The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has opened the public comment period for proposed changes for 2027-28 hunting, fishing and game land regulations.

The agency reviews and adjusts seasons, bag limits and land management rules, as needed, annually to comply with changes in the law, achieve conservation management goals, and respond to constituent requests and suggestions.

The proposed changes are broken down by category, including wildlife management, inland fisheries, land and water access, wildlife education (shooting ranges), and endangered, threatened, and special concern species.

Comments will be accepted through Sept. 14 online, by email to regulations@wildlife.gov, include name, county and state of residence, or by mail to Rulemaking Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701.

The commission has also scheduled virtual public hearings on the proposed changes.

The first hearing is set for noon on Aug. 20. Participants must preregister, after which time they will receive a calendar invitation and link to the webinar. To join by phone, dial (833) 568-8864 and use Webinar ID:165 897 7256.

A second hearing is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Aug. 25. Preregistration is also required to attend this hearing. Participants who wish to join by phone may call (833) 568-8864 and use Webinar ID:165 787 2139.

The proposed changes will be discussed and considered at the Wildlife Resource Commission Commissioners’ October meeting.

Most of the rules, if adopted, will take effect Aug. 1, 2027 in time for the 2027-28 inland fishing, hunting, and trapping seasons.

“A few approved rules would have a January 1, 2027 effective date,” according to officials.

Current state hunting and fishing regulations are available in the commission’s Regulations Digest.

Publisher’s Perspective

North Carolina’s coast is one of our state’s greatest assets. It is an economic engine, a source of food and livelihoods, a natural defense against storms, and an irreplaceable part of our heritage.

That is why the budget recently approved by the North Carolina General Assembly deserves recognition. It makes meaningful investments that will benefit the coast, and the entire state, for years to come.

At a time when bipartisan accomplishments can seem increasingly rare, legislators came together to protect our waters, strengthen coastal communities, and ensure that future generations inherit a healthier, more resilient coast.

Among the important achievements is the establishment of permanent funding for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels. These boats are more than eyesores. Left unattended, they pollute coastal waters, damage marshes and oyster habitat, threaten navigation and become even more hazardous after hurricanes.

For the past several years, the North Carolina Coastal Federation has partnered with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Department of Environmental Quality, and other organizations to build the state’s largest abandoned vessel removal program. Hundreds of vessels have been removed from public waters in the years following Hurricane Florence. That work has relied on a patchwork of temporary state, federal and private funding. Without a permanent solution, the program was in jeopardy.

The General Assembly changed that in this year’s budget by providing recurring funds to remove abandoned and derelict vessels. With stable funding, North Carolina can respond more quickly after storms, attract additional federal dollars and keep dangerous vessels out of our coastal waters for years to come. Sen. Michael Lee of New Hanover County deserves special recognition for his sustained efforts and support for this funding.

The budget also supports projects that improve water quality, strengthen coastal resilience and help preserve the natural resources that sustain both our economy and our quality of life. Healthy coastal waters and habitats support commercial and recreational fishing, tourism, military readiness, property values and local jobs throughout coastal North Carolina. Taken together, these investments recognize that protecting the coast is not simply an environmental priority, it is an economic one.

These accomplishments did not happen by accident.

They reflect years of collaboration among legislators, state agencies, local governments, conservation organizations, fishermen, business leaders and coastal residents who understand that good stewardship and a strong economy go hand in hand.

Sen. Norm Sanderson and Rep. Celeste Cairns, both representing Carteret County, also deserve particular praise for their leadership on the Coastal Federation’s budget requests this year.

And I want to recognize the many members and supporters of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Our ability to advocate effectively — in coastal communities and in the halls of the Legislative Building in Raleigh — is possible only because thousands of citizens, businesses, foundations, and other partners invest in our mission. Their support gives us the expertise, credibility and persistence to work across party lines and help turn good ideas into public policy.

Advocacy is often measured by what makes headlines. More often, however, it is built through patient relationship-building, sound science, practical problem-solving, and a willingness to find common ground. This year’s budget demonstrates what can happen when those ingredients come together.

Of course, our work is far from finished. North Carolina continues to face growing challenges from storms and flooding, aging infrastructure, development pressures and changing coastal ecosystems. Meeting those challenges will require continued partnership, innovation, and sustained investment.

This budget reminds us that protecting North Carolina’s coast is not a partisan issue. It is an investment in our economy, our communities and the natural legacy we will leave to future generations. That’s something every North Carolinian can celebrate.

Driving to the coast in the hopes of witnessing freshly hatched sea turtles crawl their way to the ocean? Looking forward to sitting on the water-view porch of your beach rental to watch the birds?

If so, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is requesting five minutes of your time to complete a survey about your experience viewing birds and sea turtles on your visit to the southern coast.

The online survey is part of an ongoing study in which state wildlife officials hope to learn how wildlife viewing contributes to coastal communities and the state economies.

About three-quarters of roughly 3 million in North Carolina who identify as “wildlife viewers” take trips to experience the state’s wide array of animal species, according to the agency.

“We want to determine economic contributions from visiting bird watchers, folks who visit our coast during sea turtle nesting season, and other wildlife enthusiasts,” Wildlife Resources Commission Social Scientist Elizabeth Pratt stated in a release. “Results could shed light on the importance of wildlife-related tourism to coastal communities and the need to continue to conserve these species.”

Information gathered from the survey will be used in a study that will aid the agency in developing stronger wildlife conservation policies on the coast. The agency is also collecting resident feedback and collaborating with partners to gain a better understanding of coastal wildlife issues to act as a guide for future protection initiatives.

The agency has posted signage and placed postcards with QR codes at different wildlife viewing locations and visitor centers. The survey will be available through the fall.

“Whether visiting a waterbird colony, witnessing a sea turtle nest excavation, or seeing less common birds that only visit the state during migration, we know that the public values the wildlife viewing experiences available along the coast,” Eastern Wildlife Diversity Supervisor Hope Sutton said in the release. “This study will help us understand the importance of wildlife viewing and ensure future visitors continue to benefit from our wildlife conservation efforts.”

MANNS HARBOR – Just weeks after the first community meeting was held here to discuss an upcoming project to construct long-sought wildlife crossings under a section of U.S. Highway 64 by the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, the North Carolina General Assembly passed its budget that included — much to the surprise of some — millions in recurring funds statewide for wildlife crossings and habitat connectivity.

For conservationists who have for years advocated for the passages as necessary safety measures for human and animal alike, it was fantastic news.

“We’re extremely excited about the $10.2 million in the state budget for wildlife crossings!” Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the nonprofit Wildlands Network, said in an email.

“We knew there was bipartisan support for the measure, but it has been so hard to predict anything coming out of the state legislature for so long.

“From what we can tell, this is now the largest commitment by any state on a recurring basis for wildlife crossings,” he added, “so we’re grateful for the leadership on this issue.” 

Recently, Sutherland, among others, had worked to help raise $6.25 million in matching funds toward the U.S. 64 project that included an anonymous donation and contributions from Wildlands Network, the Center for Biological Diversity, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Last year, the North Carolina Department of Transportation was awarded a $25 million grant from the Wildlife Crossings Pilot Program established by the 2021 $1 trillion federal infrastructure law.

According to the department, the proposed $31.25 million project would construct 11 wildlife passages of various sizes, with corresponding fencing along 2.5 miles of U.S. 64 from the east end of East Lake on the Dare County mainland to west of Robertson Landing Road. The preliminary design and environmental review process is targeted for completion in 2027. The project, which is included in the State Transportation Improvement Program, or STIP, is slated to begin in 2028 and be completed in 2031.

At the public meeting on June 23 in Manns Harbor — a small community near East Lake — Matt Seymour, NCDOT’s project manager, explained that most of the project, built on swampy land and much of it adjacent to canals, would involve construction of underpasses, which would require elevating the road. Some crossings would provide small wooden bridges and little tunnels for animals. Fences along the road, fronted with vegetation, would serve as guides to lead the animals to the passages.

“Planning and design will also consider construction access, maintaining traffic flow on this critical route, and minimizing impacts to nearby canals and swamps, private property, utilities, wetlands, historic sites and community resources,” NCDOT said on its online project site.

Several residents in the audience expressed concerns about locating crossings too close to private property.

“The bigger ones, where we’re anticipating bear and wolf, they won’t be in residential areas,” Seymour responded.  “We have to be sure we’re strategic with the fencing.”

Seymour said that NCDOT is working closely with staff from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on designing the crossings, as well as listening to concerns and suggestions from residents who coexist with wildlife in the area.

“The Service is a project partner and collaborator on the wildlife crossing grant,” Rebekah Martin, manager of the Coastal North Carolina National Wildlife Refuge Complex, wrote in a later email. “We are particularly involved in planning, permitting coordination, and refuge-level decision-making to ensure the project meets refuge purpose and mission requirements while benefitting both public safety and wildlife.”

Notably, the Alligator River refuge is populated not only by thousands of wild animal species, ranging from tiny salamanders to massive black bears and — yes — alligators, it is the only habitat in the world with endangered wild red wolves. Many thousands of the refuge creatures, including numerous rare wolves, have been among the annual victims of vehicle traffic. 

Swerving to avoid deer carcasses on the dark road, veering around huge alligators that emerge in headlights and bracing when an animal is accidentally hit have been regular survival tactics for local drivers on U.S. 64, which crisscrosses more than 158,000 acres of protected refuge lands. The highway also cuts through the 1.7 million-acre recovery area of private and public lands in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties that have been intensively managed for the red wolves by the refuge since 1987.

But U.S. 64 in Dare County also serves as a major travel corridor back and forth to the popular Outer Banks beaches, as well as a critical hurricane evacuation route, with millions of vacationers driving through areas thick with animals moving through the landscape and dashing across roads.

Over the last decade, in fact, vehicle strikes are the leading cause of mortality in red wolves, according to the Red Wolf Essential Survival Crossings Under Evacuation Route (RESCUER) project report.

Although the latest population is not yet available, red wolves number about two dozen or more in the management area.

“Installing wildlife fencing to reduce (collisions) along with multiple wildlife underpass structures to provide habitat connectivity for species including the critically endangered Red Wolf, black bear, white-tailed deer, mesomammals, small mammals, and herpetofauna is an essential mitigation measure to address impacts from US 64 through Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge,” according to the report.

Numerous hot spots for wolf mortality that had been identified by recent research, according to the report, are targeted in the first phase of the proposed wildlife crossings project along U.S. 64.

Looking back: Conservation group’s US 64 study finds ‘remarkable carnage’

Looking ahead to the additional wildlife crossings made possible by the recurring state funding, Sutherland said that the money will be spent statewide, including in Western North Carolina, and likely on the highest-priority projects for protecting both wildlife and human safety.

“It is too soon to know if new crossings for US 64 will be in the mix or if the state is going to focus on other regions given the existing $31 million project for 64,” Sutherland said in an email, responding to questions from Coastal Review. “I suspect there may be some enthusiasm for repairing the existing three crossings further west on 64 between Plymouth and Roper — the crossings are fine but the fencing is buried in the tree line and apparently full of holes for wildlife to sneak through.”

State and local law enforcement officials will be ramping up water patrols through the upcoming holiday weekend.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Law Enforcement Division is once again participating in Operation Dry Water, a national campaign that aims to reduce impaired boating incidents year-round and heighten enforcement on the water during the July 4 holiday.

Alcohol use is the lead contributing factor in recreational boater deaths, according to the agency. It is illegal to operate a recreational water vessel with an alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, or under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other impairing substances.

Last August, 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and a family friend were cooling off in the waters of Shearon Harris Lake in Chatham County near their anchored boat when they were struck by the propellor of another vessel being operated by an impaired driver. Carroll died from her injuries. The other victim had a leg amputated due to the severity of their wounds.

WRC Law Enforcement Division Sgt. Claude Smith investigated the case.

“If individuals choose to drink, that is their decision, but they must ensure a sober, responsible adult is designated to operate the boat,” Smith said in a release. “And if someone chooses to operate a vessel while impaired, our officers will take every necessary action to prevent a tragedy like this from occurring again.”

During last year’s Operation Dry Water campaign, the agency deployed 153 officers and removed 43 people from the water who were boating while impaired.

Boating incidents in North Carolina resulted in 26 deaths in 2025.

This year, 62 boating incidents, including nine that were fatal, have occurred in North Carolina.

Operation Dry Water was developed through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the U.S. Coast Guard. The campaign is supported by The Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s Operation Firecracker Booze It & Lose It campaign, which includes the N.C. State Highway Patrol, North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, and the North Carolina Forensic Tests for Alcohol Branch.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The following provisions will apply:

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

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

North Carolina biologists are already receiving numerous daily calls from residents and visitors encountering alligators in several coastal counties, where the native species are on the move during their mating season.

“May and June are mating season for alligators which means they are moving around more,” Alicia Wassmer, a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission alligator biologist, stated in a release. “Warmer weather also brings more people outside, so reports of encounters increase.”

Residents and visitors should not feed alligators, officials warn, because that teaches the animals, which are naturally fearful of and avoid close encounters with humans, to associate people with an easy meal. It is also against state law.

State wildlife officials advise residents and visitors to check out GatorWise, a multi-state project that offers tips on ways to safely coexist with the reptiles.

WRC Wildlife Management District Biologist John Henry Harrelson, who works in nine counties, including Brunswick and Columbus, said in a release that he is increasingly encountering alligators exhibiting a diminished fear of humans as he conducts several site visits each week within areas of the district he serves.

“People feeding alligators ultimately leads to those animals seeing humans as a potential source for food,” Harrelson stated. “Naturally alligators are shy, but through feeding, alligators can lose their fear of humans and that leads to a possible negative interaction between people and wildlife. Communities are reaching out to us concerned about animals that are approaching or being ‘aggressive’ towards humans.  Most of these behaviors are directly linked to animals being fed by people.”

Biologist Chris Kent, who serves District 2, which includes Carteret, Craven, Jones, New Hanover, Onslow, Pender and Pamlico counties, said he is receiving more calls reporting alligators in neighborhood retention ponds and ditches this time of year.

“We typically do not relocate as many alligators do not survive the relocation or they try to find their way back and sometimes get hit by vehicles in the roadways,” Kent stated in the release. “For emergency situations like in a swimming pool, against a house, under a vehicle in a parking lot, in a garage, or obstructing a public roadway, we will attempt to capture and release an alligator into the closest natural waterbody.” 

To the north, where alligators are most likely to be spotted in Dare, Tyrrell, or Hyde counties, most human-gator interactions are within wildlife refuges, especially Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, according to District Biologist Dallas Shoemaker.

“We’ve had issues with visitors there feeding alligators and bears,” he stated.

Development throughout the Southeast, including along coastal North Carolina, is crowding out alligators’ natural habitat, increasing human-gator encounters, and driving up the number of calls each year to the N.C. Wildlife Helpline.

“This loss of natural habitat and constant influx of newcomers, including many who have never lived in places with alligators, has amplified the need for state wildlife resource agencies to connect residents and visitors with vital information on how to live responsibly with alligators,” said Wassmer.

To protect people and alligators throughout the southeast, GatorWise offers six basic guidelines, which include:

• Assume alligators are present.
• Never feed alligators.
• Do not dispose of fish or food scraps in water.
• Never harass, capture, or handle an alligator.
• Be responsible for people and pets in your care.
• Maintain awareness anytime you are in or near water.

