A powerhouse in the marine science and coastal management community, Dr. B.J. Copeland, 89, died Wednesday, Jan. 14.

Copeland left a lasting impact on the state as the director of North Carolina Sea Grant, a N.C. State University professor, and through his work with the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership. He served on the Marine Fisheries Commission, and was on the committee that drafted what is now the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997.

Copeland spent his childhood, along with his three siblings, on the family farm in rural Oklahoma. He earned his master’s and doctorate at Oklahoma State University, where he met his wife of more than 60 years, Jean Van Nortwick. They married Jan. 26, 1963.

He relocated to Texas in 1962 where he was a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the University of Texas Marine Science Laboratory at Port Aransas.

In a 2016 interview for the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center’s Coastal Voices Project, Copeland said his “Ph.D. degree is in Limnology, the study of fresh water. So, I went to the University of Texas to see if salt water was the same as fresh water and indeed it is, except for a little bit of salt!”

He moved to Raleigh in 1970 for an associate professor position at N.C. State. Copeland said in the Q&A that he moved to North Carolina mainly because of the beginning of a marine science program jointly between N.C. State, the universities of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Wilmington, and Duke University.

“We were trying to start a graduate program in Marine Science and so I was a researcher and a professor in the Zoology Department, Botany Department, and the new Marine Sciences program,” he said, adding that the new marine sciences program eventually became the Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at N.C. State. 

In 1973, he took on a new role as the director for what was then the North Carolina Sea Grant institutional program, explains an article on the 25^th anniversary of the program in the October 2001 issue of N.C. Sea Grant’s Coastwatch magazine.

Congress established the program in 1966, and began awarding grants in 1968. Sea Grant then became part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, that was formed in 1970. UNC Chapel Hill administered the Sea Grant institutional program from 1970 to when Copeland took over and relocated the program to Raleigh.

“In truth, if Sea Grant wasn’t invented in 1966, someone would invent it today. People depend on Sea Grant for good information and to help them survive,” Copeland said in the 2001 article. “You can’t argue with priorities when they are to improve the quality of life and enhance economic opportunities. That’s what Sea Grant is all about.”

Copeland said that in the early days of trying to gather input on research and extensions needs, he talked with a man who working his eel pots and crab pots. Copeland said he asked the waterman what the program could do for him and the man responded, “’Sounds like you guys are just looking for something to do.’”

Copeland got the message, though. For Sea Grant to be accepted, the program would need to be relevant and deliver good information, he said in the article.

He began hiring staff who brought in their own experiences, leading the program to marine advisory work, promoting shellfish culture, addressing seafood processing issues, developing seafood recipes, outreach efforts, and research.

When Copeland took over the program in 1973, his goal was to elevate N.C. Sea Grant from an institutional program to be designated a Sea Grant College Program, which happened in July 1976. The program also got a budget of $1 million.

The federal-state partnership was supported with $2 in federal funds for each $1 in state funding, but in 1980, Sea Grant was zeroed out of the federal budget, leading to Copeland spending many days in Washington getting the Sea Grant message out, according to the 2001 article.

He said at the time that it wasn’t a stretch to show that Sea Grant was worth something and worth keeping.

“The direct impact was evident in the growth of the extension program. Initial work in fisheries and marine education were soon joined by aquaculture and mariculture. Coastal processes work increased, as did coastal law and policy efforts,” the article explains.

Copeland left Sea Grant in 1996 and began serving as graduate administrator for the Zoology Department at N.C. State. He retired from the university in 2002.

Current N.C. Sea Grant Executive Director Susan White told Coastal Review that she was fortunate have had Copeland as an early and regular mentor when she joined the North Carolina Sea Grant program as director in 2012.

“We had great lunches together, sometimes here in Raleigh sometimes closer to his home, and his knowledge of the intricacies of a statewide program that evolves regularly with the pressing needs of the times was relevant and timely as I was still learning the many paths for NC Sea Grant,” White said.

“B.J. always had great stories to tell about his time with NC Sea Grant, the challenges of federal funding support ebbing and flowing, the great characters of each of the team members, and his enjoyment of his time with the program. B.J. joined us for retirement parties and program reviews throughout the past decade, keeping his finger on the pulse. His practical advice, and huge laughs, were wonderful to be on the receiving end of,” she continued.

Copeland’s work with what is now Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuarine Program predates his time with Sea Grant and, once he began directing Sea Grant, his partnership with APNEP grew.

Copeland said in a Q&A with the program that he “was involved with APNEP before it was APNEP – before it even existed, in fact.” APNEP is an effort to understand, protect, and restore natural resources of the Albemarle-Pamlico estuarine system in North Carolina and Virginia, its website explains.

The only National Estuary Program in the 1960s was the Chesapeake Bay. In the late 1960s, “somebody got the happy idea that Congress ought to have an annual or biannual report on the status of the nation’s estuaries, so they commissioned one,” Copeland explained.

He went to Chapel Hill in 1968 to work on a report on the nation’s estuaries. He and the late Dr. Howard Odom wrote “Coastal Ecological Systems of the United States.”

“To do research for it, we went to every state and gathered material that had been written up or stuck in a drawer, and we took that data on coastal systems and turned it into a book. It was the first work on the status of the nation’s estuaries,” Copeland said.

A handful of Congressmen in the 1970s, including Walter Jones from North Carolina, who was chair of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, pointed out that there’s an estuary in North Carolina.

Copeland continued that the whole setup of the National Estuary Program was changed to include not only Chesapeake Bay, but also other estuarine systems. The Albemarle-Pamlico system “includes a lot of water and a lot of territory – we were known as the second-largest ecosystem on the East Coast.”

In the early 1980s, work began on establishing the Albemarle-Pamlico as a National Estuary Program, and he helped form the first technical committee. “In 1987, we got the first grant for the program – for the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study (APES). We were a part of the National Estuary Program, authorized by Congress earlier that same year,” he said.

At the time, there were water quality problems that he described as “astronomical,” with algal blooms in the Chowan River, Albemarle Sound and Pamlico River. The Neuse River had fish kills.

“We had a crisis. You couldn’t sell seafood for a year, so we had to solve this problem. You’ve got to turn this thing around or the seafood industry is going to go down the tubes – that’s the reason for the program. But what people sometimes forget is that you can’t do all this at once. You’ve got to prioritize, you’ve get something understood and you find out it’s really connected to something else over here – it’s not easy,” Copeland told APNEP. “And so, we began to work. We had technical committees and proposals for projects and for priority research, and things began to trickle into state policies and state government.”

After the technical committee completed the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine Study and produced the Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the region in 1994, the project was renamed as the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuarine Program. In 2012, program was changed to partnership.

Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney Derb S. Carter Jr. told Coastal Review that Copeland was leading the state’s Sea Grant program when the Coastal Area Management Act was enacted in 1974 and when the Albemarle Pamlico Estuarine Program launched. 

“Effective environmental and natural resource programs must be based on sound science.  We are all fortunate that B.J. was passionate about ensuring programs to manage our coastal resources incorporate the best science,” Carter said.

It was also in the 1980s when Copeland was appointed the first time to the Marine Fisheries Commission, and eventually helped draft the Marine Fisheries Reform Act in the 1990s.

In the 2016 Q&A for Carolina Coastal Voices project, Copeland said he became involved with fisheries management because Sea Grant has programs on commercial fishery, recreational fishing, interactions, management of fisheries, how things worked, and could translate research into management.

“And I got into fisheries management for real when I was appointed to the Marine Fisheries Commission in the 1980s, under the so-called, ah, Egghead Commission,” he explained, adding he served on the commission for four or five years before it dissolved.

“I mean, the state government decided that commissions weren’t really the way to go, so the Marine Fisheries Commission was actually dissolved and they started over again. And so there was legislative action to create a new commission, which kept getting things added to, and added to, and added to until we have a 19-member Marine Fisheries Commission,” he explained. This was in the mid-1980s.

“And that was also a disaster, because 19 people can’t make any kind of decision,” Copeland said.

The committee argued a lot and “what happened with the Fisheries Moratorium Act, I mean–that was one of the factors, that we had an unwieldy commission — no way to get there — we had regulations right and left, none of which were related to others. People were kind of fed up with the whole idea,” Copeland said. The fisheries moratorium “came because they wanted to stop, look, consider, and really come up with something. And so, we had a three-year moratorium on anything; on any regulation, on any activity, any new activity. And that resulted in the Fisheries Reform Act.”

The North Carolina General Assembly approved in 1994 the moratorium on selling any new commercial fishing licenses and established the 19-member Fisheries Moratorium Steering Committee to study the state’s coastal fisheries management process and recommend improvements.

The committee issued a draft report in late summer 1996, held 19 public meetings statewide, and adopted a final report in October 1996 that formed the basis for the Fisheries Reform Act, which was signed into law Aug. 14, 1997, according to the oral history project, calling it the “most significant fisheries legislation in NC history.”

Copeland was on the moratorium steering committee and as director of Sea Grant, he said he represented the research and information side.

As part of the moratorium, Copeland said, funds were appropriated for research that was administered through N.C. Sea Grant college program, and “I think I knew about all of the players. So, communication and interaction amongst the players was also important, and Sea Grant played a role in that, as well.”

