all admission requirements. The application deadline is Oct. 1 for spring entry and Feb. 15 for fall entry.

The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission will hear about the progress to update the state’s plan that outlines strategies to protect and restore critical ecosystems coastal fishery habitats.

The 15-member commission is to hear an update on the 2026 amendment to the N.C. Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, or CHPP, from N.C. Department of Environmental Quality staff. The commission is responsible for adopting rules that protect, preserve and enhance the state’s air and water resources implemented by several divisions within DEQ.

The plan, adopted in December 2004 by Environmental Management, North Carolina Marine Fisheries and Coastal Resources commissions, provides information on coastal habitat distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, threats to the habitat, and recommendations to address those threats. The CHPP is updated every five years.

The full commission is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. July 9 in the ground floor hearing room of the Archdale Building in Raleigh. The meeting will be livestreamed. The meeting number is 2439 266 6247 and password ncdeq. The meeting may also be accessed by telephone at 1-415-655-0003, password 62338.

Commission committee meetings are planned to begin the day prior at 9 a.m. July 8 in the Archdale Building and available to stream using Webex and by phone using the same telephone number, meeting number and passwords.

Agendas for the committees and the full commission are available on the EMC’s website.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission’s Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet this week to discuss proposed changes to a plan that guides habitat decisions related to fisheries.

The committee will review the draft 2026 amendment to the North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan on Thursday, June 25, at the state Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West in Morehead City.

Discussion will include formulating comprehensive options to protect identified submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV and more broadly as known as seagrass, habitat. SAVs are rooted plants that grow beneath the surface of fresh, estuarine and marine waters. These plants are vital to coastal and riverine habitats that support aquatic life and water quality.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. and is open to the public. The meeting will also be livestreamed via Webex. The agenda is available online.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has made each of 15 anglers $100 richer with the latest winners of its annual drawing of Multi-Species Tagging Program tag numbers announced Thursday.

The randomly selected tag numbers were from 496 fish tags that were turned in by participants in 2025. Three tag numbers were selected from each of the five species that are tagged by the program.

The $100 winners who turned in tags found on cobia were Joshua Bourne of Virginia Beach, Virginia; Mike Lintzenich of Williamsburg, Virginia; and Katie Daniel of Toano, Virginia.

The $100 winners who turned in tags found on red drum were Brad Smith of Maysville, Nicholas Stanley of Four Oaks, and Josh Whibley of Charleston, South Carolina.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on striped bass were Robert Tipton of New Bern, Scott Pope of New Bern and Anthony Richards of Wilmington.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on southern flounder were Jaxon Row of Wilmington, James Cone of Wilmington and Tyler Barnes of Hubert.

The $100 winners who turned in tags on spotted seatrout were Jamie Bright of Jacksonville, Chris Cobb of Hampstead and David Bishop of Belhaven.

The Multi-Species Tagging Program began in October 2014 and is funded by a Coastal Recreational Fishing License grant. Each year, staff and volunteers attach a yellow or red tag marked with “NCDMF” on thousands of fish in North Carolina’s coastal waters.

When a tagged fish is reported, along with the required information, participants receive a letter and personalized certificate with information about their fish, including days at large and distance traveled, as well as a reward. Those who return a yellow tag receive either a tagging program hat, fish towel or fish pin. Those who return a red tag marked “$100 REWARD” receive a $100. Those who return a tag are automatically entered into an annual drawing for $100.

Bourne, Lintzenich, Daniel, Pope, Richards, Rowe, Barnes and Cobb all received $100 when they turned in red tags for their respective fish and another $100 from the drawing, making their total rewards $200 each.

Information required when reporting a tagged fish includes the species, tag number, date, location captured, total length of the fish, fate of the fish (released or harvested) and the type of gear used to capture the fish. Tags may be reported by phone at 1-800-682-2632 or through an online form. Red tags must be cut off the fish and returned to the division for the participant to receive the $100 reward.

Information gathered from tag returns helps researchers determine species migration patterns, mortality, population structure and habitat use, which can be used to better manage the fisheries. Click for more information about the Multi-Species Tagging Program or contact John Mohan at 252-948-3913 or john.mohan@deq.nc.gov.

Second in a series

SNEADS FERRY – The easy chatter of shellfish farmers gearing up for another day of work broke through an otherwise quiet morning landside of the lower New River’s sun-gleamed waters.

The air that early June day still hung cool over the small marina a handful of shellfish growers share as their waterfront hub in this storied fishing village in Onslow County.

Though they run independent shellfishing businesses, this tightknit group supports one another, sharing a passion for what they do for a living and the hardships that come with it.

“This just happened naturally,” oysterman Cody Faison of Ghost Fleet Oyster Co. said before firing up the motor of his well-weathered skiff. “Oyster farming, they’re stronger as communities. What you find here is five farmers who help each other out.”

Like Faison, many of the folks working shellfish leases in Onslow and Pender’s coastal waterways are first-generation aquatic farmers, men and women in an industry challenged by seasonal shellfish mortality events, water quality impacts, and, as of late, fewer areas in which they can farm.

“Part of the reason that all these farms are here is because they can’t go north and they can’t go south,” Faison said.

Temporary and permanent shellfish lease moratoriums in coastal counties to the north and south of Topsail Island have pushed growers to the waters of Topsail Island. The steady increase in shellfish leases has amplified concerns among property owners, boaters, and recreational fishers who argue shellfish farms, particularly those with floating cages, restrict access to prime fishing locations, obstruct scenic waterfront views, and create navigational hazards.

This is the second year in which local officials are pushing for a temporary shellfish lease moratorium in the waters behind Topsail Island.

On Tuesday afternoon, the House Rules, Calendar, and Operations Committee passed proposed House Bill 1113 sponsored by Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover. The bill aims to extend New Hanover County’s shellfish lease moratorium by another five years, appropriate a one-time, $10,000 fund for public education activities related to that county’s lease pause, extend a leasing moratorium in Bogue Sound to July 1, 2028, and impose a two-year moratorium on new leases in parts of Onslow and Pender counties until July 1, 2028.

“This will not prohibit people from going out and getting oysters,” Davis said in the committee meeting Tuesday. “What this prohibits is any more of these new things being put into the water. And, I will say that one of the concerns is the fact, you know, people have the right to use the water. It’s a public trust, and when these cages are put up, it can inhibit people’s enjoyment of that public trust. I know where I live, if a boat was to hit one of these cages, it could be bad. If somebody water skiing on a jet ski, or anything else, hits one of these cages, it’s going to be bad.”

Growers argue a moratorium in Stump and Topsail sounds would only put the squeeze on areas that do not have moratoriums, including waters around Newport, Morehead City and Beaufort.

Faison is not alone in worrying that language in the proposed bill, which currently targets the sounds directly behind Topsail Island, might be changed to include all waters in Pender and Onslow counties, a move that would shut down new leases in bays and creeks in the New River.

“What if this moratorium goes from two to 10 years?” Faison asked during a recent tour of shellfish leases in the lower New River, where he farms a 4-acre water column lease in Traps Bay.

Faison worked his way up to this lease, starting out in the business roughly six years ago by subleasing from a fellow farmer in Topsail Sound. He personally believes the state should promote subleasing. He encourages anyone considering entering the business to go that route.

He doesn’t judge which types of gear or leases other growers use. Farmers who use Seapa baskets, which are smaller and weigh less than typical, heavy-duty wire-mesh floating cages, suspend the baskets from lines that they attach to PVC pipes. That’s why some water column shellfish lease farms are so populated with the pipes, Faison explained.

Faison’s lease is dotted primarily with low-profile floating bags, a method he has found that works best for him.

“This is the future,” he said as he coasted his boat next to a line of bags in his lease. “I think this is going to be my success. I’m not saying this is right for every other farmer.”

For North Carolina oyster farmers, floating gear is the only method for producing the much-sought, high-quality oyster that looks just as pretty on the plate as it tastes, he said. Oysters must be symmetrical, their outer shells clean and barnacle-free.

“We’re all growing oysters for the raw bar, and you can’t do that on the bottom,” Faison said. “There’s no other way to do it. We don’t have enough tide swing.”

Floating gear allows farmers to replicate low tide, giving oysters a twice-daily dry spell that helps them build stronger shells, deter barnacles, and extend their shelf life.

Those North Carolina-grown, presentation-perfect oysters served to customers at area raw bars cost a pretty penny to cultivate.

“Oyster farming is a very tough way to make money,” Faison said. “I think people think we’re out here just killing it.”

According to an economic analysis published in 2024, the average startup cost to launch an off-bottom oyster farm ranges from less than $60,000 for a single line of floating bags to more than $200,000 for 24 lines.

“The total annual cost, including depreciation and interest on invested capital, labor, fuel, seed and other expenses, is estimated to range from approximately $50,000 to operate a single line of floating bags to approximately $250,000 to operate twenty-four lines,” the study states.

As boats go, the 19-footer that Faison bought off a local fisherman is about as basic as they come. There’s no console. No seats — just a couple of stacks of colorful baskets placed to one side of the otherwise flat-bottomed, open vessel.

“Is the better way to look at this a lot more moratoriums or more strict on the DMF side?” Faison said, referring to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, which permits shellfish leases. “I don’t know the answer. I don’t know that any of us quite yet know how to bridge this gap. Instead of trying to fight for really positive change, we’re just fighting. We’re strong as this big, massive group of people working together for a common goal.”

First of two parts

SURF CITY – Capt. Ray Brittain wasn’t kidding.

The white PVC pipes he described at a public meeting last April as jutting from waters that hug stretches of banks and fill pockets of bays in the sounds behind Topsail Island are easily in the hundreds, if not thousands.

The pipes signal the locations of shellfish leases in Stump and Topsail sounds, the waters of which have become a hot commodity for shellfish growers shut out from farming in coastal counties north and south of Topsail Island because of temporary and permanent leasing moratoriums.

“We’re not over here hatin’ on anybody,” Brittain said one morning in late May as he stood on the bow of his sleek 22-footer equipped with rods, reels, tackle and other amenities advertised on his fishing guide website. “We don’t own the water. We’re out here sharing it with everyone else.”

Brittain, who owns Spring Tide Guide Service, has been fishing the waters around Topsail Island and the New River for more than 35 years. He’s witnessed firsthand the changes to the barrier island and adjacent mainland areas during that time, where development has exploded on the land and off.

It’s the latter he invited to show North Carolina Coastal Federation Coastal Management Program Director Kerri Allen during a listening session the nonprofit and North Carolina Sea Grant hosted in Surf City on April 14. The meeting was opened to Topsail Island officials, residents, and business owners like Brittain to discuss their experiences with shellfish leases, which have in recent years become contentious as more and more have been permitted.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, will host an informal presentation and listening session for shellfish growers in September.

Allen; Lela Schlenker, the Coastal Federation’s newest coastal advocate; Capt. Mike Oppegaard, owner of Native Son Guide Service out of Hampstead; and this reporter joined Brittain on a warm, sunny mid-weekday morning on his boat for a tour through the sounds.

Our first stop of the tour was at a large bay punctuated by fields of white PVC pipes marking water column shellfish leases where lines of floating cages poke from the water’s surface.

Brittain didn’t hold back his feelings about the pipes, saying he is “sick of explaining” to curious customers why they’re there. Even so, he complimented the grower of the shellfish lease we visited first.

“He actually runs a good operation,” Brittain said. “Nobody’s arguing that. We’re just overrun here.”

Today, nearly 190 shellfish leases are in the waters behind the 26-mile-long barrier island from the New River and its adjacent estuarine waters south to Topsail Sound. The number of water column leases and bottom shellfish leases in Onslow and Pender counties has increased by roughly 46% since 2018.

The rapid expansion of leases, particularly water column leases where gear must float more than 18 inches above the waterbed, has led in recent years to complaints about impacts to the viewsheds of waterfront properties, boating and kayaking access, and infringement on popular fishing spots.

Those mounting complaints from community members and local government officials who serve them have prompted calls for a temporary pause on new shellfish lease permits in waters behind the island.

State Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, in late April introduced legislation to extend that county’s 2019-imposed shellfish leasing moratorium by another five years through to July 1, 2031. A little more than two weeks after Davis put House Bill 1113 forward, a section was added to the proposed law to temporarily prohibit new shellfish leases “in certain areas” of Pender and Onslow counties.

And, more recently, the Atlantic Beach Town Council adopted a resolution urging the North Carolina General Assembly to extend Bogue Sound’s moratorium on new shellfish leases. That 2019 moratorium is set to expire July 1.

Allen told those who attended the April forum that a pause would give the Coastal Federation and Sea Grant more time to consult with residents, recreational waterway users, and shellfish growers. Their feedback would help shape future policies to protect the industry, secure its long-term sustainability, and resolve user conflicts, she said.

The Coastal Federation and Sea Grant plan are in the process of creating a Geographic Information System, or GIS, database pinpointing areas where leases may or may not be suitable in the waterways behind Topsail Island. That database is anticipated to be published next year.

Like most who’ve vocalized their concerns about the number of shellfish leases that have been permitted in the waters behind the island, Brittain and Oppegaard say they support the shellfish industry.

“Nobody thought through the issues we’re having now,” Oppegaard said. “We’re saturated. The number one issue is density.”

The large schools of drum that used to swim into the bay where Brittain first stopped once easily accommodated a handful of fishing boats at one time, he said.

“You’ll catch a fish here and there, but you don’t see big schools anymore,” he said. “You can’t pressure them so much or they’re going to leave.”

Oppegaard piped in, “I just quit coming in here.”

The men raised numerous questions regarding shellfish leases, including how aquaculture noise and cages impact fish movement, whether the volume of PVC pipes some growers use is necessary, why growers are not required to carry insurance, and whether farming operations can be moved farther away from shorelines.

“You really want the bank,” for fishing, Brittain said as he coasted along the landward side of Permuda Island Reserve, a narrow, roughly 1.5-mile-long undeveloped island in Stump Sound in Onslow County.

“If you look, it’s all leased up,” he said, pointing to rows of floating shellfish cages near portions of the island’s shoreline. “Every point and pocket has stuff on it now. We’re all pushed into tighter places where there’s actually fish. If we can just get some perimeters in place. We’re just overrun here.”

Next in the series: Leaseholders say they’re boxed in.

Nearly a dozen new and amended state fisheries rules touching on everything from false albacore management to shellfish leases and franchises are now in effect.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s rule changes became effective June 1.

Under the new rules and amendments, North Carolina is now the second East Coast state behind Massachusetts to manage the false albacore, or “little tunny” fishery.

Rule 15A NCAC 03M .0523 authorizes the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries director to issue a proclamation to manage the false albacore fishery if landings exceed a predetermined threshold. The director must be given prior approval before issue a public notice regarding that fishery.

“The rule establishes means to manage this fishery in North Carolina in case the fishery continues to expand,” according to a division release.

Under one of the new amendments, fishers who use pots are required to mark their pots with one, not two, forms of identification.

Amendments to shellfish leases and franchises that codify current procedures and align with state laws include the following:

• Removing franchises from productions requirements and termination procedures.
• Clarifying that production requirements for shellfish leases are based on the date a shellfish lease was granted or last renewed.
• Clarifying who determines eligibility for additional shellfish lease acreage, the time at which the determination of eligibility for additional acreage occurs, what is considered additional shellfish lease acreage and what is considered acres under a shellfish lease.

Also in effect are amendments to five permit rules, including:

• Requiring seafood dealers that reports trip tickets electronically to report quota monitoring logs electronically.
• Codify four permits in permanent rule that have been required by proclamation, including a dealer permit for the estuarine flounder fishery and the Estuarine Gill Net Permit. There are no changes to the permit requirements.
• Clarify a fish dealer is required to submit a trip ticket for fish not sold, consistent with the North Carolina Mandatory Harvest Reporting law and Marine Fisheries Commission rules for commercial harvest reporting requirements.
• Codify into rule a permit condition that has been required by proclamation that makes it unlawful to refuse to allow Marine Fisheries Commission employees to obtain data for the conservation and management of marine and estuarine resources.
• Broaden the definition of “educational institution” to include schools and educational organizations.
• Add links to webpages in rules for supporting information that can change frequently.
• Repeal the Horseshoe Crab Biomedical Use Permit due to lack of use. Harvest continues to be allowed during the open commercial bait harvest season.
• Add email as an additional means to satisfy call-in requirements for the Scientific or Educational Activity Permit and Weekend Trawling for Live Shrimp Permit.
• Remove the requirement to notarize a permit application and, instead, require only the initial permit general condition form to be notarized.

Coastal Carolina Riverwatch recently announced that registration and sponsor opportunities are open for the 2026 Water Quality for Fisheries Symposium, a collaborative forum for sharing recent research, best management practices, policy development, restoration and resilience projects, and advocacy that protects water quality and quality of life on the coast.

The annual event, set for Oct. 19-20 at the Sturgeon City Environmental Education Center in Jacksonville, is designed for fishermen, students, researchers, agency partners, local governments, decision makers, educators, advocates, and coastal community members who care about clean water, healthy fisheries, and the future of working waterfronts.

The 2025 Water Quality for Fisheries Symposium included 121 registrations, with 120 in-person participants, 21 speakers, 34 scholarship registrations, and 45 organizations represented. Organizers said the event created space for “real conversations across sectors, helping connect research, policy, and lived experience in ways that support fisheries resilience and coastal public health.”

Hosting the event this year at Sturgeon City in Jacksonville “reflects the strong local leadership and engagement shown during the 2025 event, including participation from Onslow County Commissioners who attended sessions, listened to fishermen and researchers, and joined discussions about water quality and fisheries impacts.”

This year’s conversations will focus on the issues coastal communities are already facing, including stormwater runoff, wastewater and septic concerns, industrial pollutants, plastic pollution, harmful algal blooms, fish kills, contaminants in seafood, restoration opportunities, and the need for practical solutions that support both healthy waters and strong coastal economies.

“These priorities are directly connected to the Water Quality for Fisheries program’s work to enhance the sustainability of North Carolina’s coastal fishing communities by addressing water quality issues that affect fisheries,” organizers said.

A reduced registration fee is offered to students and fishermen, “because these voices are essential to the conversation,” according to the announcement. General registration is also open. Register online.

This year’s recreational flounder season is Sept. 1-14, the same dates as 2025, the two agencies that manage fishing in state waters announced Wednesday.

Anglers are allowed to keep one flounder per day if it is 15 inches or longer and was caught with hook and line in inland, coastal and joint fishing waters.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries manages coastal waters, N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission manages inland fishing waters, and they work together to manage joint fishing waters, where coastal and inland waters meet.

The division said in a release that the recreational flounder seasons are scheduled for the same two weeks “so the season, size limit and daily bag limit will be consistent across jurisdictions.”

“North Carolina’s decision to open the 2026 recreational season to match last year’s season stems from a review of recreational data from 2025 and deliberate management actions aimed at balancing sustainability with angler access.” Division Director Kathy Rawls said in a statement. “Whenever we can, we aim to provide some consistency in the recreational flounder seasons from year to year.”

There was a time when the two agencies had conflicting rules and seasons but have been collaborating in recent years.

“We have worked closely with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to ensure that regulations match across jurisdictional lines. This will provide regulatory consistency and avoid angler confusion” said the commission’s Inland Fisheries Assistant Chief Ben Ricks in a release from the commission.

The following provisions will apply:

• Season opens at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 1 and closes at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.
• Bag limit is one fish per person per day.
• Minimum size limit is 15 inches total length from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail.
• All flounder that are kept must be reported to the division through an online form or iPhone App as part of the Mandatory Harvest Reporting Requirement. Learn more.
• Gears: Hook and line and gig fisheries only. Harvest of flounder with a recreational commercial gear license prohibited.

The division sets the season, size and bag limits for coastal and joint waters, as outlined in the proclamation, to comply with provisions of the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4.

A Leland man holds the new state record for the graysby grouper.

Wyatt Rabon’s 3-pound, 8-ounce catch on May 16 about 45 miles offshore of Southport was recently certified by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of marine Fisheries as the state’s largest on record.

Rabon, his father, and friends were fishing aboard their personal vessel using live pinfish for bait when he reeled in the grouper on 100-pound test with a Shimano Trevalla rod and Shimano Torso 30 reel.

“The crew nearly filleted the fish once they got home before realizing they might have a potential record,” according to a division release.

Rabon’s fish was weighed in at the Intracoastal Angler in Wilmington. It measured a little more than 17 inches long from the tip of the nose to the stretched end of the tail and had girth of 13 inches.

The previous state record for graysby grouper was a 3-pound, 0.8-ounce fish landed in 2022.

The fish unofficially ties the currently certified International Game Fish Association All Tackle World Record graysby grouper landed in 2023 off Georgetown, South Carolina.

Distinctive physical characteristics of graysby grouper include a rounded caudal, or tail, fin, uniform red dots over a tan or beige body, and nine dorsal spines. They are a small species of shallow water grouper that start life as female, then transition to male around 4 years of age, or 9-10 inches in length, after their first spawning season.

Officials with the N.C. Artificial Reef Program announced Wednesday that major enhancements had been completed this month at two offshore reefs.

The two artificial reefs, which are off Cape Hatteras and Ocracoke, are popular destinations for anglers and divers. Anglers can expect to catch triggerfish, black sea bass, and many other bottom fish on both reefs, officials said. Divers often report visibility upwards of 50 feet.

The reefs, AR-230 and AR-250, each received about 1,500 tons of recycled concrete pipe and boxes. That material is now on the seafloor, creating new habitat, and improving public fishing and diving opportunities off the Outer Banks, officials said.

AR-230 is about 6 miles from Hatteras Inlet in 70 feet of water. Material was deployed in a dense field around 35 degrees, 6.166’ minutes north, 75 degrees, 42.895 minutes west. 

AR-250 is about 10 miles from Ocracoke Inlet in 80 feet of water. Material was deployed in a dense field around 34 degrees, 56.841 minutes north, 75 degrees, 55.022 minutes west.

Materials for the reefs were sourced from across North Carolina as part of the yearlong project that included public comment, planning, permitting and stockpiling. The materials, donated by businesses and the N.C. Department of Transportation, were damaged and unusable for their intended purpose.  

The Artificial Reef Program is part of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries and maintains 43 ocean and 29 estuarine artificial reefs. Artificial reefs and the reef materials placed on them are strategically located and designed to maximize access by anglers and divers while also serving valuable biological and ecological roles, officials noted.

The Division of Marine Fisheries wants to bring the public into the blue crab stock assessment development process.

The division’s stock assessment scientists plan to review what a stock assessment is and how this data set is developed during a WebEx meeting from 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 28. Register online to attend the webinar or attend the listening location at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City.

The Marine Fisheries Commission, which puts in place rules, policies, and management measures for fisheries, adopted the original North Carolina Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan in late 1998, Amendment 1 in 2004, and Amendment 2 in 2013, according to the division’s website. The division, under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to the commission.

A review of the management plan was scheduled for July 2018, but the commission decided in August 2016 to begin a formal review, assess the status of the blue crab stock and identify more comprehensive management strategies, and began developing amendment 3.

As part of that amendment, the division used data from 1995 to 2016 for a benchmark stock assessment, which is a comprehensive assessment conducted every five years by reevaluating data and modeling methods. Results indicate that the state’s blue crab stock was classified as overfished in 2016, according to the division.

The 2018 benchmark stock assessment shows the state’s blue crab stock is overfished, which means that the population size is too small, and overfishing is occurring, or the removal rate is too high.

Amendment 3 was adopted in February 2020 to rebuild the blue crab stock. All Amendment 3 management measures have been fully in place since January 2021.

The division attempted to update the stock assessment in 2023, but staff and external peer reviewers had concerns with model specifications and the results and decided not to use the update to manage the species.

Existing data from division sampling and monitoring programs indicate a continued decline of blue crab stock.

The division’s stock assessment team is going through data now to develop a new benchmark stock assessment and gave an update to the Marine Fisheries Commission during its business meeting May 14 in New Bern.

Stock Assessment Program Manager Matt Damiano explained that part of his motivation to hold the webinar at this stage in developing the assessment is because a member of the fishing community brought to his attention that historically, the only public-facing part of the division’s process has been the peer-review workshop, when the stock assessment is essentially done.

“This webinar is something of a halfway point to where I would like to go with our stock assessment process, which is to make it more public facing,” he said, adding that he has been planning the webinar for several months.

Damiano said that he and Stock Assessment Scientist Matt Zink, the other member of the program’s team, have made progress on the stock assessment update.

“We have been able to analyze all the sources of data that we’re interested in including in the stock assessment, that essentially involves Matt and I digging through the data and determining whether it is usable and what it is telling us,” he said, adding that they’re using data collected through different programs.

The estimated pattern for 1974 through 2024 has fluctuated quite a bit, as marine populations tend to, and saw the highest abundance during the 1990s followed by a marked decline in blue crab abundance after around 2010.

“There have been some modest increases toward the end of that time series, but overall, there is a negative trend for the last 14 years,” Damiano said.

During the same time, the size of blue crabs in the Pamlico Sound have gotten smaller in general, while blue crab size in Albemarle Sound has been stable.

The fishery-dependent data from fish houses points to the size structure being stable, “which is likely more a function of people bringing a really stable set of sizes of crab to market than it is having to do necessarily what’s going on in the population,” Damiano said.

“Another interesting feature is when we looked at abundance over space, it has declined most in the Pamlico Sound, but the Albemarle Sound is still essentially the one big hot spot for blue crab,” he added.

“If you are fishing in Albemarle Sound, things may seem better than they actually are for the population,” but Damiano stressed that “two things can be true at the same time. You can be doing very well if you’re fishing in a particular area, but the population throughout the whole state can still be moving in a different direction.”

Damiano told the commission that for the webinar May 28 he plans to give a brief review of what a stock assessment is and spend some time on what happened with the peer review of the 2023 updated stock assessment.

“I get a lot of comments on why that did not pass peer review and wasn’t recommended for use and management,” Damiano explained, but those who reviewed the assessment left a “clear roadmap for how to improve it,” he said. “It’s those exact steps that they recommended that Matt and I have been taking with this stock assessment and that’s going to give a lot of context to why we did the analyzes we did, and why we’re considering the methods we are for the stock assessment.”

Damiano added that while the peer reviewers did not recommend the model for use in management, and the division decided to heed that advice, “I think the peer review was actually a success in that sense, because they identified really clear problems that we need addressing in the next model.”

The peer reviewers were Dr. Jie Cao, assistant professor at N.C. State’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, and Dr. Yan Li, at Duke Cancer Institute Biostatistics Shared Resource at Duke University.

In an interview before the commission meeting, Damiano, who has been with the division about a year, pointed out that the only opportunity for the public to really engage with a stock assessment during the peer review, which is at the end of the process.

“That’s the only workshop that’s technically open to the public, and so I am trying to change that kind of incrementally as I learn what the communication needs are related to stock assessment. And it starts with this webinar,” he said.  

“We’re trying to create a space where we can be transparent about the work that we’ve done so far on the blue crab stock assessment, which is still ongoing, and solicit some feedback from the people,” such as their concerns about population, other sources of data to consider and give the public background for “some of the choices that we’re making while we’re doing the analysis. Really, it’s more just me trying to show my work and begin the dialog where we previously really haven’t had.”

He added that he hopes the webinar opens a line of communication that wasn’t there before.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation announced this week that Dr. Lela Schlenker has the nonprofit organization as its new coastal advocate for northeastern part of the state.

Schlenker comes to the Coastal Federation, publisher of Coastal Review, most recently from Avangrid Renewables, where she led the fisheries team across the company’s U.S. offshore wind projects and focused on communicating with fishing communities, identifying research needs, and coordinating marine policy.

Schlenker is a fisheries ecologist with a research career spanning topics such as the effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on mahi-mahi, how climate and weather affect North Carolina shrimp populations, and the impact of catch-and-release fishing practices on white marlin. Throughout her career, she has worked closely with fishing communities along the U.S. coastline, building strong and collaborative partnerships. 

“We’re excited to have Lela join our team. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience on coastal issues,” explained Coastal Management Program Director Kerri Allen. “Lela is joining us at a time when there are several major issues facing the Outer Banks region, including threatened oceanfront structures, ongoing water quality concerns, increased pressure to lift hardened shoreline restrictions, and the growing need for long-term coastal resilience planning. Her scientific background, policy experience, and collaborative approach will be a tremendous asset for both the Federation and the coastal communities we serve.” 

Schlenker has an undergraduate degree from Smith College, a master’s from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and a doctorate in marine biology and ecology from the University of Miami.

Schlenker says that her career path was inspired by both a strong conservation ethic and an undergraduate research project in which she sampled fish aboard a commercial trawling vessel. 

“I am really looking forward to connecting with the community as well as working with managers, scientists, and policy makers to continue the great work the Coastal Federation has done and find new ways to protect beautiful coastal North Carolina,” said Schlenker. 

Schlenker started with the Coastal Federation on May 5 and will be based out of the office in Wanchese.