“I encourage people to enjoy the opportunity to see an alligator in the wild but view them from a safe and respectful distance,” Wassmer stated. “The only thing you should try to catch is a photo but use the zoom and give them room.”

American alligator are federally protected. Only authorized state wildlife employees or licensed agents can legally remove an alligator in the case of it requiring immediate action, such as one getting trapped in a swimming pool or wandering onto a public road and refusing to move.

N.C. Wildlife Helpline biologists may be reached at 866-318-2401 between 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday with questions or concerns about alligators.

Violations or after-hours emergencies may be reported to Wildlife Enforcement at 800-662-7137.

With a “troubling rise” in boating fatalities already reported in North Carolina this year, state officials are emphasizing safe boating practices and the dangers of operating vessels under the influence ahead of the summer travel season.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and State Highway Patrol, with support from local police and sheriff’s officers and non-governmental organizations such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, have kicked off the annual campaign On the Road, On the Water, Don’t Drink and Drive.

“While the overall number of boating incidents investigated has been declining in recent years, last year we saw a troubling rise in fatal boating incidents,” Lt. Anna Barbosa stated in a release. “So far this year, fatalities have currently surpassed last year’s numbers. Our goal is for everyone to enjoy their day on the water and return home safely. To do so, avoid alcohol while boating—or if you choose to drink, designate a sober operator. And remember, life jackets save lives—don’t just have enough on board. Make sure everyone wears one.”

Authorities have investigated 26 boating incidents, five of which were fatal, already this year, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission. Alcohol was a factor in three of those fatal incidents, which have resulted in the deaths of five people.

Statistically, that’s a more than 65% increase during this same time period a year ago, according to the commission.

Last year, there were 25 fatal boating incidents, six of which included passengers wearing personal flotation devices, reported in the state. Alcohol was reported in four of those incidents.

The number of boating incidents has slightly decreased a little more than 9% from the year prior.

Most recreational boating incidents occur between the months of June and August, with operation inattention being a leading cause of accidents, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

On the Road, On the Water, Don’t Drink and Drive supports National Safe Boating Week, which started May 16 and runs through May 22.

For additional boating safety information visit ncwildlife.gov/boating.

Matthew Godfrey, a sea turtle conservationist with extensive experience in several regions, is the the featured guest this month for the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s “Green Drinks” speaker series in Morehead City.

This month’s session is set for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, May 28, on the third floor of Jack’s on the Waterfront at 513 Evans St.

The casual monthly gathering for people who care about the North Carolina coast is hosted by the Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review.

“Whether you enjoy boating, beach days, or simply want to keep our waters clean and our communities strong, this is a relaxed space to connect with others, hear from local voices, and stay up to date on important coastal topics,” according to organizers.

Godfrey began working in North Carolina in 2002, after being hired by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to coordinate the North Carolina Sea Turtle Project. Since then, he has played a key role in monitoring and protecting sea turtle populations along the state’s coast.

Godfrey will give an overview of sea turtle nesting and nest protection in the state, highlighting some of the joys and challenges associated with sea turtle conservation along North Carolina’s coast.

Grab a drink from the bar and join the conversation. These events are free and open to the public, however registration is strongly encouraged.

Details, including dates and bag limits, for North Carolina’s 2026-27 waterfowl, webless migratory game bird, including dove, and extended falconry seasons are now available.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission announced the seasonal dates and associated regulations earlier this week. That information will also be published in the 2026-27 Inland Fishing, Hunting and Trapping Regulations Digest in August.

While most seasons remain unchanged from the previous year, the commission notes that, subject to final federal approval, the bag limit for Canada geese in the Northeast hunt zone will increase from one to two birds.

Another notable change pertains to the regular light goose season, which will open on Nov. 7, two weeks later than last year, and close on March 10, 2027.

This fall, regulatory officials will determine the option for the 2027 light goose conservation order, one that will be published on the agency’s website when a final decision is made.

For more information, visit the Wildlife Commission’s Regulations webpage.

A bipartisan group of legislators has filed a bill that would authorize the North Carolina Department of Transportation’s Division of Motor Vehicles to begin issuing special vehicle registration plates with the proceeds benefiting efforts to conserve and protect the eastern red wolf population in the northeast part of the state.

Rep. Cynthia Ball, D-Wake; Rep. Stephen M. Ross, R- Alamance; Rep. Vernetta Alston, D-Durham are the primary sponsors of the measure, House Bill 1157, which was introduced Thursday. Rep. Robert T. Reives II, D- Chatham and Randolph, and Rep. Tim Longest, D-Wake, signed on as cosponsors.

The measure notes that “North Carolina holds a unique place in the history and future of red wolf conservation,” and that preserving native wildlife is important to the natural heritage, environmental health, educational mission, and cultural identity.

Offering a red wolf special registration plate would allow state residents “to demonstrate support for the preservation of this iconic native species.”

Naturally, North Carolina State University, its College of Veterinary Medicine, and Wolfpack faculty, staff and alums would have a hand in getting the word out. The university, “as a leading public institution with the Wolfpack identity and a broad statewide alumni and supporter network, is well positioned to help promote awareness of the Red Wolf special registration plate and its conservation purpose,” according to the bill language.

The tags are to be like other special license tags that lack “First in Flight,” “First in Freedom” or other state mottos and would, in this case, instead bear the words, “Red Wolf” and an image of a red wolf. The additional fee for the special red wolf tag would be $30.

Sale of the special tags would provide a recurring source of support for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s red wolf conservation, management, research, monitoring, and habitat preservation and restoration.

The DMV may not issue the special plate if it doesn’t receive the minimum required number of applications, which is 300 for a special registration plate on a standard background and 500 for a special registration plate on a special background.

The measure would provide $15,000, nonrecurring, for fiscal 2026-27 to design the plate as well as to cover the programming, setup, production preparation, and associated administrative costs for initial implementation.

It would also appropriate $50,000 to the university in nonrecurring funds to support the initial promotion and public awareness campaigns.

It’s in the state’s interest, according to the bill language, “to provide one-time funds to support the initial design, development, and issuance of the plate so that the plate may be made available without unnecessary delay …”

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

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

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

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

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

As tree pollen continues to dust outside surfaces and flowers take bloom this spring, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding residents to take precautions as native black bears become more active now through the fall.

The commission, in partnership with BearWise, encourages residents to look for potential bear attractants around their homes and in their communities.

“By being proactive in removing these attractants now, residents can avoid future interactions with black bears,” Wildlife Resource Commission BearWise Coordinator Ashley Hobbs stated in a release. “The majority of calls about bears to our NC Wildlife Helpline involve some form of unsecured food attractant. When bears have access to food attractants, they’re more likely to hang around our homes and communities. This puts people, pets and bears at risk.”

BearWise, an association of fish and wildlife agencies, provides a checklist of potential bear attractants around homes and in communities, including garbage and recycling, bird and other wildlife feeders, grills, pet food, and snacks and trash inside vehicles.

Residents are also encouraged to leash up pets and secure small livestock, including chickens, and their feed, during the spring.

“Dogs and bears don’t mix,” Hobbs said. “They often act defensively toward each other. Never allow your dog to harass, chase or corner a bear. Always keep your dog on a non-retractable leash. Leashes really do save lives and prevent injuries.”

Livestock owners, especially those with smaller animals, should consider bringing them inside a bear-resistant building at night, and install electric fencing around coops and pastures to keep bears away.

BearWise offers guidance on ways to ensure all feed and grain is locked up and out of reach of bears.

North Carolina’s black bear population stretches across the state, from the mountains to the sea.

The Wildlife Resources Commission offers assistance from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday through its wildlife helpline at 866-318-2401.

And, we’re live!

With the expected hatch date just around the corner, the public now has 24-hour access to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s live cam, with audio, for Barn Owlet Watch 2026.

Watch all the action inside a nest box that’s housing six barn owl eggs for a chance to welcome hatchlings into the world sometime April 8-15.

“The Barn Owl Live Cam is our newest conservation adventure,” Wildlife Resources Commission Education Development and Evaluation Supervisor Sydney Brown stated in a release. “What began as a dream quickly grew, thanks to our incredible internal partners, into a 24/7 window into the secret life of barn owls for North Carolinians who may never see these birds in their own backyards.”

The nesting pair closely guarding their eggs are believed to have previously used the nest box the agency installed in western North Carolina in 2011.

After the pair returned to the nest last December, the female laid the first of her six eggs March 11.

Commission Conservation Biologist Joe Tomcho estimates the first egg will hatch April 12, based on a normal 32-day incubation period, according to the release.

“Usually once the first egg hatches, the others start hatching at about an every-other-day timeframe,” Tomcho said. “Barn owls typically lay around four to five eggs. Six eggs is an indication these are an experienced pair. It’s a really exciting experience to watch them hatch, but then to also watch them hop around in the nest as they prepare for life outside the nest.”

The nest box has been used by barn owls six times in the past 16 years, possibly by the same nesting pair, according to the WRC.

Man-made nesting boxes allow biologist to study nesting behavior, chick development and the species’ seasonal patterns.

In some regions of the state, the barn owl population has declined as a result of habitat loss and some agricultural practices. Barn owls are in the the commission’s Wildlife Action Plan, a comprehensive planning tool the agency developed to help conserve and enhance the state’s full array of fish and wildlife species and their habitats.

Solar-powered live cameras were installed at the nest box in August of last year “and, so far, have operated steadily since December with minimal interruptions,” the release states.

This is the commission’s first live camera experience, but officials hope to offer more in the future.

“We’re excited to keep expanding this project with fun educational content, conservation updates and plenty of owl magic,” Brown said in the release. “And we assure the public that owls are completely wild. We do not intervene or interfere with their natural behaviors or nesting process.”

Contact the commission’s wild observer program for more information about barn owls and nest boxes.

Additional information about barn owls is available on the agency’s website.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In an effort to restore and maintain wildlife habitat, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission conducts prescribed burns across tens of thousands of acres of state game lands each year.

To find out whether smoke you’re seeing on state game lands is from a prescribed burn, check out the commission’s prescribed burns dashboard mapping system.

To help support wildlife on most of the 2 million acres of state game lands used by hunters, anglers and wildlife watchers throughout the state, the agency sets about 200 to 300 prescribed burns across 20,000 to 30,000 acres ever year.

“Most of the prescribed burning on game lands occurs between January and March because the cool, humid air with minimal wind provides conditions for low intensity fires,” Commission Forestry Program Leader Casey Phillips stated in a release. “However, we will still conduct burns well into spring and summer, because growing season fires provides for better control of young hardwoods in certain habitats.”

Prescribed fires are more cost efficient than mowing and spraying because they reduce the use of hazardous fuels, such as leaf litter and pine straw, and improve biodiversity at a significantly larger scale than chemical or mechanical methods alone, according to the agency.

Maintenance burns are typically conducted in multi-year cycles to open groundcover for quail, grassland birds, deer and turkeys. Prescribed fires are also crucial for many of the state’s habitat-sensitive or rare species, including red-cockaded woodpeckers and Venus flytraps, which are adapted to fire or found only in fire-dependent habitat.

“Fire is a natural occurrence that native wildlife has adapted to,” Phillips stated. “We also use burning techniques intended to give animals time and room to escape. After an area is burned, we typically see new vegetation within a few weeks, which means the animals won’t be far behind.”

For additional information, view No Cause for Alarm and visit Prescribed Fire: What NC Citizens Need to Know.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking volunteers for its annual spring count of diamondback terrapins.

The 2026 Terrapin Tally occurs in areas of the state’s southern coast, where the small, aquatic turtles call marshes, estuaries and tidal creeks home.

Diamondback terrapins are listed as a species of special concern in North Carolina and federally as a species of greatest conservation need.

“Diamondback terrapins are a keystone species, critical to the health of the saltmarsh ecosystem,” Sarah Finn, a Wildlife Resources Commission biologist said in a release. “Studying their populations is difficult due to their habitat characteristics and North Carolina’s expansive estuarine systems. Understanding the population status and trends of terrapins in North Carolina is important to the long-term management of this species, and we can work toward this goal with the help of volunteer community scientists.”

Volunteers must supply their own kayaks, mobile phones and take part in a mandatory training session. There will be two training sessions, the first of which is scheduled for 10 a.m. – noon on April 11 at Carolina Beach State Park visitor center. Another training session has been set for 10 a.m. – noon on April 18 at Hammocks Beach State Park visitor center.

Registration is required.

“It’s a wonderful way to get out to explore and learn about our local waterways, while also contributing to a long-term citizen science project,” Amy Long, who will be volunteering in the tally for an 11th year, said in the release. “Really, who doesn’t want to spot adorable terrapins?!? It’s like an easter egg hunt, and when you have friends doing other days or trails, it’s fun to see who had better luck out on the water.”

The Terrapin tally is headed by the Wildlife Resources Commission and supported by partner organizations including the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, N.C. State Parks, Bald Head Island Conservancy, N.C. Audubon, N.C. Aquarium and National Park Service.

Data collected in the tallies has contributed to fisheries management to protect terrapins from drowning in blue-crab pots, according to the Wildlife Resources Commission.

Additional information is available at 2026 Terrapin Tally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nominations are being accepted through March 30 for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee.

The committee advises the state Wildlife Resources Commission on nongame wildlife conservation matters and opportunities for North Carolina’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.

Its members also provide guidance on changes to the North Carolina protected species list, developing conservation plans for endangered, threatened and special concern species, and sharing conservation actions among partners to achieve common goals.

Members are state residents and stakeholders with scientific, academic, habitat and partnership expertise.

“This advisory committee provides valuable stakeholder insight to the NCWRC, expands our scientific awareness and helps grow our partnerships that support and protect North Carolina’s at-risk species and habitats,” Shannon Deaton, chief of NCWRC’s Habitat Conservation Division, said in a release. “The valuable role of an NWAC member is to foster a dialogue among N.C. stakeholders specifically targeted on the conservation of at-risk species, as well as implementation of the North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan.”

The Wildlife Resources Commission’s board appoints advisory committee members based on credentials, expertise, affiliation and constituency at large.

Nominees for expert affiliate seats have to have extensive biological, regional, academic, scientific research and/or habitat expertise and experience in dealing with nongame wildlife conservation in the state.

At-large seats are held by professionals from representative organizations such as federal or state natural resource agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, universities, land trusts serving North Carolina, industries that operate in and/or manage landscapes and associated wildlife, or other organizations that provide a stakeholder voice in wildlife resources conservatoin.

Advisory members are asked to remain active participants throughout their terms.

The committee meets four times a year, usually at the Wildlife Resources Commission’s headquarters in Raleigh.

Nominations, including self-nominations, may be submitted on the online form and include information regarding affiliation and expertise, a cover letter and résumé if available.

The commission prefers electronic submissions, but will accept hard copies mailed to the Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee, Attn: Shauna Glover, Wildlife Management Division, MSC 1721, Raleigh, NC 27699-1700.

For additional information about the committee or the nomination process, contact Shauna Glover at 919-707-0064.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting public comments on the 2026-27 migratory game bird hunting seasons for waterfowl, webless migratory species and extended falconry.