Another part of Sea Grant’s role was to get the information out broadly and quickly, Copeland said they did that through a network “and we traded on two very important elements: one of them was the truth. If you’re a bearer of the truth, you usually get along pretty well. And so we had a reputation for doing that. And secondly, we thought that information was a necessary ingredient for anything we did. And so, we were doing that, too. It was kind of a natural fit.”

The committee was tasked with creating parameters for a Marine Fisheries Commission that “could actually function,” Copeland said, trimming it down from 19 to nine. The commission has three people from the commercial interests, three people from recreational interests, and three at large, all appointed by the governor. He served on the newly structured commission for 12 years.

Copeland said in the Q&A that “we were purveyors of the truth. We had a reputation of, you know, you can come and ask Sea Grant a question, you were going to get an honest answer. And so we could be a player without taking a side. And that was really important, because most people take sides somewhere, sometime. And so we worked very hard at not taking a side.”

He lamented that fisheries is going to take a hit because of misinformation, in the 2016 interview.

“Some of these environmental issues, which are going to get scuttled because of some misinformed position, somebody who’s more powerful than somebody else will get their way and so on. I mean, they practice the Golden Rule, you know: them what’s got the gold, rules. So, you know, I think things are going to get worse before they get better. I keep thinking that, one of these days the general public’s going to wake up and say, ‘We need to get rid of this bunch!’ but that’s not happening,” he said.

After the Fisheries Reform Act, Copeland said in an interview that he went back to the academic department at N.C. State and taught a couple of courses, retiring in 2002.

North Carolina Coastal Federation founder Todd Miller told Coastal Review that Copeland influenced the direction of coastal science and management in North Carolina for more than half a century.

“After ‘retirement,’ he continued to shape coastal policy and practice as a member of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission, an active participant in the Albemarle–Pamlico Estuarine Partnership, the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan process, and numerous other civic efforts,” Miller continued. “He built a Sea Grant program in North Carolina that earned international respect and, importantly, translated coastal research into practical solutions for real-world management challenges. Through his leadership and service, he profoundly influenced efforts to protect and restore the North Carolina coast and left it stronger for future generations.”

He and his wife owned a farm near Apex from 1978 until 2002 and later a farm near Pittsboro, according to his obituary, and he found joy in gardening and farming.

“For many who knew and loved him, B.J.’s deep voice and his loud belly laugh will always be remembered. His excellent memory and quick wit made him an entertaining teller of stories and jokes. We can only hope that some of us can tell them as well as he did. B.J. will long be remembered with gratitude, admiration, love and a big smile,” his obituary states.

His memorial is at 2 p.m. Friday at Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church in Siler City.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in memory of B.J. Copeland to: Boys & Girls Homes of North Carolina, P.O. Box 127, Lake Waccamaw, NC 28450, or Pleasant Hill United Methodist Church at P.O. Box 1322, Pittsboro, NC 27312. Arrangements are by Donaldson Funeral Home and Crematory.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Recreational and commercial harvest for spotted seatrout is to reopen July 1, after being closed since January because of widespread cold-stun events.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Marine Fisheries closed recreational and commercial harvests in coastal and joint waters for the fish from Jan. 24 to June 15.

The Marine Fisheries Commission adopted Amendment 1 in March to the N.C. Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan, setting new rules and extending the harvest closure by 15 days through June 30, following a cold stun event, the division announced April 8.

The monthslong closure included May and June, when peak spawning occurs, to allow the surviving fish a chance to reproduce.

The division reminded the public Tuesday that the harvest would open July 1 and of the new rules in Amendment 1, which include for recreational fishing, a 14- to 20-inch slot limit with an allowance for one fish over 26 inches, and a three fish individual bag limit.

The amendment closes commercial harvest on Saturday and Sunday Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, and on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

Shortly after the division’s April announcement extending the closure, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission enacted a temporary rule closing the recreational harvest of spotted seatrout in inland and joint fishing waters from May 2 through June 30.

“Enacting a temporary rule will avoid public confusion given the recent proclamation of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) to close both commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest in coastal and joint waters due to widespread cold stun events in January,” a May 2 press release explains.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries enacts and enforces rules established by the Marine Fisheries Commission for coastal and joint waters.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which carries out laws determined by its commissioners, manages recreational fishing for inland waters. Both manage joint waters, where coastal and inland waters meet.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission has chosen its preferred management option for this year’s southern flounder allocation: an even split between commercial and recreational fisheries.

Members selected the option detailed in Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4 last week during the commission’s meeting in Beaufort. Commission documents state that the final vote on Amendment 4 is scheduled for August.

Amendment 4 only addresses moving the 50/50 sector allocation ahead by a year, as set out in Amendment 3. Amendment 3 was approved in 2022 to established a 70% commercial and 30% recreational allocation for 2023 and 2024, 60/40 for 2025, and 50/50 starting in 2026.

Amendment 3 was put in place because the 2019 stock assessment indicated that the species was overfished and overfishing was taking place. Overfishing means the current rate of removal, both harvest and discards, is too high. Overfished is when the population is too small, and is a result of overfishing.

Amendment 4 is being developed at the same time as Amendment 5.

Amendment 5 is intended to address the commission’s August 2024 motion to amend the southern flounder management plan “to allow for more recreational access while maintaining the rebuilding requirements of Amendment 3.”

The two amendments are “to provide long-term, comprehensive approaches to recreational and commercial Southern Flounder management,” according to information from the Division of Marine Fisheries website.

The division is under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and carries out the rules and policies adopted by the nine-member commission.

The commission approved amendments to both the eastern oyster and hard clam fishery management plans last week.

Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5 provisions include establishing deep-water oyster recovery areas that would not open to mechanical harvesting, linking mechanical oyster harvest management in Pamlico Sound to the division’s cultch-planting effort, and implementing a rotational opening plan for mechanical oyster harvest on 10-acre cultch-planting sites, according to the division.

Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 provisions call for a three-year phaseout of mechanical clam harvest from public bottom, including harvest associated with maintenance dredging.

Both the eastern oyster and hard clam amendments feature a provision to consider looking at estimates for recreational shellfish participation and landings and to communicate necessary shellfish sanitation health and safety information.

There are two Southern Flounder Management Plan draft amendments scheduled to go before the Marine Fisheries Commission at its meeting later this month in Beaufort.

The meeting is to begin at 6 p.m. May 21 and resume at 9 a.m. on both May 22 and May 23 in the Beaufort Hotel at 2440 Lennoxville Road in Beaufort. The meeting will be livestreamed on YouTube. The link for the YouTube channel, as well as a full agenda and meeting materials are on the Marine Fisheries Commission meetings webpage.

The commission adopted in May 2022 Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan that established allocations be 70% commercial and 30% recreational for 2023 and 2024, 60/40 for 2025, and 50/50 starting in 2026. Amendment 4 is to expedite the shift to a 50/50 allocation in 2025, instead of in 2026.

The commission is likely to vote moving forward with Amendment 4 or maintaining the scheduled prescribed in Amendment 3. The final adoption of Amendment 4 scheduled for the August meeting.

Also regarding southern flounder, commissioners are to hear an overview about Amendment 5 to the Southern Flounder Management Plan. Amendment 5 is being developed at the same time as Amendment 4 to “explore long-term solutions to the issue of recreational access while maintaining Amendment 3 rebuilding requirements.” Broad topics to be addressed in amendment 5 include recreational access, strategies to address the effects of lower commercial sector quota on management, and changes to the adaptive management.

The commission is to consider voting on final adoption of amendments to the eastern oyster and hard clam management plans, on notice of text for rulemaking to amend permit-related rules, and for franchises and shellfish leases.

Commissioners are to hear presentations on Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 Adaptive Management, the role that an economic analysis plays in the development of fishery management plans and commission rules, and from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill researchers on the importance of submerged aquatic vegetation.

There are two in-person public comment sessions scheduled during the two-day meeting. The first is at 6 p.m. May 21, and the second at 9 a.m. May 22. The deadline to submit written comments for the meeting is 4 p.m. May 19. Speakers planning to provide handouts should bring at least 12 copies.

Written comments can be submitted using an online form, 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 office at 3441 Arendell St. in Morehead City.

The two agencies that enforce fisheries rules in North Carolina waters said they are ramping up their outreach to prepare commercial and recreational fishermen for the divisive mandatory harvest reporting laws that are to go into effect later this year.

Starting Dec. 1, all red drum, flounder, spotted seatrout, striped bass or weakfish recreationally harvested in coastal, joint and some inland fishing waters must be reported at the end of each fishing trip to the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries, which manages coastal waters. Wildlife Resources Commission manages inland waters and the two manage joint waters together.

“The five species are among the most targeted fish in North Carolina coastal and joint fishing waters, and inland fishing waters adjacent to coastal and joint fishing waters,” according to the division.

The law affects commercial fishing license holders as well. In the past, those with a commercial fishing operation were required to report only what they sold to a dealer but starting Dec. 1, they must report everything harvested, including finfish, shellfish and crustaceans, no matter if it’s sold or kept for personal consumption.