She has been delighted to call the Outer Banks home since 2020. In her spare time, she enjoys finding ways to be on, in, or near the water and growing as much butternut squash as possible in her garden.  

NEAR BEAUFORT — Officials wielded ceremonial gold-painted shovels Monday to break ground on an economic development project specifically tailored to the needs of coastal communities, a plan that one advocate likened to successful technology-incubation hubs but instead intended to support shellfish aquaculture jobs.

When construction begins at the recently cleared site this summer, the Shellfish Mariculture Hub will feature a 2,500-square-foot structure on county-owned land next to the boat ramp at Straits Landing, just across from Harkers Island. The building will be outfitted with cold storage, equipment, an outdoor workspace and crucial water access — shared resources for shellfish growers, officials said.

Tom Looney of Wrightsville Beach, a former vice president and general manager of Lenovo North America and a longtime board member with Coastal Review’s publisher, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, said he had been involved a decade ago in developing the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, which works to recruit new business, assist existing businesses, help companies with international trade, promote the state as a tourist destination and counsel small companies and startups.   

“Today, it’s the number one workforce engine in the country for the last three out of four years,” Looney said. “We know how to attract businesses. We know how to create new businesses. What I learned in that role was, some of the most economically challenged regions in our state were our coastal communities. We had to find new ways to create jobs for people to feed their families, grow a business, have opportunity.”

Looney, who was an IBM man for more than 30 years, said that, since 2013, North Carolina’s oyster industry has grown more than 500%. Today, the state boasts one of the fastest-growing oyster industries in the country, generating more than $300 million annually.

“And let me tell you, folks, this hub will set it on fire, as far as North Carolina as a state,” Looney said.

That success will be the result of combined forces, including the shellfish aquaculture program at Carteret Community College, and provide a good return on the investments made by the legislature, the county, the Coastal Federation and others, he said. Looney praised Coastal Federation staff, including Chief Program Officer Ana Zivanovic-Nenadovic for shepherding the project.

“We’re doing it the right way. We’re creating jobs while protecting the culture and our coastal waters,” Looney said.

He said the mariculture hub would apply the same principle as American Underground, a Google tech hub for startups in Durham, but with oysters.

Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis said the hub project was “about putting down roots for an industry that has been proving its worth in eastern North Carolina and across the country for a long time now.”

Shellfish mariculture, Davis said, combines economic opportunity, environmental benefits and a unique cultural heritage in a way that few other industries can.

“It creates jobs, it supports working waterfronts, and it keeps seafood production local, which is fantastic,” Davis said. “And at the same time, our oysters are out there every day, quietly doing their work, cleaning the water, filtering the water, improving clarity and water quality across the coast. So, that all together is a combined return on investment that you rarely find and few industries can match. It’s driving economic growth while actively improving water quality and protecting the coast.”

Also on hand for the event was Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Pamlico, and who also represents Carteret, Chowan, Halifax, Hyde, Martin, Warren and Washington counties. Sanderson explained how his district has a “very important role to play in our seafood industry,” as producers and consumers. He noted the move to transfer the Division of Marine Fisheries from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to the Department of Agriculture as part of the Republican-led legislature’s regulatory reform efforts. “Because too many times, it hinders the growth that we could use here on the coast to create jobs and to make our economies more stronger and more prosperous.”

Sanderson described his district’s rankings in the state Department of Commerce economically distressed counties tier system. Under this system, the department ranks the 100 counties’ economic well-being and assigns a corresponding tier number, 1-3. Commerce designates the 40 most distressed counties as Tier 1, the next 40 as Tier 2 and the 20 least distressed as Tier 3.

“I have four counties, five counties that are Tier 1s, which is the most economically distressed counties in the state of North Carolina. And so anything that we can do to help those counties is going to be a blessing,” Sanderson said.

He said the Mariculture Hub was one of the few projects to get legislative support from all corners.

“This one is an easy one to sell, because I think people, first of all, they love seafood,” Sanderson said, adding that he hoped that the project becomes a prototype for others.

“We have over 300 farmers now farming oysters for at least a secondary income. We’re hoping that it will eventually become primary income for them,” he said.

Rep. Celeste Cairns, R-Carteret and Craven, also spoke at the event Monday. She said the project was “a real collaboration among state folks, local folks, and great organizations like the Coastal Federation, and I know I speak for Senator Sanderson as well when I say, when everybody is moving and pulling in the same direction, it is a rare and beautiful thing.”

Cairns said she had been told the total number of leases and franchises was about 500.

“Each of those, whatever the number — it’s a lot and growing — and each of those folks represents a small business or family or an individual trying to make a livelihood on the water.”

The Rocky Mount-based Golden LEAF Foundation, created by the North Carolina General Assembly to award proceeds from the 1998 National Cigarette Manufacturer Settlement Agreement, uses that money to create economic opportunities in rural, tobacco-dependent and poorer counties.

Golden LEAF’s early support and $200,000 in backing in August 2022 helped build momentum for the project. Jason Rochelle evaluates funding proposals for the organization, works to implement Golden LEAF priorities, and oversees project monitoring and compliance.

“At the time, the project represented a strong vision, one rooted in supporting local aquaculture, strengthening coastal economies and creating new opportunities for shellfish growers in the region,” Rochelle said. “Today, it’s incredibly rewarding to see that vision move forward. The shellfish hub is a strategic investment in the future of Carteret County and addresses real needs identified by the shellfish farming community by providing shared infrastructure such as dock access, refrigeration, storage, grading and loading equipment and a central point for distribution. This facility will make a meaningful difference in the day-to-day operations of local growers.”

Rochelle said the hub would serve up to 15 operations and generate around $2 million annually.

“By locating the facilities near the fishing waters, growers will be able to spend more time harvesting, less time on logistics,” Rochelle said. “This increased efficiency will translate to higher production, increased income and the creation of high-quality jobs in this community.”

Assistant Carteret County Manager Matt Reynal said the project reflects “who we are as a county, from Harkers Island to Cedar Island and all across Down East, our connection to the water has always been central to how we live and work. Shellfish mariculture builds on that tradition.”

Reynal said that economic development “isn’t just about bringing in something new or shiny” to Carteret County.

“It’s about supporting the industries that are already here and ensuring that we have the infrastructure to grow,” he said. “That’s why the county was proud to provide this land. We see the long-term value and what this project supports working waterfronts local businesses and innovative opportunity that stays rooted in our communities, and that’s especially important for Down East.”

Chris Matteo, president of the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association, said that when he was first told of the plan, he “immediately agreed to participate.” He said Coastal Federation founder Todd Miller and Looney had seen a similar model in Australia, and that infrastructure helped fuel a thriving shellfish aquaculture industry there.

“And today we are finally breaking ground on our shared vision. I’m very excited for our local shellfish farmers and for our industry. This is a special day, not just because we are breaking ground on a new building, but because we’re laying the foundation for the next stage of growth in our young industry,” said Matteo. “This project took years of persistence, collaboration and a shared belief that working waterfronts and shellfish mariculture are critically important to North Carolina’s coast.”

The fun part lies ahead, Matteo said.

“This shellfish hub will create job local jobs, support family businesses and keep waterfront communities working on the water. It will do so while helping grow one of the world’s most sustainable and healthy animal proteins, and as if that wasn’t enough, it will also improve our estuaries. Every oyster grown in our waters does more than feed someone. It is filtering water, creating habitat, rebuilding public trust stocks of marine species, and proving that economic growth and environmental stewardship can go hand in hand.”

Matteo said he was especially proud that shellfish farms in North Carolina filter more than 600 million gallons of estuarine water every day.

“This hub will help us grow that number further,” he said. “As a shellfish grower here in North Carolina, I can tell you firsthand, this hub isn’t just a nice to have. It solves real-world problems that growers across the state deal with daily. While shellfish farming has enormous potential, the reality is, starting and scaling a farm is not easy. For many growers, one of the biggest barriers has always been access to waterfront infrastructure.”

For small operations, the costs can be terminal.

“Shellfish farmers haven’t been limited by demand or ability,” Matteo said. “They’ve been limited by not having a place to work on the water, the equipment to process and refrigerate their product and an efficient way to get it to market.”

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to vote on proposed language for Atlantic bonito management when it meets May 13-14 in New Bern.

The meeting at the Doubletree by Hilton Hotel, 100 Middle St., is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

During its February meeting, the commission chose its preferred management option and associated proposed rulemaking language for the management of Atlantic bonito. The expected action will be to approve a notice of text for rulemaking for the adoption of 15A NCAC 03M .0524. Approval would begin the formal rulemaking process, which requires a 60-day public comment period that would occur later this year.

Also on the agenda are the following:

• A presentation by Dr. Joel Fodrie on the legislative study of coastal and marine fisheries.
• A presentation on the background, life history and fishery characterization of kingfishes in North Carolina.
• An update on the blue crab benchmark stock assessment process and information about the associated public webinar.
• A presentation on the Deepwater Oyster Recovery Areas adopted in the Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5.
• Updates on currently open and ongoing implementation of adopted fishery management plans.

The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. May 13, and at 9 a.m. May 14. The commission will accept public comments beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Thursday.

For those who choose to speak at in-person public comment sessions, complete the following steps:

• 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.
• Those making comments will be asked to speak only once, either Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, but not during both public comment periods.
• Those who wish to submit handouts to the commission during the public comment period should bring at least 12 copies to the meeting.

People can also submit written comments via the following methods:

• An online form on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.
• Mail to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557.
• A hard copy dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City.

The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. on Monday, May 11.

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

Recreational red snapper season will be open 62 days this summer for anglers willing to take part in a pilot project designed to monitor the tightly regulated fishery.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is one of four Southeastern states to receive a federal exempted fishing permit, or EFP, that lets anglers take part in testing out a data-collection program that will use a mobile application to monitor the recreational red snapper season. The hook-and-line-only season will be July 1-Aug. 31.

Anglers who would like to participate must dowwnload the VESL mobile application to receive a copy of the EFP, which they will be required to keep throughout the season. Participants must agree to record their red snapper harvest and discard information. 

Owners and operators of charters and headboats must complete an online request form to receive a copy of the EFP. Boat captains must agree to continue reporting their harvest of red snapper and discards through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reporting system.

There is no size limit. Private recreational anglers are limited to one fish per person or four fish per vessel, whichever is more restrictive. Charter boats, or those with up to six passengers, are also limited to one fish per person, or four fish per vessel, whichever is more restrictive.

Headboats, or those with more than six passengers, are limited to one fish per person or 20 fish per vessel, whichever is more restrictive.

Yamaha Motors’ conservation program Yamaha Rightwaters is supporting the project with a $300,000 grant.

The project does not affect commercial red snapper management, according to DMF.

For additional information, visit the division’s red snapper season webpage or email RedSnapper.EFP@deq.nc.gov.

A temporary rule limiting the daily creel limit and length for sheepshead harvest in inland fishing waters and by hook-and-line in joint fishing waters will take effect May 6.

Under the rule, the daily creel limit is five fish and the minimum size is 14 inches.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission adopted the rule to align with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ recent proclamation enacting similar creel and length limits for sheepshead in coastal fishing waters, according to a release.

“The Wildlife Resources Commission implemented temporary rulemaking to provide regulatory consistency and avoid angler confusion across Inland, Joint and Coastal waters,” Inland Fisheries Division Assistant Chief Ben Ricks stated in the release.

There is not a closed season for sheepshead, and fish harvested cannot be sold.

A webinar is scheduled for late May to share with the public steps in the process to develop a new benchmark blue crab assessment, intended to better understand population dynamics and determine the fishery’s stock status.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is holding the online meeting 6-8 p.m. Thursday, May 28, via WebEx. Register online to join the webinar. There will be a listening station in the division’s office in Morehead City as well.

A 2018 benchmark stock assessment indicates the state’s blue crab stock is overfished, which means that the population size is too small, and overfishing is occurring, which means that the removal rate is too high.

There was a 2023 stock assessment update but division staff and external peer reviewers identified concerns with model specifications and results, so the assessment is not being used for management, officials said. “However, available data from Division sampling and monitoring programs indicate a continued decline of the Blue Crab stock. The Division has started the process of developing a new benchmark stock assessment.”

During the webinar, division scientists will review the stock assessment process, including recent and future changes, and methods, including how data were selected for use, and report on progress in analyzing both dependent and independent data for the fishery used in the assessment model.

Fishery-dependent data are collected directly from the commercial and recreational fisheries and may include fishing effort, such as the number of fishing trips that harvested blue crab, and biological information such as lengths and sex of the crab and amount of landings and discards.

Fishery-independent data are collected from at-sea surveys, where scientists from the division and from partner organizations gather data on fish stock abundance, biology and the ecosystem.

Officials said there will be an opportunity to provide feedback on the stock assessment progress and process.

SURF CITY – Kerri Allen acknowledged early on what was also obvious to her audience.

“I do not need to tell anyone in here we have a really high density of leases,” the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s coastal management program director said. “In our public trust waters, when you have that many users, there are going to be conflicts.”

Several people sitting inside the Surf City Municipal Complex’s town council chambers that April 14 afternoon nodded in agreement, eager to share their thoughts on the subject.

With either temporary or permanent shellfish leasing moratoriums in North Carolina waters to its north and south, Topsail Island’s waters have become a hot commodity for oyster growers.

There are now nearly 190 shellfish leases in the waters behind the 26-mile-long barrier island from the New River and its adjacent estuarine waters south to Topsail Sound.

That’s a roughly 46% increase from the collective number of leases in 2018 in Onslow and Pender counties.

The squeeze put on the waters around Topsail Island has prompted ongoing calls for a temporary moratorium on new shellfish leases in the area.

The Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission, or TISPC, which is composed of elected officials from each of the island’s three towns – Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach – initiated a request for a temporary pause on leases more than a year ago. Commissioners in Onslow and Pender counties did the same.

Shellfish lease moratoriums in the state may be enacted only by the North Carolina General Assembly.

On April 10, 2025, Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, introduced legislation requiring a statewide study on shellfish leasing and the current lease moratorium.

House Bill 841 made it no further than the Senate’s Rules and Operations Committee.

“If there is a temporary moratorium, we don’t feel that’s unreasonable,” Allen said last week.

A pause would give the Coastal Federation and North Carolina Sea Grant more time to talk with those who live along and use the waters around the island and come up with suggestions to help shape future policy that would protect the industry, make it sustainable long term, and ease user conflicts, she said.

Additional focus groups, including one for shellfish growers, will be scheduled this fall.

Meanwhile, a temporary moratorium that has been repeatedly extended since it was first enacted in New Hanover County in 2019 is set to expire in July.

“It’s very reasonable to say if we were able to open up some of these other areas that could help alleviate the pressure that this area is seeing,” Allen said. “A lot of the oyster growers that we work with in this region live in New Hanover County and they would love not to have to drive up here to take care of their farms. We are actively trying to get New Hanover to not extend their moratorium. I do not have a good feel, one way or another, how that’s going to go yet, but we are having those conversations.”

Surf City Mayor Teresa Batts said officials on the island do not intend to wait for a decision before asking for a temporary moratorium.

“I know you’re going to go through the procedural steps, but the TISPC, we’re not going to sit back and wait,” she said. “If we see that New Hanover County is trying to extend their moratorium, then we’re going to try to slide in there on their session and piggyback on their moratorium.”

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, and North Carolina Sea Grant teamed up last year to launch a Geographic Information System, or GIS, database pinpointing areas where leases may or may not be suitable in the waterways behind Topsail Island. The GIS database is anticipated to be published next year.

Recommendations shared with the organizations will help shape the North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture, a plan commissioned by the General Assembly in 2017.

This document is effectively the state’s roadmap for a sustainable shellfish industry. It’s not meant to be a fixed document, rather one that evolves as the industry evolves and conditions change, Allen explained, adding, “which they very much have changed since 2017.”

In the years since, the state has seen a shift where shellfish farmers are using floating gear to grow oysters in the water column, a method that allows them to maximize the spaces in which they grow their product.

Unlike cages that are placed on the waterbed, those in water column leases poke up from the water’s surface.

And, as more water column leases have been granted, complaints have mounted about their impacts to the viewsheds of waterfront properties, boating and kayaking access, and infringement on popular fishing spots.

Fishing guide Capt. Ray Brittain offered to take Allen and N.C. Sea Grant Extension Director Frank López on his boat, and on his dime, to show them how the leases affect his business.

“There’s so many PVC pipes out there,” Brittain said. “You don’t need a thousand PVC pipes to mark,” a lease area. “We can’t fish in those. I mean, mark your outer edge to show people where it is, but a lot of it is just unnecessary stuff.”

Brittain was among nearly 30 attendees at the April 14 meeting, where participants were asked to break into two groups to discuss concerns and recommendations that will be documented and shared with local elected officials, legislators, and state agency officials.

Those at the meeting in Surf City last week touched on a host of issues, raising concerns related noise associated with shellfish farming activities, nighttime navigation around shellfish leases, the density of leases around Permuda Island Reserve, and linear placement of leases along estuary island shorelines blocking anglers from following fish.

Some asked for shellfish farmers to be required to carry liability insurance, while others suggested the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries create a more robust public notification system announcing lease applications that would include property owners whose land is within and adjacent to the viewshed of a proposed lease.

Other recommendations included an implementation of buffers by moving leases further from shorelines based on specific locations within a waterbody, potentially increasing lease fees, decreasing the length of time a lease is valid, and the possibility of commissioning studies on the impacts of floating cages on the ecosystem.

The Coastal Federation and Sea Grant are accepting comments online through the Stump Sound shellfish mariculture planning – stakeholder input form through Aug. 1.

The recreational black sea bass fishing season in North Carolina waters north of Cape Hatteras will open for eight months beginning May 1.

During the season, which wraps Dec. 31, the size limit for black sea bass is no shorter than 13 inches in total length, specifically the snout to to the tip of the tail, excluding the filament at the end of the tail.

The bag limit is 15 fish per person, per day.

State regulations on the black sea bass recreational fishery apply to waters within three nautical miles from shore.

Those regulations are, at the moment, different from those covering federal waters, which extend from 3 to 200 nautical miles off shore, because of delays in the federal rulemaking process that would align regulations in federal and state waters, according to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

“The Division anticipates this change will occur later this year,” according to a release.

In federal waters north of Cape Hatteras, the size limit for black sea bass is a minimum of 15 inches and the bag limit is five fish per person, per day. The recreational season within federal waters is May 15-Sept. 8.

Recreational fishers who catch black sea bass in state waters must adhere to the state’s size limit, regardless of harvest location.

Next year, the state’s recreational black sea bass season north of Cape Hatteras will open April 1, extending the season by 53 additional days compared to this year.

The recreational black sea bass fishery south of Cape Hatteras, which is managed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, has the same size limit as the fishery north of Cape Hatteras.

The bag limit is 7 fish per person, per day.

The black sea bass season south of Cape Hatteras begins April 1 of each year and closes when the quota is met. That season remains open.

For additional information, contact Chris Batsavage at 252-241-2995 or Chris.Batsavage@deq.nc.gov.

A PBS docuseries exploring how to feed a growing population while protecting oceans, marine ecosystems and coastal communities will be featured as the Coastal Studies Institute’s Science on the Sound Lecture Series installment for this month, and in celebration of Earth Week.

The third episode of the series, “Hope in the Water,” titled “Changing the Menu,” will be shown at the historic Pioneer Theater in Manteo the evening of Monday, April 20. There is no charge to attend but registration is required at https://bit.ly/HopeInTheWater.

“Hope in the Water,” produced by Andrew Zimmern and David E. Kelley, “blends science, food, and storytelling to spotlight innovative solutions in what’s often called the ‘blue food’ system—food sourced from oceans, rivers, and aquaculture. Rather than focusing solely on the problems surrounding fisheries, the series highlights practical, real-world solutions, from regenerative aquaculture to rethinking the species we eat,” organizers said.

The event starts with a prescreening reception at 5:30 p.m. in the Pioneer Theater courtyard, featuring local seafood available for purchase from Basnight’s Lone Cedar Café food truck, beverages, and educational displays from community partners.

The film screening will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a cookbook giveaway and discussion with the following panelists:

• Dr. Sara Mirabilio, fisheries extension specialist with N.C. Sea Grant.
• Chef Mac Buben, owner of Sea Chef Dockside Kitchen.
• Evan Ferguson, food blogger and media coordinator at Cape Hatteras Secondary School.
• Jake Griffin, a local commercial fisherman.

The panel will discuss local efforts to diversify seafood consumption and offer perspectives on the future of seafood in North Carolina and beyond.

“This event is an opportunity to connect our community with the people and ideas shaping the future of seafood,” CSI Executive Director Reide Corbett said in a statement. “By bringing together scientists, fishers, chefs, and educators, we hope to inspire more sustainable choices that support both coastal livelihoods and healthy marine ecosystems.”

The Coastal Studies Institute, located in Wanchese on the East Carolina University Outer Banks Campus, has partnered with Fed by Blue, North Carolina Sea Grant, and the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau to host the viewing. Science on the Sound is CSI’s monthly, in-person lecture series brings perspectives from all over the state and highlights coastal topics in northeastern North Carolina.

Share your experiences and learn more about the issues surrounding shellfish aquaculture in Stump Sound and Topsail Sound next week during an informational presentation and listening session.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation and North Carolina Sea Grant are hosting the session from 1 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the town council’s chambers at the Surf City Municipal Complex, 214 W. Florence Way, Hampstead.

“Your feedback will help shape a balanced, informed path forward,” according to a promotional flier for the event.

The session will cover conflicts and perceived and actual problems regarding shellfish leases, such as those associated with viewshed and property values, navigation and safety, congestion and density.

“We know coastal waters mean different things to different people, and we want to hear from you,” according to the flier.

Coastal Federation Advocate Kerri Allen and Sea Grant Extension Director Frank Lopez are to facilitate the session, which is to be a scripted presentation and listening session, not a public hearing.

In April 2025, Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, introduced legislation to require a statewide study on shellfish leasing and current lease moratoriums. That measure, House Bill 841, was cleared by the House but stalled in the Senate, where it passed a first vote but was then referred on May 7, 2025, to the rules committee, where it remains.

Organizers of the listening session noted that space is limited and registration is required.

Those unable to attend but who wish to share their input may submit comments to https://forms.gle/sCJ1uLGCgbhig6Zr8.

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Presales for commercial and for-hire fishing licenses and permits for the new license year will begin April 15.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is encouraging fishers to schedule appointments to obtain licenses and permits in April and May, when presales traffic is typically lighter.

Walk-in only service will be available in June.

Under new rules this year, all license sales offices will stop taking customers at 4 p.m. during the last two weeks of June and the first week of July. Service may be slower at license offices during lunch between 12- p.m., according to a division release.

The new license years starts July 1.

Applicants are asked to bring any one of the following current/valid photo identifications:

• State Issued Driver’s License.
• State Issued Identification Card (issued by Department of Motor Vehicles).
• Military ID.
• Passport.
• Resident Alien Card (green card).
• Individuals applying for another license under the authority of Power of Attorney must submit a photocopy of the power of attorney and a current/valid photo ID.

Current/valid state vessel registration or U.S. Coast Guard vessel documentation is also required. Anyone applying for a transfer of ownership with pending U.S. Coast Guard vessel documentation may bring a notarized bill of sale.

Those applying as a business are required to provide the following documents to renew:

• A copy of the original business documents from the Secretary of State in which the business was created.
• A copy of the annual report from the Secretary of State in which the business was created.
• A copy of the written agreement partnership.
• A copy of the assumed name statement from the register of deeds in the county in which the business was created.

Commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists, nongovernmental organization representatives and others with an expertise in southern flounder have an opportunity to guide the latest amendment to the state management plan for the fishery.

Applications are due by April 10 to volunteer to serve on the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5 Advisory Committee.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries will work with the advisory committee to develop the amendment intended to address the Marine Fisheries Commission’s request to expand recreational access to the flounder fishery while continuing to rebuild the southern flounder stock, as well as issues in the commercial fishery.

Interested individuals must attend and actively participate in the three-day workshop scheduled for June 2 to June 4 at Carteret Community College in Morehead City. Participation includes reviewing documents to provide input to the Division for consideration to refine management options in draft Amendment 5.

An in-person, workshop-style meeting will be held for committee members and division staff to collaborate on a potential southern flounder management measures in a more effective and less formal setting than traditional meetings.

To be qualified to serve on the committee, applicants must not have had a significant fisheries violation within the past three years.

Advisers who complete the necessary paperwork will be reimbursed for travel and other expenses incurred in relation to their official duties.

To apply, complete the online form or download the printable application and mail it attention to Southern Flounder FMP, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.

Fishing for striped bass by hook and line will be allowed in sections of the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers April 1-30.

The season for harvesting striped bass by this fishing method is being allowed under a temporary rule amendment and proclamation the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission approved this month.

Areas open to harvest include inland and joint fishing waters of the Tar-Pamlico River and its tributaries upstream of a line between Gum Point near Mixon Creek and Fork Point near Durham Creek in Beaufort County.

Inland and joint fishing waters of the Neuse River and its tributaries upstream of a line between Cooper Point near Good Creek in Pamlico County and Fisher Landing Point in Craven County will also open to harvest striped bass.

Inland water tributaries to both rivers downstream of the boundaries established by the Wildlife Resources Commission are closed year-round for striped bass and striped bass hybrid fishing.

Striped bass and striped bass hybrids creel limits are one fish in aggregate with a minimum size limit of 18 inches. However, no fish between 22 and 27 inches long may be harvested.

Anglers who keep any striped bass caught in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers must report their harvest electronically through an online webform or iPhone app provided by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

The regulatory change is part of the cooperative striped bass management between the Wildlife Resources Commission and the division, both of which recently determined that most striped bass using these areas of the rivers are hatchery fish.

“These rivers have been stocked for over 30 years and despite this effort, recovery goals have not been met,” Assistant Chief of the Division of Inland Fisheries Ben Ricks stated in a release. “There appears to be a bottleneck in an early life stage of naturally reproduced striped bass that limits survival. While we investigate this issue, striped bass stockings in the Tar and Neuse rivers will provide angling opportunities similar to reservoir striped bass stockings.”

Proclamations to open a similar harvest season and provide regulatory consistency in Coastal and Joint Fishing waters of the same area have also been approved by the Division of Marine Fisheries.

The 2026-27 recreational fishing season for black sea bass in federal waters south of Cape Hatteras opens next month, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries announced Thursday.

The season will open at 12:01 a.m. on April 1 and tentatively remain open through March 31, 2027.

The season is being opened for the entire 2026-27 recreational fishing year because recreational landings are estimated to be below the seasonal catch limit, according to a NOAA Fisheries announcement.

“NOAA Fisheries projects that recreational landings will not exceed the 2026-2027 recreational catch limit of 366,510 pounds whole weight based on recent landings data,” according to the announcement.

The closing date for recreational black sea bass fishing remains tentative pending the implementation of Regulatory Amendment 37 to the fishery management plan for the South Atlantic Region’s snapper-grouper fishery.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has approved that amendment for review and implementation by NOAA Fisheries.

“If implemented, the regulatory amendment would establish an annual catch target for the recreational sector of 63,143 pounds whole weight,” according to the announcement. “NOAA Fisheries would project the length of recreational fishing seasons based on this annual catch target. It is currently unknown whether the timing for Regulatory Amendment 37 could affect the 2026-2027 fishing year for black sea bass.”

If the regulatory amendment is adopted, the National Marine Fisheries Service will inform the public about its impacts to the length of the recreational season for black sea bass.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has scheduled a public hearing on a proposed shellfish bottom and water column lease in a Pamlico County waterway.

Evan R. Gadow has applied for a 0.72-acre lease in Little Bear Creek.

A public hearing on the proposed lease is set for 6 p.m. on March 24 at the Pamlico County Courthouse, 202 Main St. in Bayboro. The hearing will also be held via Webex.

Anyone who wishes to speak online should preregister at deq.nc.gov/pamlico-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-speaker-registration. Those who attend the in-person hearing must register to speak at the meeting location between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. on the night of the hearing.

Written comments on the proposed shellfish lease are also being accepted up to 24 hours after the hearing through an online form or by mail to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.

Additional information, including a call-in telephone number, may be found at deq.nc.gov/2026-03-24-pamlico-county-shellfish-lease-hearing or by contacting the Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program at 252-515-5600 or SLAP@deq.nc.gov.

A public hearing on three proposed shellfish bottom and water column leases in Hyde County is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 18.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program is holding the hearing at the Hyde County Courthouse in Swan Quarter and online using Webex.

The hearing will cover the following proposed shellfish lease applications:

• Good Time Charlie’s Fisheries LLC, Mary E. Van Salisbury, has applied for a 2.12-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in Back Creek.
• Angel’s Breath Oyster Co. LLC, Michael L. D’Amelio, has applied for a 4.04-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in Rose Bay.
• Oasis Oyster Co. LLC, Maxwell A. D’Amelio, has applied for a 4.09-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in Rose Bay.