Comments may be submitted through the WRC’s online comment portal through 5 p.m. March 4.

The commission may choose hunting season dates within guidelines established by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service each year.

The season frameworks for waterfowl and webless migratory species, extended falconry guidelines and Canada goose and duck hunting zones are available on the commission’s comment portal.

Submitted comments will be considered along with staff-recommended season dates and bag limits before the final season dates are approved. Wildlife Resources commissioners are expected to set the dates during their April 16 business meeting.

Season dates being considered include compensatory days, or those allowed for states that do not allow migratory bird hunting on Sunday, for waterfowl and webless migratory species.

In other business, the the commission continues to track highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, in birds across North Carolina. New cases of this illness occur because of the large numbers of migratory waterfowl that congregate throughout the winter in the state, particularly in the Outer Banks, according to an agency release.

So far, suspected or confirmed cases of the bird flu have been reported in 25 of the state’s 100 counties during the 2025-26 sampling season. But the number of cases in wild birds are down compared to this time last year.

“Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza will continue to circulate through our bird populations, however, more birds are developing antibodies against the virus which creates a ‘herd immunity’ which means we will likely see fewer impacts to bird populations from the flu,” Miranda Turner, a Wildlife Resources Commission wildlife health biologist, stated in a release.

Birds most likely to be found with avian influenza include waterfowl, raptors and shorebirds. Cases can also occur in songbirds and wild mammal species.

To help prevent the spread, remove food sources that encourage birds to congregate in one location.

To report dead wild animals, especially five or more dead birds in one area within a week, contact the N.C. Wildlife Helpline at 866-318-2401 between 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Mon.-Fri. or anytime by email at HWI@ncwildlife.gov.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thinking about what to do with that state tax return you’re expecting this year?

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has a suggestion for you.

Anyone filing a 2025 North Carolina state tax return may donate all or a portion of their refund to the N.C. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund, which supports research and conservation management project’s for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.

“Funds donated using the tax-checkoff program amplify those provided by a federal grant for species of greatest conservation need, including listed species in North Carolina,” Dr. Sara Schweitzer, assistant chief of NCWRC’s Wildlife Management Division, stated in a release. “A $100 donation is matched by $186 of grant funding—truly boosting wildlife conservation in North Carolina. Our dedicated and passionate biologists, agency partners and volunteers work tirelessly to ensure wildlife and their habitats will persist into the future for North Carolinians to enjoy. In western North Carolina especially, donations will help us address the immense impacts of Hurricane Helene on species such as the Eastern hellbender, bog turtle, gray bat, Carolina Northern flying squirrel and several high-elevation migratory birds.”

Funds support surveys and monitoring of rare species, including bog turtle, Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander, eastern hellbender, river frog, diamondback terrapin and northern gray treefrog.

Information collected on these species is used to target habitat restoration projects, including those especially needed in areas in the west affected by Hurricane Helene and areas impacted by drought in the state’s sandhills.

To participate, simply check Line 30 on your North Carolina state income tax form, or, if filing through an online tax preparation software, enter the contribution amount when prompted to N.C. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.”

Anyone that does not expect a state tax refund who would like to donate to the fund may make a direct donation online.

Additional information on projects supported by the tax check-off program may be found the Wildlife Resource Commission Wildlife Diversity Program’s quarterly reports.

The North Carolina Coastal Land Trust has transferred the Pasquotank River Preserve in Camden County to the state for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to manage.

The 303.5-acre property lies along 1.7 miles of the Pasquotank River, a blackwater system within the Pasquotank River basin, and part of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuarine System. The preserve neighbors the commission’s North River Land Game.

Turning the 300-plus acres over to the commission will facilitate long-term coordinated conservation management of both properties, the Coastal Land Trust said.

“We’re proud to see the Pasquotank River Preserve become part of North Carolina’s public conservation lands,” Coastal Land Trust Executive Director Harrison Marks said in a statement. “This transfer ensures lasting protection for vital wetlands, wildlife habitat, and water quality in the Pasquotank River basin.” 

The nonprofit purchased the property in March 2008 with funding provided by what is now called the North Carolina Land and Water Fund.

“The Pasquotank River Preserve lies within a North Carolina State Ecosystem Enhancement Program’s Targeted Local Watershed and is considered to be a wetland of exceptional significance by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management,” the press release states. “The Preserve is also located adjacent to the Whitehall Shores Hardwood Forest State Significant Natural Heritage Area and southeast of the Shipyard Landing Natural Area, also a State Significant Natural Heritage Area.”

The nonprofit organization said that it has focused on conserving fish and wildlife as well as protecting the property’s extensive forested riparian buffer and bottomland hardwood forest from commercial logging and major soil-disturbing activities.

“This property protects important wildlife habitat beneficial to game species and for species of concern like the prothonotary and black-throated green warblers, and provides an opportunity to the public for hunting, fishing, and other wildlife-associated recreation,” Commission’s Land Acquisition Specialist Crystal Cockman said in a release. “Thanks also to the NC Clean Water Management Trust Fund which helped provide funds for North Carolina Coastal Land Trust to acquire the tract originally. This is a great addition to our game land program.” 

Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday in observation of the Thanksgiving holiday.

A white-tailed deer harvested in a northeastern North Carolina county popular for deer hunting has preliminarily tested positive for chronic wasting disease.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission on Tuesday reported the first presumptive detection of the disease in Edgecombe County on a 31/2-year-old male harvested by a hunter a few miles from the Pitt-Martin County line, according to a release.

The National Veterinary Services Laboratory is testing the sample to verify initial results. If that testing affirms those results, this would be the state’s 35th confirmed case of chronic wasting disease, or CWD, since 2022.

“We are certainly not happy to learn that we may have a new CWD infected area in the northeastern part of the state,” Wildlife Commission Game & Furbearer Program Assistant Chief Chris Kreh said in a release. “However, this is what our surveillance plan is designed to do — find areas where CWD is occurring as early as possible, so we can minimize its impact.”

Chronic wasting disease is a transmissible disease that afflicts deer, elk and moose and is always fatal. The disease spreads through infected body fluids, typically saliva, urine and feces, and the movement of infected carcasses and carcass parts.

During the early stages of infection, deer may appear healthy, so Wildlife officials urge hunters to take precautions when transporting or disposing of deer carcasses in an effort to minimize the spread of new infections of the disease.

Hunters in Edgecombe and surrounding counties are advised to keep whole deer carcasses and high-risk carcass parts in the county in which they harvested, or take them to a processor or taxidermist participating in the commission’s Cervid Health Cooperator Program for carcass disposal and test submission.

Hunters who kill game infected with CWD are advised not to eat the meat. To date, there has not been a reported case of CWD infection in humans.

Wildlife officials are asking hunters to submit deer harvested in Edgecombe and surrounding counties for testing. Hunters may use an interactive map for information on testing drop-off locations throughout the state.

Portions of carcasses that are not edible and not taken to a Cervid Health Cooperator should, when possible, be buried in the area the animal was harvested, double-bagged and disposed of in a landfill, or left on the ground where the animal was harvested.

Boned-out meat, caped hides, antlers and cleaned skulls, cleaned jawbones and teeth, and finished taxidermy products are safe to transport outside of Edgecombe County.

“We will continue, and potentially increase, our surveillance in this area and hopefully in a few years we’ll have a good understanding of how many deer are infected and how big the infected area is,” Kreh said.

The commission has collected and tested samples from nearly 3,000 deer for CWD in Edgecombe and surrounding counties during the past four years.

The closest confirmed case of CWD from this new suspected site is a little more than 90 miles away in Cumberland County.

Wildlife Resources Commission Management Division Chief Brad Howard said in a release that he did not expect this season’s hunting regulations or surveillance areas to change, regardless of the second test results. Any potential changes in Edgecombe and surrounding counties would be made during the 2026-27 deer hunting season.

“A mid-season regulation change would be very confusing,” Howard stated. “I’m confident our hunters can absorb this new information and help us take steps to increase our surveillance and awareness to the area.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

EAST LAKE — Red wolf populations in northeastern North Carolina are still far from recovered, but there are optimistic signs that the highly endangered species now has a solid chance.

More wolves are breeding, more pups are surviving, coyote hybridization has been cut, and there are fewer mortalities from vehicle strikes and gunshots.

While still modest, those successes reflect increased community engagement and renewed commitment from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and its numerous partners.

“It’s kind of a small crew, but we’re really dedicated to what we’re doing here,” wildlife biologist Joe Madison, North Carolina program manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, said during a virtual meeting held Sept. 23 to provide updates on the program. “We want to make this work. We want to work with landowners to make this work. We don’t want to impose it.”

Madison said that only about half of the red wolves roam within Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge land. The population, as of August, according to Fish and Wildlife data, totals about 30 red wolves, including 18 collared adults as well as uncollared juvenile wolves and a few other adults. This population roams the designated recovery area, 1.7 million acres of public and private land in Hyde, Dare, Tyrrell, Washington and Beaufort counties. Red wolves have been seen in all five counties

It is the only known wild population in the world.

Red wolves had once ranged over wide swaths of the U.S. mainland, including much of the Gulf Coast and Southeast regions, but after years of overhunting and habitat loss, the animals were declared extinct in the wild and added to the Endangered Species List in 1967. Twenty years later, four pairs of captive wolves, offspring of wild stragglers captured earlier in Louisiana, were transferred to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, headquartered in Dare County. Innovative management tactics led to steady population growth, reaching a height of about 120 red wolves by 2007.

In 2020, there were only about seven collared wolves.

But poor communication with landowners led to angry confrontations over wolves coming onto private lands, while coyote hunting regulations led to mistaken identities.  Political support and funding for the recovery program dropped precipitously, and more wolves were being shot, whether intentionally or by mistake. By 2015, proposals were introduced to drastically reduce or potentially eliminate the program. After a series of lawsuits by environmental groups, the recovery program was eventually restored.

As Red Wolf Recovery Program Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Emily Weller has acknowledged, the agency had to change the way it operated.

“Reintroducing a large carnivore into the wild had never been done before, and the focus of this program in the beginning was almost entirely biological,” Weller said, according to minutes of a management update meeting in September 2024. “But the social aspects, the community engagement, and human dimension — those were the cracks in our program’s foundation.”

Now the concept of “collaborative conservation” is viewed as critical to the survival of the red wolf, she said recently. 

“We cannot recover this species on our own,” Weller said during this week’s virtual update. “Our work depends on a pretty complex network of organizations, agencies, communities and individuals.”

That network includes veterinarian care at North Carolina State University and local veterinarians, staff with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, and assistance from numerous nonprofit and nongovernment groups.

“The science tells us what’s possible,” Weller said. “But it’s the relationships, the trust, the collaboration, that really determine what’s achievable.”

The Fish and Wildlife Service also now works with “Prey for the Pack,” a habitat-improvement program that engages with private landowners in eastern North Carolina wolf recovery areas in mutually beneficial habitat programming.

The Red Wolf Recovery Program also works closely with 52 zoo and wildlife centers across the country as part of the Saving Animals From Extinction, or SAFE, program, an initiative of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which currently cares for 280 captive red wolves. Part of the program’s goal is to increase the SAFE population to 400.

“They are a critical piece of this program in that they support the establishment of wild populations in maintaining genetic diversity,” Weller said.

Much care goes into choosing captive wolves to transfer to the recovery program in hopes of future pairing, as well as deciding which pups to place into dens with similarly aged pups for wild mothers to adopt, Weller noted.

“We rely on universities and academia for research and data to guide and base our decisions, and we’re using it constantly to adapt our management,” she said. “And then we need close coordination and communication with local landowners and community members to understand and incorporate their concerns and hopes for their community, as they have the most direct bearing on conservation and recovery, since they are the ones that live with the red wolves.”

Weller said that, other than a period of time when spending was frozen or restricted, the current funding for the Red Wolf Recovery Program had not been reduced.

Ultimately, she said, success will be when red wolves can be delisted — when they don’t need human help to survive — which is expected to take about 50 years, if all goes as planned.

Criteria that meets that goal include measurable thresholds: three viable populations, distributed to maximize redundancy and protect from catastrophic loss; one population of at least 180 and two with a minimum of 280 wolves, each with high gene diversity. Populations must be stable or growing for a decade with minimal human help and have a 95% probability of persisting for 100 years.

And finally, there must be long-term commitment that the sustainable populations can be maintained into the foreseeable future without Endangered Species Act protections.

“Red wolf recovery is about far more than just saving the species,” Weller added. “It’s about restoring ecosystems or landscapes to their natural balanced state and creating healthier environments that benefit plants and wildlife, including game species, and people.”

Every December, the red wolf program issues a release strategy for the coming year, that sets out a plan of how many captive wolves to release into the wild population that will best enable genetic diversity and sustainable growth. Changing conditions will be considered in any necessary revisions.

“It is also important to recognize that the ability to execute many of the releases is highly dependent on numerous on-the-ground factors,” according to the 2024-25 plan. “These factors include, but are not limited to, the ability to successfully capture specific wild Red Wolves, the correct timing of birth, and size of wild ad captive litters, to allow for pup fostering, and the survival of individual wild Red Wolves included in the scenarios.

“Given the myriad of factors that influence the different scenarios, the Service’s actions described in this strategy require real-time flexibility and the ability to adapt to changing factors on the ground and situations; thus, they require management discretion in the field to maximize the chances of success.”

Madison said that the team depends on having that flexibility to make judgment calls and adjust management tactics. During the update meeting, he elaborated on numerous and highly complex strategies that go into pup fostering, proper wolf-human interactions and handling — as little as possible — and wolf feeding – frozen, wild, small mammals like rabbits, raccoons, nutria and fresh frozen roadkill, like deer — and matchmaking (wolves are picky and fickle, too).

But Madison seemed quite pleased with the improvements in pup population survival, an obviously critical component of species recovery.

The pup survival rate to one year is typically about 50%, he said, but after two complete litters didn’t make it in recent years,  the recovery team determined that the likely cause was canine distemper.

“So this year when these pups were in an acclimation pen, and they were five weeks old, we went in the pen, recaptured them, and we gave them their first round of vaccines,” Madison explained. “Also, we implanted them with abdominal transmitters so we would be able to track them after they were released.”

So far, so good, he said. A family group that was released into the wild in May seems to be thriving.

“We may go into the season with a great plan, but then, you know, stuff happens out there,” Madison said. “And we have to adjust and make do with the best we possibly can.”

The North Carolina Sea Turtle Project kept careful watch over incubating nests threatened by the ocean overwash, storm surge and erosion associated with mid-August’s Hurricane Erin.

Under the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, the N.C. Sea Turtle Project is a coastwide, collaborative conservation effort that brings together federal, state, conservation and volunteer groups to monitor sea turtle activity, particularly during nesting and hatching season from early May to mid-November.

The commission’s sea turtle biologist Matthew Godfrey, who manages the project, explained to Coastal Review that about half of all sea turtle nests laid in the state had finished incubation before Hurricane Erin impacts began to arrive. Of the nests that were still incubating, nearly all experienced at least some overwash because of large waves and wind associated with the hurricane.

Coastal flooding and other signs of the storm moving north off the coast began around Aug. 19 and lasted throughout the week as the storm moved north.

