North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality staff are to present outlines for the new issue papers for the 2026 update to the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, the state’s long-term strategy to protect coastal habitat, a necessity for a sustainable seafood industry.
science
State wildlife officials launch coastal animal watch survey
Wildlife viewers visiting North Carolina’s southern coast are asked to take a five-minute online survey to help officials better understand the correlation between animal watching’s economic contributions to coastal communities and the state.
Fibonacci plus his golden ratio equal sunflower mathematics
If you have ever marveled at a sunflower’s complex beauty, then you’ve seen one example of the ubiquitous sequence introduced to Westerners by an Italian mathematician named Leonardo Fibonacci.
Reide Corbett to pause move to ECU main campus to give talk
Oceanographer Dr. Reide Corbett, who is transitioning to a new leadership role within ECU, will lead a talk this week on Harkers Island about how the North Carolina coast is changing and why those changes matter for places like Down East Carteret County.
ECSU adds data science, online history, social work degrees
Elizabeth City State University, one of four North Carolina Promise institutions providing affordable access to higher education, is expanding its curriculum and adding flexibility for students.
Two speaker series to look at relationships of people, place
Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center is now offering two different speaker series this summer, both of which delve into the relationship between people and place.
Scientific data: Understanding rising sea levels for anglers
Dr. Shintaro Bunya, a scientist at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Center for Natural Hazards Resilience, works with government agencies and communities to help them better understand and prepare for coastal flood risks, and here he does the same for anglers.
Shark depredation isn’t new, but widely seen as modern issue
Hemingway wrote masterfully about an aging Cuban fisherman’s heartbreak after losing a giant marlin he’d caught to hungry sharks, a problem that is not an emerging issue, as is often perceived, according to a recently published study.
Bill advances sans state funding for terminal groins
The Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday advanced an amended Senate Bill 1001 that excludes a previously included provision for state tax dollars to be tapped to pay for and maintain coastal terminal groins.
State announces tagging program’s yearly drawing winners
Fifteen anglers are each $100 richer as the latest winners of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ annual drawing of Multi-Species Tagging Program tag numbers.
Joel Fodrie named director of Duke Marine Lab
Dr. Joel Fodrie is leaving his post as director of UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City to lead Duke University Marine Lab in Beaufort.
Brinson touts bills to ax ocean erosion-control structure ban
Sen. Bob Brinson discussed the bills last week in committee, measures that would undo four decades of coastal policy, just as the science advisory panel to the Coastal Resources Commission readies a report on these structures’ effects and effectiveness.
Chancellor visits Institute of Marine Sciences, its researchers
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee H. Roberts spent Tuesday in Carteret County meeting with researchers at the university’s Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City as part of his second summer tour.
Science panel to present hardened structure report findings
The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission is expected to hear from its science advisory panel its findings on the effects hard structures have on sandy, open-ocean coastlines.
Elizabeth City State students make genetic research history
Elizabeth City State University undergraduate biology students have become the first researchers from a historically Black college or university to participate in the American Campus Tree Genome Project and have their work accepted into a worldwide genetic database.
Serving public a passion for State Climatologist Jared Bowden
“I’m trying to help the public with their problems related to climate,” says Dr. Jared Bowden, a Rocky Mount native who became director of the North Carolina State Climate Office early this month.