Proposed lease areas will be marked at each corner as a proposed shellfish bottom lease and/or water column lease with the identifying numbers listed above.

Public hearing information, including the web conference link, call-in phone number, presentation slides and biological investigation reports, are online at deq.nc.gov/2026-03-18-hyde-county-shellfish-lease-hearing.

The public may comment on the proposed shellfish leases in person at the hearing or via Webex. Those wishing to speak via Webex should register before the hearing at deq.nc.gov/hyde-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-speaker-registration. Those who wish to comment in person can register to speak at the meeting from 5-6 p.m. the night of the hearing.

The public can submit written comments on the proposed shellfish leases up to 24 hours after the hearings online at nc.gov/hyde-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-comment-form, or mail to NC Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557.

For more information, contact the shellfish lease and aquaculture program at 252- 515-5600 or SLAP@deq.nc.gov.

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

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

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

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

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

Wildlife conservation groups are bristling at the suggestion.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NOAA Fisheries is accepting public comments through June 2.

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

The North Carolina Marine & Estuary Foundation and North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries plan this year to expand a red drum tagging program that offers insight into the movement patterns of North Carolina’s official state saltwater fish.

The foundation announced Tuesday plans to tag 25 more red drum, adding to the 33 tagged last year during expeditions led by the foundation and the division in conjunction with local fishing guides along the North Carolina coast.

The tags allow the public to track the movements of red drum, including through coastal inlets and spawning locations, through an interactive tracking platform funded by the foundation and developed in collaboration with technology company Mapotic.

The interactive tracking platform for red drum brings cutting-edge marine science directly to the public.

Since its launch, the platform has recorded more than 28,000 views.

“Red drum are an iconic symbol of North Carolina’s coastal communities, and the public interest in our groundbreaking red drum tracker demonstrates North Carolinians’ strong affinity for the species,” Marine & Estuary Foundation Executive Director Chad Thomas stated in a release. “This year, we are excited to continue developing our platform and aim to tag 25 additional red drum in partnership with the Division. Our work enables researchers, anglers, and the public to better understand the migratory habits of one of North Carolina’s most economically and culturally significant species.”

A pilot study launched in 2024 in which 10 adult red drum were tagged in Pamlico Sound allowed researchers to determine which tag attachment methods work best and optimal satellite transmission settings.

The tagging project was expanded last year and is being conducted with assistance from recreational fishing guides and as part of the division’s annual longline survey.

Tags are programmed in intervals ranging from 30 days to 12 months to detach from a fish and “pop up” at the surface, transmitting daily location data to the Argos satellite network, creating a detailed map of a fish’s movements.

“Because red drum often travel near the surface, some tags may send data before their programmed release, providing early insights into fish locations,” according to the release.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Monday that those interested in leasing public coastal waters to cultivate shellfish may submit applications now through Aug. 1.

The division, which manages the state’s Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, accepts bottom lease and water column applications annually March 1-Aug. 1. Site investigations are conducted April 1-Oct. 1, to align with submerged aquatic vegetation growing seasons.

Applicants must include in their application a comprehensive storm preparation and gear management plan, detailed in Section 5 of the application and Appendix VII. This plan is mandatory.

Application materials and program details are available at deq.nc.gov/shellfish-lease.

The division encourages applicants not to wait until the deadline to apply. Applications that are incomplete, submitted incorrectly or that propose ineligible lease sites will be denied. Applications denied after Aug. 1 cannot be resubmitted until 2027. All application fees are nonrefundable and nontransferable.

The division’s interactive Shellfish Aquaculture Tool, which is updated weekly, allows the public and applicants to track the status of active, pending and terminated shellfish leases.

“Shellfish aquaculture supports North Carolina’s working waterfronts and contributes important economic and environmental benefits to coastal communities,” the division said.

The division said in the release that it provides guidance and technical support to help applicants meet state requirements and plan effective, sustainable operations.

For more information, contact the Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program at 252-515-5600.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is hosting two public hearings this month on a proposed temporary rule amendment for sheepshead in inland and joint fishing waters of the state.

The commission is also accepting public comments on the proposed regulation, which would align with a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries proclamation, through March 31.

The proposed temporary rule amendment for sheepshead calls for decreasing the daily creel limit of that species from 10 to five fish, and increasing the minimum size from 10 to 14 inches in inland and joint fishing waters (hook and line).

“The Wildlife Resources Commission initiated the temporary rulemaking process to provide regulatory consistency for sheepshead following the Marine Fisheries’ proclamation,” Inland Fisheries Division Chief Corey Oakley said in a release.

The commission continues to accept public comments on a proposed temporary rule amendment to close recreational harvesting of spotted seatrout in inland and joint fishing waters from April 6 to June 30. That proposed rule amendment aligns with DMF’s proclamation for all commercial and recreational coastal and joint fishing waters that was enacted in response to cold stun events earlier this year.

Both the sheepshead and the spotted seatrout temporary rule amendments will be discussed at an in-person public hearing scheduled for 6 p.m. on March 10 at the N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Lenoir County Center, 1791 N.C. 11, Kinston. Registration is not required for this hearing.

A virtual hearing has been scheduled for 2 p.m. on March 17 and registration is required to attend.

Comments on the proposed temporary rule amendment for sheepshead may be submitted online, by email to regulations@ncwildlife.gov, or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC, 27699-1701. Mail must be postmarked by March 31.

The public comment period for the proposed temporary rule amendment for spotted seatrout is set to close March 13.

Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the temporary rule pertaining to sheepshead during their April business meeting.

Recreational anglers are being asked to donate carcasses of legally harvested Gulf flounder to the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries during the 2026 spring season.

Carcasses will be used for research purposes. Biologists with the division will measure each fish, determine the sex of each fish when possible, and remove the otoliths, or ear bones, to determine the age of each fish.

During the recreational harvesting season, which is March 9-22 in ocean waters from Portsmouth Island to the South Carolina line, anglers who donate legally harvested Gulf flounder carcasses and complete the required catch-card (one person per fish, per card) will be entered to win one of five tackle bags filled with fishing gear and more.

Flounder are one of five species anglers are now required to report under a new state law.

Carcass donations may be dropped at one of the division’s Carcass Collection Program’s eight freezer locations.

Those locations include:

• Cape Pointe Marina, 1390 Island Road, Harkers Island.
• Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle, 709 Atlantic Beach Causeway, Atlantic Beach.
• N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Headquarters, 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City.
• Pelagic Hunter, 104 James St., Sneads Ferry.
• Tex’s Tackle, 215 Old Eastwood Road, Wilmington.
• Carolina Beach Municipal Docks, Carl Winner Drive, Carolina Beach.
• Clem’s Seafood, 4351 Long Beach Road SE, Southport.
• Ocean Isle Fishing Center, 65 Causeway Drive, Ocean Isle Beach.

Donation supplies and catch-cards are available at each donation site. Anglers must complete the entire catch-card legibly, completely and truthfully to be eligible to win.

Anglers should leave the head and tail intact and, if possible, not remove the guts/reproductive organs when cleaning their fish.

Those who fish on a charter boat or head boat should let the fish cleaner know that a carcass will be donated.

The minimum size limit for Gulf flounder in North Carolina is 15 inches total length.

Recreational anglers who harvest Gulf flounder in federal waters and bring the fish back to North Carolina must meet the state’s season, size and possession limits.

Additional specific information is available under Proclamation FF-13-2026.

For more information about North Carolina’s Carcass Collection program, contact Amanda Macek, Division sportfishing specialist, at 252-515-5537 or amanda.macek@deq.nc.gov.

New sheepshead regulations kick in next month for North Carolina recreational and commercial fisheries.

Beginning Sunday, the bag limit for recreational fishers will be five sheepshead per person per day.

The revised regulations for commercial fisheries include a limit of 1,500 pounds per operation per day, a limit of 10 fish per person per day or trip, including trips that occur over more than one calendar day, for gig and spear fishing, and a limit of 300 pounds per trip.

Both fisheries will have a size limit of 14 inches total length.

These changes are being implemented “because of increases in sheepshead harvest, particularly juvenile fish, in recent years,” according to a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries release.

Under the new regulations, each fish should be measured from the tip of the snout to the longest part of the tail when pinched together.

These measurement changes align with regulations for black drum, according to the division.

“Aligning the measurement point for the two species simplifies regulations for the public,” a division release states.

Additional information is available on the division’s Proactive Sheepshead Management webpage.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced Thursday that the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council had rescheduled the “Lines of Communication” meetings in North Carolina that were postponed earlier this month because of inclement weather.

“Lines of Communication” is a new council initiative to build relationships with fisheries stakeholders and provide an opportunity for mutual sharing of information. The meetings allow attendees to provide their perspectives to local council members, council staff and other fishery participants.

The meetings will be held in-person along the South Atlantic coast.

The rescheduled North Carolina Lines meeting are as follows:

• 6-8 p.m. March 23 at the Brunswick County Sandifer Administration Building, 30 Government Center Drive NE, Bolivia.
• 6-8 p.m. March 24 at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285
  Highway 70 West, Morehead City.
• 6-8 p.m. March 25 at the Hatteras Civic Center, 57688 N.C. Hatteras Highway, Hatteras.
• 6-8 p.m. March 26 at the Virginia S. Tillett Community Center, 950 Marshall C. Collins Drive, Manteo.

Those planning to attend are asked to RSVP.

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is one of eight regional fishery management councils in the United States that manages fisheries in federal waters. The council is responsible for the conservation and management of fishery resources in federal waters ranging from 3 to 200 miles off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida.

The council manages species such as dolphin, wahoo, mackerel, snapper and grouper. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries encourages those interested in these federally managed species to attend one of the Lines of Communication meetings.

For more information, contact Christina Curtis at Christina.Wiegand@safmc.net or 843-302-8437.  

By the time you read this we will know the complete outcome of the aftermath of the cold event of late January/early February. Let’s take a look at why this occurred in the first place, the immediate effect, and what some old-timers think about possible consequences.

In the southern portion of the East Coast we have numerous species of gamefish that will use shallow creeks in winter. North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries biologist Chris Batsavage says many of these species will be found in shallow creeks during winter.

“The mud bottom found in many shallow creeks, along with their shelter from the wind, can provide warmer water and forage during the winter,” Batsavage told Coastal Review.

Usually this provides a nice arrangement, and the fish are happy in sunny, hidey holes. However, through the years there have been situations where their natural tendency is detrimental to their survival. When there is an extreme cold snap that leads to creeks icing over for extended periods of time, fish using these waters may experience cold stun, or even be killed. The longer freezing conditions occur, the more severe the effect can be.

It would seem that the cold of those couple of weeks in January and February did the job. I talked to fishy friends all along the coast and their words were not encouraging.

“It seems there’s already been four major kills reported. I think it will be very significant,” reported Capt. Harry Meraklis of Kitty Hawk.

Capt. Dave Rohde of Kitty Hawk told me, “The sound was frozen solid yesterday. They are floating everywhere.”

Batsavage said quite a few reports were coming in from the public and division staff.

As is policy in these cases, the Division of Marine Fisheries shut down the speckled trout fishery for all users on Friday, Feb. 6. At this point the closure extends to June 30. However, an official opening date had not been announced at the time of this publication.

The reason is twofold: We have had significant cold events in consecutive years (first time in my memory although I am sure others go further back than me), and this 2026 cold kill was unprecedented in both breadth and length, in recent memory. The record amounts of snow and the length of time that temperatures were well below 32 degrees left creeks frozen for longer than I recall in my 30 years in the state. People were ice skating down the middle of Emerald Drive in Emerald Isle.

Fish kills have been reported as far south as Florida. I remember being down there in spring after a big cold spell killed lots of snook years ago. It was grim.

Experience tells us that this should work itself out. The fish themselves have evolved over millennia and will sort it for themselves. Capt. Seth Vernon of Wilmington holds this view.

“Nature seeks homeostasis,” Vernon said. “I would hope we keep the pressure off of them until after they have spawned, and they will make up for the deficit in the numbers of eggs produced and fertilized.”

Capt. Rick Patterson of Cape Carteret said that, in the cold kills that he had seen over the years, “there will still be trout this summer and fall. The numbers of big fish may be down, however.”

The hope is that recent conservation efforts will pay off in quickly rebuilding speckled trout populations.

“It seems like the stock rebounded quicker from the cold-kill events over the last 10 years or so, compared to those from further back in time,” said Batsavage.

Noted Carolina Sportsman columnist Capt. Jerry Dilsaver of Oak Island adds that, “I think it’s safe to believe the closures help the trout numbers rebound quicker.”

Dilsaver is quick to point out that the statewide closure is wise.

“For what it’s worth, I have heard some fishermen (at Ocean Isle Beach) saying, “Why did they close the season here? We didn’t have any significant kills.’”

Any different won’t work, he says.

“If an area is left open, it will be inundated with fishermen from other areas, and they will most likely harm the fish worse than the freeze,” said Dilsaver.

These are wise words from a wise man. Pay attention. There’ve been and will continue to be plenty of complaints about this in the months to come.

Batsavage agrees.

“It’s hard to measure the impact of closing the fishery after a cold-kill event, but reducing fishing mortality likely benefits the recovery,” he said.

In my personal experience (if that’s even worth considering), the closure helps the fish recover. I have caught 25-inch-long trout on topwater plugs in May while casting for redfish, and I personally have seen fish populations rebound after having been given a few months to recover from cold kills. It would be pretty obvious next fall when everybody had good action.

The only problem this time is the unprecedented nature of this year’s weather. Anyone who says they know precisely what is going to happen, well … no, they don’t.

Be patient. Give the system a chance to recover. The experts who I know know, regardless of what Uncle Ernie on the Internet says.

A two-week recreational fishing season will open next month for Gulf flounder in ocean waters off the central and southeastern North Carolina coast.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced Monday that it is opening the season March 9-22 in ocean waters between the north end of Portsmouth Island (south of Ocracoke Inlet) to the South Carolina line.

Gulf flounder may only be fished by hook and line during the season. There is a bag limit of one fish per person per day, and a size limit of no less than 15 inches in length.

Other specific information is available in the division’s proclamation.

State fisheries officials included in an amendment to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan an opportunity for recreational fishers to harvest summer and Gulf flounder during a time when they are less likely to catch southern flounder.

North Carolina has historically managed southern, summer and Gulf flounder as one in the recreational fishery.

Strict regulations limiting recreational southern flounder catch remain in place because, according to the latest stock assessment, this species of flounder is overfished and overfishing is occurring, according to a fisheries release.

North Carolina’s recreational 2026 and 2027 season for summer flounder, which is jointly managed by the federal Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management County and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, must align with the fall flounder season.

While summer flounder range in distribution from Massachusetts to Florida, the species is most abundant from southern New England to Hatteras Island.

Gulf flounder range from North Carolina through the Gulf and are more abundant the further south you go, which is why the division chose the area it did for recreational Gulf flounder harvest, limiting the probability of summer flounder catch.

Physical characteristics that distinguish the three species of flounder are available on the division’s flounder identification webpage.

Under a new state harvest reporting requirement law, anglers must report their harvest of flounder, striped bass, spotted seatrout, weakfish (gray trout), and red drum to the division.

Four rotational harvest cultch sites in the Pamlico Sound are to remain open until March 31, unless it’s deemed necessary to close these 10-acre sites sooner, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Friday.

The sites are part of the N.C. Oyster Fishery Management Plan’s amendment 5, “which balances harvest opportunities with sustainability by allowing harvest on managed cultch planting sites while protecting oyster habitat in other areas of the Pamlico Sound,” the division said. Cultch sites are oyster reefs the planted in places with the right environmental conditions.

The division rotates which cultch sites are open to mechanical harvest to provide continued opportunities later in the season while supporting the division’s “extensive cultch planting program and long-term management goals for the resource.”

The following sites are open from sunrise to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, in accordance with existing gear, tagging and size limit requirements, and are subject to daily harvest limits of adjacent areas as outlined in a proclamation:

• Up to 15 bushels a day in Turnagain Bay no. 1 in the Neuse River management area.
• Up to 10 bushels a day in Jones Bay No. 1 in the Neuse River management aArea.
• Up to 15 bushels in Crab Hole No. 2 in the Northern Dare management area.
• Up to 15 bushels a day in Swan Quarter No. 2 in the Pamlico River management area.

These sites are marked with buoys and orange flags. Coordinates for the sites are in the press release.

The division reminded commercial fishermen and the public that mechanical oyster harvest seasons were closed:

• Jan 9 in the bays of the Neuse River, Pamlico River and northern Hyde management areas.
• Jan. 16 in the open waters of the Pamlico River and Neuse River areas.
• Jan. 30 in the northern Hyde area.

For more information the state’s oyster management plan, visit the division’s website.

A female North Atlantic right whale was found dead ashore a remote barrier island off Virginia’s Eastern Shore earlier this week.

Biologists with The Nature Conservancy found the 3-year-old critically endangered whale stranded on the beach Feb. 10. She has been identified as the calf of “Porica.” Porica is known to have had two other calves to die.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Fisheries is working with the Marine Mammal Stranding Network to try and determine the cause of death.

She is the second North Atlantic right whale to have been found dead since the New Year.

Less than two weeks ago, the carcass of a 4-year-old male named “Division” was found floating about 25 miles off the coast of Avon.

He died as a result of injuries he received from being entangled in fishing gear, according to NOAA.

Vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement are the two leading causes of death to North Atlantic right whales, of which there are fewer than 400 on the planet. There are only around 70 breeding females.

“This is an endless tug of war between hope and despair for North Atlantic right whales, and today, despair is winning,” Nora Ives, a marine scientist with Oceana, stated in a release. “Another whale is gone, a young female that could have helped contribute to the future of a population already on the brink of extinction. We can and we must do better. Stronger protections and proven solutions are needed, but both depend on adequate funding and staffing at NOAA. They also require full implementation of bedrock laws like the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act that help secure a future for these creatures. It’s time for U.S. leaders to fight for the future North Atlantic right whales deserve.”

This is the 43rd recorded North Atlantic right whale death since 2017, the year an unusual mortality event was declared after elevated deaths in the species were documented in Canada and the United States.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has opened for public comment a proposed temporary rule amendment to close recreational harvesting of spotted seatrout in the state’s inland and joint fishing waters from April 6 until June 30.

The proposed rule aligns with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ recently announced seatrout harvest closure for all commercial and recreational coastal and joint fishing waters.

The closure was enacted because of recent cold stun events in multiple areas of the state.

“The Wildlife Resources Commission initiated the temporary rulemaking process as quickly as possible to provide regulatory consistency following the Marine Fisheries proclamation,” Inland Fisheries Division Chief Corey Oakley stated in a release. “Temporarily closing the spotting seatrout harvest season will follow recommendations set out by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spotted Seatrout Management Plan to allow the population to recover from cold stun events.”

A virtual hearing on the proposed temporary rule amendment has been scheduled for noon, Feb. 25. Pre-registration is required.

An in-person public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. March 10 at the N.C. Cooperative Extension’s Lenoir County Center, 1791 NC-11 in Kinston.

Public comments may be submitted through March 13 online, by email to regulations@ncwildlife.gov, or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701. Mailed comments must be postmarked by March 13.

State Wildlife Resource Commission commissioners will review comments and vote on the temporary rule during their March business meeting.

If the proposed rule passes, spotted seatrout harvest season in inland and joint fishing waters will reopen July 1.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission during its February meeting is scheduled to vote on a preferred management option and proposed rulemaking language for the Atlantic bonito.

The meeting is taking place at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, and at 9 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

The Division of Marine Fisheries, under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff for and carries out the policies established by the commission.

In response to a request by the Marine Fisheries Commission, the division will present proposed options for management of Atlantic bonito.

The selection of a preferred management option and associated proposed rulemaking language would lead to completion of a fiscal analysis by the division so the formal rulemaking process can begin at the commission’s May 2026 business meeting.

The public comment period will be announced by a news release.

The commission is also expected to vote on an initial determination of rules and public notice for the state-mandated periodic review and expiration of existing rules. If approved, a public comment period for the rules and determinations would be held from March 2 to May 1, according to the division.

The commission is to hear the following information items:

• North Carolina’s application for a red snapper exempted fishing permit pilot project, which will allow the state to test a phone application to collect catch data to monitor a recreational red snapper season this year.
• Spotted seatrout cold-stun closures that occurred in 2025 and early 2026.
• Upcoming fishery management plans and the implementation of recently adopted plans.
• Mandatory harvest reporting.

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

To speak during the in-person public comment sessions at 6 p.m. Feb. 18 and 9 a.m. Feb. 19, sign up at the hotel before the public comment sessions. Bring at least 12 copies if planning to give commissioners handouts.

The public may also submit written comments using the online form on the Marine Fisheries Commission meetings webpage; by mail to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557: or dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St.

The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 16.

Second installment of a two-part series special to Coastal Review

My mullet-fishing experience began in Carteret County, over half a century ago, but over the subsequent years and many scientific expeditions to find fossils, we have continued to cross paths with our “jumpin’ mullet,” catching them in places as far-flung as Hawaii and seeing them in markets of Europe, Africa, and Madagascar.

We have long marveled that our local tradition for drying mullet roe, which goes back many generations in my wife Lida Pigott’s family, somehow has its roots on the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia, the source of “Cabras gold,” the prized bottarga di muggine of Italian cuisine.

On my first visit to this enchanted island, just off the coast of Italy and second only to Sicily in size in the Mediterranean, I presented a talk at an international meeting of paleontologists and archaeologists on the topic of “Early Man in Island Environments,” featuring my years of work studying prehistoric Madagascar. I was fully captivated by the mysterious Sardinian landscapes, with more than 7,000 ancient ruins from the Neolithic and Bronze Age, some as old as Stonehenge and the pyramids.

I told myself I had to get back to Sardinia one day with more time to absorb it. I knew Lida would love this place because it is so strange and at once familiar. That was 1988.

We finally got back there a few months ago, for a nice long stay, and one of our projects was to explore the very heartland of one of Italian cuisine’s most famous products, bottarga di muggine, our own beloved mullet roe.

The wonderful archaeological museums and sites on the island tell the story well. Big estuaries with hydrology and scale similar to our own Core Sound, known locally as stagno (ponds), have been exploited for mullet seasonally, just as here in coastal NC or Hawaii or hundreds of other places in all the warm oceans of the world.

Mullet have undoubtedly fed Sardinians steadily for 5,000 years or more, from the indigenous Nuragic culture, through successive colonization by the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Romans, Spaniards, and medieval feudal lords.

In fact, one of the last vestiges of feudalism as an economic strategy anywhere in Europe was the mullet fishery of famous bottarga producers like the Stagno di Mar `e Pontis, near Cabras, Sardinia.

By the mid-1900s this ancient lucrative industry, still owned by what today might be described as an “oligarch,” was regulated through eight levels of bureaucracy, whereby so many folks with fancy titles and allegiance to the “owner” got such large cuts that sometimes not much was left for the fishermen who did the catching.

Long-standing issues flared up regarding the maintenance of the canals to the ocean that have regulated the water flow for centuries, even millennia. Poaching was rampant. The fishery was in a poor state.

Something had to be done, and some violence came with the transition, as fishermen’s consortiums, government officials, and local business interests tried to set things right in a variety of sometimes conflicting ways.

In an infamous 1978 crime incident, the feudal overlord, Don Efisio Carta, was kidnapped by banditi and never found, although a ransom was collected.

By the 1980s, the now outlawed feudal hierarchy had been replaced by a consortium of fishermen’s cooperatives, and to this day they run a thriving fishery based primarily on the mullet and bottarga but also with eel and tuna fisheries, shellfish farming, and other maritime industries to sustain the large work force through the off-season for the migratory mullet.

Over several weeks, Lida and I had been eating seafood, especially targeting bottarga dishes, all over Italy and Sardinia. We were especially excited to arrive in the absolute world capital of the jumpin’ mullet and the bottarga industry, Cabras, for a few days of culinary “mullet research.”

We visited the splendid local museums, but as mullet fishermen ourselves we were just as interested to see where the fishermen store their nets and dock their boats, what kinds of tackle they are using, and what they are generally about.

We were amazed to discover that the Cabras cooperative uses a single type of molded fiberglass skiff, a stout outboard motor of a single brand, and nets nearly all alike in tidy labeled bins and net bags.

As net hangers ourselves, we were impressed that their tackle and techniques looked almost exactly like ours, down to the corks and knots.

The folks at a local store selling bottarga and smoked mullet insisted that, with our interest in the subject, we really had to visit the museum dedicated to the history of the local fishing culture, just down the road a bit.

We walked there along a causeway through the vast wetlands to reach the cluster of buildings on a high place out in the marsh, beside a deep channel leading out into the stagno.

Part of the “fish tourism” project of the Cabras fishermen’s consortium, Mar’e Pontis Museum had a sweet friendly charm that reminded me of our own Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

The site also hosts a great restaurant, featuring local seafood, and an ancient chapel where the fishermen have prayed for safe and productive fishing for almost a thousand years.

From Pinuccio Carrus, a mullet fisherman who also guides museum tours, we learned about the boats, fishing gear, and thousands of years of fishing and fishing culture on this spot.

Probably since the Neolithic, fishermen here used small agile boats made entirely of reeds from the marsh, and some still do.

Wooden rowboats from years past, shaped like large high-ended canoes, similar to the gondolas of Venice, are now mostly rotting in yards, with molded fiberglass being the material of choice for most commercial fishing in the stagno today.

The museum had all kinds of nets and traps, for mullet and eels primarily, including ones that looked like our pound nets and gill nets.

Today, the fishermen use monofilament gill nets almost identical to ours in North Carolina, although the spear-fishing from reed boats is still practiced, too, much as it has been since prehistoric times.

Drawings and photos of fishing activity during the heyday of the feudal fishery show pound nets and fish corrals full of mullet with fishermen standing in their midst, taking them out by hand.

Having done a bit of that myself, I couldn’t help wondering if they had to watch out for stingrays lurking on the bottom of the mass of hemmed-in fish the way we do!

Of all the mullet-based meals of the trip – and there were many all over Italy and Sardinia – one of the most memorable was at the Restaurante de Madre de Rosy Circu in the heart of Cabras, at a junction of several of its ancient labyrinthine streets.

It was the only time anywhere that we dined on an entirely mullet-based pizza. It had a thin crust, a tomato and parsley sauce, and a topping of smoked mullet, sprinkled liberally with ground mullet roe (bottarga), a kind of double-mullet treat!

Another favorite we had several times around the island was a type of thick, rectangular local pasta with tiny clams (vongole veraci) and loads of ground bottarga. One of the best dishes was purple artichokes smothered in thin amber slices of bottarga, a feast for both the eye and palate.

Local shops sold a wonderful pâté made from bottarga and just right for any imaginable cracker.

The mullet fishery of Sardinia, although today only a small fraction of the historical fishery, seems to be doing fairly well. The industry in value-added fish products from local mullet, eel, and tuna seems to be thriving.

One change is that whereas relatively cheap U.S. mullet roe used to be imported salted or frozen to Italian factories for conversion to preciously expensive bottarga (not quite as expensive as caviar, but in that league), fish industries from Carteret County, to Manatee County, Florida (Cortez area) have sprung up that convert local mullet roe to a quality bottarga that sells on the internet for prices similar to the celebrated Sardinian stuff.

Combined with beach tourism and the draw from internationally unique 3,000-year-old giant stone statues (I Giganti di Mont’e Prama), folks there on the Sinis Peninsula seem to make a pretty good living by the stagno.

The mullet still come in large numbers from the sea every year, swelling the estuaries and feeding the people, dolphins, and birdlife, then returning to deeper water to complete their life cycle. Just like back home here in Carteret County,  and virtually all the warm coastal waters of the globe.

Our mullet is a fish for the world, a true cosmopolitan. I’m glad to have made its acquaintance in so many wonderful places.

Widespread cold stun events have prompted the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries to close the state’s coastal and joint fishing waters to commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest.

The closure will go into effect at 4 p.m. Friday, according to a release from the division.

In all, 10 waterbodies from Hyde County south to Pender County have been confirmed to have significant spotted seatrout cold stun events.

“The Division is still receiving and verifying more cold stun reports and collecting associated environmental data,” the release states. “These efforts will continue regardless of the closure so the Division can measure the magnitude of the cold stun event to evaluate how to protect the stock.”

Cold stuns occur as a result of a sudden drop in water temperature or prolonged periods of cold weather, making fish sluggish, killing many outright or leaving them vulnerable to birds and other predators.

“Studies suggest that cold stun events can have a significant impact on Spotted Seatrout populations,” according to the release.

The division is ordering the closure through June 30 to allow surviving fish a chance to spawn in the spring before harvest reopens. Peak spawning runs from May through July.

Commercial seafood dealers have until 3:30 p.m. Feb. 13 to sell, offer for sale, transport or dispose of any unfrozen spotted seatrout in their possession from purchases made before the closure.