“Several beaches reported observing entire nests being washed away, and others reported today (Aug. 26) that some remaining nests experienced the emergence of hatchlings overnight,” illustrating that some sea turtle eggs can withstand storm-related inundation and still produce hatchlings, Godfrey said.

Loggerhead, green, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback and hawksbill sea turtles all come ashore to lay eggs. The females return to the beach every few weeks to nest, up to four times a season. It usually takes about 55 days for the eggs to hatch. Nests can be excavated after a minimum of three days after the first hatchling emerges, or when the commission grants permission, if the nest is unsuccessful.

“We won’t have a full account of how many nests were lost or negatively impacted until the end of the season, but based on experience from other years, it is likely that those lost to Erin will include nests that had been moved from more exposed areas to seemingly safer areas of the beach,” he said.

Godfrey explained that sea turtles have been around for millennia, surviving despite impacts from storms and hurricanes on their nests.

“Part of the life history strategy of sea turtles is to lay large clutches of eggs in nests on sandy beaches across different locations and times of the summer to spread out the risks associated with egg incubation in a dynamic environment, such as coastal areas,” he said. “While storms like Hurricane Erin may reduce the production of hatchlings from some specific nests, the overall rate of hatchling production from NC nests should remain relatively good this year.”

Through the Sea Turtle Project, the Wildlife Resources Commission permits more than 20 different groups that help monitor sea turtle nesting and strandings on North Carolina beaches.

Outer Banks

Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T., President Tony Parisi said that there have been 29 nests this season from their patrol area, the Virginia line to south Nags Head. There were 18 nests as of Aug. 20, before the state began seeing significant effects from Hurricane Erin.

“There isn’t a lot we can do to protect nests in situations like this,” Parisi explained. “Before Erin struck, our main preparation for the storm was removing stakes and signs, and making provisions to find the nest if everything gets washed away or covered.”

One nest in Corolla was partially washed out, and a few others had significant sand accumulation, including one in Corolla and another in Southern Shores, Parisi said, adding that the organization won’t know how many nests or hatchlings survived until the nests are excavated. 

“The survival rate is dependent on several factors, primarily how much a nest was over washed and how long it remained underwater,” she said. “In some cases, we may have to wait 75 days after a nest is laid before we can excavate,” or 90 days for nests laid after July 31.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore Public Affairs Specialist Mike Barber said the staff during post-storm assessments found that out of 109 nests that were in the ground prior to Hurricane Erin, 35 were lost due to storm impacts and 72 nests were overwashed, which may increase losses attributed to the storm.

Central Coast

At Cape Lookout National Seashore, Hurricane Erin washed out 49 sea turtle nests, but 69 nests remained on the seashore’s beaches as of Aug. 27. There have been 225 sea turtle nests so far this year at the National Park Service site in Carteret County.

Chief of Resource Management Jon Altman said that before the storm, staff excavated and inventoried the hatched nests to collect the data before those nests were washed out.

“Since we lose a few days of monitoring, we know we will lose some information,” he said.

That information can include knowing when nests hatch during a storm and survive, or when new nests are laid on the beach and track evidence is obscured by strong winds.

“Without direct observation evidence those events are unknown,” he said.

After the storm, staff assessed the beach and documented nests that were washed out, buried under sand or overwashed, and how many remained on the beaches. The nests in or on the dunes, where there’s higher ground, generally fared better.

“The sea turtle nesting season extends into September, and we have had three new nests since Hurricane Erin passed by,” Altman said last week.

For Fort Macon State Park, five of the six nests at the site hatched before the storm, Superintendent Randy Newman said.

There’s one nest still on the beach, which was overwashed several times during the storm with about a foot of sand being deposited on top of the nest. “We have removed the sand back to pre-storm levels over the nest. Now we wait a couple of weeks to see if the nest will hatch or not,” he said.

Atlantic Beach Sea Turtle Project Volunteer Coordinator Michele Lamping told Coastal Review that fortunately, the sea turtles had already hatched and entered the ocean before the storm. Lamping, who is the sea turtle specialist for the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Knoll Shores, said the ocean reached the dunes in several places and would have drowned the nests had they not already emerged and entered the sea.

Farther south on Bogue Banks, Emerald Isle Sea Turtle Patrol Program Coordinator and President Dale Baquer said that this year’s sea turtle season got off to a great start with 23 nests, which is better than average.

There were 13 successful hatches, with an 85% total hatch rate, leading up to the storm.

“We knew Hurricane Erin would bring high tides. We had planned to remove all extra equipment off the beach, and pound our stakes in Monday night ahead of the storm. We were inundated with higher tides sooner than expected,” Baquer said, so volunteers rushed out the afternoon of Aug. 18 to shore up the nests after receiving calls about the nests being under water.

Baqur said there were 10 nests before the storm, one of which hatched overnight during the storm, and one was completely washed out — the turtles and eggs were swept out by waves.

The volunteers are waiting until the remaining eight nests “either hatch or approach day 75 of the incubation cycle, when we are permitted to excavate,” he continued. “The nests took on some heavy waves but sometimes nature can be amazing.”

Hammocks Beach State Park Ranger Renee Evans said that there were nine nests, six of which successfully hatched before Hurricane Erin on the beach at the park near Swansboro.

The remaining nests experienced significant over wash, and one nest is completely gone. Another nest saw some overwash, and per the commission’s program protocol, the nest will be excavated after 75 days, when they’ll be able to determine the final outcome of that nest. 

“However, our third nest survived all odds,” Evans said. On Monday, Aug. 25, “I discovered that the nest hatched at some point during the storm last week. Park staff excavated the nest and found 155 eggs in which 80 of them had hatched. There were even 37 live hatchlings still in the nest and ready for that swim. Park staff released them to the ocean.”

Cape Fear Region

Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center Deputy and Conservation Director Terry Meyer said that for the region they patrol, “fortunately, we had about half our 90 nests hatch prior to the high tides.”

The Topsail Island-based organization lost fewer than 10 nests outright, Meyer said, and how the nests were lost depended on where they were on the island’s more than 20 miles of beach.

In some cases, markers indicating where the nest’s location were washed out and no eggs were found after the storm. The beach gained sand as well. Some eggs were under 2 feet of sand, and had several tides of standing water, “so we wait and see what happens there,” Meyer said. About a dozen nests were high and remained dry, and were expected to hatch as normal.

Audubon North Carolina Coastal Biologist Lindsay Addison said the conservation organization monitors Lea-Hutaff Island, a 4-mile-long undeveloped barrier island between Figure 8 Island and Topsail Island.

“This year, we have 23 nests and three probable nests,” which refers to egg chambers that were not confirmed when the crawl was found, Addison said.

“When Erin passed offshore, 15 of those 26 total nests were still incubating. Nine of them experienced overwash. We are continuing to monitor all nests on the island and will know over time if the eggs in the overwashed nests survived or failed,” Addison said. “After the storm has passed, we record the condition of the nests and may, depending on the circumstances of each nest, remove any additional sand that has accumulated over the top of the nests.”

There were 40 documented sea turtle nests, all loggerheads, at the Masonboro Island Reserve. The reserve is one of 10 protected sites under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management.

Southern Sites Manager Elizabeth Pinnix said last week that when the effects of Hurricane Erin began on Aug. 19, almost half of the nests, or 17 of the 40, had already hatched.

Hurricane Erin produced large surf and wave runup on most of the 8.5-mile stretch of Masonboro Island with some of the more low-lying and dune-lacking areas experiencing wave overwash from the ocean to the marsh.

The reserve lost two nests as a result. Nearly half of those remaining experienced some overwash.

As of last week, the reserve had 19 nests still incubating on the beach. “Fortunately, most of our remaining nests were situated on dunes or higher portions of the beach where they experienced overwash, but were not completely washed out and lost. Many nests can experience a small amount of overwash events and remain viable, as long as they don’t remain in standing water or become exposed for a long period of time,” she said.

Bald Head Island Conservancy Sea Turtle Biologist Paul Hillbrand explained that during the storm, both daily high tides were consistently reaching the dune toe in most areas of the island. The team assessed how much water was on the beach during high tides and how much sand was accumulating or being displaced.

“Once Erin passed, we still had significant tides into the weekend. We started recovery Sunday and Monday when we replaced runways and dug out cages (nests) that had accumulated more than a foot of sand,” he said.

Of the 22 remaining nests at the time, all but one was either significantly washed over or consistently in the surf line in the hours surrounding the high tides.

“We were fortunate to not have any nests completely washed out, but significant overwash is not ideal. That being said, we are hopeful that some of the resilient nests are capable of withstanding this tide event,” Hillbrand continued. “We have had two nests hatch since Erin passed, providing hope for my team, volunteers, & the island alike.”

Caswell Beach Turtle Watch Co-Coordinator Jamie Lloyd began by explaining that the beach there struggled with severe erosion in the last year, especially on the east end near the mouth of the Cape Fear River, which “greatly impacted our nesting turtles as there was no beach to lay in some areas. We had a high number of false crawls. Add to that king tides and Hurricane Erin swells and we had tidal trouble for the nests that were laid.”

Lloyd said they “painfully watched” as the tidal swells from the storm overwashed nine of the 10 remaining nests for three or four days, twice a day. Some were splashed over repeatedly and a few were under standing water for hours.

“Fortunately, none of our nests or nest stakes were washed away, but some had up to a foot of sand accretion,” she said.

One nest has hatched since the storm, which Lloyd said they inventoried three days later. The nest was a large clutch of 140 eggs, with 94 developed.

“We have teams monitoring the other nine nests daily and nightly for activity. Nests that do not hatch by Day 75 of incubation will be excavated and closed with permission” from Wildlife Resources Commission, she said.

Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization Coordinator Deb Allen said the organization as of Wednesday had verified 40 nests on the island, and 17 nests emerged on or before Aug. 10. 

“The surge from Hurricane Erin overwashed or submerged nests with ocean water,” which Allen said put the incubating nests in danger of partial or total loss of the nest, but four nests did emerge as the surge from Erin came close to the nests.

“Teams were able to inventory the nests, getting 424 hatchlings to their ocean home prior to nests being underwater. A visitor reported 20 hatchlings were emerging from nest 25. The team arrived as the egg chamber began to fill with water. The team was able to save 116 hatchlings from drowning,” Allen said. “We think we lost 18 nests but are hoping for a better outcome.”

EAST LAKE — In the sadder, more gruesome labor of wildlife conservation, a new count of dead wildlife on the asphalt of two strips of highway within Alligator River Wildlife Refuge continues to reflect the merciless decimation of living creatures by vehicular traffic.

A new report, “US 64 Roadkill Monitoring Survey Year One Interim Report,” released Aug. 13 by the nonprofit Wildlands Network, counted more than 5,000 vertebrates representing 144 species, as well as 1,050 snakes, 1,186 turtles, and 1,529 frogs dead alongside the highway or flattened on the pavement. The first year of the two-year study covered Aug. 1, 2024, to July 31, 2025.

“It’s pretty remarkable carnage, and we’re sure that’s an underestimate, because some things get removed by vultures,” Ron Sutherland, the conservation group’s chief scientist, told Coastal Review.

The updated information will be valuable to planning for proposed wildlife crossings under sections of U.S. Highway 64 and nearby U.S. 264, a need highlighted over the years by numerous vehicle strikes of critically endangered red wolves. Huge bear and deer that run into the road are also increasing hazards to human life, especially at night. 

Although the red wolf had once roamed much of the Southeast, the only wild population of about 30 red wolves, including about a dozen pups, is currently managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes refuges within a five-county recovery area in northeastern North Carolina, a good portion of which is intersected by the two highways. 

“One happy surprise is we didn’t see any red wolves,” Sutherland told Coastal Review. “One of the reasons we set out to do the project, one of our goals, was to keep the road clean of roadkill.”

Vehicle strikes, in addition to gunshots, have threatened recovery of the species.  Wolves have been known to be drawn to the highway to eat the dead animals, and tragically suffer the same fate as their would-be meal.

“Research is an important step in the construction of wildlife crossing structures,” the report states. “In order to be cost effective, it is imperative to know where hotspots of wildlife road-crossing activity occur so the sites can be chosen that are most effective both in mitigating wildlife road collisions and maintaining habitat connectivity.”

The study route was chosen to inform planning efforts by North Carolina Department of Transportation, Fish and Wildlife, and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission to develop proposals for wildlife crossings and fencing installations on U.S. 64, the report stated, “with the immediate goal” of reducing wolf strikes.

“We also realized that providing more recent roadkill data would be essential as a fresh baseline for evaluating any future wildlife crossings that were installed on the highway,” according to the report.

Earlier roadkill surveys along U.S. 64 were completed between 2008 and 2011 as part of the North Carolina Department of Transportation planning for a proposed 27.3-mile-long widening and bridge replacement project. The road-widening plans, which had included numerous wildlife crossings, have since been dropped, but construction of a replacement bridge connecting Dare and Tyrrell counties over Alligator River is underway. Construction plans include wildlife crossings and under-road tie-ins at both ends of the bridge.

Sutherland said that the survey team chose to drive at a less pokey pace, about 35 mph or so, and skipped weekend surveying, due to the increased amount of traffic now on the highway. Wildlife officers were informed about large carcasses such as bear so they could be promptly removed, and smaller creatures were scooped up and tossed into the woods. Not pleasant, but unfortunately dead animals along the road are not unusual.

“Overall, you know, I’ve had a lot of years of experience working down there and seeing the wildlife before we started the survey,” Sutherland said. 

While he wasn’t shocked by the continued high numbers of roadkill, he said he didn’t expect to see so many birds. In one period of time, after a rare snowstorm, the technicians found hundreds of deceased yellow-rumped warblers alongside the road, many of which were apparently struck while seeking patches of grass without snow cover. It may not prove Darwin’s theory of natural selection, but intelligence matters even for birdbrains.  As Sutherland noted, of the 68 different types of dead birds — totaling about 800 — there were only three crows, the geniuses of the bird world.

“We know how to keep all these other wildlife species from getting hit on the road, because you can build crossings under or over the road, with fencing to steer them to the right places,” he said. “And it works for basically everything, but the birds. That’s going to take some work to figure out.”

Last December, U.S. Federal Highways’ Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program awarded a $25 million grant to build crossings on U.S. 64 by Buffalo City Road, a red wolf “hot spot” in East Lake on the Dare County mainland where the animals often cross into the refuge. Wildlands Network teamed up with the Center for Biological Diversity, another conservation nonprofit, to raise an additional $4 million in private donations for matching funds, Sutherland said.

If all goes as hoped, Sutherland expects that construction of the crossings could start in late 2026

“It’s expensive because they’re having to raise the road up to be able to put underpasses underneath,” he said, adding that design details are still being worked out.

With the project construction including what he described as a kind of “big ramp,” there will be opportunities to also put small crossings and tunnels on each side for the little crawling, slithering and hopping species, hopefully allowing a total of six to 10 crossings.

“But that’s going to be kind of a win-win situation, because that way that at least part of Highway 64 is going to be elevated,” Sutherland said. “And with sea level rise and storms and hurricanes and so forth, it’s going to be a good for climate resiliency, too, to have the road elevated.”

Cape Hatteras National Seashore and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are planning to host a public workshop in Ocracoke Village on the behavior and biology of coyotes.

Scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 27, in the Ocracoke Community Center, attendees will have the opportunity to learn laws and regulations regarding coyotes, and practical methods to prevent or reduce conflicts with the species of canine native to North America.

Though similar in appearance to red wolves, coyotes are smaller and usually dark gray but can range from blonde, red and black, with a long, bushy and black-tipped tail. The wild canine has pointed and erect ears, and a long, slender snouts, averaging about 2 feet tall at the shoulder and 4 feet in length. Adults are about the size of a medium-sized dog, weighing between 20 and 45 pounds, according to the commission website.

“Coyotes are not new to the Outer Banks, but the frequency of observation has increased in recent years,” because of the animal’s “unique ability to adapt to a wide range of habitats, including suburban environments, along with the loss of their own habitat due to rapid human population growth across the state,” according to the National Park Service.

As a result, visitors and residents to the Outer Banks may spot coyotes wandering populated beaches and neighborhoods, the park service continued. “Coyotes are not going away; therefore, we must learn to coexist with the animal in a safe manner.

Spotted seatrout harvest season is open with new size and creel limits in inland and joint fishing waters of North Carolina.

The hook-and-line season reopened on Tuesday after being closed between May 2 and June 30 to help the species recover from mortality due to last winter’s cold stun event, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

This season, the daily creel limit is three fish per person and a minimum size limit of 14 inches long. A fish may not be harvested if it measures between 20 and 26 inches. One fish over 26 inches long is allowed in the daily creel.

“These rule changes are in agreement with the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spotted Seatrout Fishery Management Plan Amendment 1 and will be consistent with rules established in coastal fishing waters,” Inland Fisheries Division Chief Corey Oakley said in a release.

The spotted seatrout population is being overfished, according to that plan, and the new rule changes have been implemented to allow the population to recover.

State wildlife officers will be ramping up their presence on North Carolina waterways this weekend in an effort to curb impaired boating.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Law Enforcement Division officers are participating in a national campaign known as Operation Dry Water July 4-6.

The campaign, developed through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators and the U.S. Coast Guard, is designed to heighten enforcement and awareness about the dangers of boating under the influence.

“Boating under the influence continues to be a serious and preventable problem,” wildlife officer Lt. Forrest Orr said in a release. “Our goal is to create a safer environment for all recreational boaters, paddlers, and waterway users.”

The Independence Day holiday weekend is typically a busy one on North Carolina waters, which often equates to an increase in boating incidents and fatalities. And, alcohol use in the “leading known contributing factor” in boating deaths, according to the wildlife agency.

Similar to laws that pertain to the road, it is illegal to operate a recreational vessel with an alcohol concentration of .08 or higher, “or while being appreciably impaired by alcohol, drugs or other impairing substances,” according to the release.

State wildlife officers during last year’s campaign removed 37 people from the water who were boating while impaired.

Since January, 39 boating incidents have occurred in the state. Three of those were fatal. Last year, boating incidents in North Carolina resulted in 15 fatalities.

Boaters are reminded to operate their vessels sober and to wear a life jacket when on or around the water.

Additional information about the program is available on the agency’s boating safety webpage.

There was a time when the distinctive “kiki-do” call of eastern black rails were a common sound rising up from North Carolina marshes.

Masters of secrecy, these little birds are rarely, if ever, seen.

They prefer to skirt through the marsh using tunnels dug by rabbits and other small mammals rather than take to the sky. Their nests are typically well concealed close to the ground in the highest part of brackish, saltwater and inland freshwater marshes.

But the habitat that eastern black rails so skillfully use to maintain their privacy is under growing threat from rising ocean waters, more powerful storms, and development and, if their numbers continue to decline, projections are they’ll disappear altogether within 35 years.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission aims to help these birds, putting forth a management plan to improve the black rails’ habitat by permanently protecting coastal marshes and assisting private landowners with potential habitat creation.

That’s going to take hundreds of acres of additional inland, shallow marsh and high-elevation coastal marsh.

“We think there’s probably less than 40 breeding pairs in North Carolina right now,” said Kacy Cook, a coastal waterbird biologist with the Wildlife Resources Commission.

The commission is accepting public comment on the Black Rail Management Plan through July 11.

The eastern black rail was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2020. The commission lists it as a species of greatest conservation need.

Long gone are the days when eastern black rails were documented in freshwater marshes in the North Carolina mountains and Piedmont. No one has heard their “kiki-do” in the interior part of the state since 2005, Cook said.

Once abundant black rail habitat along the North Carolina has been crowded out by houses, roads and farmed land.

The last remaining pockets of coastal areas where the birds are heard in some places in the Outer Banks (exact locations are kept under wraps to prevent human disturbance) and Cedar Island, an unincorporated area of Carteret County. Even there, surveys reveal a dramatic population decline.

Surveys are conducted throughout the black rails’ breeding cycle by using something called a targeted call-response where biologists play a recording of the “kiki-do” sound and wait for a response from black rails in the survey area.

“You used to be able to hear 70 black rail calling from the causeway,” at Cedar Island, Cook said.

Now, fewer than 10 respond at any given time, she said.

And while that’s not good for the eastern black rail, it’s also indicative of a wider coastal problem.

“Black rails are our signal that our coastal marshes and freshwater wetlands are in trouble, and that makes a difference for a lot of species, and our own wellbeing,” Cook said.

Eastern black rails rely on very shallow water levels in marshes. They have legs that are typically just over one inch long. Their fledglings, roughly the size of cotton balls, are out of the nest within 24 hours of hatching, but they’re not able to fly until about 40 days later.

This is why coastal storm flooding, exacerbated by sea level rise, is a particular threat, because flood waters can wash away the nests, eggs and chicks. One big storm could wipe out the remaining population in North Carolina.

“Those are happening at a rate that is too high for their population to grow,” Cook said.

Lack of fire, which is crucial to maintaining that type of habitat, and agricultural practices that include cutting field borders where black rails like to settle among wet, tall, grassy habitat, are further degrading the birds’ habitat.

“I’m only finding black rails where we have high herbaceous plant diversity. They only use habitats that are very dense herbaceous cover, grasses and flowers with few shrubs and no trees,” Cook said.

The commission’s management plan for black rails includes the creation and restoration of 600 acres of freshwater marsh and 600 acres of additional high-elevation coastal march by 2056.

“What we do for black rails will benefit all of the marsh birds that we have now, including the egrets and the herons and the wood storks. So, working on restoring black rail habitat is going to benefit all of our coastal birds in some way and our seafood. Seventy-five percent of our seafood comes from coastal marshes,” Cook said.

Nominations are being accepted through Friday for one of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission’s most prestigious awards.

The annual Thomas L. Quay Award recognizes a person who makes outstanding contributions to the state’s wildlife diversity and considered a leader in wildlife resource conservation for nongame species, which are animals that do not have an open hunting, fishing or trapping season.

Dr. Reid Wilson Laney of Raleigh received the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s 2024 Thomas Quay Award in Raleigh in February for his work with Atlantic sturgeon and American eel and for mentoring future biologists. 

If you know someone you would like to nominate for the 2025 award, you may submit a nomination form and essay no longer than two pages detailing the person’s contributions to wildlife conservation. Essays must be composed on 8½- by 11-inch paper, with 1-inch margins, single spaced, and 12-point Times New Roman font. Anything over two pages will be disqualified.

The commission encourages that a nominee’s resume or CV be included.

Nominations may be submitted electronically by filling out an online form and uploading supporting documents, via email to Shauna Glover at shauna.glover@ncwildlife.gov, or by mail to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, Division of Inland Fisheries, c/o Shauna Glover, 1721 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1700.

This year’s nominees will be considered along with nominations submitted in 2023 and 2024. Nominations submitted before 2023 will be considered upon request to Glover.

The honoree will be announced at a wildlife resources commissioner meeting by February next year.

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 Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting public comments on its 2025 draft management plan that identifies and prioritizes animals and plants of greatest conservation need in the state.

Comments will be accepted through July 5.

The North Carolina State Wildlife Action Plan also establishes research and management priorities for other fish, wildlife and plant species in the state and describes 40 types of habitats important to those species.

The plan is designed to prevent a species from being listed for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act.

“This comprehensive Plan is meant to chart a course for conservation actions with detailed priorities to protect and conserve species and habitats,” Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Director Shannon Deaton said in a release.

Deaton said the plan “captures the threats and impacts being faced today and for the next 10 years.”

Following input from agency partners, officials now want to hear from residents and academia. This includes their concerns, suggestions and desires for wildlife and habitats, whether related to development, protected areas, research interests and needs and how they can participate, from a broad or localized level.

“People can pick and choose chapters they wish to provide feedback on, or they can provide input to all of it,” Deaton said, adding that state residents “should be able to visualize themselves participating in the implementation of the plan.”

The draft is an update to the 2015 plan and includes new research, biological knowledge, survey findings, improved conservation actions targeted at resiliency, and a stronger understanding of impacts from changing weather patterns, according to the release.

The changing climate, which is resulting in more historical weather events, including Hurricane Helene, an uptick in the number of extremely hot days, more frequent flooding, sea level rise and associated saltwater intrusion into freshwater and inland habitats, are impacting wildlife resources. Compounding those impacts is the increase in the state’s population.

“We are seeing an increase in climate-related impacts to aquatic species that require cold-water habitats,” Wildlife Action Plan Coordinator Cindy Simpson said in the release. “Helene devastated extensive acres of forested habitats, including riparian areas that provide shade for cold-water streams. Storm debris added additional barriers for aquatic species to be able to move upstream as previously cold waters are now warming. Our coastal regions are also at a high risk of habitat loss due to climate change, characterized by intensified storms that lead to increased saltwater intrusion, resulting in the emergence of ghost forests.”

The agency is working with various partners, organizations, stakeholders and interested residents providing input during the revision of the plan. The state’s first plan was published in 2005.

“Now we need your assistance to make sure we have comprehensively addressed the conservation priorities for species of greatest conservation need and at-risk habitats. We look forward to your comments to finalize this document so that it can be used as a guide for conservation actions,” Commission Executive Director Kyle Briggs said in the release.

Comments on the draft may be submitted online and, anyone who would like to submit additional written comments after filling out the online survey may email cindy.simpson@ncwildlife.gov with the subject line “2025 Draft SWAP comments.”

Additional comments may also be mailed to: North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Attn: 2025 Draft State Wildlife Action Plan, 1721 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1700.

Nowadays it’s not uncommon to hear about human-alligator encounters in southeastern North Carolina.

That’s why the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission this week launched “GatorWise,” an informational outreach initiative to educate the public on how to live responsibly with alligators.

Most calls about alligators to the agency’s Wildlife Hotline come from New Hanover and Brunswick counties, coastal counties that experienced exponential development since American alligators were delisted in 1987 from the federal endangered species list, according to the commission.

“As development continues to expand into once-remote areas where alligators live, we need to become GatorWise in order to safely share the land with this species,” commission Wildlife Biologist Alicia Wassmer said in a release.

“Urbanization is projected to increase at exponential rates in areas where alligator habitat occurs,” Wassmer continued. “This continuous conversion of natural spaces, coupled with a constant influx of newcomers who may not know that alligators are here or aren’t familiar with alligator behavior, have amplified the need for state wildlife resource agencies to proactively connect residents and visitors with vital information on how to coexist responsibly with the alligators that live in these communities.” 

American alligators live in 11 southeastern states, including North Carolina, which is the northern-most region in which they reside in the United States.

Wildlife agencies in all of those states on Monday launched the program, which emphasizes following six GatorWise Basics:

• Assume alligators are present in water bodies.
• Do not discard fish or food scraps in those waters.
• Never feed, harass, capture or handle an alligator.
• Supervise small children near water and keep pets leashed and away from the water’s edge.
• Always observe warning signs when you are in or near the water.
• Avoid swimming in areas with dense vegetation and swim only in daylight.

Additional information is available on the commission’s website.

Editor’s Note: After Sam Bland retired from his position as superintendent at Hammocks Beach State Park, he joined the staff of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. While a coastal specialist in the 2010s, he would periodically write about his time in the field for Coastal Review. Now traveling the country, Bland drops a line every once in a while to share a new adventure with his readers, such as the following:

With the silent curtain of darkness kissing the horizon, we rode down the dusty ribbon of a remote dirt road in western Wyoming. The departing sun left a thin orange glow on the horizon, hanging low like a colorful fog. Straight ahead in the sky, a sliver of the waxing crescent moon grinned sideways like Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire cat.

Following the directions, we turned off the road and on to an eroded washboard of rocks and stones. With silent glances, we wondered if this was the right way to go. Soon, the path ended in a clearing where we parked the car. Stepping out, we immediately heard the clear sharp song of the northern saw-whet owl piercing the cool clear mountain air. Over and over, it called, beckoning.

Cautiously, we headed down the ankle-twisting cobble path, our flashlights leading the way. In the distance, we could see a faint glow of light suppressed by the walls of a nylon tent. Not far from the tent, a stand of fir trees stood tall, silhouetted against the evening sky. The door flap of the tent swung open and we were greeted by Noah Price, his face illuminated red by a filtered headlamp.

A contracted field biologist, Noah specializes in documenting the migration of small forest owl species such as saw-whets, boreals and flammulated owls. Stepping inside the dimly lit tent, there were a few chairs and a table. Neatly arranged on the table was all the accouterment necessary to band owls. A digital scale, rulers, clipboards thick with data forms, a tool box filled with banding supplies, clamping pliers, and a variety of short PVC tubes were at the ready. We — my wife Bright, and I — had ventured to this secluded location for the opportunity to observe the banding of northern saw-whet owls.

Saw-whets are one of the smallest owls, standing at only 8 inches. It is a fluffball of feathers weighing a scant 5 ounces, at the most. Although diminutive, it is a solid-looking bird with a large facial disc and stunning yellow eyes. With deadly talons, it flies the night skies searching for prey.

Even though it is rarely seen, it is one of the most common forest owls within its northern range, which includes the entire width of North America. Its breeding range includes the northern and western states, southern Canada as well as central Mexico. During the winter months, they can be found to venture into central and southern states.

In North Carolina, they have been documented in 31 counties and have been found wintering along the islands of the Outer Banks. High in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina, there is a small breeding population as well. It is listed as a threatened species in state by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Northern saw-whet owls were long thought to be nonmigratory and remained permanent residents within their northern range. But in the early 1900s, a number of saw-whets were found dead after a severe fall storm in an area where they were not thought to exist. This was a light-bulb moment and ornithologists realized that these owls might indeed be migratory.

Many ornithologists were skeptical of their migratory movement and it took decades before research proved it to be true. To study migratory patterns and routes, banding programs were established. Using fine mist nets to capture the nighttime migrants, they banded the owls as they moved south during the fall months. The results concluded that saw-whet owls were indeed migratory.

In the mid-1960s, banding stations started using an audio lure to attract the birds. It was a game changer. Like a moth to a flame, the amplified song of a male saw-whet proved irresistible in attracting the owls. The capture rates were so impressive that this is now the go-to method for increased banding success. This was the flute-like song that we heard when we first arrived at the banding station, a recorded saw-whet song playing on a continual loop.

With their migratory nature more well-known, researchers are trying to unravel the mystery about the biology of these secretive owls. Being strictly nocturnal, these birds are experts at hiding during the day. They will seek out dense vegetation and blend in within the branches looking as if a knot on the tree.