“The mandatory harvest reporting system for both commercial and recreational fishing is due Dec. 1,” and the department expects the data collected to be “very useful as we estimate what the existing fish populations are and what the trajectory looks like for those populations,” NCDEQ Secretary Reid Wilson told the about 150 at the Coastal Summit held last week in Raleigh.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, hosted the summit April 9-10 in the Marbles Kids Museum.

Public outreach

Marine Fisheries Public Information Officer Patricia Smith explained during an interview that “we’re just really trying to get the word out.”

Division of Marine Fisheries staff have met with the for-hire industry, had a presence at fishing trade shows to bring people up to speed on the new requirements, have been passing out stickers with a QR code for the harvest reporting page during special events, and will post signs once they’re made at public boat ramps and other places where recreational fishermen gather.

In addition to pushing public awareness, Smith said the reporting webpage on NCDEQ’s website has been launched. So far, there’s background on the rule, a frequently asked questions section and the reporting tool that people can use now on a voluntary basis. The webpage is being continuously updated to make it as user friendly as possible, particularly for people using their phone to submit their form.

Anyone who would like to have division staff talk about to their group about the requirements should contact the division to set up an in-person or virtual meeting.

The hope for the program in the long run is that a “dynamic app of some kind with recreational outreach along with the reporting requirements” will be developed,” Smith said.

Smith said that another facet of the mandatory reporting is that it gives “fishermen a greater understanding of what their role is in fisheries conservation.”

For example, many fishermen ask how the one fish they harvest can affect an entire fishery. But if a million people catch just one fish, that adds up to a million fish being removed from the population. Plus, a certain percentage of fish that are caught and thrown back die.

“We do hope that this (program) is something that will help them realize their role in it,” Smith said.

The division is being supported in the outreach effort by the Wildlife Resources Commission.

The Commission’s Coastal Region Fishery Supervisor Ben Ricks told Coastal Review that the mandatory harvest reporting for red drum, flounder, striped bass, spotted seatrout and weakfish may provide an effective tool to better manage these fisheries.

“A critical component to its effectiveness is the participation of everyone. Accurate harvest data will lead to better overall estimates of mortality and more informed decision making,” Ricks said.

Enforcement will be phased in over the next three years. From Dec. 1​, 2025​, 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.

About the rule

The law was put in motion by the North Carolina Marine and Estuary Foundation a few years ago. The nonprofit said in 2024 that it had worked with state legislators and conservation partners to develop the language for the “groundbreaking” legislation that is “aimed to fill data gaps in order to provide a better understanding of how fish are harvested from our coastal waters.”

The North Carolina General Assembly approved the mandatory reporting requirements in 2023. The law set the effective date as Dec. 1, 2024, and the division was awarded a one-time allocation of $5 million to build the reporting system.

The legislature’s mandatory harvest reporting requirement reads: “Any person who recreationally harvests a fish listed in this subsection from coastal fishing waters, joint fishing waters, and inland fishing waters adjacent to coastal or joint fishing waters shall report that harvest to the Division of Marine Fisheries within the Department of Environment Quality in a manner consistent with rules adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission. The harvest of the following finfish species shall be reported: (1) Red Drum. (2) Flounder. (3) Spotted Seatrout. (4) Striped Bass. (5) Weakfish.”​

The Division of Marine Fisheries carries out rules the Marine Fisheries Commission establishes for coastal and joint waters and the Wildlife Resources Commission carries out regulations determined by its ​20​ or so commissioners for inland and joint waters.

There was pushback throughout the rulemaking process in 2024. Both agencies were inundated with thousands of comments, a fair amount laden with expletives, which Coastal Review reported at the time, during one of the public comment periods.

Division staff asked for a one-year extension​, which the General Assembly approved in 2024​. Then-Gov. Roy Cooper declined to sign the bill at the time because of unrelated provisions.

Smith explained that the division asked for the ​year extension to allow time to set up the reporting program and to allow for public outreach “because this is not just coastal folks. It’s coastal joint waters and any inland waters that are adjacent to coast to joint waters. So basically, it’s any of these waters in the state where you’re going to find these species.”

Coastal Review will not publish Friday, April 18.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries will accept public comments throughout April on a proposal to allow recreational fishers more access to the southern flounder fishery.

The 30-day comment period kicks off Tuesday on the division’s draft Southern flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4, which would expedite an allocation shift to 50% commercial and 50% recreational this year.

The draft amendment would allow for more recreational access to the fishery and simultaneously maintain the rebuilding requirements of Amendment 3 of the plan, officials said. That plan, adopted in 2022, calls for a 50/50 balance to go into effect in 2026.

But after two years where the recreational flounder seasons were shortened and one year where there was no recreational flounder season, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission charged the division with finding ways to allow recreational fishers more access while maintaining stock rebuilding requirements in Amendment 3.

Advisory committees to the commission have scheduled meetings in April to accept in-person comments.

The Southern Regional Advisory Committee is set to meet April 8 at the division’s Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City.

The Northern Regional Advisory Committee is scheduled to meet April 10 at the College of the Albemarle, Dare Campus – Room 110, 205 U.S. 64, Manteo.

The Finfish Advisory Committee will meet April 16 also at the division’s Morehead City office.

All meetings begin at 6 p.m.

Written comments will be accepted via an online form and by mail to Southern Flounder FMP Amendment 4 Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557.

Comments will be accepted through April 30.

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is taking public comments beginning Saturday through to the end of March on a plan that would allow more recreational fishing access for southern flounder.

The public may also provide feedback on potential management strategies and priorities for Amendment 5 to the N.C. Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan at one of four scoping meetings scheduled for March.

Amendment 5, which is in development, will address a motion the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission made last August “to allow for more recreational fishing access while maintaining the rebuilding requirements” of Amendment 3, according to a N.C. Department of Environmental Quality release.

The goal set forth in Amendment 3 is to reach a self-sustaining southern flounder population that supplies sustainable harvest.

Amendment 5 is being developed concurrently with Amendment 4 “to provide long-term, comprehensive approaches” to both recreational and commercial southern flounder management, according to the release.

Public feedback may be submitted through an online form or by mail to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Southern Flounder Scoping, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C.  28577.

The comment period closes at 5 p.m. March 31.

The scoping meetings are to be held in an informal, open-house format, 6-8 p.m. on the following dates:

• March 4 at the Archdale Building, Ground Floor Hearing Room, 512 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh.
• March 6 at the Dare County Administration Building, 954 Marshall C. Collins Drive, Manteo.
• March 11 at the Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office, 5285 U.S. Highway 70 West, Morehead City.
• March 27 at Cape Fear Community College, Room U252, 502 N. Front St., Wilmington.

Division staff will be at the meetings to answer questions and discuss southern flounder science and management.

At the next meeting of the governor-appointed commission that manages fisheries in coastal waters, members will consider next steps in the process to approve amendments for southern flounder, eastern oysters, hard clams and spotted seatrout management plans.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission is to meet at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk in mid-March. The meeting was initially scheduled for Feb. 19-21 but, because of the inclement weather forecast, was postponed.

The meeting is to begin at 2 p.m. March 12 with a public comment period and adjourn after the second public comment session scheduled for 6 p.m. later that day. Business is to resume at 9 a.m. March 13.

The Division of Marine Fisheries, under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, acts as staff to the commission and carries out its policies.

During the meeting, commissioners are to review public comment and select preferred management options for Oyster Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5 and Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3.

Members are to hear the 2024 southern flounder preliminary landings update before reviewing draft amendment 4 for the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan. The commission is then to vote on sending the document out for public and advisory committee review.

Up for final adoption are the draft amendment 1 to the Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan, which is to address overfishing, and the false albacore management plan. Because there are no rules in place to manage false albacore in the state, the rule would provide a way to cap harvest when the false albacore fishery landings exceed a certain threshold.

Written comments may be submitted by 4 p.m. March 10 through an online form, by mail to Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557, or dropped off at the division’s headquarters at 3441 Arendell St. in Morehead City.

Those who submitted comments for the February meeting need not submit them again.

The full agenda, briefing material and YouTube link to watch the livestream of the meeting will be posted on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

Division of Marine Fisheries officials have opened the public comment period on draft amendments to the management plans for eastern oyster and hard clam fisheries.

“The goal of the fishery management plans is to manage the resource to maintain wild populations to provide long-term harvest and continue to offer protection and ecological benefits to North Carolina estuaries, “officials said Wednesday in the announcement.

Previous plans for both addressed wild harvest and shellfish aquaculture. Now that shellfish leases, aquaculture and franchises are under the division’s shellfish lease and aquaculture program, amendments to these two management plans only apply to wild harvest. Additionally, stock assessments have not been completed for these species due to data limitations, according to the division.

There is no stock assessment for status determination of eastern oyster or hard clam. Both draft amendments discuss the need to establish a way to quantify recreational shellfish effort and landings and to establish a mechanism to provide all recreational shellfish harvesters with health and safety information.

Draft oyster amendment 5 recommends establishing deep-water oyster recovery areas in the Pamlico Sound, Pamlico River and Neuse River that would not be open to mechanically harvesting oysters. Officials said this “is to allow these reefs to accumulate shell material to gain the height necessary to be resilient to storm events.”