The public is asked to report any cold stun events in coastal waters to Lucas Pensinger at 252-515-5638 or Lucas.Pensinger@deq.nc.gov.

First of two parts in a series special to Coastal Review

To many Carolinians coming to the beach for a little fishing, the mullet is a lowly baitfish, often cut into strips for bottom fishing. They may confuse it with an unrelated fish in the drum family known locally as the “sea mullet.”

To the folks of Down East Carteret County, and some locals throughout coastal NC, however, the “jumpin’ mullet,” as they call it, owns a special place in their hearts and kitchens. Often known as the grey mullet, flathead mullet, or striped mullet elsewhere in the English-speaking world, Mugil cephalus is a consummate jumper.

Back in 1980, while cutting mullet strips to use on offshore trips on the Carolina Princess with the original owner and captain, the late James “Woo-woo” Harker of Harkers Island, he and I would joke about how much better-flavored they were than the fish that we caught with them to sell at the fish house or that our clients from upstate were seeking on their charter trips with us — red snappers and groupers mostly. (Those were different times!)

For nearly a decade by then, I had been learning from my in-laws, the Pigotts and Nelsons of Carteret County: 1) how to strike-net mullet in a fast shallow-draft boat with lots of gill-net set in a circle around a seething school of mullet; 2) how to charcoal the fillets on pecan wood, for several hundred people at a time if necessary; and 3) how to prepare that most wonderful of eastern North Carolina delicacies – dried mullet roe – the bottarga di muggine of Italian cuisine (more on that later).

Well over a century ago, many Carteret County families literally cast their fates with the mullet fishery. Some of my wife Lida’s relatives even followed the mullet fishery elsewhere, particularly to Cortez and Punta Gorda, Florida, as described by historians Dr. Mary Fulford Green and David Cecelski.

This “mullet fishermen’s migration” showed how important one species of fish can be to human livelihoods and culture, reminiscent of the singular role of cod in European history or salmon for the Northwest Coast Native American tribes and the indigenous Ainu of northern Japan.

But where did North Carolinians pick up mullet fishing and all that goes with it, especially their appetite for the dried egg masses? North Carolina explorer John Lawson wrote in 1709 that eastern parts of the state had “Mullets, the same as in England, and in great Plenty in all places where the water is salt or brackish.”

Perhaps Down Easters may have learned originally about mullet and their fabulous roe from their Native American neighbors in the late 1600s and early 1700s, who undoubtedly knew it well.

Or perhaps, one could speculate, they learned or relearned directly from cultural transmission from Europe. After all, fishermen in this area have been selling mullet roe for export to Italy for many decades. In any case, drying mullet roe for cooking later is part of the “traditional ecological knowledge“ (TEK of anthropological lingo), of eastern Carteret County people.

During World War II, my father-in-law, the late Osborne G. “Bill” Pigott, asked his family back home to send him just one thing – some dried mullet roe. When he heated it on the wood stove in his tent somewhere in France, it drove his tentmates out with its powerful smell. “That was OK,” Bill would recount with a twinkle “more for me that way.”

As Lida and I made our way through the 70s and a subsequent half-century, we crossed paths with the cosmopolitan, under-rated mullet in many improbable places. It’s truly a worldwide fish and fishery, we began to realize, as we encountered them in fish markets of Europe, Africa, Madagascar, Hawaii, and elsewhere.

Part of our research involved excavating fossil sites on islands, to try to better understand past natural and human roles in the drastic environmental changes there. Lida and I feel really lucky to have done island paleoecology all around the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans.

Several of our sites on the Hawaiian island of Kaua`i, especially Makauwahi Cave on the south shore, were full of bones of prehistoric mullet, that same Mugil cephalus as our “jumpin’ mullet.”

Sites we excavated and radiocarbon dated showed mullet were there in large numbers thousands of years before the first humans to land on those shores. But we also studied prehistorically managed fishponds, places where the mullet (`ama`ama in Hawaiian) were raised in large numbers.

Oral tradition indicates that mullet were caught in nearby estuaries and transferred live to these ponds, or lured inside through slatted gates. They were kept well-fed on what mullet like best, low-on-the-food-chain treats like algae and zooplankton. These most revered fish were for consumption only by the ali`i or chiefly class. Commoners could make do with ordinary reef fish and such, but for the chief and his guests – it was likely to be `ama`ama.

On outings with my friend Joe Kanahele of Ni`ihau Island, I had the good fortune on several occasions to see how native Hawaiians catch mullet and similar fish today. With an oversized cast net, he would often catch a dozen large fish in one throw, after a careful stalk along a rocky shore.

On the Alakoko (Menehune) Fishpond near Lihu`e, I helped the pondkeeper, Robert Rego, set a gill net across the pond, and we caught and ate some nice mullet — from the same place Hawaiian aquaculturists practiced mullet farming in a pond that our radiocarbon dating had shown they built in the 1300s.

Native Hawaiians were among the first people to build fishponds and cultivate fish on a large scale, but they were certainly not the only ancient folks, as Pliny the Elder writes about Roman fishponds shortly before his demise in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the volcano that buried the Pompeii area in 79 C.E.

The magnificent tile mosaics and other art recovered from the buried city included pictures of — you guessed it — mullet. Two kinds actually, our grey, or jumpin’ mullet (cephalo in Italian), and the red mullet (Mullus surmuletus, or triglia di scoglio in Italian).

So the ancient Romans knew all about our dear Carteret County fish, but although Rome might have been the capital of the known world at that time, the real capital of the jumpin’ mullet is arguably the Mediterranean island of Sardinia.

In part 2, Lida and I will make a “culinary pilgrimage” to the very heart of the mullet fishing and bottarga-making industries, along a body of water so much like our own Core Sound. Our cosmopolitan fish was already at the center of the culture there before the time of Stonehenge and the pyramids.

Next in the series: Back to where it all began

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Update 12:30 Feb. 2: The North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition meeting, originally scheduled for Feb. 4 has been canceled, Carteret County, which hosts the meeting, announced Sunday. A new meeting date has yet to be established.

Original post Jan. 27:

The next meeting of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 4, in Morehead City’s Crystal Coast Civic Center.

The press release from Dare County Tuesday announcing the meeting time and location did not include a proposed agenda but does state that the purpose of the meeting is to “discuss issues related to the fishing industry, and any other issues considered necessary and relevant.”

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard initiated the coalition last summer after a bill made it through the state Senate that would ban trawling in the state’s inland waters and just offshore. The House of Representatives decided not to move forward with the bill.

Woodard, after voicing his concerns to the General Assembly leadership, formed the coalition and invited elected officials and staff from Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties to participate.

The group first met Aug. 5, 2025, and again Sept. 16 and Nov. 5. The February meeting is the fourth total and first of the new year.

The coalition “supports our state’s commercial fishermen and fishing communities in an effort to protect their livelihoods, preserve coastal heritage, and safeguard the economic vitality of our working waterfronts. Together, we work to ensure the continued harvest of high-quality North Carolina seafood—feeding families, strengthening communities, and ensuring North Carolina Catch remains a priority for consumers to enjoy throughout our state and beyond,” according to the mission statement on Dare County’s website.

Related coverage:

• Fledgling commercial fisheries group looks to boost industry Aug. 7, 2025.
• Seafood coalition proposes moving Fisheries to Agriculture Sept. 24, 2025.
• Update: Blue crab harvest vote removed from agenda Nov. 14, 2025.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is accepting public comment on 10 proposed shellfish leases in Onslow County waters.

The division has scheduled a public hearing on the proposed leases for 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at the Holly Ridge Community Center, and will accept written comments until 7 p.m. Feb. 13.

The following are the proposed shellfish leases in Onslow County the division is considering:

• Old Baldy Aquaculture, LLC has applied for a 4.78-acre shellfish bottom lease in the New River below the N.C. 172 bridge, and for a 1.19-acre shellfish bottom lease in Stones Bay.
• Alonzo L. Davis III has applied for two shellfish bottom and water column leases, one for .76 acres and the other for .58 acres, near Hammocks Beach State Park.
• Stump Sound Oyster Co., LLC has applied for a 4.77-acre shellfish bottom lease and water column lease in Stones Bay.
• Anthony A. Grant has applied for a 0.87-acre shellfish bottom lease in Alligator Bay.
• Joshua A. Thompson has applied for a 3.73-acre shellfish bottom lease and water column lease in Ellis Cove; a 3.65-acre shellfish water column lease in the New River below N.C. 172 bridge; and for a 4.24-acres shellfish water column lease in Stones Bay.

To comment during the meeting through the online platform, register to speak no later than 4 p.m. Feb. 11 at deq.nc.gov/onslow-county-shellfish-lease-hearing-speaker-registration. To speak in person, register a the community center an hour before the meeting starts.

Written comments can be submitted no later than 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 13, using the online form, or mailed to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program, PO Box 769 3441, Arendell St., Morehead City, NC 28557-076.

The division’s Shellfish Leasing Tool interactive map shows the locations of the proposed leases. If accessing from this page, click “Cancel” in response to sign-in prompt, and “OK” to subsequent prompts to continue.

From shortly after the Civil War until the mid-2000s, when the last menhaden plant was shuttered, the town of Beaufort would “smell of money.”

“The menhaden industry made Beaufort prosperous. Local menhaden companies once provided hundreds of jobs in the local community and surrounding areas with numerous factories and vessels working this lucrative fishery,” according to information from the North Carolina Maritime Museum, which has held several programs on the industry.

“The fishery itself, processing plants ashore, and support infrastructure provided steady employment opportunities, especially for African-Americans. While many visitors remember the smell of the fish, locals call it the ‘smell of money,’” It was their livelihood. Local merchants all benefited from the influx of people and money during menhaden’s fishing season. Menhaden fishing was recognized throughout Carteret County as an important part of this county’s commercial fishing industry.”

In the early days of catching menhaden, the mother boat would deploy smaller purse boats to maneuver a large net around a school of fish. Once the string draws the net shut around the hundreds of pounds of menhaden, the fishermen would haul the net by hand.

To perform this physically demanding, dangerous work, the fishermen would sing work songs, or chanteys, to help rhythmically synchronize their movements.

Barbara Garrity-Blake, fisheries social scientist and adjunct at Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort, told Coastal Review that the menhaden fishermen used to sing these songs before hydraulic net-lifting technology was introduced in the early 1960s.

“Each vessel carried a crew of about two-dozen men, mostly African Americans, who worked shoulder to shoulder in purse boats to pull in a giant seine net heavy with menhaden — sometimes a 100,000 or more fish. The men would coordinate their pulling by singing in a call-and-response style where the leader would sing out a line and the crew would answer in harmony,” she continued.

Their songs were a seafaring tradition known as chanteys.

After the menhaden industry became mechanized in the 1960s and 1970s, and the songs were no longer sung, some of the former and retired fishermen began to perform these traditional work songs for audiences, eventually becoming formally known as the Menhaden Chanteymen in 1988.

After the group began performing publicly, they sang for the North Carolina General Assembly, National Council on the Arts, at New York City’s Carnegie Hall and on national television, including for a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt. The group recorded the album “Won’t You Help Me to Raise ‘Em: Authentic Net Hauling Songs from an African-American Fishery,” for Global Village Music in 1990.

The remaining members made special appearances at events throughout the county, including a handful at Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

Beaufort Mayor Sharon Harker awarded in 2022 the two surviving Chanteymen, Ernest Davis and the Rev. Leroy Cox, the key to the city. Cox died in 2023, leaving Davis as the “last legacy-bearer of the Menhaden Chanteyman” until the final member, Davis, 86, died Jan. 3. His service and burial was Jan. 8 Mt. Tabor Missionary Baptist Church of North River. Noe Funeral Services of Beaufort handled the arrangements.

Garrity-Blake noted that Davis was the youngest of the Chanteymen and had “explained that singing generated a special power or strength, used for nets otherwise too heavy for human strength alone. So the chantey songs were used as a tool.”

In a recording, Davis explains that the fishermen would sing a chantey when they needed to raise up a net full of fish.

“If we couldn’t sing, we couldn’t get them raised up,” Davis said. The singing “would give you more spirit, and more power” and you could raise your fish better.

“At night you couldn’t sleep because you’d be hurting and cold so you just make up songs,” Davis said. And most of the captains would be singing right along with the crew. “Music could be heard all over the ocean … like music was on the water.”

Garrity-Blake said in an interview that she worked for many years with Davis and other menhaden workers on a project called “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing.”

The 2005 closure of Beaufort Fisheries, the last menhaden plant in the state, inspired North Carolina Humanities Council-funded project that Garrity-Blake helped launch in 2009 and 2010 with the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center on Harkers Island.

Davis was among a group of menhaden workers, including captains, crewmen, cookhouse and factory workers, who met several times at the Beaufort train depot to plan the project, “which was hilarious because ‘planning’ took a backseat to telling tales,” Garrity-Blake said, adding that the meetings always turned into a big storytelling session and nobody wanted to leave when the meeting was over.

“I realized that the menhaden folks had a hunger for getting together to talk about fishing. They feared their experiences and the industry’s legacy as the economic backbone of Carteret County would be forgotten. So we decided to call it ‘Raising the Story’ — just as the men worked together to raise fish, we’d work together to raise the story of menhaden fishing,” Garrity-Blake continued.

Garrity-Blake conducted about a dozen oral history recordings of people representing different skills in the fishery, from ring-setter in the fishing process to factory owner, the late Jule Wheatly in December 2009. He died in October 2011.

Fine art photographer and Beaufort resident Scott Taylor took portraits of all the folks who were interviewed, and developed an exhibit for the waterfowl museum. The oral history interviews and photos are part of the Core Sound museum’s online collection, on a Facebook page also called “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing,” and on Carolina Coastal Voices YouTube channel.

As part of “Raising the Story,” the group wanted to involve young people who didn’t know anything about the industry, so they collaborated with Josie Boyette’s seventh grade class at Beaufort Middle School.

“Three of the men, including Ernest Davis, were invited into the classroom to share stories, and the kids asked questions and recorded them,” Garrity-Blake said. “Davis talked about his role as first mate, although he’d also served as fish boat captain on occasion. He was proud to have made a good living, putting his kids through college, menhaden fishing. He said, ‘A lot of people think fishing is a disgrace. But I made a good living. Didn’t look to get rich or nothing.’”

She added that Davis’ grandson Trevor was in the classroom. “It was wonderful to see the pride on that little boy’s face when his grandad shared a story about fending off a shark that had swum in the net.”

The project culminated in what Garrity-Blake called a “jam-packed event” at Core Sound, where the middle school students showcased their work, captains and crewmen told stories to the audience, and the Menhaden Chanteymen performed their songs.

“When they performed, it was powerful and otherworldly; everyone was mesmerized,” Garrity-Blake said.

Historian and author David Cecelski has written extensively about coastal North Carolina’s fisheries, including that of menhaden, many of which can be found on his personal website such as “Menhaden Fishing Days” and “It Was Like a Ballet’: Menhaden Fishermen at Work, 1947,” which he describes the process of hauling a net based on a photo from the North Carolina State Archives.

He was invited to speak at the “Raising the Story of Menhaden Fishing” event held in the fall of 2010. In 2017, Cecelski reflected on the “Raising the Story” project and shared his comments from that event in an essay he titled, “Music All Over the Ocean.”

In the essay, he calls the project a “commemoration of the central role that the menhaden industry played in Carteret County for generations.”

Cecelski, who grew up near Beaufort, writes that anybody listening to the oral histories Garrity-Blake recorded for the project would be impressed with what the menhaden fishery meant to Carteret County, particularly the stink that permeated the town when the fish were being processed.

“When the wind was right, the aroma of the fish covered those towns like a blanket. Coastal visitors sometimes complained, but my cousins in the industry used to call it ‘the smell of money,’” he wrote in 2021.

Cecelski explains in his 2017 piece that Davis’s story was typical of what the industry’s wages meant to local fishermen and fish factory workers.

Davis, who left school when he was 15 and went to work menhaden fishing at Beaufort Fisheries, said in his interview that it was hard work but it was what he had to do. He fished for 41 years and became one of the most respected first mates on the East Coast, sending all five of his own children to college and helping raise and educate nine younger brothers and sisters.

The oral histories also show how the men and women watched the menhaden industry change over their lifetimes, like motorizing the process to haul in the fish, business became more corporate, unions made headway and state and federal governments enacted environmental regulations, just to name a few.

“But through it all, I could hear two things in the men’s voices: a love for menhaden fishing — master net mender Lee Crumbacker said it well: ‘it grows on you like a barnacle on a pole’— and a fierce pride in their craftsmanship,” Cecelski writes.

Cecelski writes that as a child, the first thing he ever heard about the menhaden industry was his mother’s stories about those chanteys. His mother grew up in Harlowe in the 1920s and 1930s, when Highway 101 was still a dirt road.

“Many of Beaufort’s African American fishermen lived in Harlowe, particularly in a reclusive community just across the county line called Craven Corner. As they drove oxen and carts down the road on their way to Beaufort, the menhaden fishermen sang the same songs that they sung as they hoisted the nets onto their boats,” he writes.

“Early Monday mornings, long before first light, my mother would wake up in her bed at the sound of those beautiful, haunting songs and listen to them as the fishermen moved through the darkness and toward the sea.”

Cecelski observes that the fishermen in the interviews talk about the chanteys the same way his mother did.

Davis said in his “Rising the Story” interview they “would sing all night long just to keep their minds off the cold and hurt. It ‘just seemed like music was all over the ocean’,” Cecelski writes.

“The fishermen mostly stopped singing their legendary chanteys with the introduction of power blocks and hardening rigs in the late 1950s and early 1960s, but those songs have remained a powerful memory for all who ever heard them.”

And while the chanteys have not been heard on a menhaden boat in a long time, but older people from around Carteret County still remember them, and tell Cecelski “how, on cool autumn days, you could sometimes stand on shore and hear the songs coming across the water. They filled the air and stirred the heart and got deep inside your bones,” Cecelski describes.

“And if you heard those songs, like my mother did when she was a little girl, you never forgot them or the way that they made you feel. It is hard to put into words, but it was not just the beauty of the melodies or the men’s fine voices, but the appearance that the music was rising right out of the sea.”

A North Carolina native and long-serving law enforcement officer with the N.C. Marine Patrol was formally pinned Tuesday as the agency’s top cop.

Chris Lee, who most recently served as captain of the agency’s Marine Patrol District 1, took the helm as colonel of the Marine Patrol on Jan. 1, replacing Col. Carter Witten, who retired Dec. 31.

Lee, a native of Colerain, has served with the patrol for 18 years. He was pinned by his father, Vernon Lee, a former deputy sheriff, during the ceremony, which was held at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City. A pinning ceremony is a long-held tradition that marks a a law enforcement officer’s promotion.

Lee helped form the Marine Patrol’s Swiftwater Rescue Team, building and training its members in late 2019. In 2021, the team became North Carolina’s first state law enforcement-certified swiftwater rescue team.

“That’s been one of the most rewarding things of my career,” Lee said in a release. “The relationships we have made across the state have done wonders for us as an agency, and we are providing a better service to the citizens of North Carolina.”

Lee, who trained alongside fellow team members, added, “We were all learning together and trying to make it happen to better serve in times of need.”

The team, which has deployed numerous times across the state, was one of 71 swiftwater rescue teams deployed to Western North Carolina to assist with rescuing people from floodwaters of Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024.

The Marine Patrol enforces coastal recreational and commercial fishing regulations of the state. The patrol has helped transport food to flooded communities, provided security in business districts hit by tornadoes, and its officers have flown Department of Environmental Quality staff to survey shoreline erosion and flooded animal waste operations after hurricanes.

As colonel, one of Lee’s goals is to “make the Marine Patrol even more of an asset to the people of North Carolina through training and working with North Carolina Emergency Management, while continuing to serve as the fisheries law enforcement agency,” the release states.

As colonel, Lee manages more than 50 officers and directs law enforcement efforts over 2.7 million acres of ocean and coastal fishing waters in 21 eastern counties.

“The N.C. Marine Patrol plays a vital role by enforcing fishing regulations and providing water, air and ground support to other DEQ divisions, including during emergencies,” N.C. DEQ Secretary Reid Wilson said in the release. “Colonel Lee will do an outstanding job because of his tremendous experience, vision, and commitment to the Marine Patrol’s mission.”

Lee is an Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran, where he served in 2003 as a member of the N.C. Army National Guard.

He began Basic Law Enforcement Training at Beaufort Community College upon his return from overseas and later worked for the Edenton Police Department before joining the Marine Patrol in March 2008.

He earned a degree in criminal justice after joining the Marine Patrol. In 2012, he received the N.C. Marine Fisheries Enforcement Officer of the Year award from the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Awards Program.

Lee was joined in his pinning by his wife Melissa, who pinned his badge; sons, Sonny and Banks; parents, Vernon and Tammy Lee; brother, Bryan Lee; and mother-in-law Kathy Rea.

A joint meeting of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Resource Fund Committee and the Funding Committee for the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund has been scheduled for January.

The meeting will be held at 3 p.m. Jan. 14 via WebEx.

Included on the agenda is a discussion to renew funding for a N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Commercial Statistics Project.

Committee members will also consider extending funding for the Always NC Fresh Campaign.

The public may join the meeting online or by telephone. The division will set up a listening station at its headquarters office at 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City.

The commission will accept only written public comments through an online form or by mail to January 2026 CFRF Meetings Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557. Comments will be accepted through noon Jan. 12.

Money for the Commercial Fishing Resource Fund comes from an increase in commercial fishing license fees that have been in effect since 2015.

“The fund pays for observer coverage to fulfill the state’s obligations under the North Carolina’s Endangered Species Act Section 10 Incidental Take Permit for sea turtles and Atlantic sturgeon. Any additional money left in the fund is to be used for projects to develop and support sustainable commercial fishing in the state,” according to a release.

The Commercial Fishing Resource Funding Committee, which includes six commercial fishing representatives, and the marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Committee, comprised of members of the commission that hold the three commercial fishing seats, must approve spending for these projects.

For more information, contact Kathy.Peterson@deq.nc.gov or call 252-515-5470.

The mechanical oyster harvest season has been extended in portions of Pamlico Sound.

The extension, which began Monday, is a result of “adaptive management measures that included collaboration with stakeholders,” according to a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries release.

“The Division’s annual mid-season sampling of the mechanical oyster harvest areas showed the numbers of legal sized oysters in several management areas of the Pamlico Sound met the management thresholds established in Amendment 5 to extend the season,” the release states.

That amendment in the North Carolina Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan includes a provision that links mechanical oyster harvest management in the Pamlico Sound to the state’s cultch planting efforts, where season length is based on pre- and mid-season sampling of oyster resources.

Commercial fishermen helped the division identify sampling sites.

The division is maintaining closures in Deep-Water Oyster Recovery Areas designated to protect sensitive habitat.

Select rotational harvest cultch sites identified in Amendment 5 remain open for the entirety of the mechanical harvest season through March 31, 2026.

As temperatures drop on the coast, the state is asking the public to report any cold-stunned spotted seatrout to the North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries.

Cold stuns can occur when there is a sudden drop in temperature or during prolonged periods of cold weather, making fish so sluggish they can be harvested by hand.

Spotted seatrout can be vulnerable to cold stuns during the winter when they typically move to relatively shallow creeks and rivers.

“Studies suggest that cold-stun events can have a significant negative impact on spotted seatrout populations as many fish that are stunned die from the cold or are eaten by birds or other predators,” fisheries officials said Friday.

No cold-stun events have been reported so far this season, but if there are concerning weather conditions in the upcoming weeks or months then a cold stun event could occur in coastal rivers and creeks.

Under the North Carolina Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan, if a significant cold stun event occurs, the division is to close all spotted seatrout harvest in the affected areas through June 30.

A significant cold stun is determined by assessing the size and scope of spotted seatrout affected by cold stun, and evaluating water temperatures to determine if triggers of 41 degrees for eight consecutive days or 37.4 degrees during a 24-hour period are met.

The intent of a harvest closure is to allow surviving fish a chance to spawn before harvest reopens. Peak spotted seatrout spawning occurs from May to June, fisheries officials said.

Data loggers are deployed statewide to continuously measure water temperatures in coastal rivers and creeks that are prone to cold stuns.

Spotted seatrout cold stun events can be reported at any time to the N.C. Marine Patrol at 252-515-5507 or during regular business hours to the division spotted seatrout biologist Lucas Pensinger at 252-515-5638 or Lucas.Pensinger@deq.nc.gov.

Officials ask that the public provide the specific location, date, and time the cold-stun event was observed along with contact information when reporting a cold-stun event.

The bag limit for recreationally caught bluefish in North Carolina will increase beginning next year in the state’s coastal fishing waters and joint fishing waters.

On Jan. 1, the bag limit for recreational fishers catching from shore, pier or private vessel will increase to five bluefish per person, per day, and the for-hire limit will increase to seven fish per person, per day.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced the upcoming changes in a release Thursday, noting that the bag limit increase “is a result of the higher recreational harvest limit.”

“A 2025 coastwide stock assessment for bluefish determined that overfishing is not occurring and the stock is not overfished,” the release states. “Although the stock has not yet fully rebuilt, it continues to get closer to the federal stock assessment target. The coastwide recreational harvest limit and commercial bluefish quota in 2026 and 2027 are higher based on the stock assessment results.”

Additional information is available in the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council meeting summary.

Recreational fishermen, as of Monday, must report when they harvest five fish species, and commercial fishermen must now report their entire harvest, whether or not they sell it to a seafood dealer.

The North Carolina General Assembly established the new rules through a 2023 law and charged the Division of Marine Fisheries with enforcing the requirements that went into effect Monday.

The recreational harvest of red drum, spotted seatrout, striped bass, weakfish and flounder must be reported to the Division of Marine Fisheries using the online Mandatory Harvest Reporting webform or a Paper Report Card once the fishing trip is complete.

For commercial fishermen, all harvest of finfish, shellfish and crustaceans must be reported through the North Carolina Trip Ticket Program using a licensed seafood dealer.

If the catch is sold, the dealer reports it as usual. The new rules require that any commercial catch that is not sold, such as kept for consumption, it must be reported through a dealer, who will mark a trip ticket as an “unsold harvest.” The harvest must be reported through a licensed seafood dealer within 48 hours of landing for a commercial fishing operation.

Officials said Monday that the Mandatory Harvest Reporting program will not replace the Marine Recreational Information Program, or any of the other creel surveys the division conducts. Information collected through the new program will be used in conjunction with data collected by existing surveys to better inform fisheries management.

More information, including a Frequently Asked Questions webpage, can be found in the Mandatory Harvest Reporting section of the Division of Marine Fisheries website.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is hosting a public hearing next week on two proposed shellfish leases in Carteret County.

The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. Monday in the division’s Central District Office, 5285 U.S. Highway 70 West, Morehead City, as well as by Webex.

The focus on the hearing will be on the following lease permit requests:

• I. Salts Oyster Co., LLC, Ralph W. Brittingham, Jr. and Ryan D. Salter, who have applied for a 6.08-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in North Bay (25-007BL/25-008WC).
• Rough Atlantic, LLC, Michael T. Dale, who has applied for a 6.02-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in North River (25-032BL/25-033WC).

Additional information, including presentation slides, biological investigation reports, the web conference link, and call-in telephone number, are available on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s website.

Anyone who wishes to speak at the in-person meeting should sign up on-site between 5-6 p.m. on the night of the hearing.

Written comments are also being accepted through 5 p.m. Dec. 2.

Online written comments will be accepted through an online form. Comments may also be mailed to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Leases, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557-0769.

For more information, contact Mitch Melkonian with the division’s Habitat and Enhancement Section at 252-515-5495 or SLAP@deq.nc.gov.

Update Nov. 19: According to an updated agenda document on the Marine Fisheries Commission webpage, the previously listed action item to consider adopting management strategies developed as part of the adaptative management framework for the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 during this week’s meeting has been removed.

Original post Nov. 14 “Fisheries to vote on proposed blue crab harvest rules” follows:

The coastal county lawmakers that formed a new group to support commercial fishing have submitted a resolution opposing more restrictions on the commercial harvest of blue crabs ahead of the Marine Fisheries Commission Nov. 19-20 meeting in Wrightsville Beach.

The Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to consider adopting management strategies developed as part of the adaptative management framework for the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3.

Those proposed strategies were discussed extensively during the third meeting of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition held Nov. 5 in Morehead City, when the members approved the resolution opposing any further restrictions until the 2026 blue crab stock assessment is completed.  

Amendment 3 was adopted in 2020 “to end overfishing and achieve sustainable harvest in the blue crab fishery,” Division of Marine Fisheries documents state. The original plan was adopted in December 1998 with the intention to manage the species, and amended in 2004 and again in 2013. The division acts as staff to the commission.