Ornithologists have become enamored with these cute and charismatic birds with their big bright alluring eyes. Their large facial disc makes them look like a child’s cuddly stuffed animal.

Remember in 2020 when the nation fell in love with Rocky, a saw-whet owl that was roosting in a spruce tree that was cut down for the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and trucked to New York City? Its charm undeniable, the unwittingly abducted owl became a star. The owl inspired the center to designate an owl mascot, Roxy, as their official ambassador. The plight of Rocky is also depicted in the Disney animated film “An Almost Christmas Story” as well as a number of children’s books.

Research on these owls has really accelerated over the past 30 years with the formation of Project Owlnet, a collaboration of researchers dedicated to the study of saw-whet owls. The project established standardized protocol and data collection methods to keep the research uniform for scientific integrity.

As we wait in the tent, Noah steps out into the darkness and walks toward a stand of fir trees where the mist nets are located. About 15 minutes later he returns with a saw-whet owl snuggly confined in a plastic PVC sleeve. As a cavity nester, saw-whets are familiar and comfortable in confined spaces. His headlamp creating a reddish aura, Noah went about examining the owl. Under his gentle touch, the owl calmly endured the inspection as if at a doctor’s appointment.

Each fall and spring, hundreds of researchers like Noah participate in capturing, banding and monitoring the movements of these tiny owls. In addition to banding the birds, their overall condition is evaluated. A lightweight metal band, with its own unique engraved number, is applied to the leg. The birds are then examined to record weigh, wing length, sex, age, fat deposits, and molting progress. Isotope analysis is also conducted to help determine specific nesting areas.

After the birds are released, as time goes by, information is gathered through sightings, recapture and mortality. The information is archived with the United States Geological Survey’s Bird Banding Laboratory where the data, along with recapture data, is available for researchers studying the birds.

As the most banded owl in North America, it is estimated that 400,000 saw-whet owls have worn the silver bracelet over the years. The banding helps ornithologists determine migration routes, when they migrate, peak migration, and how fast they migrate. It also establishes where they overwinter, overall population numbers, lifespan, and reproduction and survival rates. This information is essential for targeting habitat preservation along migratory corridors and wintering and nesting areas.

The data is also crucial when calculating the impact of climate change not only for the saw-whet, but for all owls. The North Carolina coastal plain is permanent residency to the great horned, barred, eastern screech and American barn owls. The short-eared owl is a winter resident while the long-eared owl is a rare winter visitor. Snowy owls are rare winter visitors during irruption years and burrowing owls are extremely rare as they have only been documented a hand full of times in the state.

Long-term variations in climate can result in more frequent severe weather events, hotter temperatures, habitat changes, drought, flooding and persistent wildfires. The impact these changes have on wildlife can be measured by what has been termed as “climate change vulnerability.” This is the risk associated with exposure to changing precipitation, temperature and severe weather events. For example, nests of ground nesters, such as burrowing and snowy owls, are destroyed by heavy rain events and melting permafrost.

Owls that are dependent on niche habitat might be forced to abandon part of their range destroyed by wildfires. It also includes their dependency on certain habitat types and their sensitivity to changing conditions along with their ability to adapt to these changes.

Some of these owls may simply adapt by transitioning to a different habitat, developing a taste for new prey or simply relocating to cooler northern regions. However, this may create a butterfly effect of competition that is detrimental to other species. Overall species populations may not decline rapidly, but they will be slowly chipped away as their habitat shrinks.

Eventually, if their ranges shift, they might be considered invasive if they out compete native species in that range. This is already happening with the expansion of the barred owl into the northwestern states and their competition with the Northern Spotted owl.

The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has concluded that their movement was significantly influenced by human activities decades ago. As such, they must be killed by the hundreds of thousands. Is this the fate that awaits other owls that might be displaced due to climate change? Historical ranges might need to be reconsidered and management practices revisited.

Since it is anticipated that owl species will be pushed further north with rising temperatures, biologists recommend that conservation practices be proactive. Conservation strategies should be directed to preservation, protection and restoration of prime habitats now rather than later. Even put out a welcome sign and embrace new diversity to the neighborhood.

Animals are adaptable, but it may just come down to how fast and intense changes occur in the future and their ability to adjust. Importantly, for the fitness of owl populations, is the impact of climate variations on their food sources. Will prey items such as rodents, insects, birds and reptiles be abundant in the changing landscape.

Under the illumination of his headlamp, Noah is finishing his checkup on the feathered patient. He blows a small puff of air onto the breast of the owl and a fine mist of powder down explodes into a crimson fog that hangs in the air. Startled, the bemused owl looks up at Noah and the two appear to share a laugh. As the feathers part, exposing the breast, Noah can determine a fat score that indicates fat reserves. Kind of like checking the gas gauge and how many snacks are in the car during a road trip.

Noah wears his passion for these birds on his sleeve like an epaulet. Enduring two months of long cold nights, Noah’s research station banded 321 saw-whet owls along with 68 boreal owls and three long-eared owls. With the owl in one hand, Noah finishes scribbling the data on a clipboard.

The wide-eyed owl stands straight, patiently awaiting its release. As we step outside, Noah asks if I would like to release the bird. I humbly accept this once-in-a-lifetime offer. Placing the owl on my hand, it holds firmly onto my finger, as if on a tree branch. I can feel its tiny talons gripping into my flesh.

Face to face, the deadly eyes of this fierce hunter shoots daggers into my soul anchoring a lasting memory. In an instant, it launches from my hand and lands on a low branch of a nearby fir tree. It gathers and composes itself, then flies off into a dark and uncertain future.

Recreational harvest of spotted seatrout in North Carolina coastal waters is closed through June 30.

The closure, which includes inland and joint fishing waters, became effective Friday, a little more than two weeks after the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, or WRC, voted to adopt the temporary closure rule during its business meeting April 17.

The purpose of the temporary is to “avoid public confusion” after the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries’ recent proclamation to close commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest in coastal and joint waters because of widespread cold stun events last January, according to a WRC release.

“The Wildlife Resources Commission implemented temporary rulemaking as quickly as possible to provide regulatory consistency following the Marine Fisheries’ proclamation,” WRC Chief Deputy Director Christian Waters said in a release. “Temporarily closing the spotted seatrout harvest season follows recommendations set out by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission’s Spotted Seatrout Management Plan to allow the population to recover from cold stun events.”

The season by hook-and-line in inland and joint fishing waters will reopen July 1.

Coastal towns and large homeowner associations representing beachfront properties now have the choice to install a controversial alternative to sand fencing on ocean-facing shores.

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission last week amended a rule to allow those entities to apply for a permit to place wheat straw bales on ocean shorelines as a means to protect and build up beachfront dunes.

The rule, which will now go to the state Rules Review Commission for final approval, limits the use of wheat straw bales to government organizations and HOAs with more than 1 mile of oceanfront shoreline.

Use of wheat hay bales is restricted to those groups until the state gains a better understanding of their impacts to wildlife, including sea turtles, shoreline environment, and their efficacy.

In a 7-5 vote in favor of the rule, some on the Coastal Resources Commission, or CRC, reiterated concerns that have been repeatedly raised in recent years by wildlife officials and environmental organizations.

Those groups, including the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, N.C. Audubon, North Carolina Wildlife Federation and Southern Environmental Law Center, argue additional studies need to be done to understand the potential impacts of wheat straw bales to shoreline habitat and the animals that rely on that habitat.

“I just would like to say I think we’re opening ourselves up to a lawsuit,” Commissioner Lauren Salter said during the CRC’s April 30 meeting in Manteo. “I think Southern Environmental Law Center is going to definitely pursue it based on the comments that we received.”

The effectiveness of wheat straw bales on an oceanfront shore was initially tested as an alternative to wooden sand fencing in 2015 on Figure Eight Island, a privately owned island north of Wilmington.

The North Carolina Division of Coastal Management issued a Coastal Area Management Act permit to two properties to initial a pilot study on the New Hanover County island.

The bales eventually became covered with sand, but, within a few months, they were washed away in a storm, according to the division.

Wheat straw bales were not allowed on a North Carolina beach again until 2023, after Ocean Isle Beach officials requested approval to place them on a portion of the town’s oceanfront shore.

Ocean Isle Town Administrator Justin Whiteside reminded commissioners last week that the town made the request because sand fencing was hard to acquire in the months following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Town officials noted the pilot project on Figure Eight Island and wanted to mimic it, he said.

“It was successful in some areas,” on Ocean Isle, Whiteside said. “Then we did have a storm and some of it washed away. Others, it’s still covered up and, as far as I’m aware, it’s still there just all covered up with sand.”

Division officials have said they do not expect a significant uptick in the use of straw bales because they tend to cost more than traditional sand fencing and they would need to be replaced more frequently than fencing.

Coastal Resources Commissioner Jordan Hennessy last week said that his position on the rule amendment remained the same as those he had expressed during a previous meeting.

Hennessy questioned whether the rule, by omitting private property owners from being able to apply for a permit to install wheat straw bales, is constitutional.

“I’ll be voting against the rule because I don’t believe it’s constitutional,” he said.

The CRC’s legal counsel, Mary Lucasse, advised that the rule amendment is not unconstitutional.

“I don’t see anything unconstitutional that’s jumping out on me, and I don’t actually understand your argument, commissioner, as to why you think it’s unconstitutional,” she said. “We do a lot of rulemaking that focuses on situational things, and we sometimes try things, as we did with (wheelchair-accessible) mats, with local governments being able to do it first, and we have not drawn any challenges to that based on constitutionality or other things, and I don’t see an issue in that.”

Under the amended rule, wheat straw bales cannot impede public or emergency vehicle access or be installed in a manner that endangers nesting sea turtles, which is similar the sand fencing rule.

Installation of wheat straw bales will require consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Wildlife Resources Commission through permit application review. Ties or bindings on bales must be removed to reduce debris and the possibility of wildlife entanglement.

Straw bales will be limited to 10-foot-long sections, which is the same requirement for sand fencing, and can be no wider than 2 feet or higher than 3 feet. Bales can not be more than 10 feet waterward of the first line of stable, natural vegetation, erosion scarp or toe of a frontal dune.

Sections of straw bales, sand fencing, or Christmas trees, which may also be used to trap sand, must be spaced 7 feet apart. Nonfunctioning, damaged bales or stakes that have moved from their alignment must be repaired or removed from the shore.

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.

An invasive species of bass to North Carolina is now being found in coastal areas of the state, prompting wildlife officials to ask anglers to help stop the spread to protect native species of bass.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission biologists say Alabama bass populations infiltrate more rivers and lakes in the state than ever before, competing with native fish and aquatic organisms.

The species, which anglers often mistaken for spotted bass or largemouth bass, were initially discovered in western North Carolina waters in the 1980s, first in Lake Chatuge, a manmade reservoir in Clay County, and then in Lake Norman.

Over the last 20 years, state wildlife biologists have documented through routine fisheries surveys the rapid spread of Alabama bass to other reservoirs and rivers, including coastal area waters such as the Roanoke and Tar rivers.

Anglers are believed to have introduced the species to state waters.

“They’re being stocked and moved to new locations by anglers who need to understand the impact it’s having to our native black bass family of largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass,” state wildlife district biologist Kin Hodges said in a release. “Populations of largemouth bass are being dramatically reduced, while North Carolina could potentially lose smallmouth and spotted bass.” 

Wildlife officials say Alabama bass can be difficult to distinguish from native bass. The Wildlife Resources Commission has posted illustrations to help anglers identify the different bass species and installed signs to help with identification and education about Alabama bass at popular fishing and boating access areas.

Anglers who catch Alabama bass should not release them back into a waterbody.

Alabama bass or, on average, smaller than largemouth bass and they interbreed with smallmouth and spotted bass, which, with time, could eliminate small and spotted bass from the fish community, according to WRC biologists.

“When we heard Alabama bass were being caught in reservoirs upstream of our coastal rivers in 2020, we anticipated we would start seeing them downstream,” WRC Coastal Region Fisheries Research Coordinator Kevin Dockendorf said in a release. “In October 2024, our fisheries biologists collected Alabama bass in the Roanoke and Tar rivers with boat electrofishing. This expansion of Alabama bass is of concern given the similarities of North Carolina’s coastal rivers to the habitats found in Alabama bass’s natural range.”

Moving or stocking fish in public waters without a state stocking permit is illegal in North Carolina. Releases of fish from live wells into waters different from where the fish were caught are also illegal.

“They are being illegally spread across the state by misguided anglers who think that they will make the fishing better,” Hodges said. “The only tools we have to minimize the damage being caused by Alabama bass are to encourage anglers not to spread them to new waters, and to harvest as many as possible in waters where they have already been introduced to minimize their damage.” 

Anglers who catch an Alabama bass in a waterbody not previously documented are asked to take photographs and report it through the N.C. Wildlife Aquatic Nuisance Species Reporting Tool or by emailing PublicInquiry-FishWildlife@ncwildlife.gov.

Illegal Alabama bass stocking may be reported by calling 800-662-7137.

A deal between Southport to sell hundreds of acres of land to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission remains on the table after elected officials there recently agreed to extend the city’s contract deadline with the state agency.

Following what was, at times, a contentious discussion March 13 during the Southport Board of Aldermen meeting, members cast a 5-1 vote to push an option agreement with the state from March 21 to July 31 with a closing date of no later than Sept. 5.

The agency anticipates closing before that date, Ben Solomon, assistant chief and land acquisition manager of the commission’s Land and Water Access Division, said in a statement to Coastal Review on Monday.

More than a year has passed since aldermen agreed in a majority vote their intent to sell more than 400 city-owned acres to the commission for just over $637,000.

The Wildlife Resources Commission had been eyeing the property for the past few years with hopes of expanding the game land footprint in the area, a move that would place the land in conservation in perpetuity.

The property is adjacent to the state’s Green Swamp Game Land. The land also borders the country’s largest ammunition port, Military Ocean Terminal Sunny Point, or MOTSU.

The federal government prohibits development of the property because of its proximity to the 16,000-acre port.

Brunswick County land owners whose property is near the 441-acre tract fought a construction firm’s proposal about three years ago to buy or lease no fewer than 50 acres from the city. The firm wanted to mine clay-like material and use the earth to build up eroded berms buffering ammunition and explosive areas within the Army installation.

Under the proposed deal with the state, Southport will keep 10 acres to use to temporarily place hurricane debris. The county will retain another 5 acres, which could eventually be the site of a water tower or some other type of water reserve used to improve water pressure in the area for fire-fighting.

Brunswick County property owners whose land is near the tract asked last week for clarification on how the city and county planned to use the land to be retained by local governments.

The handful of residents, including Ron Madden, expressed relief that the city would move forward with plans to sell the land to the Wildlife Resources Commission.

“We’re concerned to see what happens there,” he said. “This is paradise. Our neighborhood is paradise. We’re just asking you to be the good neighbors that we are to you. We take great pride in our neighborhood as you do in Southport.”

His and others’ comments to the board angered Alderman and Southport native Marc Spencer, the lone alderman to vote against extending the deadline to the commission, who balked at the proposed sale price for the tract.