The amendment also recommends for the Pamlico Sound linking mechanical oyster harvest management to the division’s cultch planting effort and increasing the number of cultch planting sites.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission voted during its November 2024 business meeting to send the draft amendments out for public comment and advisory committee review. 

Comments must be submitted by 5 p.m. Jan. 15, 2025, either by through the online form or by mail to Draft Oyster/Clam FMP Amendments Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557. The public also has the option to speak during any of the following advisory meetings:

• Northern Regional Advisory Committee 6 p.m. Jan. 7, Dare County Administration Building in Manteo.
• Southern Regional Advisory Committee 6 p.m. Jan. 8, Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City.
• Shellfish/Crustacean Advisory Committee 6 p.m. Jan. 9, Department of Environmental Quality Washington Regional Office in Washington.
• Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee 6 p.m. Jan. 15, Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City.

Go ahead and call Evan Gadow a Boy Scout.

The shellfish farmer, lifelong North Carolinian, husband and card-carrying Eagle Scout, the Boy Scouts of America’s highest achievement, had a record as pure as the driven snow.

“I pride myself on that,” he said. “I’ve never gotten into trouble before. I’ve never even gotten a parking ticket.”

That changed this past July, when North Carolina Marine Patrol authorities charged Gadow with four misdemeanors, charges he and other shellfish farmers argue are too harsh for what they contend are clerical errors and minor permit violations.

Shellfish farmers, including Gadow, initiated a punishment-doesn’t-fit-the-crime rallying cry last month to members of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission in what is sure to be a push for changes to laws that pertain to the industry.

“Currently (Division of Marine Fisheries) can levy serious criminal charges for what are minor noncompliance issues that should be handled in the civil fashion,” North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association President Chris Matteo said at the commission’s Nov. 21 meeting in Emerald Isle. “It’s our opinion that shellfish farmers should only face stiff criminal charges for egregious criminal behavior.”

One such example, he said, would be a farmer knowingly selling polluted oysters to unsuspecting consumers.

The charges levied against Gadow over the summer stemmed from what he called “clerical oversights” and for not properly marking his lease in Pamlico County’s Bay River. High winds washed away a pole marking a corner of that lease area.

Gadow said he did not know the severity of the charges he faced until he went to court in October. He pleaded guilty to one charge. The rest were dropped.

“Now I carry a black mark on my record equivalent to a DUI, something that will follow me for the rest of my life,” he said to the commission last month.

Shellfish farmers are required to sign each permit for which they apply. Those permits specify that anyone who does not adhere to the conditions of a permit face its suspension or revocation.

The permits do not, however, explain that state Marine Patrol officers have the power to levy “serious criminal charges” for violating a condition, Matteo said.

These charges include Class A1 misdemeanors, the most serious of misdemeanor offenses in the state. They carry sentences of up to 150 days in jail and fines.

Class A1 misdemeanors include an array of assault charges, including those committed using a deadly weapon, those inflicting serious injury, assault on a female, a child under 12, a state officer employee, or pointing a gun.

Zach Harrison, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries Habitat and Enhancement Section chief, explained that the commercial sale of any fish is written into law and those laws specifies which charges should be levied against alleged violators.

“Shellfish leases are defined by law and how we can go through that process and grant people leases of public trust water to be able to use for that purpose,” he said. “I think the tough part between being defined in the law, there’s also a lot of trickiness and important pieces that we are looking at to keep the industry going and keep it safe.”

Coastal states must adhere to federal requirements prescribed by the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, which manages the National Shellfish Sanitation Program. The regulations established under that program are designed to prevent shellfish-related poisoning among consumers.

“There’s a lot of safety pieces that are public health related or otherwise that we have to be very particular about, both to keep that compliance up and also just to generally keep people safe,” Harrison said.

“For the most part, growers are very in tune to that and don’t want to violate (the regulations) because it runs the risk of hurting their business. It’s our role to guide and make sure that the industry is moving in a safe way for growth that isn’t going to have some disease outbreak,” Harrison continued. “Really a lot of those growers, as they build up their industry, it gets a lot further past the farmers markets and local markets. We’re proud that our oysters are showing up in Michelin star restaurants and states like California and all over the U.S.”

Also challenging, he said, is the fact that the division’s marine patrol has less than 50 officers to cover North Carolina’s coast, which includes more than 300 miles of ocean shoreline and more than 12,000 miles of estuarine shore.

The division has hired an aquaculture inspector, a position funded in the legislative budget passed last year, to not only inspect but educate growers “on what those safe methods look like,” Harrison said.

“We felt like it was a better move for the industry to purpose that position toward making sure people are aware of those and being a resource as opposed to simply trying to go after people,” he continued. “The division in general is not interested in trying to go after people. If there’s a law on the books and someone violates that law, marine patrol has no choice but to pursue that. No one who showed up (at the commission meeting) and spoke to us was someone new to us. We all know them and work with them and continue to work with them.”

Harrison said commercial fishers are given paperwork that explains their legally required commercial licenses have a fiscal expiration of June 30.

In the week or two leading up to that date, commercial fishers line up past the doors of the division’s Morehead City office to renewal their licenses, he said.

Gadow said he had recently moved from Burgaw to New Bern when his shellfish license renewal paperwork was sent in the mail. His mail was not forwarded to his new address by the renewal deadline.

“I’ve had the license for the last six years,” he said in a telephone interview. “It’s just an honest mistake.”

Harrison said the division actively works with shellfish growers on recommendations in how to run efficiently.

“We’ve talked to a lot of growers who are appreciative of that,” he said. “The hard part is, we have a complex set of laws that ultimately result in a contract for water that belongs to the people of the state of North Carolina, that our job is as the state to manage. So it’s tough because there’s a line between following the legal processes and making sure that we are doing so equitably and safely and fair while also making it efficient for the growers.”

Matteo told the commission last month that shellfish growers are not asking to go unregulated.

“We’re asking to be treated fairly as we farm the world’s best sustainable protein, clean our estuaries and repopulate our public trust stock of marine species,” he said in a follow-up telephone interview.

He said charges that have been levied against a few shellfish farmers in the past 16 months have “gotten a little out of hand.”

“They’re just civil issues or minor noncompliance issues that a grower would need to be called out on and asked to remedy, or their permit should be suspended,” Matteo said. “Hopefully they’re done charging shellfish farmers like criminals unless they’re doing something way out of bounds that warrants a criminal charge. I have no doubt we’ll end up changing what needs to be changed. These charges should be civil. It’s more a matter of making sure that current laws aren’t misinterpreted and levied against the people and resources they’re meant to protect.”

Have you ever seen a photo of a fish that was pulled out of deep water too quickly? Did you notice the poor creature’s bugged-out eyes and surprised expression?

This is a sign of a fish experiencing deep-water decompression, and it is a big problem for catch-and-release situations involving snapper and grouper fishing. Because of this, anglers in the deep-water fishery are required by federal law to have a descending device onboard their boat at all times.

Let’s talk about what the devices are, what they do, how we can get them, and how they are used.

First, let’s talk about barotrauma. When fish are brought up from deep water, they can often suffer severe difficulty after being released. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission defines barotrauma as, “The change in pressure in a gas-filled organ called a swim bladder that controls buoyancy and allows the fish to maintain a certain depth. Fish that are caught in deep water and then released can cause the gas in the swim bladder to expand and in some cases burst.”

This causes significant problems because there are very strict regulations on size limits and catch limits for fish like snapper, grouper, and seabass, among others.

Capt. Tom Roller of Waterdog Guide Service in Beaufort, a member of the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, states that, “Recreational discards (releases of undersized or unwanted fish) in the fishery are out of control and need to be reduced.”

In response to this stated need, devices have been invented to allow fish to be released at the proper depth so they can swim away alive, rather than be eaten by sharks or barracudas.

Descender devices, as they are known, are hooked to the jaw of a fish and allowed to be pulled down to whatever depth that the fish came from before detaching by jerking the weight away, allowing the fish to swim off. Surprisingly, this works well enough that they are required by federal law to be present on any boat that participates in a deep-water bottom fishery.

“It’s a unique way to release deep-water fish to reduce release mortality that is both efficient and required by law,” Capt. Tom says.

North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Marine Fisheries Special Assistant for Councils Chris Batsavage says that they are required gear for, “Any recreational or commercial fisherman fishing in deep water for fish that are susceptible to barotrauma. Examples of fish include groupers, snappers, black sea bass, and tilefish.”

Further, he adds, “Increased survival of released fish with barotrauma should result in less mortality, which can lead to sustainable populations.”

Of course, there are now lots of products that we can use to help release the fish safely that are used every day. There are literally too many to list.

A bunch of guys have homemade devices that we’re not going to waste time talking about, due to concerns of varying effectiveness.

The main ones that you are going to most readily find are called the Seaqualizer and the Fishsaver.

The Fishsaver is a device that clips onto the lower jaw of the fish using a kind of barbless fishing hook, and you drop it down to the desired depth using weights. A sharp jerk on the line releases the fish. Seems easy in practice, but there’s no good way to regulate how far down the weight goes on the release.

The Seaqualizer, on the other hand, uses a clip on the line that attaches and releases at a predetermined depth.

Obviously, the latter is a bit more expensive, but there’s more technology involved and it offers more control.