Amendment 3 is nearly halfway through the legislatively mandated 10-year stock rebuilding period “with little evidence suggesting management measures have been successful in ending overfishing or achieving sustainable harvest,” documents continue. The adaptive management framework in the amendment 3 is being “used to implement management measures projected to reduce fishing mortality (F) closer to the F target and rebuild the spawning stock closer to the spawner abundance target with greater than 50% probability of success.”

Current rules include closures Jan. 1-31 north of the Highway 58 bridge in Carteret County and March 1-15 in waters south of the bridge, and a 5-inch minimum size for mature females.

Staff propose starting Jan. 1, in addition to existing closures, prohibiting crab trawling statewide year-round. For waters north of the Emerald Isle bridge, a 30-bushel trip limit would be put in place from September to December, and for south of the bridge, a 15-bushel hard crab trip limit from September to December.

“These recommendations should be viewed as a first step rather than a comprehensive solution. Recommendations are based on a stock assessment that indicated the stock was overfished and overfishing was occurring but has a terminal year of 2016. Fishery-independent stock indicators suggest stock status has not improved since then,” agenda documents state.

The division has begun the process of developing a new benchmark stock assessment that should provide an updated stock status, and a review of the blue crab fishery management plan is scheduled to begin in 2026, “at which time comprehensive management will be explored. Until then, Amendment 3 management, including adaptive management and changes made through adaptive management will remain in place,” documents continue.

The N.C. Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition was put in motion this past summer by Dare County Chairman Bob Woodard after a proposed rule to ban shrimp trawling in some North Carolina waters worked its way through the Senate. The House decided not to take action on the bill.

Elected officials and staff representing Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties were invited to join the group that has met twice, on Aug. 5 and Sept. 16.

Currituck County Commissioner Janet Rose explained to the coalition during the Nov. 5 meeting that she has spoken with watermen in her area who are now crabbing, and they’ve been catching 50 to 60 bushels a day.

“If they’re cut to 30 bushels next year, that’s a 40 or 50% cut,” Rose said, adding that this reduction is going to hurt crab picking houses, and the towns that rely on them.

Woodard shared a resolution Dare County passed that week opposing the blue crab restrictions with the hope “that each county will adopt something similar with respects to the proposed blue crab harvest restrictions,” before the group decided to draft its own resolution to submit to Marine Fisheries Commission before the meeting.

Glenn Skinner, who is executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, was brought in as a consultant to the coalition.

He told the group that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes, but “I think the most important thing here is we do not have a stock assessment.”

They tried last year to update the stock assessment that was used for the last management measures “and when they added a few extra years of data, for lack of a better word, it went haywire and they determined it could not be used. So, we do not have a stock assessment for blue crab. Therefore, we do not have a stock status to say if it’s overfish or if over fishing is occurring.”

At this time what the division needs to do is to produce a reliable stock assessment for blue crab if that’s possible, Skinner said. “I doubt that in many ways that that’s possible because I think they lack a lot of the data they need. But that hurdle in my opinion has to be overcome before you start regulating the most valuable commercial fishery in this state.”

Marine Fisheries Commission meeting details

The commission meeting will begin at 1 p.m. Wednesday and resume at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Holiday Inn Resort Lumina. The public can attend in person or view the the livestream on YouTube. Public comment sessions are at 6 p.m. Wednesday and at 9 a.m. Thursday.

Other fisheries agenda items include the following:

• A presentation on the history of southern flounder management in North Carolina through Amendment 5.
• An analysis of southern flounder in North Carolina waters using the division’s fishery-independent sampling data.
• A presentation on upcoming management changes for striped bass in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers.
• An overview of reporting options available for the new reporting requirements for recreational and commercial fishermen that go into effect Dec. 1.
• A demonstration of the new electronic license and statistics annual report
• An update on the proposed framework and timeline for the 2026 revision to the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.

The full agenda and associated materials are on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

The deadline for written comments is 4 p.m. Monday and can be submitted through an online form; mailed to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557; or dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries reminds seafood dealers that they need to switch from the PC Trip Ticket Software Program to the new VESL software by the end of the year to report their transactions with fishermen.

The division’s Trip Ticket Program was notified earlier this year that the software contractor, Bluefin Data, will no longer support the old program as of Jan. 31, 2026. Due to these changes:

All electronic trip tickets for calendar year 2025 should be entered through the PC Trip Ticket Software Program by Jan. 10, 2026.

All electronic trip tickets for calendar year 2026 should be entered in the VESL system.
Bluefin Data released the web-based VESL program for North Carolina in January 2025. To use VESL, dealers need a valid email address to create an account on the VESL platform and an internet connected device with a web browser.

Seafood dealers who have not already done so should contact Trip Ticket Program staff at the following email addresses or phone numbers to set up an account:

• Josh Beil — Joshua.Beil@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5549.
• Travis Williams — Travis.Williams@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5550.

The Division’s Trip Ticket Program was implemented in 1994 when North Carolina law mandated trip level reporting of all commercial fishery landings. The program requires seafood dealers to complete a trip ticket for each transaction with a fisherman and to submit these reports monthly to the Division of Marine Fisheries.

People in the charter or for-hire business are invited to share their perspectives on challenges facing the industry during upcoming meetings with state fisheries officials.

The meetings, hosted by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, will cover topics to include mandatory harvest reporting as well as other subjects those in attendance would like to discuss.

The first of three meetings will be held at 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at the Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70, Morehead City.

A meeting will be hosted at 6 p.m. Nov. 18 at Cape Fear Community College, room 252, 502 N. Front St., Wilimington.

On Dec. 2, a meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at College of the Albemarle – Dare Room 110, 205 U.S. 64, Manteo.

For additional information about the meetings, contact Coral Sawyer at coral.sawyer@deq.nc.gov or 252-515-5527.

The North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition is scheduled to have its third meeting at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss current issues, hear from its subcommittees and consider next steps.

The meeting will take place in the Crystal Coast Civic Center on the campus of Carteret Community College in Morehead City.

Dare County Chairman Bob Woodard founded the coalition this past summer after a proposed rule to ban shrimp trawling in certain North Carolina waters made its way through the Senate. The House decided not to take action on the bill.

The first meeting took place Aug. 5 to establish objectives for the coalition made up of elected officials and staff representing Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Camden, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

During the second meeting Sept. 16, the coalition prioritized:

• Consumer marketing and education.
• Catch limits and water quality.
• Transparency from the Marine Fisheries Commission and sharing of data and moving of the director of Marine Fisheries to the Department of Agriculture.
• Testing for restaurants to back up local seafood claims.
• Predation management.

The agenda and more details about the coalition are on the Dare County website.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is reminding fishers that new reporting requirements will go into effect one month from now.

Beginning Dec. 1, recreational fishers must report any flounder, red drum, striped bass, spotted seatrout, and weakfish to the division.

The new reporting requirement also mandates commercial fishermen report any finfish, shellfish, and crustacean they keep, but do not sell, through a seafood dealer.

These requirements apply to coastal fishing waters, joint fishing waters, and inland fishing waters adjacent to those waters.

The North Carolina General Assembly injected the additional reporting rules into law in 2023. The information collected will be used with existing data collection program to enhance fisheries management.

Harvests should be reported electronically through an online webform or a soon-to-be released iPhone app. An Android app is under development and expected to be released at a later date.

“Division of Marine Fisheries staff have been working diligently to prepare for implementation of this new requirement, developing electronic resources, distributing information, and speaking face-to-face with those impacted,” Kathy Rawls, the division’s director, said in a release.

Commercial fishermen will continue to report harvest they sell through a North Carolina Trip Ticket Program licensed seafood dealer.

Additional information is available on the division’s mandatory harvest reporting webpage.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Inland Fisheries Chief Corey Oakley said in a release that the agency supports the division’s mandatory harvest reporting efforts.

“Harvest reporting for the listed species is required in waters upstream of coastal fishing waters,” Oakley stated, referring to an interactive map that shows which waterways are included. “Reporting is required in waters as far inland as Chatham and Wake counties. This reporting should help fisheries managers better understand harvest rates among recreational and commercial fisherman for those required species.”

Enforcement of the new reporting rules is being phased in over three years. From Dec. 1​ this year to Dec. 1, 2026, those who fail to report their harvest will be given a verbal warning. The next year, a warning ticket will be issued, and starting Dec. 1, 2027, the penalty for not reporting a harvest is an infraction with a $35 fine. Infractions can lead to having fishing licenses and permits suspended.

The division’s Marine Patrol and Wildlife Commission’s​ officers enforce the rules in their respective waters.

More information can be found on the Mandatory Harvest Reporting webpage.

Beginning Saturday, vessels 65 feet or longer traveling along areas of the mid-Atlantic must maintain speeds of 10 knots or slower.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries implements the speed limit through seasonal management areas for North Atlantic right whales each year to reduce the threat of vessel collisions.

Ship collisions are a leading cause of death to these critically endangered whales, of which there are believed to be fewer than 400 on the planet.

Mid-Atlantic seasonal management areas are in effect through April 30, 2026.

NOAA Fisheries also encourages vessels less than 65 feet in length to also slow to speeds of 10 knots or slower within active management areas.

Seasonal management areas off the North Carolina coast span off the shores from the Port of Morehead City, Beaufort, and a continuous area 20 nautical miles from shore between Wilmington down to Brunswick, Georgia.

For real-time updates on Slow Zones, seasonal management areas, and other right whale sightings download the Whale Alert app. For recent right whale sightings and real-time acoustic detections along the eastern seaboard may be accessed here.

Staff for the two state agencies that manage fisheries in North Carolina waters have planned an informational meeting in early November about management changes for striped bass in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission have scheduled the meeting for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Washington Civic Center, 110 N. Gladden St., Washington.

Estuarine striped bass are currently managed under the amendment 2 for the fishery management plan that was adopted in November 2022, and revised in 2024, but retained the no-possession rule the Marine Fisheries Commission put in place in 2019. The rule means that if a striped bass is caught in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers, it must be released.

An analysis ​p​resented to the commission in August shows that the closures have not resulted in increased striped bass abundance in these rivers despite continued stocking efforts.

Based on the adaptive management in place under this amendment, the two agencies have developed measures that focus on harvesting stocked fish in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers but limits harvest of Albemarle-Roanoke striped bass that also reside in these rivers.

The following are the changes that will go into effect next year:

Recreational fishery

• An open recreational harvest season April 1-30 upriver of the large-mesh distance from shore demarcation lines in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers and associated tributaries.
• A one fish per person, per day recreational creel limit.
• An 18 to 22 inches total length recreational harvest slot, or less than 27 inches total length.

commercial fishery

• An open commercial harvest season in April 1-30 upriver of the large-mesh distance from shore demarcation lines in the Tar-Pamlico and Neuse rivers and associated tributaries.
• A one fish per day trip limit.
• An 18 to 22 inches total length recreational harvest slot, or less than 27 inches total length.
• Allow hook-and-line as a legal commercial gear in the striped bass fishery.
• Continue commercial tagging requirements.
• Maintain tie-down and distance from shore requirements for gill nets.

Fisheries officials plan to implement management changes for sheepshead because of increased fishing pressure in recent years, particularly on juvenile fish, and are seeking public input on potential management strategies.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries will accept comments on potential management strategies in writing by 5 p.m. Nov. 5, or during a hybrid virtual and in-person public hearing scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4 at the division’s Morehead City Headquarters Office.

Written comments may be submitted by an online form, by mail to Sheepshead Public Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557, or delivered to the division’s Morehead City office.

The division implemented sheepshead management at the state level in 2015 after the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council removed the species from its Snapper-Grouper recreational bag limit aggregate in 2012.

Current state regulations for sheepshead are a minimum size limit of 10 inches fork length, a recreational bag limit of 10 fish per person per day, and a commercial trip limit of 300 pounds per trip except for gigs and spears, which is 10 per person, per day or trip, whichever is more restrictive. Pound nets are exempt from the trip limit.

“There was an initial drop in recreational and commercial landings after state management was implemented; however, effort and landings have increased in recent years. Additionally, most harvested fish are juveniles, which can be indicative of a stock that is under stress. These trends have prompted fisheries managers to develop proactive management to prevent overfishing,” officials said.

The division is considering one or more of the following management strategies:

• Changes to minimum size limit.
• Changes to recreational bag limit.
• Recreational vessel limits.
• Changes to commercial trip limit.

Visit the Proactive Sheepshead Management webpage on the division’s website for more information.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries recently certified a new state record for almaco jack, or Seriola rivoliana.

Henry Barksdale of Sutherland, Virginia, caught the 60-pound, 8-ounce fish Sept. 18 off Cape Hatteras. The previous state record was 56 pounds, 4.8 ounces, and was landed earlier this year in the same area.

Barksdale was fishing with Capt. Shaun Dunn out of Teach’s Lair Marina in Hatteras Village. He landed the fish with a jig attached to an Okuma Cedros rod and Daiwa Saltist LD 50 reel with 80-pound braid.

Barksdale’s fish measured 46 inches fork length, or from the tip of the nose to the fork in the tail, and had a 32-inch girth. The fish was weighed at Teach’s Lair Marina and confirmed by staff in the Marine Fisheries Division’s Manteo office.

Fisheries officials note that almaco jack can be easily mistaken for other amberjack species, such as the greater amberjack, aka Seriola dumerili, or lesser amberjack, aka Seriola fasciata.

The almaco jack can be distinguished by the tall and elongated second dorsal fin and anal fin, darker body color, gill raker count and alignment of the maxilla (upper lip) relative to the eye. Lesser amberjacks are also much smaller with the current International Game Fish Association’s world record weighing 12 pounds.

For more information on state record fish, go to the division’s State Saltwater Records webpage or contact the North Carolina Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.

North Carolina candidates for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council will be selected next week during a meeting of the state Marine Fisheries Commission Nominating Committee.

The committee is scheduled to meet by webinar at 5 p.m. Oct. 20.

The Mid-Atlantic Council consists of 21 voting members, including a federal representative, constituent states’ fish and wildlife agencies, and 13 private citizens with knowledge about recreational or commercial fishing, or marine conservation. The council also includes four nonvoting members who represent the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of State, and Coast Guard.

The Mid-Atlantic Council develops fishery management plans, sets annual catch limits and management measures, develops research priorities, and conducts public hearings and gathers public input on proposed management actions for fisheries within the region.

Candidates the committee recommends will be forwarded to the full commission at its Nov. 19-20 business meeting scheduled to be held in Wrightsville Beach.

A listening location will be provided at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office on Arendell Street in Morehead City.

Flounder harvest closed Thursday for gill nets, gigs and other mobile gears in waters in the southern part of the state because landings approached the quota sub-allocation for this gear and area category, North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Friday.

Mobile gears, which are all gears other than pound nets used to harvest flounder, are divided into two management areas.

The northern management area includes waters south of the North Carolina and Virginia border to a line in Core Sound that runs approximately from the Club House on Core Banks westerly to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker “1.” The southern area extends from the line in Core Sound south to the North Carolina/South Carolina border.

Officials said that if it is determined that quota is available for additional harvest days for the area, further proclamations will be issued.

Landings were allocated by Flounder Management Area and Gear Categories as outlined in Amendment 4 to the species’ management plan.

“Fishermen using gill nets who hold an active Estuarine Gill Net Permit and have been issued a confirmation number or assigned an observer through the Observer Trip Scheduling System are not permitted to legally fish large-mesh gill nets in the Mobile Gear Southern Management Area. However, they are allowed to set this gear in the Mobile Gear Northern Management Area, which remains open,” officials said.

The blue crab population in the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System is taking a hit sometime between when juveniles leave their nursery habitats and before reaching sexual maturity, a recent study finds.

Published last month in Fisheries Oceanography, “Long-Term Trends in Juvenile Blue Crab Recruitment Patterns in a Wind-Driven Estuary” examined the density of blue crabs in three different types of nursery habitats during the instar stage of the species’ complex life cycle. That’s when the tiny juvenile crab is about the size of a pea.

The North Carolina blue crab population began declining in the early 2000s, and despite state-mandated measures implemented in the years since to protect the lucrative fishery, the population hasn’t recovered. “With fishing accounting for approximately 80% of total annual blue crab mortality, these measures were expected to allow the stock numbers to recover, which has not occurred,” the study explains, referencing a 2018 N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries report. “This absence of recovery has often been attributed to recruitment overfishing.”

But, that’s not what the authors found.

The research shows that the juvenile blue crab population numbers from the late 1990s and the late 2010s are similar, and point to a “potential population bottleneck occurring in later life stages.” But the bottleneck is not the result of recruitment overfishing, which “occurs when the spawning stock of a population has been depleted to the extent that there are insufficient adults to produce the required number of recruits to replenish the population.”

Lead author of the study, Erin Voigt, is a doctoral candidate in David Eggleston’s lab in the North Carolina State University’s Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Also listed as authors are Eggleston, a professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, and previous N.C. State doctoral student Lisa Etherington.

Voigt told Coastal Review that one of the biggest takeaways from her research, at least in looking at the instar stage, is that “there is no evidence of recruitment overfishing.”

And if it’s not recruitment overfishing, “then that means that there’s something going on after the instar stage but before the adult stage that’s resulting in the blue crab population not rebounding,” Voigt said.

Another component of the study, which also relates to Etherington’s work, was to determine which habitats the blue crabs use.

Voigt sampled at Ruppia seagrass beds and shallow detrital habitats found along the mainland shores and the mixed species seagrass beds on the sound side of the Outer Banks.

Early in the life cycle, when the megalopae return to the inlets, the seagrass bed structure is the first nursery habitat they encounter on the sound side of the Outer Banks if there are no storms to interfere with the pattern.

“However, the surprising thing that we found was that if you look at the density of blue crabs,” which she said is the amount of blue crabs per meter squared, “you find almost four times as many blue crabs in these super patchy, very hard to see, kind of scruffy seagrass beds on the western shore.”

The researcher, the research 

Originally from Maryland, Voigt earned her bachelor’s in biology from St Mary’s College, spent a few years researching at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, and then earned her master’s in ecology at San Diego State University.

She began her doctorate in 2016 but took an extended leave of absence when she began working in 2023 as program coordinator of the Duke University Marine Lab Scholars and Climate Scholars Program. Voigt resumed her research earlier this year and plans to defend her thesis later this semester.

Voigt began explaining her research by reviewing the “complex life cycle” of a blue crab.

In early summer, the male and female typically mate upriver in low-salinity environments. The female, or sponge crab, carries the eggs on her stomach. When it’s time to hatch, the planktonic larvae, or zoeae, which Voigt said look like space aliens, drift into the inlets or ocean and undergo several molts, with the last transition in the ocean being to the megalopa or megalopae phase.

“The megalopae have a little bit more swimming ability. They look less like aliens and slightly more like something that you might consider a crab or a shrimp,” Voigt said.

Starting in late summer and early fall, the winds shift from primarily southerly to northeasterly, and with that shift, the megalopae are pushed back into inlets, usually the Oregon and Hatteras inlets. They will use their sensory capabilities to find a nursery habitat and then transform to instar, or a small crab.

The instar stage in the life cycle is the focus of her study, she said, and builds on the research of previous graduate students in the Eggleston lab, including Etherington, who had sampled areas within the Pamlico Sound between 1996 and 1999 to learn where juvenile blue crabs were settling.

“In about 1999 — unrelated to her experiment — there was a massive overfishing event, and this occurred due to three hurricanes,” which were Floyd, Dennis and Irene. Overfishing means that a species is being removed at a rate too high for the population to maintain.

The inundation from these storms decreased the salinity upriver, forcing blue crabs to migrate to smaller, higher-salinity areas. This concentration led to a 300% increase in catch-per-unit effort, which is a way to measure how abundant a species is by dividing the total weight of the catch by total amount of work it took, such as hours fished and with what equipment.

“There was just a ton of blue crabs caught that year. We had a really high take. The blue crabs have never rebounded from that,” Voigt said. “There has been a decrease in fishing pressure during that time — a 50% decrease in fishing pressure — and we still have not seen it rebound.”

Then in 2016, when Voigt began as a doctoral student, Eggleston told her he found it interesting that the blue crab population wasn’t rebounding and it wasn’t clear why, though the going theory was recruitment overfishing.

For her research, she sampled from 2017 until 2019 the same exact locations Etherington had sampled 1996-99 for her study.

Voigt said she expected to find a strong reduction in the number of crabs in these key nursery habitats, “because if we’re running into recruitment overfishing, then you’re assuming that not enough juveniles are recruiting back into Albemarle-Pamlico Sound, and therefore you will not see as many instars in these habitats,” Voigt explained.

“However, what’s really interesting about this study was that we did not find that. In fact, the numbers of blue crabs we found when I studied were statistically no different from the number of blue crabs” that Etherington had found when she sampled the same areas before the fisheries collapse, Voigt continued.

A discussion about a proposal to transfer the Division of Marine Fisheries from the Department of Environmental Quality to the state agriculture department looms large on the list of priorities for a newly formed alliance created to support North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry.

During the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition’s second meeting Sept. 16 at the Crystal Coast Civic Center in Morehead City, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard explained that the proposal was floated after asking commercial fishermen about their concerns.

Among those issues were catch limits, water quality, educating the rest of the state on coastal issues, predation management, and the idea that Woodard called “a big one.” 

“It’s a biggie, is moving the director of Marine Fisheries to the Department of Agriculture,” Woodard said.

The Division of Marine Fisheries provides staff support to the state Marine Fisheries Commission, which is a nine-member board appointed by the governor that manages fisheries in coastal and joint waters.

Woodard initiated the alliance in a July 3 letter to other coastal counties after a state Senate committee amended a House bill that would “prohibit the use of trawl nets to take shrimp in coastal fishing waters or the Atlantic Ocean within one-half mile of the shoreline.”

House Bill 442 was first introduced in March with the stated intention of opening fishing for summer flounder and red snapper, but Senate added the trawl ban language before approving the measure. Despite a handful of “noes” from a few coastal Republican senators and a well-attended protest organized by commercial fishing interests, the amended bill was approved June 19 in a nearly unanimous vote and sent back to the House to consider. House leaders announced on June 25 that the House would not take up the bill.

The coalition held its first meeting Aug. 5, also in Morehead City, and plans are in motion for the next meeting to be Nov. 5 at the same location.

“I think we’re making some really, really positive headway with respect to this coalition,” Woodard said as he called the meeting to order.

Woodard also explained that the Food and Drug Administration has warned that the public should avoid eating imported shrimp potentially contaminated with radioactive material that may have been sold at Walmart in 13 states.

“This is exactly what we’re talking about, folks. Folks sitting around this table, we want to eat local shrimp, and we want to eat it out of clean waters. Americans are being warned not to eat or sell or serve certain Great Value, raw, frozen shrimp sold at Walmart after toxic levels of radioactive materials were detected in just one sample,” said Woodward, noting that the FDA states in its press release that the suspect shrimp had been imported from Indonesia.

“This is this is what we’re dealing with,” Woodard reiterated, adding that nothing is more important than protecting the livelihood of commercial fishermen and local seafood.

As part of that focus, the coalition members has since the first meeting been talking to those in the commercial fishing industry about their concerns. The coalition was tasked with breaking down the list of 10 issues into four priorities.

The priorities to which they agreed to and ranked in order of importance are education, fisheries limits and water quality, legislative items, and predation management.

Regarding the top priority, education, the goal is to inform the rest of the state, local governments, the legislature and consumers about the commercial fishing industry.

Currituck County Commissioner Janet Rose pointed out that consumers are statewide but don’t have a seat at the table. “I think we really need to play into the consumers. I think that’s important.”

For priority No. 2, water quality decline and limits and rules for crabbing, shrimp and flounder, Pasquotank County Commission Chairman Lloyd Griffin said the “biggest opponent right now is the five highways that come to eastern North Carolina.”

“We’re fighting stormwater runoff. We’re fighting the closures because of the stormwater runoff. We have more people that want to live on the coast because of the quality of life. So our roads are our issue,” Griffin said. “You really want to be conscious of is what is happening with our closures because those closures do have an impact.”

The suggestion to move the Division of Marine Fisheries to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Marine Fisheries Commission data sharing and transparency, and testing for restaurants to back up local seafood claims, all fall under the third priority: legislative items.

Carteret County Commissioner Chris Chadwick spoke up in support of the idea of the division being under the Department of Agriculture.

“Shrimpermen, fishermen and floundermen and all that, they are food producers. The only difference — they don’t own the land. They’re out there in the public water. But I think it would be a much more friendly atmosphere over there. Maybe less political. Hopefully less political,” Chadwick said.

Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, was in attendance, and she told the coalition she understands fish issues and the environmental constraints.

As a representative, Harrison said “it’s incumbent on us to educate our colleagues and these folks back here have done a really excellent job of that,” adding that it has been interesting to counter the bad facts that have been floating around the legislature.

Marine Fisheries’ ‘early history’

During the meeting, two scientists who have retired from the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries were invited to speak about their time as public servants.

Cornell Purvis, who acted as director for Marine Fisheries from 1978 to 1992, said that “in the last 40 years, Marine Fisheries has been the red-headed stepchild of state government, but it didn’t start out that way. It started out with something that needs to be celebrated. I’m here today to lift the truth and to celebrate the early history of Marine Fisheries.”

He said that, going back 50 years, it “was all old school,” while under the leadership of the division’s third director, the late Ed McCoy. Purvis called him “the brainchild behind the focus on the science and the focus of connection with the fishermen.”

The director taught his staff that they were public servants who served the fishermen in the state. “He told us experience is the best teacher. It’s always the best teacher. These fishermen already know it. We have to learn what they already know and put it in scientific terms.”

Jess Hawkins, previously the chief of fisheries management for the division, worked in state government for 30 years, with much of that time in fisheries regulation. His role with the division was to coordinate rulemaking for the Marine Fisheries Commission.

So, how did the state get to a point where a bill proposing a flounder season was transformed into banning shrimp trawling in estuarine and a coastal waters, he said. “How does that happen in our state?”

Hawkins said the trawl amendment “did not spontaneously develop. It was a chronic process of what I believe is failed governance, and education is a key component of that.”

He added that his comments were intended to help, not disparage, before reciting a brief history of the last few decades of fisheries management.

The Fisheries Reform Act of 1997, which was passed with bipartisan support, “set the foundation for fisheries management in North Carolina and it was an epiphany for our state,” Hawkins said.

The act was meant to transform how the state manages its fish, and set the structure for the Marine Fisheries Commission, established the science-based management system, and required fisheries management plans for all commercially and recreationally important fisheries. The act also provided an avenue for robust public engagement through advisory committees.

When Hawkins retired in 2006, he was managing 25 advisory committees, and now there are seven, prompting his concerns with the public input or stakeholder process.

“My observation is — and following fisheries policy in our state since I’ve retired — is the last 15 years or so, the stakeholder input process of the Fishery Reform Act has been corrupted,” Hawkins said.

The process to build a fisheries management plan begins in a committee, but “right now your fishery management plan committee only meets once,” which used to meet consistently, Hawkins said, the same as the standing and regional committees.

The North Carolina General Assembly requires the Marine Fisheries Commission chair to establish a committee that helps develop the management plan. “The executive branch has interpreted that, that they only need to meet once. During which time, they only share ideas, then staff “assimilate the ideas and go off and work on the plan,” Hawkins said. The committee never gets to review the draft plan before it goes before the commission. “So, that process has been corrupted.”

The habitat and water quality advisory committee used to meet monthly, but in the years since Hawkins retired, he said that the committee has never met. And the finfish committee should have been able to review the flounder fishery management plan, but during some years, it never had the opportunity.

Hawkins also pointed to what he called a lack of dialogue between the public and the fisheries commission, particularly limiting, he said, is the three-minute time limit per person during the public comment portions of commission meetings.

“The silence about seafood consumers in our state when we manage our resources is deafening. There’s very little regard to that, very little discussion of that,” Hawkins said.

There is advocacy for consuming domestic seafood, and it is known that the country has a well-managed seafood system management system that inspects the product caught in the United States, but “We only inspect 1-2% of our foreign seafood, yet we import 85%. We import 90% of our shrimp and yet we have a bill that’s introduced to even stop the shrimp harvest based on no scientific reason of shrimp populations being harmed.”

Hawkins gave the coalition a list of his proposed legislative changes that he said he had also sent to legislators over the years. None have been approved.

“North Carolina cannot afford to continue to rely on the leadership that changes with the gubernatorial office every four years to manage our seafoods. It can’t do that. There needs to be changes,” he said.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is seeking commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists and other interested parties to fill seats on fisheries advisory committees.

Members are appointed to these committees by the Marine Fisheries Commission chair for three-year terms. Several terms will expire in January, according to a release.

Committee advisers are expected to attend meetings at least once every two months and actively participate in a process that includes reviewing scientific documents and issuing papers to make recommendations on management strategies.

Qualified applicants must not have had a significant fisheries violation within the past three years.

The committees include the commission’s Northern and Southern regional advisory committees and the finfish, habitat and water quality, and shellfish/crustacean advisory committees. These committees are charged with, among other duties, reviewing draft fishery management plans and Coastal Habitat Protection Plans and may bring fisheries issues pertaining to their region or subject matter to the commission’s attention.

