The North Carolina Coastal Federation honored more than a dozen individuals and groups this year during the 23rd annual Pelican Awards held Saturday in Morehead City.
science
Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board to meet Wednesday
The North Carolina Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board, which assists, consults and advises the state’s human health and environmental agencies, is scheduled to meet virtually on Wednesday.
‘Peering into the black box of nutrition’: Study tracks diets
Dr. Rachel Noble of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences and colleagues used technology developed to track COVID-19 in municipal wastewater to now track populations’ dietary habits so their nutritional health may be studied and improved.
Find a special bottle in the water and you can help scientists
Deploying trackable floating bottles, researchers are working to better understand how litter gets into waterways and travels downstream, with an effort to pinpoint litter hotspots and identify correlations between storms and the volume of trash that enters individual streams during those storms.
North Carolina’s seagrass habitat continues to decline: Study
The Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership has found that the extent of seagrass meadows in the Albemarle-Pamlico estuary decreased by at least 16,000 acres over a 14-year period, “despite suitable habitat available for expansion.”
Work begins for periodic update of state coastal habitat plan
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.
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.