You just need to figure out which style you want to use. If you look on the Internet, there is quite a large number of other options to choose from as well, but usually they are adaptations of one style or the other — some more expensive than others. Just make sure you get one that works properly.

Capt. Tom said he has used lots of homemade ones over the years, but Seaqualizer, he added is, “Amazing.”

OK, so now you’re out fishing for snapper in 100 feet of water. What do you have to do to be ready to go?

First thing, it’s recommended to have a separate fishing rod rigged up with a fish-release device, and have that ready go before you even begin.

Then you drop a bait down to the bottom, reel it up a couple of turns, and it’s not too long before you have a bite. Very exciting! Get the fish about two-thirds of the way up, and it just becomes deadweight on the line. You reel in the rest of the way, and when you look at the fish, its eyes are bugged out of its head and the belly is distended from the swim bladder.

It’s a little too small to keep, and rather than mess around, you quickly attach your Seaqualizer to the fish, turn and drop it back to the depth that you just got it from. The device will release, and the fish will be back in its home at the proper depth. You can then continue to safely catch and release fish that are too small, and you don’t have to worry about dumping fish over the side to feed the sharks.

Have a good time catching snappers to bring home for a delicious meal. Just make sure you know the following things:

• Rules and regulations concerning the minimum size, how many fish you can catch, and keep, for all of the various species that you could encounter.
• The seasons, because regulations can change drastically through the course of the year.
• How to use a descending device, and always have one onboard.

An advisory group to the commission that oversees state fisheries is scheduled to hear a presentation on managing submerged aquatic vegetation, or seagrasses.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission’s Habitat and Water Quality Advisory Committee meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.16, at the Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City. The meeting will be livestreamed to YouTube.

A presentation on a current data visualization project from the Division of Marine Fisheries’ habitat enhancement programs is expected as well.

The meeting is open to the public and in-person public comment will be accepted during the meeting.

Visit the division’s website for the full meeting agenda and link to view the meeting on YouTube.

The commission that makes rules for and manages the state’s marine fisheries is calling for applicants to serve on various advisory committees.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission has vacancies in its Northern, Southern, finfish, habitat and water quality, and shellfish/crustacean advisory committees.

The commission chairman appoints members for three-year terms. The terms for several members expire in January.

Individuals interested in serving as an adviser should be willing to attend meetings at least once every two months and actively participate in the committee process, which includes reviewing scientific documents and issue papers to make recommendations on management strategies.

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

Applicants must not have had a significant fisheries violation within the past three years to be appointed.

All applications must be submitted by Nov. 4. To apply, complete and submit the online form or call 252-515-5500. Applicants also can print and mail in the form on the website to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557, Attention: MFC Office, or by email to MFC@deq.nc.gov with the subject line: AC Application.

Nearly two dozen organizations have filed a petition seeking federal protection for the only coastal estuarine-dependent turtle species in the world.

Diamondback terrapins, living mostly in coastal marshes from Massachusetts to Texas, have been killed off by the tens of thousands over the past few decades, making it one of the most endangered species on the planet, according to a 130-page petition filed last month with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity and 20 other organizations have partnered to petition NOAA Fisheries to list diamondback terrapins as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, a move supported by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a global environmental network of scientists, environmental experts, governments and civil organizations.

“We talked with every diamondback terrapin biologist out there, dozens across a 15-state range, from Massachusetts to Louisiana,” said Will Harlan, Southeast director and senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity. “It was clear from talking with all the biologists that they are very concerned about this species. We’ve seen 75% declines across most of their range and several complete extirpations of populations in certain places, so they’re declining and not recovering.”

That’s despite efforts to bring attention to the plight of these elusive turtles, identifiable by the diamond-shaped patterns on their shells, in coastal states along the Eastern Seaboard and across the Gulf of Mexico.

While development and rising seas are depleting the diamondback terrapins’ habitat — up to 60% of their coastal marsh habitat is expected to be wiped out by the end of this century — their greatest threat today is the crab pot.

Each year, an estimated 60,000 to 80,000 terrapins drown in crab traps, Harlan said.

Terrapins are air-breathing reptiles that may climb through a crab pot’s funnel-like entrance to get to bait or simply because they are inquisitive animals. Once inside, a terrapin, like a crab, cannot get out of a trap.

“Their natural curiosity can cause a domino effect, whereby Terrapins may follow each other into the pots, particularly during the breeding season,” according to the petition.

Commercial and recreational crabbers drop an estimated 3 million crab pots each year into inland coastal waters. Each year an estimated 25-50% of all crab traps are lost or abandoned.

There are an estimated 150,000 of these “ghost traps” in Chesapeake Bay alone, Harlan said. An estimated 250,000 derelict traps are left in the Gulf of Mexico each year, he added.

“We’ve got to get the bycatch reduction devices on crab traps,” Harlan said. “That’s priority number one. It’s a very inexpensive and easy solution that won’t affect crab harvests, but will save a very threatened species.”

The Center for Biological Diversity has been working at the grassroots level up to the state level to advocate that crabbers install bycatch reduction devices on their traps.

These little, plastic devices typically cost no more than $1 each. They keep out turtles, reducing terrapin deaths by 94%, according to biologists.

Harlan said there has been some success in getting bycatch reduction device requirements implemented in Florida and “a few other states.”

“But it’s clearly not enough and not the scale needed to save these turtles,” he said.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries a few years ago created two terrapin management areas – one in the area of the Masonboro Island Reserve and the other around the Zeke’s Island Reserve and Bald Head State Natural Area. Fishers who crab in these designated areas have to use state-approved terrapin bycatch reduction devices on their pots between March 1 and Oct. 31.

Hope Sutton, eastern wildlife diversity supervisor with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, said in an email that there have been “a number of studies” in the state examining different types of bycatch reduction devices and the potential impacts of these devices to crab harvests.

Diamondback terrapins are listed as a species of concern in the state. Terrapins are included as a species of greatest conservation need in the state’s Wildlife Action Plan.

But the lack of a federal listing status makes it difficult for states to take measures to protect both the species and its habitat.

Diamondback terrapins have different status and different rules “across the states that comprise the species’ range,” Sutton continued. “The mix of statuses and protective measures across the states this species occurs in contributes to confusion for fishers as well as making collaboration across state lines more challenging for researchers and resource managers. It also makes communicating with the public about the species more challenging. Federal status could make some of these activities easier by reducing this confusion and allowing collaborative efforts to be simplified and efforts to be more efficient.”

When a species is listed, funding sources are available to cover the costs of developing and implementing conservation programs for that species.

“If the diamondback terrapin became listed, these funding sources could be pursued by individual states or cooperatively by a group of states,” Sutton said.

NOAA is required to issue a preliminary decision within 90 days of the petition filing.

“If it gets a negative finding then that’s the end of the process,” Harlan explained. “But a positive 90-day finding kicks off a 12-month status review. During that one year they will conduct a much deeper dive into the population status of this species. They will fund additional research for assessing the threats and getting stronger population estimates in certain areas.”

After the one-year review, NOAA fisheries will release its final decision on whether to list the species.

If the agency declines to list the diamondback terrapin endangered, Harlan said organizations will continue advocating for state-level enacted bycatch reduction rules.

The public can share their input on eight proposed marine fisheries rules through 5 p.m. Dec. 2, when the comment period ends.

North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission announced Tuesday the public comment period on the possible changes to the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, false albacore management and pot marking requirements.

A public hearing by web conference is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 30. A listening station is to be available at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office at 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City.

The public may join the meeting online. Register by noon Oct. 30 to speak during the meeting. Those who wish to speak at the listening station may sign up when they arrive.

Links to the public hearing registration form and online comment form, as well as text of the proposed rules and links to join the meeting, can be found on the Marine Fisheries Commission’s 2024-2025 Proposed Rules Page.

The proposed rules regarding the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact
would allow the Division of Marine Fisheries to hold wildlife violators accountable, regardless of their state residency.

Another proposed rule would allow Marine Fisheries to manage the false albacore fishery if landings exceed a predetermined threshold. North Carolina currently has no procedural means to manage this fishery. The proposed rule adoption would be the first regulation for the false albacore fishery implemented in Atlantic waters.

The proposed rule regarding pot marking would reduce the required identification from two forms to one form.

The public comments and proposed rule changes will be presented to the Marine Fisheries Commission for consideration and final approval in February 2025. The proposed rules have an earliest possible effective date of May 1, 2025.

While not an endorsement of the Wildlife Resources Commission’s decision to open a recreational flounder season this year, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission last week approved a measure opening a season in jointly managed waters that aligns with Wildlife Resources’ recreational flounder season.

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Kathy Rawls issued a proclamation Tuesday mirroring the Wildlife Resources Commission’s previously announced season taking place Sept. 1-2 and Sept. 7-8. The daily creel limit is one fish with a minimum size limit of 15 inches.

The proclamation only applies to flounder caught by hook-and-line in joint waters and does not open coastal fishing waters to flounder harvest. An interactive map of coastal, joint and inland fishing waters is available online.