Committee members will be reimbursed for travel and other expenses related to their official duties if they complete the necessary paperwork.

Applicants may complete the online form. Printable applications are also available online or by calling 252-515-5500.

The deadline to submit an application is Oct. 24. Applications may be submitted through the online webform, by email to MFC@deq.nc.gov with the subject line: AC Application, or by mail to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557 made to Attention: MFC Office.

The North Carolina Coastal Habitat Protection Plan Steering Committee is scheduled to meet this month to discuss the recommendations in a recent study summary on the status of state fisheries.

The committee is set to meet from 1-3 p.m. by web conference Sept. 25.

Included on the meeting agenda is a presentation about the initial recommendations from the Collaboratory Study on the Coastal and Marine Fisheries of the State.

Related: Report: State needs more fisheries scientists to meet goals

The committee will discuss the proposed framework for the 2026 Coastal Habitat Protection Plan amendment as well as the timeline for the 2026 revision of the plan.

The plan is revised every five years to reflect changes in the status of habitat protection in the state. It was initially adopted in December 2004 by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries, Environmental Management, and Coastal Resources commissions.

The plan includes information on coastal habitat distribution and abundance, ecological functions and importance to fish production, status and trends, habitat threats, and recommendations to address those threats.

There will be a listening location at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office on Arendell Street in Morehead City.

For more information, contact Zach.Harrison@deq.nc.gov with the Division of Marine Fisheries.

SEA LEVEL — James “Marc” Hamric, 52, of Atlantic Beach, drowned Wednesday while collecting water samples in Turnagain Bay, the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office reported after responding to the emergency.

The sheriff’s office said at the time of the announcement that no foul play is suspected, but local law enforcement is actively investigating the incident in cooperation with the North Carolina Marine Patrol and the local medical examiner’s office.

While Hamric was collecting water samples, the boat he and his colleagues were working from began to drift away. Hamric reportedly began swimming while wearing waders and went underwater while trying to reach the vessel. He was recovered from the water within minutes by his colleagues, who began CPR, officials said.

County deputies and officers with N.C. Marine Patrol and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission officers and emergency responders arrived on scene shortly after, but lifesaving efforts were ultimately unsuccessful, officials said.

Hamric had been a marine fisheries technician for 20 years based in the division’s headquarters in Morehead City. He handled local data collection for commercial fishery and field sampling programs while maintaining boats and equipment, according to the division. He was recognized in 2024 with the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Distinguished Employee Award.

Second in a series on a recent visit to Louisiana’s bayous, a trip sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University, to start a conversation between people there who are being flooded out and those in the Down East communities of Carteret County who face similar threats.

BAYOU LAFOURCHE, La. – Eric Verdin clearly knew where he was going. These waters are like family, after all, but his GPS plotter was frantic. Using the latest marine charts, its line tracing our path on the screen in front of us blinked red, warning us that we were about to plow into dry land. It was a good time, it seemed to suggest, to ABANDON SHIP. But we had open seas ahead of us and 8 feet of water under our keel.

“There used to be an orange grove here,” our captain conceded with a shrug.

Not a hundred years ago. Not 50. Not even 20. “Not that long ago, really,” Verdin said, as he looked out the window of the shrimp boat’s pilot house across the placid water of the bayou to the glimmering Gulf of Mexico on the horizon. “Just about all that water you see in front of us was all marsh.”

His native people, the Biloxi-Chitimacha, have lived on the fringes of this watery world along the southwestern tip of Louisiana for many generations. Verdin, 58, has known these waters since boyhood. He makes his living here, first running big boats to supply the oil rigs out in the Gulf and now chasing brown and white shrimp. He’s witnessed changes he never thought possible. “I’ve seen the absolute devastation of our coast during my lifetime,” he said with a sigh. “Miles and miles of marsh are now open waters.”

Nowhere on Earth does land disappear as quickly as it does here in southern Louisiana. According to one fantastic estimate, the water covers, on average, a chunk of marsh the size of a football field every hour or so. Or is it 15 minutes? No matter. The change is so rapid that not even online navigation charts can keep up. Brought about by a catastrophic combination of human engineering, ignorance and hubris, it’s been going on, though more slowly, for at least a century. During that time, an area of marshland the size of Delaware vanished. Now, add another human-induced insult — rising seas triggered by the warming climate — and a similar-sized piece is expected to disappear in just 25 years.

This is ground zero for sea level rise and wetland loss in the world. We, of course, had to see it ourselves.

A group of North Carolinians, on a 10-day trip sponsored by Duke University, toured coastal Louisiana in June looking for connections, for people at the water’s edge who are facing the perils wrought by a rapidly changing environment. They have weathered the frequent storms, survived the destructive aftermaths, and found ways to accommodate the rising seas as the familiar natural world transforms in the blink of their lifetimes. Some of their communities have been displaced, and their cultures are threatened.

Coastal people back home will soon increasingly confront the same dangers, knows Karen Amspacher, a native of Harkers Island in Carteret County, the director of a cultural museum there and the group’s inspirational leader. “We’re all living on the edge,” she told Verdin after he welcomed us aboard his 55-foot shrimper, Lil’E. “I’ve been trying to find common ties with people who are going through what we will.”

After the bayous of Louisiana and Florida’s Gold Coast, the uniformly flat North Carolina coastal plain is the most-endangered landscape in America. The small fishing and farming villages of low-lying eastern Carteret County, Amspacher’s beloved Down East, face a grim future of increasing storms and flooding. Many of the homes will become uninhabitable by century’s end.

Jerrica Cheramie understands all too well the fears that the people there will have to confront. “I’m just 36 and I’ve seen all this change,” said the local high school teacher who joined us on the boat. “It’s terrifying.”

Taming A River

Since its beginning, the Mississippi River has deposited the silt of a continent to build the Louisiana coastline. Its delta, a water-logged labyrinth of bayous, marsh grasses and ancient cypress trees, fans out like a swampy snout into the Gulf. The first European settlers along the lower Mississippi in the 18^th century started throwing up dirt walls along the river’s banks to protect themselves from the frequent floods. The effort intensified a century later after a series of devastating deluges. Congress got involved after the Great Flood in 1927 killed 500 people and inundated 27,000 square miles. It authorized the Army Corps of Engineers to begin digging. That old river man, Mark Twain, once scoffed at the notion of containing the mighty Mississippi. “Ten thousand River Commissions …,” he wrote, “cannot tame that lawless stream … cannot say to it, ‘Go here,’ or ‘Go there,’ and make it obey.”

By God, they tried, and they came damn close. Close enough, anyway, to make southern Louisiana disappear.

Today, massive levees line the river for about half of its 2,400-mile-long route to the sea. Along the very southern leg of its journey, the Mississippi is little more than a big canal, hemmed in place by huge earthen walls.

We followed it one day for its last 75 miles. Down Louisiana Highway 23 we went, through Bohemia and Port Sulfur, past Home Place and Triumph, to Venice, population 164. It’s as far as you can go by car. The river was on our left the entire way, but it flowed unseen behind its wall. The smokestacks of the ships we passed were the only hints that the river was actually there. At the end of the road, we had hoped to watch the great Mississippi make its last, lumbering lurch to the Gulf. Alas, there was nothing to see but more marsh, the wall and assorted bits of industrial detritus – cranes, barges, pipes, barrels and such. More on that shortly.

As we stood at the end of the road expressing our disappointment, a set of eyes popped up through the murky water of a lagoon that wasn’t 20 feet away. Then, another. Soon, it was a dozen. Then, more. I had never seen so many alligators in one place at a time, and I once lived in Miami and fished the Everglades in a canoe. They all came toward us, gliding silently through the water, leaving gentle wakes behind them. Our presence clearly triggered this conclave. Other gawkers, we surmised, had also come this way and had fed the native wildlife. The approaching gators were expecting a handout. What tidbits do you toss to giant reptiles? I wondered as we quickly headed back to the cars. A bucket of Col. Sanders? A Big Mac? Chick-fil-A nuggets, we agreed. Everything likes them.

After that meander worthy of the old Mississippi, let’s get back on course. The point of all this is that the river now heads straight to the Gulf. No more oxbow cutoffs, no twists, no turns. With it, goes all that muck. Very little now leaks into the surrounding bays. Without sediment to nourish them, the marshes have been sinking for a long time. They are drowning more quickly now as sea level rise accelerates.

Big, Big Oil

Verdin killed the engine and dropped anchor. We bobbed under a scorching sun in languid Lake Raccourci. A lot of open water bodies on the Gulf’s fringes in Louisiana are called lakes because they were surrounded by marsh when the mapmakers named them. To Verdin, these are sacred waters. His son, Eric Jr., died in a car wreck five years ago. He was only 34. His family spread his ashes here, one of his “honey holes.” Verdin named his boat after Eric and put a picture of his smiling son in a frame on the bulkhead behind the ship’s wheel. “He always used to stand behind me and say go this way or that way,” his father explained. Verdin comes back often, especially on the anniversary of his son’s death in December when he places flowers in the water. He couldn’t think of a better place to take visitors. We were honored.

We were also surrounded by an odd array of pipes, pumps and iron platforms that rose out of the water everywhere. Rust was their primary color. Each one marked an oil or natural gas well, Verdin explained, and most are still producing, though some are approaching 100 years old. They are relics, really, of simpler times, when the Gulf was just becoming America’s great oilfield.

Like the deltas of many of the world’s great rivers, the Mississippi’s is full of oil and gas. All that muck that the river deposited for millions of years contained the organic ingredients — ancient plants, algae, bacteria – of oil and gas. They’re called fossil fuels for a reason. Time and heat did the rest.

I sat one night on the beach at Grand Isle, one of the few sandy beaches in the lower bayous, and counted the lights of 22 offshore oil rigs blinking on the horizon. There are more than 600 out there, making the Gulf of Mexico America’s primary source for offshore oil and natural gas.

Big Oil is really big here. Its presence is almost everywhere: Refineries with their fiery tails of methane, mountains of pipeline stacked in neat pyramids, natural gas liquification plants, petrochemical complexes, miles of storage tanks, acres of stacked barrels. All in industrial grimy gray with splashes of white. It ain’t pretty and there’s likely no way to make it so.

From Lake Raccourci, we could see the outline of Port Fourchon, maybe 8 miles away. It is Big Oil’s most important port. More than 400 ships leave it every day to supply the rigs. More than 15,000 people fly out of there every month to work on them. It’s the operational base for almost 300 companies. The port is perched at the tail end of LA1, a vital road so threatened that it’s being raised on a causeway to keep it from slipping under the Gulf.

Before all that, there were these pipes now sticking out of the water. The reservoirs closest to shore were, naturally, the first to be tapped, starting in the 1930s. The companies dug canals through the dense marshland to dig the wells. The channels ended up becoming pathways for water, accelerating the marsh’s demise. Many of the wells are now miles from the nearest dry land.

Everybody understands the role the oil and gas industry played in destroying the marshes, Verdin explained as the shrimp were almost ready for lunch. “In hindsight, it ruined our environment, but you won’t find fishermen around here who are anti-oil.” he said. “We know how much we’ve benefitted. When the fishing was good, we fished. When oil was booming, we worked in oil.”

The Diversion

Verdin spilled the pot of boiled shrimp, corn on the cob and potatoes onto one of the hatch covers, and we dug in. The lunchtime conversation turned to The Diversion, the first step of a grand ecosystem experiment that would have taken 50 years to complete and would have cost more than $50 billion. Officially known as the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the controversial project intended to divert some of the Mississippi’s flow to allow sediment to once again nourish portions of the marsh. “We need to do something,” Verdin said. “This can’t go on.”

That was the state’s conclusion after Hurricane Katrina devastated the region 25 years ago last month. Healthy marshes, scientists said, would have lessened the damage. In response, the state legislature in 2007 passed the first coastal master plan, a 50-year initiative to blunt the forces eating away at the coastline: sinking land, rising seas, and the channels dug by the oil and gas industry. Barrier islands would be rebuilt, levees bulked up, and structures raised. The plan also endorsed 11 river-diversion projects. The biggest was in Barataria Bay, about 30 miles east of our lunchtime anchorage. Engineers planned to poke a hole into the levee near Ironton in Plaquemines Parish and release 75,000 cubic feet of sediment every second. They estimated that doing so every day for six months a year would create 21 square miles of new marsh in 50 years. “It gives us a fighting chance to win this battle,” Chip Kline, the chairman of the state authority charged with the task, said in 2021.

Others weren’t so sure. Fishermen worried that the sudden influx of freshwater would push oysters and brown shrimp, mainstays of the local fishing industry, out of their current ranges. Federal scientists feared that the salinity drop could cause skin diseases in the bay’s dolphins, killing maybe a third of them. Opponents noted that even if it completes everything in the plan, the state will still lose more wetlands – 2,300 square miles — than it saves or creates – 1,200 square miles.

The scheme went on life support the day voters sent Jeff Landry to the governor’s mansion in 2023. He had been a staunch opponent of the project as attorney general, questioning its ballooning cost — $3.1 billion — and claiming it would kill fisheries important to Cajun culture. A month after our visit, Landry canceled the project.

Its demise didn’t likely lessen Charamie’s resolve “People ask why do I live here?” she said before we said our goodbyes back at the dock. “Where am I to go? This is home.”

It would be a sentiment we would hear again and again.

Next: Life on the edge.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has removed the pound net trip limits established previously for this year’s commercial fishing season in estuarine waters.

The division announced the commercial fishing season Aug. 26, and explained at the time that “all pound net management areas will open for the harvest of flounder with initial trip limits.”

The limits were 500 pounds for the northern area, which is north of the Pamlico Sound, 1,000 pounds for the central area that includes the Pamlico Sound and its tributaries, and 500 pounds for the southern management area that is from Core Sound to the South Carolina line.

Related: NC Fisheries Division sets commercial flounder season dates

Officials revised the pound net limits and sent out the updated information Friday, explaining that “all pound net management areas will open for the harvest of flounder without initial trip limits.”

Opening dates for the three areas did not change. The northern area is to open Monday, Sept. 15, and the central and southern management areas are to open Oct. 1.

Trip limits for these management areas may be implemented during the season to minimize the risk of exceeding the respective allowable landings, or quota, officials explained.

For both commercial and recreational fisheries, the minimum length is 15 total inches per flounder. The two-week recreational season began Sept. 1 and ends Sept. 14, and one fish is allowed per day.

The measures are to comply with Amendment 4 to the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan, the division states, which was designed to rebuild the stock that has been overfished and is experiencing overfishing.

There are three species typically caught in North Carolina waters, southern, summer and gulf, and, according to the amendment, all commercial flounder landings reported caught in inshore waters are considered southern flounder by the division’s trip ticket program.

“Data from fishery-dependent sampling indicate Summer Flounder and Gulf Flounder account for approximately two percent or less of the flounder harvested from internal waters, while Southern Flounder make up less than one percent of the catch from ocean waters,” the amendment explains.

Additionally, it is against the law for a commercial fishery operation to possess any species of flounder harvested from the internal waters of the state during the closed southern flounder season.

Donate your flounder carcass and you could win a prize.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will collect flounder carcasses from recreational anglers during the season, which runs Sept. 1-14 this year, for research purposes.

Anyone who donates their flounder carcass and fully completes the required catch-card will be entered to win one of two rod and reel combinations.

Cards and donation supplies are available at year-round donation sites in the following locations:

• Frisco Rod & Gun, Frisco.
• Jennette’s Pier, Nags Head.
• Eastside Bait & Tackle, Washington.
• Cape Pointe Marina, Harkers Island.
• N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Headquarters, Morehead City.
• Tex’s Tackle, Wilmington.
• Clem’s Seafood, Southport.

Additional temporary donation locations have been established at the following:

• Quarter Deck, 503 Carteret St., Bath.
• Chasin Tails Outdoors Bait & Tackle, 709 Atlantic Beach Causeway, Atlantic Beach.
• Pelagic Hunter, 104 James St., Sneads Ferry.
• Intracoastal Angler, 6332 Oleander Drive, Wilmington.
• Carolina Beach Municipal Docks, Carl Winner Drive, Carolina Beach.
• Ocean Isle Fishing Center, 65 Causeway Drive, Ocean Isle Beach.

Anglers are asked to leave the fish head and tail intact when cleaning and, if possible, the guts/reproductive organs. Fishers on charter or head boats should let the fish cleaner know the carcass will be donated.

The division’s biologist measure each fish, determine the sex of each when possible, and remove the otoliths, or ear bones, to determine the age of each fish. This information will used in future flounder stock assessments.

Recreational flounder season opens this year at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 1 and closes at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14. There is a one fish per one person per day limit through the season and the size limit is 15 inches total length.

Biologists will gather data from commercially caught flounder at fish houses. Carcasses caught by commercial fishers should not be left in the Carcass Collection Program freezers.

For more information, visit the Carcass Collection Program website or contact Amanda Macek, division sportfishing specialist, at 252 515-5537 or amanda.macek@deq.nc.gov.

This year’s commercial flounder season for internal coastal and joint fishing waters will kick off next month with opening dates varying by category, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries announced this week.

Per Amendment 4 to the Southern Flounder Fisheries Management Plan, landings will be split by the flounder management area and gear categories.

Pound net management areas will open with initial trip limits, which may be decreased during the season based on the available quota.

Those areas will open as follows:

• Sept. 15: waters north of Pamlico Sound with an opening trip limit of 500 pounds.
• Oct. 1: Pamlico Sound and its tributaries with an opening trip limit of 1,000 pounds.
• Oct. 1: waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line with an opening trip limit of 500 pounds.

Mobile gears, or those other than pound nets used to harvest flounder, are split into two management areas.

The northern area includes waters south of the North Carolina/Virginia border to a line in Core Sound that runs from about the Club House on Core Banks westerly to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker “1.”

The southern area includes waters from the line in Core Sound to the South Carolina border.

Mesh gill nets greater than and equal to 4 inches stretched will be open for the harvest of flounder one day a week in both of those management areas.

Those dates include Oct. 1 and every Wednesday thereafter “so long as enough quota remains available,” according to the division. Nets may not be set sooner than one hour before sunset the day prior.

All other mobile gears for flounder harvest will be open in the northern and southern management areas seven days a week beginning Oct. 1 until the season closes by proclamation.

The minimum size limit is 15 inches total length.

Division officials will announce harvest period closes for each management area and gear category by proclamation as necessary.

Clarification Aug. 29: Coastal recreational anglers will have a higher flounder quota this season, but that does not change the season length or bag and size limits.

Original post Aug. 22:

Coastal recreational anglers are now allowed to catch more southern flounder.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission earlier this week adopted an amendment to the southern flounder fishery management plan that evenly splits landings of the popular fish between commercial and recreational fishers.

Amendment 4 shifts total allowable landings to an additional 53,000 pounds from the commercial sector to the recreational sector this upcoming season, which is scheduled for Sept. 1-14.

The additional quota, however, does not equate to an extension of the 2025 recreational season, according to the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

“Rather, it will reduce the risk of recreational catch overages in the fishery this year, which would be subtracted from the next year’s quota,” according to a division release.

The division is exploring “more comprehensive management measures” through developing Amendment 5 to the plan.

Measures fisheries commissioners said they would like to be considered in that proposed amendment include decoupling southern flounder management from Gulf flounder and summer flounder management, and allocating quota equitably between commercial gears and management areas.

During the commission’s two-day meeting in Raleigh earlier this week, division staff presented an analysis of the striped bass harvest closure and gill net closure above the ferry lines in the Neuse and Tar/Pamlico rivers. Data shows those closures have not resulted in an increase abundance of striped bass in those rivers, despite continued stocking efforts.

Based on current management plans in the striped bass fishery, the division “will develop harvest management measures that allow access to, and protection for, the resource,” according to the release.

“The harvest management strategy will focus harvest on stocked fish in the Neuse and Tar/Pamlico rivers but limit harvest of Albemarle-Roanoke Striped Bass that occasionally occur in these rivers,” it states.

Restrictions on gill nets will revert to those in place before the prohibition, including tie-down and distance-from-shore requirements.

A harvest management plan is expected to be presented to the commission in November.

Prior to the November meeting, the division will host a public meeting on the striped bass harvest management plan. Details of that meeting will be announced at a later date.

The commission also directed the division to draft proposed rule language for a 5-fish per person recreational bag limit for Atlantic bonito, which the commission is expected to consider at its November quarterly business meeting.

Commissioners also voted to set the annual cap on the number of commercial fishing licenses available in the eligibility pool at 500, draft a letter to the North Carolina General Assembly highlighting the importance of finance resources to the Department of Environmental Quality and Division of Marine Fisheries, and elected Commissioner Sarah Gardner as vice chair.

A video recording of the meeting is available on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

Guest Commentary

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

From the inlets of Texas to the marsh creeks of North Carolina, the Southern flounder has been a coastal mainstay — a master of camouflage, a favorite of anglers, and a staple in commercial docks. But the fishery is in trouble, and the root cause is proving more stubborn than nets and lines: the water where these fish grow up is getting too warm for their biology to function as it should.

The Biology Behind the Problem

Southern flounder have a quirk that makes them unusually sensitive to climate change: their sex is not fixed at birth. Instead, juvenile flounder spend their first few months in shallow estuarine nursery creeks, and the water temperature during that period determines whether they develop as male or female.

In a balanced system, roughly half would be female — the egg-layers that drive reproduction. But warmer nursery waters skew this ratio heavily toward males. The difference isn’t subtle:

• North Carolina surveys (2014–2017) found that in cooler northern nurseries like the Pamlico River, about 60–67% of juveniles were male.
• In warmer southern creeks, like those in the New River, male proportions reached 81–94%, leaving only a sliver of females in the mix.

Lab experiments confirm the link: water temperatures of 80 °F or higher during early growth push most juveniles to become male, regardless of their genetic sex.

The implications are stark: fewer females, fewer eggs, fewer young fish entering the population. Without enough females, the stock’s recovery potential collapses.

Another aspect of Southern flounder biology that many fishermen don’t know is that females reach much larger adult sizes than males. The vast majority (80-90%) of males stop growing before reaching the minimum harvestable size (currently 15 inches in NC waters). That means that nearly all of the harvest (both recreational and commercial) targets females.

Fishing Pressure vs. Warming Water

Historical overfishing has contributed to the Southern flounder decline. The adult fish migrate offshore in the fall to spawn, making them easy targets as they leave the estuaries. In North Carolina, harvests were high for decades until a 2019 assessment confirmed the stock was overfished with overfishing occurring.

Since then, NC managers have imposed some of the strictest rules in state history, and throughout the species range — including a 72% cut in removals and, in 2024, the complete closure of the recreational season. These cuts have reduced fishing mortality, but the size of the population remains far below levels needed for a sustainable fishery.

What’s vexing managers is that even with drastically reduced catch, the warming-driven skewed sex ratios limit reproductive capacity and the total number of females available to harvest. In other words, fishing limits can protect adult females, but if the nurseries keep producing mostly males, there will never be enough females to rebuild the stock.

Habitat and Other Stressors

Habitat degradation — from shoreline hardening, dredging, and water pollution — has also reduced the quality of juvenile flounder habitat. Loss of vegetated marsh edges and shallow feeding flats means fewer places for young flounder to shelter and feed. But while habitat restoration can help in specific locations, it cannot offset the coastwide effects of rising water temperatures.

Not Just a North Carolina Story

From Texas to the Carolinas, Southern flounder numbers have declined in a synchronized pattern. That’s telling: historical fishing pressure as well as harvest rules vary widely, but the declines align closely with regional warming trends, pointing to climate as a coastwide driver.

Texas has invested heavily in hatchery enhancement, producing and releasing over 378,000 juvenile flounder so far, with plans to scale up. South Carolina began stocking trials in 2021. Past experiences with other coastal fisheries indicate that supplementing wild populations with hatchery fish may not solve the problem. So far, North Carolina has opted not to use hatcheries as part of Southern flounder management, focusing instead on catch reductions to rebuild the stock.

Hatcheries may provide some help in the short term, especially during years of poor natural reproduction, but they cannot solve the fundamental temperature problem that exists in wild nurseries.

The Overlooked Winter Challenge

Southern flounder spawn offshore in winter. Climate data show that ocean waters      throughout the species range are warmer now than in past decades. Key reproductive events      — egg fertilization, embryo development, and early larval growth — may be more sensitive to even modest winter warming than previously thought.

The poor recruitment in Southern flounder mirrors declining patterns observed. In other winter-spawning species, including members of the snapper-grouper complex, leading scientists to question whether we are witnessing a broader ecological regime shift toward lower productivity.

If Warming Continues

If summer and early fall estuarine temperatures keep rising:

• Sex ratios will remain heavily skewed toward males in many North Carolina nurseries.
• Even with strict fishing limits, the spawning stock will rebuild only slowly — or not at all.
• Commercial and recreational opportunities could remain severely restricted for several years.
• The fishery’s cultural and economic role in coastal NC could shrink dramatically.

Local habitat strategies — like protecting shaded, groundwater-fed creeks that stay cooler — could help maintain “female refuges” in certain areas. But these are stopgaps. Without broader climate action, the male-heavy trend will persist, limiting egg production and, ultimately, the number of flounder available to catch.

The Road Ahead

North Carolina’s current management plan aims to rebuild the stock to sustainable levels by 2028, but that target assumes average environmental conditions. If water temperatures continue to trend upward, managers may need to combine stricter harvest controls, targeted hatchery releases, and climate-resilient habitat protection just to stabilize the fishery.

For now, the Southern flounder is sending a clear signal: it’s not just about how many fish we take — it’s also about what’s happening in the water itself.

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

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to vote next week on an amendment that will evenly split the southern flounder fishery allocation 50/50 between commercial and recreational fishers.

If the commission adopts Amendment 4 to the state’s Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan, the new allocation would go into effect this year.

Commissioners are also set during their Aug. 20-21 meeting in Raleigh to take a vote on setting the annual cap on standard commercial fishing licenses through the eligibility pool, and electing a vice chair.

The commission is expected to discuss draft Amendment 5 to the Southern Flounder management plan and hear a presentation on the current trends in the commercial and recreational sectors on the state’s sheepshead fishery and potential next steps for exploring changes to that fisheries management.

Presentations will also be made on the state’s black drum fishery, including current trends in the commercial and recreational sectors, along with a review of data pertaining to the striped bass harvest closure in the Neuse and Tar/Pamlico rivers within the central/southern management area.

The Aug. 20 meeting will begin at 1 p.m., with the public comment session to kick off at 6 p.m.

The public comment session will kick off the Aug. 21 meeting, which is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

The meetings will be held at the Hilton Raleigh North Hills, 3415 Wake Forest Road and it will be livestreamed on YouTube.

Anyone who wishes to speak in person may sign up for public comment prior to the start of the meeting. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes for comment and will be asked to speak during only one of the public comment sessions. Anyone who would like to submit handouts to the commission during the public comment period should bring at least 12 copies to the meeting.

Written comments will be accepted via an online form on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage or by mail to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557. Written comments may also be dropped off at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St.

All written comments for the upcoming meeting must be submitted by 4 p.m. Aug. 18.

MOREHEAD CITY – Keep telling your story.

That was the message to those who attended the first meeting of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition held Tuesday afternoon in the Crystal Coast Civic Center.

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard, who initiated the coalition to be a voice for the commercial fishing industry, welcomed elected officials and staff from Beaufort, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hertford, Hyde, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Perquimans, Tyrrell and Washington counties, and 10 coastal legislators or their representative.

“We’ve got a lot of folks here today concerned about this coalition, and this effort,” Woodard said, adding that many of the more than 100 in the audience were in Raleigh to protest House Bill 442.

But the head of the state’s recreational fishing association called the group’s goals “disappointing.”

‘No due process’

First introduced in March to open up the recreational season for flounder and red snapper, the Senate amended the bill in mid-June to include a trawling ban in the state’s inland waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline.

The proposed ban was met with both outcry and support, but when the Senate kicked the amended bill back to the House, representatives chose not to advance the bill. Since June 25, the bill has been parked in a House committee.

Woodard set the coalition in motion July 3 with a letter to the 18 other coastal counties that border bodies of water from which licensed commercial fishermen are required to report their catch, representing 20% of the state’s counties, he explained.

“That should send a clear voice to our legislators, that we got 20% of the entire counties in the state of North Carolina, and hopefully we will grow up more for people that believe in eating the fresh local seafood from clean, clear waters in our state, rather than foreign food that comes into our country. I don’t know about you, but I want to eat fresh, seafood,” he said.

When Woodard began the meeting Tuesday, he told the crowd that he was “appalled to see that (proposed trawling ban) went to the House,” and wrote a letter June 30 to Senate Leader Phil Berger.

Woodard read the second paragraph of that letter aloud: “Our democratic system, established by our forefathers, was designed to ensure that every voice in leadership could be heard-whether in support or opposition. At its core, our Constitution is built on mutual respect and, most importantly, due process.”