Spencer said members of the city planning board tried to come up with multiple uses for the site, including a cemetery, but the city got “shook around by our local neighbors who didn’t like what they thought we were going to do so we didn’t do anything at all.”

“Now we’re selling 441 acres for $600,000. Really? I will sell my house today and buy it. I’ll take it. I’ll take it forever. Anybody here would. That’s ridiculous. This was a bad deal from the beginning with a bunch of people from Bethel Church Road (Bethel Road) who didn’t like what we were going to do who haven’t ever paid tax in Southport in your life. You’re not a member of Southport. You talk about paradise? You ruined paradise for me,” he said.

The commission received funding in late 2021 to buy the land, an area wildlife officials say is ecologically important because it supports both federal and state listed species.

The agency received funding in 2021 to buy the land through the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, state Attorney General’s Office Environmental Enhancement Grant Program, and the North American Wetlands Conservation Act Program.

“We’ve already agreed to sell it to them,” Southport Alderwoman Karen Mosteller said. “All we’re doing is agreeing to extend the agreement.”

The city bought a majority of tract 20 years ago with plans to use it as a spray-irrigation site for a new sewer plant. Those plans were eventually scrapped after the city decided to merge its water and sewer with the county.

SWAN QUARTER — Turns out that those million big, invasive fish that were supposed to be swimming in Lake Mattamuskeet didn’t show up, as contractors conducting a mass removal project that began last year reevaluate the estimated population of common carp in the state’s largest natural freshwater lake.

“What we found is we’re not finding the carp numbers in the lake that we thought were there,” Kendall Smith, refuge manager at Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, told the Lake Mattamuskeet Watershed Restoration Plan Core Stakeholder Team at a recent meeting.

“So far we have not detected any aggregations of fish. We are finding concentration, places where you find more fish than others, but nothing that would be considered an aggregation,” he said.

Smith explained that the refuge will continue to work with the contractor during the year to review other techniques, assess the issues with the carp’s habits and reproduction, and determine the next approach.

“We’re learning a lot about their movements, confirming whether or not they do activate in the wintertime or early spring,” Smith continued.

But reduction of carp, aggressive bottom feeders that are blamed for much of the lake’s turbidity, is just one of the multiple challenges being tackled. The team, made up of folks with local, state and federal expertise, including representatives from governments, nonprofits and landowners, is proving to be as resilient and adaptive as the lake itself.

“Like anything worthwhile, it’s the hard stuff you’ve got to pay attention to,” local farmer and former refuge biologist Kelly Davis told Coastal Review, “because the easy stuff works itself out, right?”

A member of the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Davis, along with her late husband Blythe, for decades farmed 2,000 acres of farmland in Hyde County, of which about 150 acres drain into Lake Mattamuskeet.

In her observation, the lake’s biggest issue in restoring the submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, is the haziness of the water, to which the carp contribute by churning up the lake bottom.

“Whatever’s killing the grass,’ she said, “it’s sedimentation. It’s cloudy waters.”

 Often referred to as a jewel of Hyde County, Lake Mattamuskeet, the centerpiece of the refuge, is 6 miles wide, 18 miles long and averages 2 feet deep.

The 40,000-acre lake, expansive and often shimmering, is famously photogenic. Serene cypress swamps along its border could be described convincingly as habitat for elves and gnomes.

But its beauty belies its environmental vulnerability. It is situated on low land, surrounded by pocosin forests and rich farmlands, intersected by gated canals that drain water, sediment and nutrients into the lake.

In addition to nearby rivers, the vast Pamlico Sound, to the lake ecosystem’s benefit and detriment, contributes some of its marine life and waters, whether pushed in by wind-driven tides or flooding. 

Since the 1990s, the submerged aquatic vegetation in the lake had gradually then suddenly disappeared, depriving the hundreds of thousands of waterfowl along the Atlantic Flyway that had stopped over for food and shelter.

Once Hyde County’s community hub, the lake, the refuge and the long-closed Mattamuskeet Lodge, which the county plans to restore and reopen, is still supporting hunting, fishing and farming activities. And ducks, swans and geese still alight at Mattamuskeet, but now mostly at the seasonal duck impoundments created around the lake.

Since 2017, the stakeholder team has been focused on solutions to the lake’s water quality problems, including loss of SAV and persistent algal blooms, as well as flooding and drainage of the surrounding land.

Guidance for the work has been provided by a watershed restoration plan facilitated by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, in partnership with Hyde County, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. The Coastal Federation is the publisher of Coastal Review, an independent online newspaper that covers coastal issues in North Carolina.

Despite uncertainty with staffing and funding concerns related to recent cuts in the federal government, work at the lake and surrounding land is ongoing and planned for upcoming months, according to a discussion during the Jan. 30 team meeting in the Hyde County Government Complex.

Five projects, funded by a $16.86 million Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant awarded to the North Carolina Coastal Federation, are designed to enhance water quality within the Lake Mattamuskeet watershed.

Project planned are improvements in the Fairfield Drainage District including installing a pump station to reduce drainage into the lake and enhance crops, restoring 1,000 acres of wetlands on converted agricultural land, constructing a 4,506-linear foot living shoreline to protect a Natural Resources Conservation Service dike in Swan Quarter and other critical infrastructure, facilitating agricultural best management practices to mitigate discharge of agricultural runoff into the lake, and outreach to aquaculture producers in an effort to boost participation in oyster restoration.

The Coastal Federation is currently working to finalize a partnership agreement with the Conservation Service, according to the federation’s coastal advocate Alyson Flynn, the meeting’s moderator. She also said that the federation has contracted with consultant Jonathan Hinkle to assist in the design and modeling of the large-scale restoration projects.

Part of the work, which has a four-year timeline, with a potential 1-year extension, involves diverting, pumping and draining water on the land in a way that would avoid adding sediment or nutrients to the lake, a hydrology challenge to engineer and a problem when there may be divergent goals. Drainage improvements also include cleaning out major drainage canals.

 “We all agree that the lake is in poor health, and we want to help fix it, but what that looks like seem to change,” Flynn said in an interview, referring to the proposed Fairfield project. “And so, yes, by diverting that fresh water up into the north, we’re hoping that the lake water will naturally filter out through that designed wetland before it gets to the Intracoastal Waterway in the north, with the assistance of pumps.”

Davis, who attended the stakeholders meeting informally as an area landowner, said that water is affected by changes in sea level and by wind tide, and there’s no choice but to work with the conditions, whatever their whims.  

“There will be times where some of that water movement is hampered until the wind shifts and blows the sound back out, but that’s part of water management in Hyde County, or really on the peninsula,” Davis said. “Whether the water body is the Pungo River, the Intracoastal Waterway, the Pamlico Sound, or Lake Mattamuskeet, the whole idea is to try to get the sediment trapped somewhere before it hits that water. And as the water slowly move through wetlands, the slower you can move the water, the more time it has for the sediment to fall out, and the more what you’re sending to the water bodies is mostly just water.”

What is important, she added, is that all the projects’ stakeholders are engaged and involved — and patient.

“They’re big projects, but they’re also projects that should have decades of value. The projects don’t have to be perfect,” she said, adding that every challenge that is addressed at the time makes a difference. “Because the needs are now, and they will be in the near term and the long term, and the wind still blows the sound out.”

Campers, cyclists, hikers, birding enthusiasts and other outdoor recreationalists would be required to buy an annual pass to access game lands in the state under a proposal floated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission.

The “conservation access pass” proposal targets those users because they are increasingly visiting game lands and utilizing state Wildlife Resources boating-access areas, commission officials say.

“The more people you put out there, the more activities they’re doing,” said Wildlife Resources Commission Land and Water Access Division Chief Daron Barnes. “You see a general degradation of those habitats’ infrastructure and it can impede management activities. So, there is a need for additional funding to address these types of impacts on land.”

Barnes explained to an online audience during a public meeting Tuesday night that hunters, anglers and trappers would not have to buy a pass because they are already “paying in” to access and use game lands, while outdoor recreationalists are increasingly using game lands free of charge.

“We see that number of people increasing year after year,” he said.

The prospective pass program was met with mixed feedback during the meeting, where participants raised concerns about a pass fee potentially affecting outdoor programs, particularly in low-income communities, and safety issues during hunting seasons.

If implemented, conservation access passes would apply at a minimum to commission-owned game lands, which include roughly a quarter, or more than 542,000 acres, of the 2.1 million acres of game lands the agency manages.

In an email responding to questions following the meeting, Carrie Ruhlman, policy manager with the commission’s Office of Conservation Policy & Analysis, said the passes “may also apply on game lands owned by partner agencies/entities.”

“Once a decision is made on whether to move forward with a Pass, the WRC will reach out to those partners to see if they would like the Pass to apply to their property,” she said.

Roughly half, or 1.26 million acres, of game lands Wildlife Resources manages are owned by the U.S. Forest Service. A mix of other state agencies, local governments, private businesses and residents owns a little more than 299,200 acres.

Wildlife Resources owns 70 game lands, 37 of which span a total of more than 320,000 acres across the state’s coastal region.

Under the proposal, conservation access passes would be required for use at all of the more than 250 boating access areas that are built and maintained by the state for vessels that do not currently have to be registered with the agency. Those include nonmotorized water vessels like kayaks, canoes and stand-up paddleboards.

Passes would also be required to use five Wildlife Resources shooting ranges.

Franklin County resident William Teague said he doesn’t have a problem with nonhunters, anglers and trappers using the agency’s shooting ranges or with paddlers utilizing boat access areas.

But the state’s growing population and the demands of development that come with it are crowding out lands on which hunters and trappers can go, he said Tuesday.

Private land “is becoming harder and harder to be able to hunt,” Teague said. “And so it’s kind of forcing some of us to hunt exclusively on public land. There’s fewer and fewer opportunities to hunt and trap, for that matter. There’s plenty of other places across the state that if you’re not a hunter, trapper or angler that you can go and do recreational-type things.”

He was joined by others who spoke during the meeting in raising concerns about recreationalists using game lands during hunting seasons.

Jerry Price suggested certain areas within game lands be restricted for hunting and trapping use only during hunting seasons. Those areas could be rotated between that group of users and recreational uses, he said.

“To hunters, there’s very few places that have good quantities of game, mainly big game deer hunting,” Price said.

Haw River Keeper Emily Sutton said she understands the agency’s need to draw additional revenue to maintain game lands resources.

“But I think charging a fee for the general public to access these public lands, especially in a watershed like mine where there’s increasingly less big tracts of open space for people to explore, like the Jordan Lake Game Lands, is not the way to go about this,” she said. “It will discourage people from coming into those game lands and exploring these big tracts of forests that we don’t have a lot of access to in this part of the state anymore.”

Sutton said tacking fees to nonmotorized water vessels could be a huge hit for outfitters, schools and universities, and organizations like hers that offer free paddle events and clinics.

Anna Wheeler with the Dan River Basin Association agreed.

“We do free paddles for Saturday outings once a month,” she said. “This could really be a situation that gets a little bit expensive and discourages people from getting outdoors.”

The prospective pass fee would impact outdoor programs offered at colleges and universities through the state, according to Nathan Rector, director of Duke University’s Outdoor Adventures.

“My program certainly uses some of these boat ramps and we take multiple groups there and if we had to transfer that cost to our participants, a lot of our participants would just not be able to afford it, and we would really not exist,” he said. “We don’t make money off these things. We’re just offering a resource and so I’m hoping that either this would be reconsidered or some sort of educational nonprofit alternative would be offered to universities across the state.”

The agency is considering a $30 pass fee, but commission officials say they have not settled on a price to present to the voting members, who will consider whether to implement the conservation access pass program.

Anyone 16 and older would be required to obtain the pass, which would be good for one year from the date of purchase.

Wildlife Resources is accepting online feedback on the pass proposal through March 28.  All comments are to be complied and presented to the commission.

Additional information about the conservation access pass proposal is available at ncwildlife.org/conservation-access-pass.

If the plan is approved, passes would be effective no earlier than 2026.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is accepting nominations for members of an advisory committee that oversees operations of the state’s new nongame and endangered species program.

Eligible nominees for the Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee include North Carolinians who may contribute scientific, academic and habitat expertise to advise the state Wildlife Resources Commission on nongame wildlife conservation measures for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.

The committee provides guidance on changes to the North Carolina protected species list and advises in the development of conservation plans for endangered, threatened and species of special concern.

“This advisory committee provides valuable stakeholder insight into the NCWRC, expands our scientific awareness and helps grow our partnerships that support and protect North Carolina’s at-risk species and habitats,” the agency’s Habitat Conservation Division chief Shannon Deaton said in a release. “The primary role of an NWAC member is to provide expert input, particularly with the state’s listed species process as well as the North Carolina Wildlife Action Plan revision process, and on other agency nongame and endangered wildlife initiatives.” 

Nominees for the commission’s expert affiliate seats must have extensive biological, regional, academic, scientific research and/or habitat expertise as well as experience with nongame wildlife conservation in the state.

Professionals from representative organizations such as federal or state natural resource agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, universities, land trusts serving the state, industries that operate in and/or manage landscapes and associated wildlife, or other organizations that provide “a stakeholder voice in wildlife resources conservation,” are eligible for nomination to the committee’s at-large seats.

The committee meets quarterly, typically at the commission’s Raleigh headquarters.

Nominations may be made by completing an online form and including a cover letter and résumé, if available. Self-nominations are welcome.

Though electronic submissions are preferred, hard copies will be accepted by mail to the Nongame Wildlife Advisory Committee, Attn: Shauna Glover, Wildlife Management Division, MSC 1721, Raleigh, NC  27699-1700.

Nominations will be accepted through April 18.

Glover may be contacted at 919-707-0064 for additional information about the nomination process or the committee. 

The striped bass fishing season in the Roanoke River has been suspended in what state wildlife officials say is a necessary move because the population has not improved despite previous harvest reductions.

The striped bass hook-and-line harvest season in the Roanoke River Management Area, which runs March 1 to April 30, includes the river, its tributaries from Roanoke Rapids Dam to the Albemarle Sound, and the Cashie, Middle and Eastmost rivers.

Reductions have been made in the Roanoke River’s striped bass harvest over the past three years, but the “population has shown little improvement,” according to a North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission release.

“In 2024, NCWRC biologists observed a continuance of the declining trend in abundance of striped bass during the spawning grounds survey,” the release states. “Low abundance and the impacts of high mortality have resulted in poor spawning success over the past seven years, even when Roanoke River conditions were considered optimal for spawning.”

The agency is working with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to address the declines of striped bass stock in the Roanoke River and the Albemarle Sound.

Striped bass caught in inland and joint waters of the Roanoke River Management Area must be immediately returned to the waters where taken.

Striped bass in the river upstream of U.S. Highway 258 bridge near Scotland Neck in Halifax County may be fished using only a single barbless circle hook with the use of live or natural bait or a single barbless hook, either no barb or the barb is bent downward, with the use of tackle between April 1 to June 30.

Ben Ricks, the commission’s coastal region fishery supervisor said the striped bass population reductions in the Roanoke River are concerning.

“We are working to understand the mechanisms that have led to the decline in the striped bass populations in the Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound,” Ricks said in a release. “We will also continue to stock striped bass this year in the lower Roanoke River and Albemarle Sound in cooperation with the DMF. We will assess stocking efficacy as striped bass return to the spawning grounds over the next three-to-five years.”