“The motion and proclamation make it clear that neither the MFC nor the DMF endorses the flounder limits established by WRC or the method by which the limits were derived. Rather, the MFC and DMF recognize that conflicting regulations in these waters creates confusion for anglers and an enforcement gap that will impede Marine Patrol efforts in Joint Fishing Waters,” Marine Fisheries officials said.

Marine Fisheries announced in May that it would not open a recreational flounder season in 2024 because 2023 estimates “indicate the recreational catch exceeded the quota allowed under a stock rebuilding plan that was included in Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan and adopted by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.”

Initially, the Wildlife Resources Commission was going to mirror the Marine Fisheries decision. But after public comment and discussion it instead opted during a July 25 meeting to approve a hook-and-line season for recreational flounder in inland and joint waters.

Related: No recreational flounder season likely this year; here’s why

The back and forth between the two agencies began several years ago over jurisdiction disputes. As it stands, Marine Fisheries manages coastal waters, Wildlife Resources manages inland waters and both manage joint waters.

The Marine Fisheries Commission also tasked the Division of Marine Fisheries director to ask the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality secretary for permission to move up the schedule to begin this year to review the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan.

The Marine Fisheries Commission also voted to send the draft Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan Amendment 1 to the public and advisory committee for review.

The 2022 Spotted Seatrout Stock Assessment found that the stock is not overfished, but overfishing is occurring. This means the population is currently large enough to sustain itself, but fishing is removing fish from the population at an unsustainable rate.

The Marine Fisheries Commission approved notice of text to begin the rulemaking process to amend or adopt rules to simplify pot-marking requirements, for false albacore management, and for the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact. A public comment period will be held this fall.

The commission suspended rules for an indefinite period that allow the continued striped mullet recreational possession limits and the continued year-round trawl closure in crab spawning sanctuaries.

The commission set at 500 the annual cap for the number of standard commercial fishing licenses available through the eligibility pool for fiscal year 2024-25.

The commission that makes fisheries management decisions for the state is scheduled to hear an update on the southern flounder stock assessment and 2023 southern flounder landings when it meets later this month in Raleigh.

The Marine Fisheries Commission‘s quarterly business meeting at Hilton Raleigh North Hills is to begin at 6 p.m. Aug. 21, resume at 9 a.m. Aug. 22, and again at 9 a.m. Aug. 23. The public comment sessions are at 6 p.m. Aug. 21 and 9 a.m. Aug. 22.

The public can attend the meeting in person or view the livestream on YouTube. Staff said a recording will be posted on the commission’s website after the meeting.

In addition to the presentations on southern flounder, members are to hear about and possibly vote on the draft Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan Amendment 1 for to go before public and advisory committee review.

The commission is scheduled to vote on notices of text to begin the rulemaking process to amend or adopt proposed rules to simplify pot marking requirement, on false albacore management, and for the interstate wildlife violator compact.

Members are to hear from staff on the division’s annual fishery management plan review, carcass collection program, saltwater fishing tournament, saltwater state record fish, and multispecies tagging program. An overview of submerged aquatic vegetation and its management in North Carolina are also on the agenda.

The full agenda and briefing book are on the Marine Fisheries Commission webpage.

Those attending the meeting in Raleigh who wish to speak can sign up at the hotel before the comment period begins. Speakers will be limited to 3 minutes and are asked to speak at one of the two periods, not both. If submitting handouts, bring at least 12 copies.

Written comments can be submitted through an online form, mailed to: August 2024 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. in Morehead City.

The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. Aug. 19.

The nine-member commission is appointed by the governor. The Division of Marine Fisheries carries out the commission’s rules, as well as manages, enforces, researches, monitors and administers licensing programs to provide information to inform rulemaking.

The Marine Fisheries Commission hasn’t wavered since announcing in May that there would be no recreational flounder season in coastal waters this year to compensate for the sector exceeding its 2023 allocation, and still plans to have a commercial season, despite the outrage from recreational fishers.

The Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages inland and hook-and-line fishing in joint waters, initially considered not having a recreational season this year to be consistent with Marine Fisheries.

But, last week, Wildlife Resources commissioners voted on a temporary rule to allow one fish per day, a minimum size of 15 inches, Sept. 1-2 and again Sept. 7-8, in the waters it manages. The commission’s existing permanent rule sets its recreational flounder season for Sept. 1-14, with the same limits.

Related: No recreational flounder season likely this year; here’s why

During the July 24 committee of the whole meeting, Wildlife Resources commissioners landed on the four-day season as an alternative to either closing the season entirely or keeping it open the full two weeks, as established by the permanent rule. The full commission approved the measure July 25.

Wildlife officials said Friday in an email response that the decision was made after considering public comments, most of which did not support the closure, “a lot of good discussion” during the July 24 committee meeting, and reviewing the data presented to the Marine Fisheries Commission on the recreational allotment available for a 2024 flounder season.

Commissioners determined that the “closure of the flounder season for 2024 is an unbalanced allocation issue. If that data suggested that closing the season was necessary as a conservation issue, the MFC would also close the commercial season. The Committee therefore recommended a 4-day season as recommended by staff,” they said.

Marine Fisheries Commission Chairman Robert Bizzell in a letter dated July 25 to WRC said he was disheartened to learn that the Wildlife Resources Commission is proceeding with a flounder season in inland and joint fishing waters.

“As you know, under Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan adopted by the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) in 2022, there will be no recreational harvest in 2024 in joint and coastal fishing waters,” he wrote. “Please keep in mind that when joint and coastal fishing waters are closed to flounder harvest, MFC rule prohibits the possession or transport of flounder through those waters, regardless of where the flounder were taken. Consequently, Marine Patrol officers will be issuing tickets to recreational fishermen in possession of flounder in both the joint and coastal fishing waters of North Carolina while the no-harvest provision of
Amendment 3 is in place.”

The Marine Fisheries Commission voted on the allocations when Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan was adopted in May of 2022 “after a deliberative process that included numerous public comment opportunities and input from various advisory committees. Amendment 3 included management measures to end overfishing and rebuild the stock within state-mandated timeframes,” division officials said in a response Tuesday.

The management measures also are to meet the established separate quotas for commercial and recreational sectors, based on the historical take by each sector, beginning in 2022 with 70% commercial and 30% recreational allocations in 2023 and in 2024, “but gradually equalizing the allocation to 60% commercial and 40% recreational in 2025, and to 50% commercial and 50% recreational in 2026.”

The 2019 Southeast Regional Stock Assessment found that southern flounder is overfished and overfishing is occurring throughout the South Atlantic. Overfished means the population is too small and overfishing means the removal rate is too high. The 2019 stock assessment led to the development of the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 that was approved in 2022.

The amendment is to “achieve a self-sustaining population that provides sustainable harvest” and “includes robust management strategies, such as commercial and recreational quotas with pound for pound paybacks if exceeded, options for commercial trip limits, and a spring Gulf and summer flounder season for recreational hook and line in the ocean,” according to the division.

Division officials continued that the recreational catch exceeded the recreational quota.

“After subtracting the recreational overage from 2023, the recreational quota remaining for 2024 is not large enough to allow for a season opening. The Marine Fisheries Commission, during its May business meeting, discussed holding a special meeting to consider alternatives to not holding a 2024 recreational season but ultimately did not move forward with that approach,” they said.

WRC’s 2024 season decision

When the Wildlife Resources Commission proposed in June a text amendment to close its flounder harvest season for 2024, it was said to be with the intention of being “consistent with the annual quota management measure of the North Carolina Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 and with the NCDMF closure of the recreational season in coastal waters” announced in May.

Wildlife Resources’ Inland Fisheries Division Chief Christian Waters reminded the committee that Amendment 3 established the annual harvest quota for recreational and commercial sectors.  

“The whole purpose behind the quota was to end overfishing in two years and to allow rebuilding of the population, which is required by statute,” Waters said.

The management plan has an accountability measure for when there’s an overage in a sector, Waters continued. The overage is deducted from that sector’s total allowable catch for the following year.

“If you go over, the next year you get less fish,” Waters said in summation.

Division officials said Tuesday that this provision in Amendment 3 mandates any overages of the total allowable catch, which includes landings and discard mortality, must be paid back pound-for-pound the following year.

“This payback mechanism was discussed thoroughly, including public comment, during the development of the plan, and it is an essential part of rebuilding the population of Southern Flounder and ensuring a sustainable harvest for future generations,” the division said explained.

After reviewing the Marine Fisheries Commission’s May announcement that there would be no recreational flounder season in coastal and joint waters, Waters reminded the committee last week that at its June 6 meeting, commissioners decided to propose a temporary rule amendment to be consistent with Marine Fisheries.

“The proposal would be the closed flounder harvest season in 2024 in the WRC jurisdiction, which would be inland fishing waters and hook and line in joint fishing waters,” he said.

Waters added that the process to establish fisheries seasons is different for the two commissions. Marine Fisheries issues proclamations while Wildlife Resources has to go through the rulemaking process.

“We have a rule on the books that says there will be a season from Sept. 1 to Sept. 14,” Waters said, and that is why temporary rulemaking is required to close the fishery for 2024.

The notice of text was June 6, and the public comment period was June 10 through July 5. During that time, Wildlife Resouces held two hearings, one online and one in New Bern.