Woodard said, “everyone in this room sitting here today certainly knows there was no due process,” and then explained how he pitched the idea to form the coalition to a fellow commissioner.

“I said, ‘Enough is enough.’ I’ve been a chairman in Dare County for the last 10 years. I’ve been on the board the last 12 years,” Woodard said. “Every single year, we have to fight the regulatory agencies. We have to fight the leadership.”

It was time “to come together, not just counties, not just fishermen, but stakeholders all over the south and this entire state. We need to educate those legislators that aren’t living on the coast.”

Once given the board’s blessing, Woodard sent the letter proposing the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition.

“The goal of this coalition is to bring together county leaders from coastal regions to address these critical issues with a unified voice. By coordinating our efforts, we can better advocate for the long-term health and sustainability of our fisheries, our local economies and our fishermen’s way of life,” Woodard said.

About the coalition

Members agreed that the coalition would be a public body and have its next meeting at 1 p.m. Sept. 16 in the civic center, ahead of when the legislature is expected to convene.

After that, the coalition will meet quarterly in Carteret County because of its central location.

Woodard emphasized he wanted the coalition to be “as transparent as humanly possible,” adding he wanted the “public to be here.”

The coalition adopted a mission statement to support commercial fishermen and fishing communities, protect their livelihoods, preserve coastal heritage, “and safeguard the economic vitality of our working waterfronts. Together, we work to ensure the continued harvest of high-quality North Carolina seafood—feeding families, strengthening communities, and ensuring North Carolina Catch remains a priority for consumers to enjoy throughout our state and beyond.”

During the discussion, Pamlico County Commissioner Candy Bohmert said that the coalition should focus on promoting — rather than stating it’s out to save — the commercial fishing industry.

“We don’t need to save these people. They save themselves. We need to empower them,” Bohmert said. “We really need to kind of change that language. We’re promoting them. We’re promoting our commercial history. We’re promoting all of that because they’re important.”

Bobby Outten, Dare County’s manager and attorney, is to serve as staff to the board.

Outten explained that the intention with the coalition is to act as a governmental body.

“The fisheries groups have for years been working hard to deal with fisheries issues, and what we found is the legislators aren’t listening, and it’s a hard road, and it’s a tough time,” Outten said.

The idea is to get the governmental entities of the affected counties together and “then be the voice for the political side of this,” Outten said.

Fisheries groups will still be the resource to disseminate the information, but the coalition will be “the voice of the political counties.”

From the legislators

There were nearly a dozen coastal legislators at the meeting, including Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck. Hanig has been a vocal opponent of the trawling ban since it was first proposed at a Senate committee meeting June 17.

“We’ve never had the opportunity to tell our story. Well, guess what God brought us? He brought us H442, and you know what that did? That wasn’t the shot heard around the world. That was the backfire heard around the world. Let me tell you why. Now we have the ability to be on the offense, and we have to keep that ability to be on the offense,” Hanig said.

That bill “is allowing us to tell our story,” he said, adding that it led to the coalition and got 700 people to Raleigh in about three days.

The turnout in Raleigh brought together various aspects of the industry, such as commercial fishermen, packing houses, “everybody. You know why? Because what’s the first thing they went after? The shrimp, right? They’re going after everything,” Hanig said. “Because that’s what they’re after, folks, they make no qualms about it. They’re after our industry.”

In response to an audience member asking who “they” are, Hanig said “Pick someone. The CCA, the Wildlife Federation, certain legislators, you know, their efforts. They’re after this industry. They make no bones about it. They’ve been telling the wrong story, the false story, for too long, and we haven’t stopped that.” The CCA is the Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina.

“I implore you, tell your story. Do not be afraid to tell your story,” Hanig said. “Let them know where you’re coming from, because those stories matter.”

Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, told the crowd that people in Raleigh think there’s no fish, no crabs, no shrimp, that “our fishery is completely depleted, because that’s what the Marine Fisheries Commission is telling them.”

He added that this message is what he feels pitted recreational against commercial fishing, and “they think that the shrimp trawl has killed all the fish.”

Smith suggested two resolutions: Ask the “General Assembly to completely redo the Marine Fisheries Commission,” and “tell the Wildlife Resources Commission, ‘hey, stay in your lane.’ You count the trout in the mountains, but don’t use state resources” to try to close the commercial fishing industry down.

Sen. Bob Brinson, R-Beaufort, said the best way to educate folks in Raleigh is by “getting them on your boats, getting them in your oyster beds, getting them in your fish houses, and showing them what it is you do and how you do it.”

Sen. Norm Sanderson, R-Carteret, explained that when the Senate voted on House Bill 442 June 19, four voted against, but 40-plus voted in favor, which he didn’t expect.

He later found out that the votes for the amendment were for the “environmental side because they claim that shrimp trawling was destroying the environment in our sound. That it was going to destroy all kinds of fishing. Well, that’s one of the talking points that the CCA has used for the last 20 years,” he said.

Sanderson said that he was also upset about how the bill was amended in the Senate, “because the process stunk to high heaven.”

He explained that he was co-chair in the Agriculture Committee when the amendment “first came about, and that is the last thing that you ever do to a committee chairman,” he said. “If you’ve got something that’s going to be contentious, if you’ve got something that’s going to cause a lot of outcry or pushback,” you should go to them before the meeting. But Sanderson said that’s not what happened in this case.

“Let’s stay strong. Keep helping us. Keep telling your story, spreading this message across and around this state, so that the next time this happens, there’ll be an outcry from all over this state,” he said.

Response from CCA-NC

Coastal Conservation Association-North Carolina Executive Director David Sneed told Coastal Review in an email that “it is disappointing to read the goal of this new coalition is apparently to create a vehicle only for ‘battling issues that affect the state’s commercial fishing industry’ (fewer than 2,000 people who profit from a public trust resource) rather than acting in the public interest for the 11 million citizens of North Carolina who own our public trust resources and would benefit enormously from a healthy, sustainable coastal fishery.”

The coalition would be better served by recognizing the foundational, bedrock principles established by the public trust doctrine and the state’s constitution. “That North Carolina’s coastal fisheries resources belong to all 11 million citizens of this State and must be managed, preserved, and protected for the overall benefit of those citizens and future generations.  In addition, the coalition’s approach only divides and disenfranchises the not-for-profit fishing public that lives in and visits our coastal counties,” Sneed continued.

“There are more than 91,000 Coastal Recreational Fishing Licenses sold across the state’s 19 coastal counties each year, and it is reliably estimated that more than 300,000 people spend nearly $1.5 billion annually across the three Congressional Districts that encompass these 19 coastal counties—people who not only live in our coastal counties but also people from inland counties who visit our coast and spend money supporting our coastal fishing communities,” he said. “Our hope would be that any efforts by this coalition will be focused on building a true coalition in the public interest—one that will support the sound management of our coastal fisheries resources to achieve the long-term sustainability that all North Carolinians deserve and are entitled to under the law.”

An update to the state’s Fishery Management Plan, which includes management strategies for a host of species, has been released.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ Fishery Management Plan Update contains information based on data through the year prior and includes stock status, data trends, and research needs, according to a release.

This year’s update includes a review of southern flounder, which is being overfished based on the latest stock assessment.

The primary focus of the review “is to explore ways to increase recreational access” while maintaining requirements that have been established to rebuild the population, according to the release. This month, the state Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to adopt an amendment to the plan that will evenly split the southern flounder fishery between the recreational and commercial sectors.

The plan also includes updates to kingfishes, red drum, blue crab, spotted seatrout, and eastern oyster and hard clam fisheries.

The state board that oversees commercial fishing license eligibility is scheduled to meet this fall to review license applications.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Standard Commercial Fishing License Eligibility Board is set to meet by conference call at 10:30 a.m. Oct. 22.

The board will consider applications deemed complete and submitted by Sept. 24, according to a release.

Members of the public are invited to listen to the meeting by calling 919-212-5733 or at the state Department of Environmental Quality Wilmington Regional Office, 127 Cardinal Drive Extension, Wilmington.

Those who call in are asked to refrain from announcing their names when they call and remain on mute throughout the meeting.

Directions on applying for a commercial fishing license are available at https://deq.nc.gov/scfl-eligibility-pool under the eligibility pool application link.

For more information about the meeting, contact License Eligibility Clerk Ann Bordeaux-Nixon at 910-796-7261 or Ann.Bordeaux-Nixon@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission has opened a public comment period on a host of proposed rules to permits, franchises and shellfish leases.

The comment period on nine proposed rules runs through September, during which time the public will also have an opportunity to provide input at a public hearing.

Proposed rules include the following:

• Requiring seafood dealers that report trip tickets electronically to report quota monitoring logs electronically
• Adding four permits to permanent rule that are currently issued by proclamation, including a dealer permit for the estuarine flounder fishery and the Estuarine Gill Net Permit. There are no changes to current requirements.
• Clarifying a fish dealer is required to submit a trip ticket for fish not sold consistent with North Carolina law and state Marine Fisheries Commission rules for commercial harvest reporting requirements
• Relocating from proclamation to rule the permit condition that makes it unlawful to refuse to allow N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries employees to obtain data for the conservation and management of marine and estuarine resources
• Broaden the definition of “educational institution” to include schools and educational organizations.
• Adding links to webpages in rules for supporting information that can change frequently.
• Repealing the Horseshoe Crab Biomedical Use Permit. Harvest would continue to be allowed during the open commercial bait harvest season.
• Adding email as an additional means to satisfy call-in requirements for two permits.
• Removing the requirement to notarize a permit application and instead require only the initial permit general condition form to be notarized.

The commission is also proposing amending five rules that pertain to shellfish leases and franchises.

The amendments would “codify current procedures and align rules with state laws,” according to a DMF release by removing removing franchises from productions requirements and termination procedures, clarifying that production requirements for leases are based on the date a lease was granted or last renewed, and clarifying who determines eligibility for additional shellfish lease acreage, the time at which the determination of eligibility occurs, what is considered additional lease acreage, and what is considered acres under a lease.

The public hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. Aug. 26 via WebEx.

Anyone who wishes to speak during the hearing must register by noon of that day.

A listening station will be set up at DMF’s Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City. Those who wish to speak at the listening station may sign up upon arrival.

Written comments are being accepted through an online form or via mail to: N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Rules Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557.

The deadline to submit written comments is 5 p.m. Sept. 30.

The proposed changes will be presented to the commission for final approval In November and, if approved, those rules would pend legislative review next year.

Questions about the commission’s rulemaking process may be emailed to Catherine Blum, DMF’s rule coordinator, at catherine.blum@deq.nc.gov.

A father-son duo from Grimesland, while fishing recently off the coast of Ocracoke, established state records for two species: a channel scabbardfish (Evoxymetopon taeniatus) and a spinycheek scorpionfish (Neomerinthe hemingwayi).

There were no previous state records for either species, according to a Wednesday announcement from the Division of Marine Fisheries, which is under the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality.

Jody Hopkins landed what officials called a “rarely encountered and deep-dwelling” channel scabbardfish that weighed 7 pounds, 3.2 ounces. The fish measured 60 inches total length from the tip of the nose to the end of the tail and had a 10.25-inch girth.

Hopkins’ son, Oden, landed a spinycheek scorpionfish, weighing in at 4 pounds, 6.4 ounces. The fish measured 20.63 inches total length and had a girth of 13.63 inches.

The Hopkinses were jigging 33 miles off Ocracoke July 13 in nearly 700 feet of water, both using a torpedo jig, a Dragon Strike DSC-633 rod and a Gomexus SX450L reel with 30-pound line and a 50-pound leader. The two fish were weighed in at Neuse Sport Shop in Kinston.

This is Jody Hopkins’ second state-record fish for 2025. He established a state record for bulleye in June.

The International Game Fish Association, or IGFA, current world record for the channel scabbardfish is 9 pounds, 9 ounces. That fish was landed in the Bahamas in 2023. This is one of only a few dozen recorded observations of this species in the Western Atlantic.

The channel scabbardfish was taken to the Division of Marine Fisheries headquarters in Morehead City for identification. Biologists worked with the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh to identify, photograph and collect genetic samples from the fish that will be donated to the museum’s permanent specimen collection.

The spinycheek scorpionfish unofficially tied the existing IGFA world record that was landed in Virginia in 2015. Fisheries officials advise anglers to handle any species of scorpionfish with care as the spines of the fish are venomous and dangerous.

For more information on state record fish, visit the state saltwater records webpage or contact the N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament staff at saltwater.citations@deq.nc.gov.

More than half of North Carolina’s 20 coastal counties will be represented at the launch of what commercial shrimping advocates envision as an organization poised to fight for the industry in Raleigh.

The inception of the North Carolina Coastal Counties Fisheries Coalition is set to kick off in an Aug. 5 meeting in Morehead City, where coastal-based local and state elected officials and their constituents are invited to converge, discuss and formulate a plan to combat what they deem politically charged threats to commercial fishers.

“Bottom line, simple mission statement: We want to provide fresh, local seafood for our citizens and visitors and protect the livelihoods and families that harvest it,” said Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard. “We’re going to do everything humanly possible to protect our commercial fishermen.”

The meeting is scheduled for 1 p.m. in the Crystal Coast Civic Center’s main hall, 203 College Circle.

The idea to form a coastwide coalition to defend and protect the state’s commercial fishing fleet sprouted fresh on the heels of a fierce fight that ensued in the North Carolina Legislative Building in late June.

That’s when a last-minute amendment to ban shrimp trawling in inland and nearshore coastal waters was tucked into a House bill originally authored to expand recreational access to southern flounder and red snapper. A companion bill, House Bill 441, was gutted and revised to establish a program that would pay out annual installments over three years to qualifying shrimpers.

In what quickly became referred to as “Shrimpgate,” hundreds of commercial shrimpers and their supporters, backed by coast-based legislators in both chambers and on both sides of the political aisle, flocked to Raleigh to oppose House Bill 442, one they argued would have effectively shuttered the state’s shrimping industry.

After a near weeklong bout, House Republicans announced June 25 they would not take up the bill with the changes senators had added.

It was a victory for what commercial shrimping advocates say is only one battle in a war they believe has not reached an end.

“Heck no,” the fight isn’t over, Woodard said. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, has “already said that. When they go back in session in September, who knows. I’m not sure where they’re going with it, but that fight ain’t over.”

Berger, back in June, called the amendment to the bill “a good provision.”

“It’s our position that continuing to allow trawling in inland waters is detrimental to the state overall [and] detrimental to our aquatic fish population,” he said to reporters from various media outlets. “We’re the only state on the East Coast or the Gulf Coast that allows that kind of net fishing in the inland waters and it’s time for us to change that.”

Groups, including the Coastal Conservation Association – North Carolina, or CCA-NC, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, have long argued that shrimp trawling harms other fisheries, including juvenile fish, and degrades essential habitats.

Commercial fishing proponents refute those claims, saying that the state’s fisheries management plan for shrimp already protects sensitive habitat and juvenile fish. Commercial fishing is heavily regulated in North Carolina, where trawlers are required to have equipment on their boats that prevent and reduce bycatch.

Woodard noted that argument in a June 30 letter he penned to Berger, writing in part, “regulations are already in place that significantly reduce bycatch in shrimp nets.”

Woodard also called out the eleventh-hour injected amendment to House Bill 442 as a move that “bypassed due process by attaching negative amendments to this bill without public debate or discussion.”

Three days after signing that letter, Woodard dispersed one to chairs of coastal county commissions announcing his proposal to establish the coalition. In it, he welcomed them to extend an invitation to other counties that may wish to get involved.

As of midday Friday, 11 coastal counties including Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Craven, Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Onslow, Pamlico, Tyrrell and Washington had appointed members of their boards of commissioners to the coalition.

At least four members of the Carteret County Board of Commissioners plan to attend the Aug. 5 meeting, Chair Chris Chadwick said.

“But I’m hoping to have a whole group,” he said. “You can’t try to ram something down somebody’s throat and eliminate an industry without involving the people where the industry exists. When you have somebody from Winston-Salem trying to tell you what’s best for you on the coast without involving the people on the coast, that’s a problem in my book. We look forward to a productive meeting and the beginning of something strong and a powerful organization that can go to Raleigh and advocate for the coastal counties.”

Onslow County Board of Commissioners Chair Tim Foster expressed similar sentiments.

“I think when it comes to this, the coastal counties really need to come together and show that unified support of what’s taking place,” he said. “When you see decisions that are being made that impact your communities, but you don’t see yourselves as having a voice on this, this coalition becomes that. We have Sneads Ferry that’s historically a fishing village and an industry that has grown and it impacts these families that have been doing this for generations. We just felt like (the coalition) is something we needed to be part of to support them and be their voice on some of these decisions that are being made that impacts their livelihood.”

Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, plans to be at the meeting. Local elected officials have praised Hanig for initially sounding the alarm on the trawling ban amendment in a social media post.

“What they attempted to do completely backfired on them and it has given the commercial fishermen the platform that they have never had,” he said in a telephone interview last week. “The issue that we’ve had between the recreational fishermen and the commercial fishermen is the commercial fishermen are busy. They’re working all the time. They can’t afford lobbyists so they’ve never been able to tell their story and tell their side of what the real truth is. As bad as what happened several weeks back, what it has done is it exposed the truth. And, what we have to do is keep telling our story so that people understand what the real situation is.”

Hanig hailed the coalition as one that “is going to propel us to where we need to be to fight this battle,” one, he said, will “never be over.”

“When you have leadership in the General Assembly that is willing to shut down an entire industry overnight, there’s a problem and we need to fix that problem. So, here we go,” he said.

The state has the protocols in place for successful fisheries management, but North Carolina is missing the mark, recently released state-mandated research concludes.

A top recommendation: Hire more fisheries scientists.

And the head of the state body formed to coordinate scientific research for the legislature, in a letter accompanying the report, states that lawmakers’ recent failed shrimp trawling ban measure had no basis in the report’s findings and clarifies that the recommendations did not address trawling.

Legislators in 2021 directed the North Carolina Collaboratory to evaluate the overall health of fisheries and habitats and make recommendations for better management ahead of the 25th anniversary of the state’s Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 and the Coastal Area Management Act’s 50th anniversary in 2024.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences Director Dr. Joel Fodrie and a team of nine researchers presented a summary of their findings to the North Carolina General Assembly late last month, as the legislature had mandated.

Fodrie told Coastal Review that the state requested a broad analysis as part of its 2021 budget bill, so the research team, over the course of three years, collected and used data to assess the state’s fisheries and make the state-mandated recommendations based on those findings that could improve “both marine fisheries and our coastal habitats, with a specific link between those habitats and the way they support fish.”

The 46-page summary highlights the seven findings and the five recommendations to “achieve the vision of the Fisheries Reform Act.” The state Fisheries Reform Act requires fishery management plans to ensure long-term viability of the fisheries, according to the state.

The final, comprehensive report with full analyses and data is still being fine-tuned and is to be sent to the legislature later this year, Fodrie added.

In addition to Chapel Hill, researchers who study fish biology and ecology, estuarine ecology, fisheries management and environmental governance from N.C. State University, East Carolina University and UNC-Wilmington participated in the research.

Fodrie explained that if you were to gather data across states to quantitatively evaluate each state’s attempt to manage fisheries, North Carolina scores pretty high based on the management components put in place as a result of the Fisheries Reform Act, or FRA.

The state seems to have adopted many of the practices that should produce better outcomes and have strengthened these practices for most species over time. Despite those gears being in place, the results are only so-so, he said.

The findings point to at least three significant hurdles for optimizing management outcomes, including a significant time lag in the implementation of new data or information for up-to-date decision-making, a breakdown of trust and communication among managers and key stakeholder groups, and long-term shifts in estuarine habitat quality and coverage.

“What the FRA did for North Carolina is it put us in a position to have many of the building blocks that are helpful and can remain part of the solutions, while the analyses also show that we’re still falling short of the FRA’s core objectives and thus some changes in management structures ought to be seriously considered,” Fodrie said.

About the findings

Researchers found that management intensity in North Carolina had increased over time and is equal to or exceeds the levels of other states throughout the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Gulf of Mexico, but despite the presence of a rigorous management structure, the state continues to “exhibit challenges in achieving the core goals of the FRA, which is ‘to protect and enhance … coastal fisheries in NC.’”

A benchmark for informed fishery management, according to the summary, are quantitative stock assessments. These produce estimates of stock biomass and the harvest rate, which define overfished, related to how much fish biomass is in the system, and overfishing, related to how high the catch rate is, for the population.

The most recent stock assessments estimate that blue crab, southern flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass and striped mullet are experiencing overfishing, meaning that the harvest rate is too high.

Blue crab, southern flounder, striped bass and striped mullet are overfished, or the stock is too low, and sheepshead and red drum are neither overfished nor experiencing overfishing.

The summary notes that developing and updating the fishery management plans process “is relatively slow, which potentially limits the efficacy of science- and process-based public trust resource management,” what researchers call in the summary “hallmark goals” of the Fisheries Reform Act.

Across the 12 stocks the state manages that have an initial fisheries management plan, the average time between the first plan and amendments is seven years. The average time between management plan actions is a little more than five years.

“In the context of these timelines, there is little evidence that adaptive management is being achieved by increased activity within” the North Carolina General Assembly, “by the breadth of motions adopted” by the Marine Fisheries Commission or by proclamation authority from the Division of Marine Fisheries, according to the summary.

The remaining findings relate to the pressures coastal habitats are facing from fishing, development, climate variability and other human activities. Data suggests that the entire ecosystem has changed since the Fisheries Reform Act was passed, particularly for water quality and coastal and estuarine habitats.

Researchers offered five recommendations.

Fodrie said that a primary recommendation is to increase the Division of Marine Fisheries staff, especially the number of stock-assessment scientists, so the stock assessments and fisheries management plans are regularly updated.

An independent science and statistical committee to improve fishery management outcomes in the state, as well as new approaches for enhancing the division’s outreach with stakeholder participation, trust, and management transparency, are also recommendations.

Fodrie said that the role of this type of committee and a redesigned Marine Fisheries Commission would be to target current weaknesses related to implementation of the Fisheries Reform Act, such as the mode and tempo by which catch limits are set, when and how stakeholders can be engaged, and resolving disputes between key resource users.

The final three recommendations relate to fisheries and habitat health, including adopting an ecosystem-based management approach to assess the health of the state fisheries as a whole and the drivers that affect them; stopping or reversing patterns of habitat loss and degradation, along with requiring improved monitoring of habitat extent and water quality; and re-evaluating the nursery designation system and creating an adaptive framework for protecting critical nursery areas.

“The state also has some real challenges related to what’s happening with its coastal habitats,” Fodrie said, adding that it’s a big ask to take the major steps needed to halt or reverse those trends. “This involves balancing fishing practices, coastal population growth, climate variability, and development; which would require buy-in at the whole-state level to manage at the coastal ecosystem scale.”

Note from the Collaboratory

The North Carolina Collaboratory’s “Study of Coastal and Marine Fisheries of the State” hadn’t gotten much attention since it was first mandated — that is, until the Senate added in mid-June to a House bill about recreational flounder and red snapper seasons a proposed law to ban shrimp trawling in inshore waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline.

The report was mentioned more than once during discussions between supporters and opponents. The House declined to advance the bill with the Senate’s amendment on June 25.

Looking back: House Republicans decline to take up shrimp trawling bill

Collaboratory Executive Director Jeff Warren, in a letter dated June 30, the deadline and date when the summary was released, wrote that “recent legislative actions – specifically, those related to shrimp trawling language in the current version of House Bill (H) 442 – have brought into question the contents of this report. Because this specific issue was out of the scope of this study, this report neither advocates for nor opposes a ban on shrimp trawling.”

Warren stated in the report’s cover letter that there had been multiple comments made by legislators in both chambers as well as statements circulating in the media, that “suggested the Senate was aware of the contents of this report and this advance knowledge drove actions to amend the legislation to include a shrimp trawling ban prior to the report’s release.”

Those statements were untrue, Warren stated, “and undermine the credibility of this multi-year research study carried out by nine researchers across four UNC System campuses.”

Warren added that the recommendations in the summary, and ultimately the full report, do not address, nor respond to, the shrimp trawling language contained in the shrimp trawl ban “nor were they ever designed to. Further, no legislative influence or pressure impacted the legislative recommendations or the scope of work, which has remained consistent over the three-year arc of the broader study.”

He closed the letter by adding the full report will be available later this year after it’s refined, “to ensure a broad variety of users can access the data and information. To be clear, this clarifying work will not substantively change the recommendations provided herein.”

The 2025 recreational flounder season will open at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 1 in coastal and joint waters and close at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Wednesday the two-week season for recreational hook-and-line and gig fisheries.

Anglers are permitted one fish per person per day that is at least 15 inches from the tip of the snout to the tip of the tail.

Harvesting flounder with a recreational commercial gear license will be prohibited.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s flounder season will be open Sept. 1-14 as well, so the season, size and daily creel limit will be consistent across jurisdictions.

The season, size and creel limits comply with provisions of the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3, which specifies that season and possession limits be set annually to keep the fishery within the recreational quota.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is scheduled to vote on adopting the draft Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4 at its Aug. 20-22 business meeting. If the amendment is adopted, it will result in a 50/50 quota allocation between the commercial and recreational fishery, whereby each sector would get 266,176 pounds, a quota increase of 53,235 pounds for the recreational sector.

The additional quota would reduce the risk of overages in 2025.

The commercial flounder season for internal coastal and joint fishing waters, which include the rivers, creeks and sounds, will be announced in a separate news release and proclamation.

Have questions about the recently adopted amendments to the oyster and hard clam fisheries management plans? There’s a flyer for that.

The commission approved N.C. Oyster Fishery Management Plan 5 and N.C. Hard Clam Fishery Management Amendment 3, which lay out harvesting rules for both species.

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries staff have developed two flyers, one for oysters, the other for hard clams, both embedded below, to explain new management measures the state Marine Fisheries Commission adopted in May.

More information can be found on the Eastern Oyster Management Information and Hard Clam Management Information webpages on the Marine Fisheries website.

Division of Marine Fisheries researchers are asking recreational anglers to donate carcasses of the red snappers they caught during this year’s two-day season.

The data collected on the federally managed species will be provided to the National Marine Fisheries Service for use in future red snapper stock assessments.

The recreational red snapper season officially opens at 12:01 a.m. Friday, July 11, and closes at 11:59 p.m. Saturday, July 12. Anglers may keep one fish per person, per day. There is no size limit. Captain and crew on for-hire vessels may retain the recreational bag limit.

The red snapper seasons comply with the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council’s Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic Region.

Anglers can drop off their carcasses at the following year-round donation locations:

• Cape Pointe Marina, Harkers Island.
• Frisco Rod & Gun, Frisco.
• Jennette’s Pier, Nags Head.
• Eastside Bait & Tackle, Washington.
• N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Wilmington Regional Office.
• Tex’s Tackle, Wilmington.
• Clem’s Seafood, Southport.
• N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Headquarters, Morehead City.

The division has set up the following temporary donation locations for the mini-season to collect carcasses:

• Bridge Tender Marina, 1418 Airlie Road, Wilmington.
• Carolina Beach Municipal Docks, 1 Carl Winner Drive, Carolina Beach.
• Capt. Stacy Fishing Center, 416 Atlantic Beach Causeway, Atlantic Beach.
• Carolina Princess Headboat Dock, 604 Evans St., Morehead City.
• Pelagic Hunter, 104 James St., Sneads Ferry.

Fisheries researchers ask that the head and tail remain intact and, if possible, the guts and reproductive organs. Anglers who fished on a charter boat or head boat should let the fish cleaner know the carcass will be donated.

Division biologists will measure the fish, determine the sex when possible, and remove the ear bones to determine age.

Recreational anglers who donate their red snapper fish carcass and complete the required catch-card will receive an inverted hook-descending device provided through a donation from South Atlantic Sea Grant, and be entered into a drawing to win one of three SeaQualizer descending devices.

Catch-cards and donation supplies are at each donation site, and anglers must complete the entire catch-card legibly and honestly to be eligible for the drawing.

Recreational anglers may log information about their trips through the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Release app available at the Google Play and Apple App stores or through the council’s release website. Reports of the number of harvested and released fish will improve the accuracy of National Marine Fisheries Service’s catch estimates.

Gear regulations implemented in previous years for commercial, for-hire, and recreational snapper-grouper fishing remain in effect. A best fishing practices guide is available online.

The commercial red snapper season will open July 14, with a 75-pound gutted weight trip limit, and will close at 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 2026, or when the commercial quota is met, whichever comes first.

Division biologists will obtain data from commercially caught red snapper at the fish houses. Commercially caught carcasses should not be left in the carcass collection Program freezers.

Read more about North Carolina’s carcass collection program online, or contact Amanda Macek, division sportfishing specialist, at 252-515-5537 or amanda.macek@deq.nc.gov.

Spotted seatrout harvest season is open with new size and creel limits in inland and joint fishing waters of North Carolina.