Of the 438 that responded, 89% did not support the rule for multiple reasons, including concerns about commercial fishing, the current allocation for commercial versus recreational, the data used from Marine Fisheries, and that flounder is a public resource, Waters said. And “There was some general displeasure in general, about just the fact that we were even considering not having a season, and then there was some that expressed distrust for DMF and DMF process.”

The commission can adopt the proposed temporary rule to close Wildlife Resources waters for flounder harvest this year, or “we have the permanent rule that is currently on the books and would be in place if you don’t take action,” Waters said. “Basically, if you do not adopt the temporary rule, or some alternative, this permanent rule is what would be in place in that case, that would open it to harvest, Sept. 1-14.”

Waters recommended as an alternative a four-day season between Sept. 1-14 for 2024. The four-day season being recommended was calculated “on the fact and the assumption that if Marine Fisheries did reallocate poundage to the recreational fishery, that fish could be harvested below the conservation (total allowable catch).”

After recalculating 2024 numbers by applying the different allocation scenarios, Waters said that a 60% commercial and 40% recreational split “would, in theory, give you just under four days. That’s also based on if that reallocation occurred coast wide,” Waters said.

Wildlife Resources Commission Chairman Monty Crump recommended the shift in a letter dated June 10 to the Marine Fisheries Commission, when he expressed that Wildlife Resources was “extremely disappointed the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) did not take action to open a recreational flounder season in 2024, while fully planning to open a commercial season.”

Crump continued that Marine Fisheries could do what was suggested during its May meeting and call a special meeting to take up shifting the allocation earlier than originally outlined in Amendment 3.

“The MFC should immediately conduct a special meeting to allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to each sector in 2024 and not wait until 2026. Our recreational constituents should not suffer without a harvest season for something that was not their fault,” he wrote.

In a response dated July 12 to Crump’s Jun 10 letter, Bizzell said that the suggestion to immediately allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to the recreational sector is not a new one.

“As you are aware, the MFC discussed at its May 2024 business meeting calling a special/emergency meeting to explore exactly what you suggest. However, it is very important to note the overage in 2023 was to such a degree that even with that shift in allocation now, the 2024 recreational flounder season would likely only be three or four days long,” he said.

During the discussion at the committee meeting July 24, Waters said you can’t compare how commercial and recreational seasons are determined.

Marine Fisheries monitors commercial sector in real-time because landings have to be reported daily. Once commercial sector is near filling its quota, Marine Fisheries has the option to issue a proclamation to close the season at any time. With the recreational fishery, that isn’t an option because there’s no daily monitoring.

He gave as an example a two-week recreational season. When the data comes back after the season is over, only then do you find out if there was an overage.

Waters added that Marine Fisheries studies flounder because much of the harvest occurs in coastal waters, and it’s a species that is mandated by state statute to be used when creating fisheries management plans. “And even though (flounder) do occur in our waters, and there is significant harvest that can occur in our waters, the bulk of it occurs in marine fisheries waters.”

Several commissioners voiced their frustrations at the meeting before the vote.

One commissioner said “this is the most inequitable and controversial subject matter that we deal with, and it needs to come to a head, find a solution here eventually” and several discussed the possibility of Marine Fisheries changing the allocation schedule.

Waters responded that if the original reallocation schedule that was set was followed, both sectors would be at 50/50 “and this wouldn’t be an issue. They postponed that in 2022, by two years to push that reallocation back.”

Current flounder trends

The division released its 2023 Fishery Management Plan Review Thursday that included summarizes long-term trends in catch, biological data and management through 2023 for a handful of state-managed species, including southern flounder.

An update to the 2019 stock assessment was completed this year, but the Division of Marine Fisheries and state partners had concerns, leading to the updated stock assessment not being approved for management purposes.

“In 2023, the recreational and commercial fisheries exceeded their total allowable catch, and paybacks were applied towards the 2024 seasons. The next scheduled full review of the plan will begin in 2027,” according to the division.

Currently harvest of any of the three species of flounder, which are southern, summer and Gulf, is not allowed, Division Public Information Officer Patricia Smith said Thursday.

“Flounder are managed as an aggregate for the recreational fishery. Regulations that effect one species effect the other two species,” Smith explained.

There is a possibility of a spring season written into Amendment 3, whether or not it occurs is based on the performance of the fishery the year before and at the division director’s discretion.

“An added nuance is that summer flounder is under the jurisdiction of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission,” she said. Overfishing is occurring for summer flounder, and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission required all states to implement reductions in harvest for the 2024-2025 fishing years.

“This means that the earliest a spring season could occur for summer flounder in NC would be 2026,” she said.

Editor’s note: Our special report, Agencies at Odds: Wildlife Resources V. Marine Fisheries, is an in-depth look at the conflict between the two agencies that has been building over the last several years.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting comments on proposed rule changes for 2025-26 inland fishing, hunting, trapping and game land regulations.

A handful of the amendments could affect coastal outdoor enthusiasts if passed. The public has until Sept. 13 to submit comments.

Commissioners are expected to consider the proposed changes when they meet in October. If adopted, the rules will take effect Aug. 1, 2025, and ahead of the 2025-26 inland fishing, hunting, and trapping seasons.

One proposed change is to lower the daily creel limit for striped and white mullet from 200 to 100 fish in aggregate and establish a limit of no more than 400 fish total per boat in commission-managed waters.

Striped mullet is considered overfished, and the Striped Mullet Fisheries Management Plan Amendment 2 indicates harvest reductions are required. The change is to be consistent with the consistent the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission.

Another proposed change is to add the recently acquired 407-acre Bay River Tract in Pamlico County to the Goose Creek Game Land Program to allow deer, bear and turkey hunting by permit only.

The land deal was announced last fall and was made possible through a partnership of the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust, National Wild Turkey Federation, Wildlife Resources Commission and North Carolina Division of Coastal Management. The 407-acre tract is made up of several small parcels with residential homes.

“By enrolling this new land into the Special Permit Hunt Opportunity Program for deer, bear, and turkey, we are limiting the chance for negative interactions between hunters and the homeowners, while also offering high-quality hunting opportunities for successful applicants,” wildlife officials said.

The commission also proposes renaming at the Gull Rock Game Land in Hyde County an existing waterfowl impoundment and a new impoundment, which is included in a tract of land the state is acquiring that will be incorporated into the game lands.

Another proposed rule change would restrict access to waterfowl impoundments in Lantern Acres Game Land in Tyrrell and Washington counties to permitted hunters only. This is to reduce disturbance to waterfowl during open waterfowl hunting seasons, according to the commission.

There is a proposed rule to shift turkey harvest to later in the season to the Saturday on or immediately after April 11. Officials said this move to when most hens have begun laying eggs is to keep with the commission’s goal to “maximize continued increases in population size and distribution.”

Other rule proposed rule changes deal with public mountain trout waters, crappie in Wake County, and Cold Mountain Game Land in Haywood County,

Each year, Wildlife Resources Commission reviews and adjusts seasons, bag limits, and land management regulations when necessary to achieve conservation management goals, comply with statutory changes, and respond to constituent requests and suggestions, officials said.

A virtual hearing is scheduled 7 p.m. Aug. 14. Register for the public hearing or join by phone by calling 833-568-8864. ID and registration passcode are 161 300 5238.

There are in-person hearings in Asheboro on Aug. 13 and in Winterville Aug. 15.

Comments can be submitted until Sept. 13 inland fishing at this link, using this link for land and water access using this link and using this link for wildlife management.

The public may also submit comments to regulations@ncwildlife.org or NCWRC, Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701. Staff ask that the comments include your name, county and state of residence.

Proposed changes to eastern oyster and hard clam fishery management plans are under review.

Division of Marine Fisheries staff and the Oyster/Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Advisory Committee are to take up during an in-person workshop next week the draft amendments pertaining to the two different management plans.

The workshop scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at Craven Community College in New Bern is part of the fishery management plan process. Though the public can attend, no public comment period is planned.

Under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, the division has on its website the two management plan documents, draft amendments and the workshop agenda.

Previous management plans focused on managing wild harvest and shellfish aquaculture. Because the shellfish leases, aquaculture and franchises are now under the Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture program, the amendments under development at the workshop will focus on wild harvest. Additionally, stock assessments have not been completed for these species due to data limitations, according to the division.

The workshop-style meeting allow scientists, managers and stakeholders making up the advisory committee to address questions, comments and concerns more effectively and in a less formal setting.

Depending on the workshop’s outcome, the revised drafts of the amendments will go before the Marine Fisheries Commission later this year. If the commission approves, additional public review and comment on the draft plan will then be solicited and is critical input to completing the final plan.

Correction: This story originally reported that Cooper had vetoed the bill.

Gov. Roy Cooper late Monday afternoon declined to sign a bill that includes granting a state regulatory agency’s request to delay new mandatory catch-reporting rules for recreational anglers and commercial fishermen.

The decision was over unrelated provisions that Cooper described as an “unconstitutional power grab.”

A paragraph tucked into Senate Bill 607, the 2024 version of the legislature’s annual regulatory reform measure, pushes the start of the coastal fisheries harvest-reporting system back one year, making the effective date Dec. 1, 2025.