The hook-and-line season reopened on Tuesday after being closed between May 2 and June 30 to help the species recover from mortality due to last winter’s cold stun event, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

This season, the daily creel limit is three fish per person and a minimum size limit of 14 inches long. A fish may not be harvested if it measures between 20 and 26 inches. One fish over 26 inches long is allowed in the daily creel.

“These rule changes are in agreement with the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan Amendment 1 and will be consistent with rules established in coastal fishing waters,” Inland Fisheries Division Chief Corey Oakley said in a release.

The spotted seatrout population is being overfished, according to that plan, and the new rule changes have been implemented to allow the population to recover.

Reprinted from Island Free Press

Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bob Woodard sent a letter June 30 to Senate Leader Phil Berger expressing “deep concern” about the last-minute changes to House Bills 442 and 441, which resulted in last week’s “Shrimpgate” protests.

Following the surprise introduction of legislation that would ban shrimp trawling in nearly all of North Carolina’s coastal waters, a host of groups and individuals have weighed in on the rushed proposal running aground.

The state Senate passed House Bill 442 on June 20, which would have made it a misdemeanor to operate a shrimp trawl in the sounds and up to one-half mile off the Atlantic coastline. This amendment was tacked on to a bill requiring state regulators to open flounder and red snapper seasons, days before it came to a vote in the Senate.

The Senate also gutted House Bill 441, originally entitled “An act to adopt the Loggerhead Sea Turtle as the official saltwater reptile of the state of North Carolina.” This turtle-centered bill passed 113-0 in the N.C. House on May 7, 2025.

The revised HB 441 bill – different in every aspect but the House Bill number – had the title “Shrimp Trawling Transition Program/Fees,” and it outlined a temporary payment plan for commercial fishermen who would face significant losses as a result of a shrimp trawling ban.

These changes that were inserted without warning or consultation with the bill’s original primary sponsors ignited backlash from across the political spectrum, with bipartisan legislators, fishing advocates, and marine scientists accusing the state Senate of underhanded political maneuvering and disregard for data-driven fisheries management.

The two bills were sent back to the House due to the changes, where N.C. House members announced June 25 that the two controversial shrimp trawling bills will not move forward, at least during this most recent House session.

The following is the June 30 letter from Woodard:

Dear Senator Berger,

First and foremost, I hope this letter reaches your desk for thoughtful review. 

From one Republican to another, I’m writing to express my deep concern and disappointment over the amendments that were recently attached to HB 442 by senior Senate leadership and sent back to the House for a vote. The last-minute deal pushed through the Senate with no opportunity for those affected to speak or defend their livelihoods-was unacceptable. 

Our democratic system, established by our forefathers, was designed to ensure that every voice in leadership could be heard-whether in support or opposition. At its core, our Constitution is built on mutual respect and, most importantly, due process. 

Senator, I fully understand that this issue-shrimp trawling in North Carolina’s inland waters— has both supporters and opponents. I also respect your position in favor of the ban, and your stated concerns about bycatch in shrimp nets. However, it’s important to note that regulations are already in place that significantly reduce bycatch. I would hope you also respect my position, which is to support the continuation of responsible shrimp trawling in our inland waters. 

Let me be clear: I mean no disrespect. But it’s undeniable that under your leadership, the Senate bypassed due process by attaching negative amendments to this bill without public debate or discussion. Senator Bobby Hanig proposed five amendments during the session, and all were tabled without deliberation. This is not how a healthy democracy functions. Our forefathers would be disheartened by the erosion of open debate and procedural fairness. 

Far too often, state and federal legislative leadership sidesteps due process which ultimately destroys the trust of the hard-working people of North Carolina. 

I understand you intend to revisit this issue and pursue a ban on shrimp trawling in the future. If that is the case, I respectfully ask that you do so with transparency, fairness, and a willingness to hear all voices—especially those directly impacted. 

Thank you for taking the time to consider my concerns. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this vital issue with you. Please feel free to call me at any time at 252-216-8240. If you prefer, I am willing to travel to Raleigh to meet with you in person at your convenience 

Respectfully, 

Robert L. “Bob” Woodard, Sr. 

Chairman, Dare County Board of Commissioners 

This story is provided courtesy of the Island Free Press, a digital newspaper covering Hatteras and Ocracoke islands. Coastal Review is partnering with the Free Press to provide readers with more environmental and lifestyle stories of interest along our coast.

The North Carolina House of Representatives will not consider a bill that would ban shrimp trawling in inland and nearshore coastal waters.

After a long caucus, House Republicans announced Wednesday afternoon that they would not take up House Bill 442, a decision praised by North Carolina shrimpers.

“As you can imagine, there’s a lot of back-slapping and crying and cheering,” North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner told Coastal Review in a telephone interview late Wednesday afternoon. “I know it’s possible to bring it back up, but, for now, we made passage.”

Little more than a week has passed since a member of the Senate amended the bill, which had been originally written to expand recreational fishing access to southern founder and red snapper, to include the ban.

Advocates of the amendment say a ban would protect bottom habitats. Opponents, including a group of coastal legislators, say allowing trawling in waters no closer than a half mile from the coast would essentially kill the state’s shrimping industry.

The Wednesday afternoon announcement also effectively kills House Bill 441, a companion bill that would subsidize qualifying shrimpers if the ban were made into law.

A group of state lawmakers vow they will fight for North Carolina shrimpers to continue trawling in inland and nearby offshore waters.

Several legislators on Tuesday spoke out against a last-minute amendment injected into a House bill originally aimed at expanding recreational access to southern flounder and red snapper. They called the revision an “injustice,” “bad,” “wrong,” and one that would shutter the state’s shrimping industry.

“I have spent a lot of the last few days being very angry, and I admit that,” said Rep. Celeste Cairns, R-Carteret, during the Tuesday morning press conference in Raleigh. “It’s better to be angry than to be sad because I will end up in tears. I have been in tears several times during this last week.”

A week has passed since two Senate committees pushed forward amended House Bill 442, one that has since its introduction to the House in March been “hijacked,” according to the bill’s sponsor.

“We’re used to the Senate acting this way, but not to this degree,” Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, said. “As much as I wanted a flounder season, I urge everyone to vote to oppose this bill every chance they get.”

Sen. David Craven Jr., R-Anson, introduced the amendment, arguing that it would align North Carolina’s trawling laws with those in Virginia and South Carolina and reduce the amount of bycatch, or unwanted species, captured in nets.

Advocacy groups, including the Coastal Conservation Association – North Carolina, and the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, have long argued that shrimp trawling harms other fisheries, including juvenile fish, and degrades essential habitats.

But lawmakers, who were joined by commercial shrimpers on Tuesday, pushed back on those claims, saying that the state’s fisheries management plan for shrimp already protects sensitive habitat and juvenile fish. Commercial fishing is heavily regulated in North Carolina, where trawlers are required to have equipment on their boats that prevent and reduce bycatch.

“This is not an environmental issue,” said Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford. “This is an allocation issue. In fact, if we were focused on the environment and the sustainability of fish, we would be talking about water quality. We’d be talking about coastal development. We’d be talking about protecting our wetlands, restoring our buffers,” and about warming sea temperatures.

House Bill 442 was last week sent back to the House, where it and proposed legislation to supplement shrimpers’ income, should the trawling ban become law, now await a vote.

Just hours after the press conference, the Senate voted 43-2 in favor of House Bill 441, which would establish a program that would pay out annual installments over three years to qualifying shrimpers.

The bill includes a provision to temporarily increase license and registration fees for recreational fishers, fishing, and some commercial fishers to cover the cost of the program.

The bill directs the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to establish and administer the program, one that would allow shrimpers to use trip-ticket forms submitted to the state between Jan. 1, 2023, through June 30, 2025. Each month, dealers submit these forms to the division, which uses the information reported on the tickets as a means to help manage fisheries resources.

Iler also sponsored House Bill 441, which, when introduced earlier this year, called for adopting the loggerhead sea turtle as the state’s official saltwater reptile.

“Without getting into the merits of either bill, I’m here because I am very upset about what happened to these two bills,” Sen. Ted Davis Jr., R-New Hanover, said Tuesday morning.

Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, called the advancement of House Bill 442 a “disgusting process.”

“This amendment wasn’t discussed with our caucus,” he said. “This amendment was a calculated, precision move by a couple of leadership in the North Carolina Senate. When I came to committee prepared to talk about this I was completely shut down. I was completely shut down by my own party and by my own leadership. Last week, I was ashamed to be a member of the North Carolina General Assembly. This is a couple of people in the Senate that are pushing an agenda, an agenda pushed by money, influence, whatever you want to call it. We can’t stand for it and if we in the North Carolina Senate don’t take a stand against this type of activity then we’re not better than they are.”

Last week, an angry Hanig asked fellow senators why they would not wait for the results from an ongoing lawsuit the Coastal Conservation Association – North Carolina filed in 2020 to ban shrimp trawling and for the results of a study on the state’s fisheries that the General Assembly commissioned three years ago.

Hanig said Tuesday that the study was expected to be presented to the legislature in the coming days.

“They know what’s in that study and they know the condition of our fisheries and they know the false narrative they have been pushing for decades,” he said.

Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, also questioned why the call to ban trawling could not have waited until the report is released.

“Did they get a heads up and find out that maybe they’re wrong and that’s why they’re trying to rush it across before the report gets here,” he said. “There’s something dirty going on here people.”

Kidwell said that, in his district, shrimping is not a career, but a way of life.

“Are we going to shut down the people who go to work every day making an honest living because some branch of the government finally decides, in some slimy backroom deal, that they don’t want to do this anymore,” he said. “Well, by God, Down East, we didn’t ask them what they want to do. We want to fish. We want to have the fruits of our labors. We’re not going to stand and take this.”

Commercial fishing industry advocates are heading to Raleigh this week to speak against a bill that would ban shrimp trawling inshore and within a half-mile of the shoreline in North Carolina.

N.C. Catch, N.C. Watermen United, Carteret County Fisherman’s Association, Ocracoke Seafood Co. and Carteret Catch are calling for supporters to join them at “Save NC Shrimp: Shrimp Day at the Legislature” starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

The groups plan to have a presence throughout the day in the legislative building, the legislative office building and on the Bicentennial Mall. For details on parking, conduct in the gallery and other information, visit https://www.ncleg.gov/About/VisitorInfo.

House Bill 442 was initially introduced in March to open up recreational season for flounder and red snapper in state waters. North Carolina has had abbreviated seasons in recent years for both species in an effort to restore the population.

Related: Measure that would halt inshore shrimp trawling advances

During a Senate committee June 17, the shrimp trawl ban amendment was added as an amendment and approved. The bill made its way through the Senate and was sent back to the House June 19. As of presstime, the bill was not on the legislative calendar.

Related: Senate kicks shrimp trawl ban bill back to House for vote

“The future of our coastal communities and North Carolina’s access to safe, sustainable shrimp is in their hands. We must show up to help educate lawmakers why HB422 is a flawed bill with dire consequences for the commercial fishing industry, consumers, restaurants, and the entire state’s economy,” event organizers said. “If you can’t attend in person, please continue to call and email your House members.”

Despite public outcry against the move, the Senate has voted in favor of the shrimp trawling ban in inshore waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline that was tacked onto a bill earlier this week to open up recreational harvest for flounder and red snapper.

The Senate also is pushing through committee a bill introduced this week detailing a program to compensate commercial fishing operations that sold shrimp caught by trawling.

When House Bill 442 was introduced in March, the proposed law only addressed recreational seasons for the two species, which has been abbreviated or not opened at all in recent years.

The flounder harvest closure is intended to help restore the species, which is overfished and overfishing is occurring, according to the Division of Marine Fisheries. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Gulf and South Atlantic fishery management councils manage red snapper in the United States. North Carolina defers to NOAA Fisheries on this species.

The amendment to “prohibit the use of trawl nets to take shrimp in coastal fishing waters or the Atlantic Ocean within one-half mile of shoreline” was added Tuesday during the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee and was moved forward by those members as well as the Senate’s rules and operations committee that afternoon.

The Senate passed the second reading Wednesday and the third in a 39-2 vote Thursday. The bill is to go back before the House because of the amendment.

Rep. Edward Goodwin, R-Chowan, is a primary sponsor of the bill and strongly objects to the trawling ban.

“This will not pass the House. We had a great bill (HB 442) which only sought to re-open the Southern Flounder and Red Snapper season that was shut down by NCDMF proclamation. The problem came when Senator Bill Rabon, Senate Rules Chairman, added this anti-trawling amendment at the 11th hour,” Goodwin wrote Wednesday in a social media post.

He wrote a letter to the speaker where he states that “The Senate amendment will effectively eliminate the Shrimping industry in North Carolina.” Adding, “I have spent the last two days listening to many of my constituents whose families have been shrimping the inner coast of NC for generations. I am not willing to stand by and let this short-sited and ill-conceived idea ruin the lives of so many hard-working North Carolinians.”

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation supports the bill and commends the Senate for moving it forward.

“The North Carolina Senate has taken a bold and necessary step to protect our state’s precious public trust resources on the coast,” CEO Tim Gestwicki said in a statement. “We thank them for demonstrating their commitment to preserving North Carolina’s marine habitats for current and future generations and urge their colleagues in the House to follow suit.” 

Also on Thursday, House Bill 441, previously “Loggerhead Turtle/State Saltwater Reptile” was completely rewritten, and is now short-titled, “Shrimp Trawling Transition Program/Fees.” The shrimp trawl transition program would provide temporary transition payments for those with a commercial fishing license that sold shrimp between Jan. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025.

Shades of color are deepening in ocean waters, where water is getting greener in the polar regions, and turning bluer at the equator. A change that could have an effect on fisheries, according to a newly released study.

The changing colors indicate that concentrations of chlorophyll in the blue waters of the tropics and subtropics are declining while simultaneously increasing in the green-colored ocean waters at the Earth’s poles, the authors explain in the paper published Thursday in Science journal.

Chlorophyll is the green pigment that give things like plants and algae their color. In the ocean, chlorophyll concentrations are a measure of phytoplankton, or microscopic plants that are the base of the ocean food chain and convert sunlight into energy through photosynthesis.

“This is the first time that we say, okay, if we look at our ocean globally, we would say see, we have high chlorophyll concentration in the north high latitude, but we have low chlorophyll concentration in the subtropical and tropical region,” Dr. Haipeng Zhao said. Zhao is first author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher who worked with Dr. Nicolas Cassar, a professor of biogeochemistry at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, and Dr. Susan Lozier, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Georgia Tech.

Why this is happening will take further investigation, as does how it may impact coastal fisheries.

For this study, researchers analyzed two decades’ worth of satellite data collected by a NASA instrument that scans the globe every two days.

The team focused on the open ocean.

“There’s still a lot of limitation by using satellite data to observe the coastal change of phytoplankton because, in the coastal border, the sediments, a lot of minerals, they just come to the surface of the ocean and that makes it difficult for the satellite to detect whether it’s the phytoplankton blooms or something else,” Zhao said. “But we think (these areas) are very important.”

More than half of the world’s fish catch comes from tropical and subtropical regions, according to the study. A significant amount of that catch comes from coastal fisheries within those regions.

“Although our study focuses on open ocean waters, any persistent changes in these areas could profoundly affect low- and middle-income nations, such as Pacific Island nations, that rely on fisheries for sustenance and economic development,” the study states. “Future investigations should focus on these regions to provide a more comprehensive understanding.”

The authors note that it will be particularly important to study how climate change may be affecting these changes.  

This study does not correlate the changes in chlorophyll concentrations with climate change.

The satellite records researchers analyzed go back no more than 20 to 25 years, Zhao said. That’s a relatively short amount of time in terms of changes in the ocean process.

Researchers looked at different variables, such as wind speed, water surface temperature, and sunlight, to see how those may be affecting the changes they noted in chlorophyll concentrations.

“But we did find that the water is getting warmer, which is widespread increase in the temperature in the global ocean,” he noted.

The global ocean is complicated to study, he said. It involves currents and the moving of a lot of materials, like sediments, through the water.

“I think we need to get a lot of support to continue the research,” Zhao said.

That will entail getting away from solely relying on satellite observation and physically traveling to the open ocean to collect more data, he said.

“That will increase our confidence and I think that will generate more evidence to support our conclusion,” Zhao said. “At least we have already observed and what has been striking to tell people is our oceans are changing and it has potential impacts to everywhere.”

A committee of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hear oral arguments next week from petitioners challenging the approval of two proposed shellfish leases in Carteret County.

The division’s Shellfish Cultivation Lease Review Committee is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Wednesday to consider three third-party hearing requests challenging the division director’s April 15 approval of the proposed leases.

The first hearing was requested by Thomas Peralto, who is challenging C.I. Salts Oyster Co., LLC’s proposed lease for a 4.22-acre bottom and water column lease in North Bay.

Jacob Milchuck’s application to lease a 6.17-acre bottom and water column leases in Adams Creek will be discussed in two hearings, one requested by Merleon Creech and the other by Corey McMahon.

The division hosted a public hearing in March for each of these leases.

The committee is expected to deliberate and vote on each challenge after hearing oral arguments from the petitioners, division staff, and lease applicants.

The in-person hearing will be held at the division’s central district office, 5285 U.S. 70 West, Morehead City. There will not be an opportunity for public comment.

A senator representing five Piedmont counties has introduced an amendment to a House bill that, if it becomes law, will prohibit shrimp trawling in all of North Carolina’s inland waters and within a half-mile of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline.

Despite protests from a coastal senator and several commercial fishing representatives, two Senate committees that met Tuesday were in favor of amending House Bill 442, which Rep. Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, filed in March “to restore recreational fishing for flounder and red snapper in North Carolina.”

Iler said to both committees Tuesday that there wasn’t much of a recreational flounder season last year. He was referring to the harvest seasons established by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages flounder and red snapper fisheries. The commission votes on management plans that determines when those species can be harvested.

As the bill made its way through the House and then to the Senate, its language focused solely on expanding recreational access to southern flounder and red snapper, but that changed Tuesday morning during the Senate’s agriculture, energy, and environment committee meeting. The committee approved the amendment and then referred it to that afternoon’s Senate rules and operations committee, which also voted in favor of the bill.

Sen. David Craven Jr., R-Anson, who also represents Montgomery, Randolph, Richmond and Union counties, introduced the amendment to put North Carolina “on par” with regulations in force in Virginia and South Carolina.

He said that the estimated bycatch, or unwanted species, that comes with shrimp trawling is 4 pounds of bycatch to every pound of shrimp harvested, “which is a lot of other species of fish that’s getting caught in the net, potentially dying,” he said. “This has been an issue for quite some time, and I think it’s time this body addressed it.”

The amendment details the penalties a commercial fishing operation would face if caught “Taking or attempting to take shrimp using a trawl net in any coastal fishing waters other than areas of the Atlantic Ocean located more than one-half mile from the shoreline.”

When Committee Chair Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Pender, opened the floor to elected leaders for comment, Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, was the first to speak. Hanig asked why not wait for the results from an ongoing lawsuit filed in 2020 by the Coastal Conservation Association — North Carolina to ban shrimp trawling and the results of a study commissioned in 2022 on the issue.

“Why the urgency all of a sudden and at the 23rd hour?” Hanig asked.

Hanig said he was also concerned with “what data was used to support the amendment to put the hardworking men and women that work in our fishing industry every day out of a job and completely shut down an entire industry?

“Seventy five percent of the shrimp that are caught in the state of North Carolina are caught where this amendment is affected,” said Hanig.

Craven responded that there was no intent to put anybody out of business.

“I believe these fine folks can trawl a half-mile off the coast of North Carolina,” and continue to shrimp. He added that work had been done on a separate matter to ensure there’s “compensation during that time to make sure that we get these folks transitioned.”

Craven said shrimpers must “understand that they will have a process to move through from doing what they do on a daily basis now to kind of moving and changing into going out in the coastal waters.”

Hanig, with no time to ask further questions, urged the committee to reject the amendment.

“This bill started out as a great step forward, one that restores reasonable access to flounder for both recreational and commercial fisheries. This bill comes from progress, cooperation, long-overdue relief from closures derived from flawed science and outdated rules that hurt both industries,” said Hanig.

“Throwing this trawling ban at the 23rd hour undermines the intent and spirit of the bill. It reeks of the same old sleazy, backroom politics and special interests that caused North Carolina endless wars, endless fish wars,” he continued. It’s “disgraceful what we’re doing to the citizens of North Carolina. This is nothing short of special interest and backroom deals. There’s no question about it. That’s why no one was instructed about this amendment.”

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, said both the original bill and the amendment were taking what should be collaborative, scientifically based decisions out of that realm.

“I’m always worried about this body overruling, for instance, the Marine Fisheries Commission on the flounder and the snapper,” Mayfield said, noting that there’s a shrimp management plan and shrimp working group that’s been together for years, working on and improving trawling and bycatch regulations.

During both committee meetings, supporters and opponents of the amendment explained their positions.

North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner said that, as a lifelong commercial fisherman, “I probably don’t have tell y’all we are opposed to this trawl ban amendment.”

Skinner said that because the CCA-NC lawsuit and the study were ongoing, “I just can’t help but think that it’s no coincidence that we’re talking about this trawl ban in the same year, both of those are supposed to come before a judge and before this General Assembly.”

Chad Thomas, on behalf of the nonprofit North Carolina Marine and Estuary Foundation, said that while the state “has been a leader in the effort to reduce bycatch, and although the need to protect critical habitats is well documented, legislative action is necessary to ensure the enhancement of nearly 900,000 additional acres of inshore habitats that are critical to our fish and shellfish populations. After careful review of the available science, our foundation’s conclusion is that the shrimp trawl legislation, as proposed in House Bill 442 would bring a huge step closer to this protection goal.”

Brent Fulcher, a business owner with operations in New Bern and Beaufort, said he doesn’t “understand how you would even think about taking the fresh North Carolina seafood away from the North Carolina consumer, and run the risk to ruin infrastructure for the entire industry and other sister industries.”

Cameron Boltes, a former Marine Fisheries Commission member, said he, as “one of 460,000 recreational anglers in North Carolina,” supported the measure. “The big point of clarification I want to make is that the bill is not a ban on trawling in North Carolina. It’s in alignment with the best management practices used by every other state in the Southeast.”

Earl Pugh, a lifetime resident of Hyde County and a former county commissioner there, said his county, as the second smallest in the state, relied heavily on the seafood industry. Seafood is one of the three major industries in Hyde County, along with agriculture and tourism, Pugh noted.

“A ban on trawling in inshore waters would be devastating to the economy of Hyde County,” he said, adding that it would take away income that fishermen, fish houses and other locals in the industry rely on.

Thomas Bell with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation praised the measure, saying it “addresses a major threat to the long-term health of North Carolina’s fisheries inshore.

“Shrimp trawling severely impacts the fisheries we depend on, killing millions of juvenile fish, degrading essential habitats and putting enormous pressure on our collapsing fish populations, including spot croaker and flounder,” said Bell. “This bill does not completely ban trawling but puts good stewardship of our estuaries first by moving shrimp trawling offshore.”

Coastal Review will not publish Thursday in recognition of the Juneteenth holiday.

Dewey Hemilright has spent more than 30 years on the water as a commercial fisherman. Along the way he has become an outspoken, sometimes harsh critic of how commercial fishing is regulated in the United States.

He is forceful in expressing his opinions, his language sometimes colorful, but the knowledge is deep, insightful and earned through a lifetime in the commercial fishing industry.

“I started in the fish house, unloading the boat. That’s the lowest tier on the totem pole,” he recalled.

He moved up the totem pole to working in a fish house, “packing, laboring long hours, nights, winter, cold, all that other stuff.” And when he turned 21, he headed to Ocean City, Maryland, to go fishing.

“My first two weeks, I lost 15 pounds from being seasick and throwing up. But the first trip we went fishing, we caught a big bluefin tuna, and I thought it was the most unreal thing. And from then on, I’ve been going my own route,” he said, adding, “but I never thought when I got started into it, that (the industry) would end up where it is today.”

He’s a longliner, fishing from his 42-foot-long boat, the F/V Tarbaby. The name, he explained, came about because it’s a smaller version of the 48-foot Tarheel, a charter vessel owned by John Bayliss and built by Ricky Scarborough.

He doesn’t get out to sea much at all any more. The combination of his advocacy, bad knees and years spent on the water have taken their toll, although the Tarbaby still heads out from Wanchese with a father-and-son crew he’s worked with for years.

Hemilright resides in Kitty Hawk with his wife Sara Hallas, education and outreach director for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

Dwindling numbers

Longlining has become the least environmentally harmful method of commercial fishing, although “25 years ago, it wasn’t, but for the U.S. now, we’re the Mother Teresa,” Hemilright said describing the improvements regulators demanded and the changes the fishing industry made — or at least the changes have been made in the U.S. fishing fleet, which is one of Hemilright’s biggest complaints.

As to what remains of the domestic longline fishing fleet — Hemilright estimates the numbers from Maine to Texas total fewer than 50 active vessels — is forced to harvest fish in an environmentally safe way, but other nations aren’t, yet they have the same access to American markets as he does.

“You would want the U.S. standard of the harvest in these quota (for) these other (nations) in the Atlantic to be doing the same method. Or if they’re not, they don’t get our marketplace,” Hemilright told Coastal Review.

Hemilright’s concerns are wide-ranging. Asked about regulations and whether they are necessary, his one-word answer is “absolutely.” His answer, though, comes with a caveat: Stock assessments are based on models that use data selected by the scientists working on the assessment.

“That model performs by the data you interject into it,” he said.

A lot of studying

Hemilright was an indifferent student — at best — in high school, he said, telling Coastal Review, “If I would have studied this much in school, I wouldn’t be fishing today.”

The studying he does now has taken him to Majorca, Spain, for the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) in an advisory role in 2019. From 2012 until 2023 he represented North Carolina on the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and served as the liaison to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council.

And it requires a lot of studying.

“You got to know the politics, you got to know the council, you got to know the stock assessment. You got to know this whole different picture,” Hemilright said describing what is needed to be an effective advocate.

Hemilright has stepped back. “Twenty-five years of bitching, complaining at fishery meetings, to where I’m coming down the backside of the hill and aging out,” he explained.

Yet, he is still passionate and highly critical of fisheries management describing the science behind the regulatory structure as trying “to put a roof on the house, and we don’t even got pilings for the foundation.”

“You would not run your life, your business, or anything, by the way that accounting is taking place,” he said. “The folks at the table would not want their livelihood, their household income, or anything based on this MSC.”

The MSC, or Marine Stewardship Council, is an international organization that rewards “efforts to protect oceans and safeguard seafood supplies for the future.” Its fisheries certification program is a widely used standard to establish whether a fishery is sustainable. The MSC awards its blue label only to fisheries that the organization determines meets its standards.

Hemilright said the organization is inconsistent in how it uses data to award blue label certifications, particularly sample sizes and margins of error.

“Some of them have a lower decision of standard of error. Some of them have a higher standard error,” he said.

The MSC has been criticized in recent years. The U.K. charity Shark Guardian published a 2023 study by the advocacy group On the Hook that concluded, “the MSC’s drive for growth and income has come at the expense of the Standard’s effectiveness and scientific credibility.”

Hemilright is particularly critical of recreational fishing. The criticism is not directed at the men, women and kids throwing a line in the water, rather it’s how what is caught gets counted – or doesn’t. He described recreational catch limits as pieces of a pie, “and you whack this pie up here, and you whack this pie up here — there ain’t so much of a pot of a resource out there.”

Commercial fishing is highly monitored with cameras on boats and inspectors taking trips with fishing craft to ensure compliance with catch limits. Recreational landings are self-reported and fisheries biologists use a small sample size to estimate how many fish are being caught.

Although recreational landings are estimates, they are often given a larger share of the pie than commercial fishing interests. Hemilright is critical of a recent North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission decision to consider increasing the amount of southern flounder allocated to recreational fishing to 50% and reducing the commercial portion by 10% of what had been previously allocated. The reallocation plan came despite acknowledgement that the recreational catch was 14,000 pounds over the 2024 limit. Commercial landings were within 1.6% of allocation.

“You’re taking it from one that’s accountable for its catch, and you’re giving it to the other side that’s not that’s not accountable to the methodology that’s been placed upon them,” Hemilright said.

Recognitions

Hemilright  has received numerous awards for his advocacy. In 2015, the Coastal Federation awarded him its Pelican Award for “outstanding contributions to education and outreach on behalf of the federation.”

The Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council presented him in 2024 with the Ricks E Savage Award “given annually to an individual who has made exceptional contributions to the management and conservation of fishery resources in the mid-Atlantic region.”

Looking back on his career, Hemilright laughed at how it unfolded.

“I did it for North Carolina, that’s where I’ve been advocating, and my community and my town. I never thought when I got started into it, that it would end up today, not just what I’m doing, but the industry, because the world evolved where the technology changed, things have changed,” he said.