The bill, which is now a law, also includes terminal groin language for Bald Head Island.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Monday, Cooper’s office announced in a release that the governor declined to sign the bill and veto Senate Bill 445, the latter of which pertains to court documents and proceedings.

Cooper’s statement noted that the regulatory reform bill includes “some important changes that should become law, however I am not signing this bill because there is a provision where the General Assembly is seeking to interfere with the charter and bylaws of the North Carolina Railroad, a private corporation. This isn’t about improving transportation for the people of North Carolina, it’s just another unconstitutional power grab by Republicans. Article VIII of the North Carolina Constitution protects private businesses from this type of legislative interference in their internal governance.”

Seeking more time

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officials had asked lawmakers for more time to roll out the phased enforcement of the rules, which will require recreational coastal anglers to report harvests of flounder, red drum, speckled trout, striped bass and weakfish.

“Delaying the effective date of the mandatory harvest reporting rules by one year allows the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) the time to better inform stakeholders and conduct outreach and awareness around the new requirements,” Christy Simmons, Division of Coastal Management public information officer, said in an email.

The temporary rules, which must be approved by the state Rules Review Commission, were adopted June 6 by the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission.

Those commissions had to comply with a law the General Assembly enacted last year that detailed which species recreational anglers will be required to report and an enforcement timeline.

The law also requires commercial fishers to list on their trip tickets all catch, including finfish, shellfish and crustaceans, that they do not sell to a dealer. Dealers submit those forms each month to the state, which uses the information reported on the tickets as a means to help manage fisheries resources.

The new reporting mandate was suggested by a relatively new nonprofit called the North Carolina Marine & Estuary Foundation with the support of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, which represents commercial fishing interests, and the state chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association that represents recreational anglers.

Foundation Executive Director Chad Thomas has said the foundation supports the division’s request to push back the effective date of the law. He has said the law is meant to bring together two state agencies that have a history of conflict over their shared management of joint fishing waters, fill gaps left by federal reporting surveys, and make North Carolina a pioneer in coastal fish data management.

Under the law, the rules will be enforced in phases over three years.

The bill includes language that pushes the date of when the rules will become effective to Dec. 1, 2025, after which time a fisher caught not complying will receive a verbal warning.

Full enforcement of the law takes effect Dec. 1, 2027. Offenders of the law will be punished with a $35 fine per violation. Repeat offenders will face the threat of license and permit suspensions.

The new reporting mandate will not replace the Marine Recreational Information Program, or MRIP, which is a multi-governmental program that uses recreational fishing surveys to estimate total recreational catch.

Upward of 1 million recreational anglers fish state waters any given year, according to fisheries officials.

The mandate has been met with fierce criticism from opponents who argue the rules are unenforceable, unnecessary bureaucracy and government overreach, and question the accuracy and reliability of report collection.

Concerns also have been raised that the law does not include catches and releases of the five species be reported.

Anglers will be given the option to report their harvest by scanning a QR code or by going directly to the division’s website. Printed report cards will be placed in bait and tackle shops and other areas for anglers who do not have smartphones or are in areas that do not have cell phone service.

Anglers will be required to provide their fishing license number or first and last name, ZIP code, the types and numbers of species harvested, length of each fish, the area in which those fish were harvested and the gear used to harvest them.

Details of the reporting process may be found on the division website.

It’s unlikely anglers will be required to report flounder harvests this year because the Marine Fisheries Commission does not plan to open its recreational flounder season for 2024.

Related: No recreational flounder season likely this year; here’s why

Wildlife Resources Commission has proposed closing this year’s flounder season for inland waters. The public comment period on the commission’s proposed temporary rule for the 2024 season closed Friday.

The commission’s next scheduled meeting is July 25.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officials have proposed closing this year’s flounder season for inland waters, and are asking for feedback from the public.

The closure was proposed to be consistent with the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s plan not to open its recreational flounder season in coastal waters for 2024.

While Marine Fisheries has not announced when the commercial flounder season will be, Wildlife Resources officials are disappointed that it plans to open one.

Wildlife Commission Chairman Monty Crump wrote in a letter dated June 10 to Fisheries Commission Chairman Rob Bizzell that when the Wildlife Commission met June 6, “commissioners expressed their distaste for closing the recreational season while the commercial season remains open. They ultimately voted to notice temporary rule text for a closed flounder season so that the WRC could receive public input. If that input comes back in opposition as I imagine it will, I do not think there will be enough votes, if any, to pass a closed season.”

This isn’t the first time that recreational flounder season has caused conflict between the two agencies. Last year, for the first time in at least a decade, the recreational flounder seasons for coastal and inland waters did not align, causing confusion for recreational fishers, especially in the joint waters that both agencies manage, and drawing attention to an impasse between the two.

Last year, Wildlife Resources allowed a daily catch of four flounder, each no smaller than 15 inches, between Sept. 1 and Sept. 14. Marine Fisheries’ recreational season was Sept. 15-30 and allowed just one fish longer than 15 inches per day.

Wildlife officials are asking for public comment on the temporary rule for 2024, “Flounder shall not be taken or possessed.” Comments can be submitted until July 5 through an online form; by email to regulations@ncwildlife.org and including name, county and state; or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701.

A virtual public hearing is scheduled on the proposed amendment for 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 26, and an in-person hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 27, at Craven Community College in New Bern. Registration is required for the online meeting.

The Division of Marine Fisheries announced that the Marine Fisheries Commission determined during its quarterly meeting May 23 not to open recreational flounder for 2024 “to preserve the southern flounder resource.”

According to the division, “Estimates from 2023 indicate the recreational catch exceeded the quota allowed under a stock rebuilding plan that was included in Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan and adopted by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.”

The division’s Public Information Officer Tricia Smith told Coastal Review last week that this year’s recreational flounder season closure is following the plan under Amendment 3.

Southern flounder is an overfished species, and overfishing is occurring, Smith said. Overfished means that the population size is too small, and overfishing means the removal rate is too high.

When Marine Fisheries adopted Amendment 3 in May 2022, they also adopted separate quotas for recreational and commercial sectors — quotas based on the 2017 stock assessment.

The sector harvest allocations approved in the amendment were 70% commercial and 30% recreational of total allowable catch for 2022 through 2024. Starting in 2025, allocations will shift to 60% commercial and 40% recreational, and then 50% commercial and 50% recreational 2026 and beyond.

Right now, the commercial fishery does have more of a quota, but that was based on historical landings, Smith said.

Amendment 3 also put into place a pound-for-pound payback. If the quota is exceeded one year, “then pound per pound, you pay it back the next year,” she said.

The 2022 recreational fishery went over its quota, which was subtracted from what was allotted in 2023. And 2023’s landings went over the quota again, “so what’s left this year with recreational is barely enough to cover what the estimates have been averaging for dead discards,” Smith said. “It’s just not enough to really open a season.”

The same applies to the commercial fishery, Smith said. If they go over their quota, whatever that number is will be subtracted from the next year’s quota, and that’s taking into account the length of the season.

To determine recreational quota, numbers from the Marine Recreational Information Program are used. All states participate in the federal program that surveys fishermen to collect data, which is then used to determine estimates.

Commercial fishermen this past year were required to report every day during the flounder season, which “gave us a much better idea of where they were at their quota and when to close it,” Smith said.

In his letter, Crump said that he understands that the recreational sector exceeded its quota in 2023, while the commercial sector did not significantly exceed its quota.

“This is because the commercial sector’s landings were monitored daily and the season was closed as harvest approached the total allowable landings. Had monitoring for the recreational sector been conducted similarly, the season could have been closed in time to prevent the quota from being exceeded so much that there could be a season in 2024. Additionally, if the recreational sector was allocated an equal share of the total allowable landings, as initially proposed in Amendment 3, the sector may not have exceeded its quota,” Crump wrote.

He suggested that the Marine Fisheries Commission do what was discussed during its May meeting and call a special meeting to consider shifting allocations earlier than originally outlined in Amendment 3.

“The MFC should immediately conduct a special meeting to allocate 50% of the Total Allowable Catch to each sector in 2024 and not wait until 2026. Our recreational constituents should not suffer without a harvest season for something that was not their fault,” Crump wrote.

Smith said that with recreational flounder season closed this year, and more of a quota next year, the hope is that there will be enough quota for a season in 2025, but there’s no guarantee.

“We realize that a lot of the recreational fishermen feel like ‘I only catch one fish a year, there’s no way that I can be impacting the resource’ but there’s more than a million fishermen out there. It’s not just that one fish that you caught. It’s the fish that everybody caught,” plus dead discards, Smith said.

One of the longstanding disagreements between the two commissions is how to manage joint waters, which Crump mentioned in his June 10 letter.

He wrote that the state Rules Review Commission approved and once again reaffirmed the Wildlife Resources Commission’s authority to set rules for hook-and-line fishing in joint fishing waters at its April 30 meeting.

“Therefore, when the WRC meets on July 25th we will vote to accept, alter, or reject the proposal to close flounder season in both inland fishing waters and for hook and line in joint fishing waters,” Crump wrote. “I call on you to do the right thing for North Carolina’s recreational anglers and the businesses that depend upon them — call a special meeting to modify Amendment 3 and reallocate the flounder quota so that it is finally equitable between the two sectors and allow a recreational season in 2024.”