Wildlife officials will assess the next striped bass harvest season before the March 1, 2026 opening. Additional information is available on commission’s striped bass species web page.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking public comments on the 2025-26 migratory game bird hunting season.

Comments on hunting season dates for waterfowl, webless migratory species and extended falconry will be accepted through 5 p.m. March 2.

Dates being considered include compensatory days for waterfowl and webless migratory species, according to a commission release.

Comments may be made at the agency’s online comment portal.

All online comments will be considered at the wildlife resource commissioners’ April 17 business meeting in Raleigh. Details about the meeting will be posted on the agency’s website when available.

More information for the 2025-26 season are available online at the following links:

• Extended Falconry Guidelines
• Gun Season Frameworks
• Goose and Ducky Hunting Zones

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is hosting a series of public forums on its proposal to allow people who do not have state-issued hunting, fishing or trapping licenses access to state game lands, shooting ranges and boating access areas.

The proposed Conservation Access Pass would grant non-license holders access to and use of more than 2 million acres of state game lands, five state wildlife-owned and managed shooting ranges, and more than 250 boating access areas to more than 100 bodies of water for non-registered vessel owners.

The pass would allow those who do not have a state Wildlife Resources Commission-issued license to carry out a variety of activities on state-owned and -managed game lands, including hiking, birdwatching, biking, camping, dog walking, geocaching, and foraging, according to the commission’s website.

Pass holders would also be allowed to paddle non-motorized vessels from boat accesses and target shoot at state-managed shooting ranges.

Commission representatives will explain what is under consideration, answer questions, and gather feedback from attendees on the proposed pass program at these regional forums.

The forum in eastern North Carolina is set for 7-9 p.m. Feb. 25 at Pitt Community College, 169 Bulldog Run, Winterville.

A virtual forum will be hosted 6-8 p.m. March 4. Registration is available online.

Virtual forums will be recorded and posted to the commission’s YouTube channel. Comments and questions may be submitted online.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is considering closing the recreational harvest of spotted seatrout in inland and joint fishing waters May 1 – June 15.

The commission last week agreed that a temporary rule closing harvest of spotted seatrout by hook-and-line fishing, “will help avoid public confusion” after the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries decided to close commercial and recreational spotted seatrout harvest in coastal and joint waters because of widespread cold stun events, according to a release.

“Because the Wildlife Commission does not have proclamation authority and we have to work through the rulemaking process, the earliest this would be effective is May 1, 2025,” Christian Waters, commission chief deputy director, said in the release. “Anglers concerned about spotted seatrout mortality may want to target other species.”

Related: Division closes spotted seatrout season because of cold

The commission will hold a virtual public hearing at 2 p.m. Feb. 27 about the proposed temporary rule. Pre-registration is required.

A public comment period on the proposed rule will close March 14. Comments may be submitted online through the commissions Proposed Regulations webpage; emailed to  regulations@ncwildlife.org; or mailed to: Rule-making Coordinator, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1701. 

The manatee rescued from a Tar River canal last fall is healthy and back in the wilds of Florida’s Gulf Coast waters.

The 9-foot female is the first documented case of a successful manatee rescue in North Carolina.

The manatee, aptly nicknamed Pamlico, was released on Thursday at a popular “warm up station” in Apollo Beach on Florida’s Tampa Bay after being medically cleared by SeaWorld Orlando and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The discharge canal where she was released is a state and federally designated manatee sanctuary that includes The TECO Manatee Viewing Center.

Pamlico was found stranded last November at a Greenville Utilities Commission’s wastewater treatment plant outfall. She suffered from cold stress and boat strike-related injuries.

Her Nov. 18 rescue entailed a team effort that included officials with Fish and Wildlife Service, SeaWorld Orlando, Clearwater Marine Aquarium Research Institute, North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, North Carolina Aquariums, University of North Carolina Wilmington Marine Mammal Stranding Program, N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology and its College of Veterinary Medicine.

Pamlico remained in the care of SeaWorld Orlando’s manatee critical care facility until her release.

“This was an impressive team effort with organizations from North Carolina to Florida coming together to successfully rescue, transport, rehabilitate and release this manatee,” Fish and Wildlife Service’s Florida Manatee Recovery Lead Terri Calleson said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate the reports from the public as well as the heroic efforts of all of these partners who had a hand in helping return this manatee to the wild population.”

Fish and Wildlife Service staff were joined by those with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, SeaWorld Orlando and the TECO Manatee Viewing Center at Tampa Electric’s Big Bend Power Station in Pamlico’s release.

Manatees cannot survive for extended periods of time in water temperatures below 68°F.

Manatee sightings in North Carolina have been on the rise during warmer months, according to the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Marine Mammal Stranding Program.  

“As global climate change continues to create warmer ocean temperatures, this is creating more suitable habitat areas for manatees along the Atlantic coast, causing them to venture farther away from Florida,” Assistant Stranding Coordinator Alison Loftis said in a release. “However, this becomes a problem when water temperatures drop below 68°F. Water temperatures in the fall and winter can drop rapidly in North Carolina, trapping manatees in dangerously cold water and putting them at high risk of cold stress, as we saw in Pamlico’s case.” 

Feeding manatees or giving them water is illegal and may cause them to delay their migration south to warmer water. Manatees accustomed to being around people may lose their natural fear of boats and humans, which makes them more susceptible to harm.  

“There are ways that our communities can help protect manatees in North Carolina,” Loftis said. “Through valuable information collected from sighting reports, biologists can learn more about how manatees are using our waters and the best ways to protect them. Through community-based science, everyone can be part of manatee conservation by submitting manatee sighting information to researchers.” 

Reports of an injured or deceased manatee in North Carolina may be made by calling the 24-hour marine mammal stranding hotline at 910-515-7354.

Sightings of healthy manatees in the state may be submitted to the program. Submissions should include the manatee’s location and, if possible, photographs.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and in recognition of the continued struggle for civil rights, Coastal Review will not publish on Monday, Jan. 20.

Thinking about what you want to do with your state tax refund this year?

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is welcoming anyone filing a 2024 state tax return to donate some or all of their refund to the North Carolina Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.

This fund supports research and conservation management projects for the state’s most vulnerable wildlife populations.

“Funds donated using the tax-checkoff program amplify those provided by a federal grant for species of greatest conservation need (SGCN) in North Carolina,” Sara Schweitzer, assistant chief of the agency’s Wildlife Management Division, said in a release. “A $100 donation is matched by $186 in grants—truly boosting SGCN conservation in North Carolina. Our biologists and agency partners are working around the clock to enhance habitat and populations, especially those greatly affected by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina. The Eastern hellbender, bog turtle, gray bat, Carolina Northern flying squirrel, several high-elevation migratory birds, to name a few, have been greatly affected by the hurricane’s impacts. The matched funding from the tax check-off program will help conservation efforts immensely.”   

Projects supported by the fund include the development of diamondback terrapin surveys in coastal estuaries, habitat restoration for the bog turtle, Hickory Nut Gorge green salamander surveys, translocations of hellbenders to avoid direct impacts from in-stream dam removal projects, and use of audio-recording devices to detect vocalizing frogs in remote areas of the state’s Sandhills region.

Other projects supported by the tax check-off program are available online.

To participate, check Line 30 on your state income tax form. If filing through an online tax preparation software, enter the amount you wish to contribute when prompted to “N.C. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Fund.”

Direct donations may be made online.

In observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day and in recognition of the continued struggle for civil rights, Coastal Review will not publish on Monday, Jan. 20.

There’s almost something deceptive about walking through the newest addition to Holly Shelter Game Land.

Trees rising from sandy ground largely blanketed by a thick cover of pine needles and wind-rippling wiregrass deafen any sense you’re just a short way from U.S. Highway 17.

Ben Jones summed up the experience during a recent hike through a small slice of the tract referred to as the Sleepy Creek property, a 1,616-acre parcel where baby longleaf pine trees sprout in savannas, carnivorous plants thrive and dense brush coats the surface of pocosin wetlands.

“It feels like we are miles from civilization,” he said.

That’s the idea behind rerouting a stretch of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail from the side of U.S. 17 in Pender County near Surf City and tucking it on land safely away from the four-lane blacktop.

Jones is the Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail’s Coastal Crescent project manager and architect of the future section of trail, one that will link with nearly 20 miles of existing North Carolina trail snaking through the vast game land.

On a blustery cold day last week, Jones, Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail Associate Director Betsy Brown and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officials offered a tour of the portion of game land where the new trail is anticipated.

This is a particularly unique project, one where the plan is to steer hikers away from the gravel roadways that cut through the game land and onto natural surface defined by upland sand ridges, longleaf habitat and pocosin wetlands.

“We want to keep it wild,” Jones said.

The exception will be a boardwalk structure planned through a little more than a mile of pocosin. The walkway will be constructed of some type of fireproof material, perhaps precast concrete that can withstand fire from prescribed burns state wildlife officials will administer to manage the land.

The modern method for maintain longleaf pine forests is through controlled burns, which reduce hardwood growth and manage grasses and forbs in the understory. Fires are essential to longleaf habitats for a number of reasons, one being that longleaf pine seeds germinate on bare ground.

This habitat is essential to a variety of plants and animals, including federally threatened red-cockaded woodpeckers.

The Nature Conservancy acquired the Sleepy Creek property about two years ago, permanently conserving land that would have most likely been developed. The Nature Conservancy transferred ownership to the state Wildlife Resources Commission.

Growth along the U.S. 17 corridor between Wilmington and Jacksonville has exploded in the last couple of decades as demand for property along the coast has skyrocketed.

The roughly 64,000-acre game land sits almost half way between the two cities – 25 minutes from Wilmington and 30 minutes from Jacksonville.

While Holly Shelter is a draw for hunters of game ranging from whitetail deer to rabbit to turkey, it’s also a formidable hiking spot.

The new, natural trail will extend a little more than 3.5 miles through the game land addition, which will also be made available for public hunting.

Negotiations are underway to purchase an additional 45-acre tract surrounded by the game land. If plans go accordingly, that property will be the site of a primitive camp ground.

Brown said kiosks and signage explaining trail and hunting etiquette to help educate those groups on how to coexist will be installed at the trail head.

Hikers are urged to plan ahead, make sure they have sufficient supplies, including water, and check for hunting seasons before heading into the game land. Wildlife officials ask hikers to wear something blaze orange, whether it be a hat, vest or other attire, if traversing Holly Shelter during a hunting season.

The Mountains-to-Sea Trail stretches more than 1,100 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks.

The Coastal Crescent Trail gives its guests the opportunity to experience a portion of the Cape Fear Arch, an area tapped as having the greatest biological diversity on the East Coast north of Florida.

The Arch spans between Cape Lookout National Seashore, a barrier island system in Carteret County, and Cape Romain in South Carolina, and inland beyond Fayetteville to the Carolina Sandhills.

The Coastal Crescent Trail runs through Johnston, Sampson, Cumberland, Bladen, Pender and Onslow counties.

The segment (there are 18 total) of Mountains-to-Sea Trail included in Holly Shelter Game Land spans a little more than 90 miles. It includes 3.5 miles of trail, just over 9 miles of beach, about 5.5 miles of multi-use path, 19 miles of forest roads and a little more than 53 miles of paved road.

Jones said he did not have an exact timeframe on when the new rerouted trail will be open for hiking, though it is expected to be complete in fewer than five years.

The hundreds of cold-stunned sea turtles that washed ashore after temperatures fell earlier this month on the Outer Banks have been given a second chance.

Over the last few weeks, staff at the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation, or STAR, Center at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island have been caring for close to 600 sea turtles that were cold stunned, which happens when water temperatures quickly drop before sea turtles can migrate to warmer water. Cold stunning can lead to death if not treated. 

The Roanoke aquarium’s Animal Husbandry Curator Leslie Vegas told Coastal Review Thursday that most of the sea turtles are rescued in the Pamlico Sound. They enter the sound through inlets because they are foraging for food in the subaquatic vegetation, or seagrass, beds. A few wash up on the ocean side, but the vast majority are rescued from the sound.

Vegas is among the more than 135 aquarium staff and volunteers to care for the 553 cold-stunned sea turtles delivered to the aquarium between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7.

As of Dec. 17, the aquarium had received 576 sea turtles including the state’s most common species, the loggerhead, green and Kemp’s ridley, according to the aquarium.

“Because we are still ensuring our numbers are accurate, we don’t have exact species counts yet — and because the event is not technically over — but for this event so far, we have received approximately 580 turtles, with the most being 163 in one day,” Vegas said. So far, 399 turtles have been released as part of this event, some are being cared for at other facilities and about 50 arrived dead or died shortly after arrival.

As of Friday afternoon, the STAR Center was caring for 60 animals, and more releases were expected to take place in the coming weeks, Vegas said subsequently. With temperatures expected to drop again, aquarium staff are preparing for more cold-stunned turtles. 

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission manages the state’s sea turtles, which are protected under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“The great success in returning these turtles quickly to the wild is due to the combined efforts of many different volunteers and collaborators with the NCWRC Sea Turtle Project,” Commission biologist Matthew Godfrey said.

More than 20 different sea turtle project groups along the coast help monitor sea turtle nesting and stranding activities along the coast, including the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, or N.E.S.T, the National Park Service, North Carolina Aquariums, the College of Veterinary Medicine at N.C. State University, the Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service, and the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.

For this recent cold-stunned event, aquarium staff, the STAR Center, and N.E.S.T. volunteers worked with Cape Hatteras National Seashore, the Wildlife Resources Commission, the Outer Banks SPCA, area veterinarian clinics, Phideaux fishing vessel, and the U.S. Coast Guard Stations at Hatteras Inlet and Fort Macon worked together to care for and release the sea turtles.

“Sea turtles are important to coastal ecosystems,” and because sea turtles are endangered species, any efforts to protect them are important, Vegas said.

Green sea turtles use sea grass beds as feeding grounds and they eat the subaquatic vegetation itself. “Just like plants on land, the SAVs and sea grass beds require ‘maintenance’ and ‘pruning,’ which the sea turtles provide. Without that maintenance, it’s possible that those beds would suffer enough damage to not thrive,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles use oceanic coastal shorelines to nest and lay eggs and these nests provide stabilization and nutrients to an ecosystem that is often nutrient depleted. These nutrients support the minimal plant life that exists on dunes, which also aid in shoreline stabilization, she continued.

Vegas explained that cold stuns occur naturally.

 “If the decrease in temperature is gradual, the turtles will naturally migrate to southern waters, but if there’s a rapid decrease, the turtles miss the environmental cue to migrate, and the stunning event occurs,” she said.

Sea turtles are exothermic and they cannot regulate their own body temperatures. When the temperature drops, typically below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the sea turtles become weak and lethargic, sometimes appearing deceased due to their extreme inactivity and lethargy. The turtles usually float to the water’s surface and from there, winds, tides or both can wash the turtles onto the shore, she added. Cold-stun events have been documented since the 1800s, and because it is not preventable, the response to these events is human intervention and rehabilitation to rescue as many as possible.

When temperatures drop, “our partners with the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles, the National Park Service, and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission scout the soundside shore for turtles and transport them to us at the aquarium,” Vegas said.

NEST Director Jerrica Rea told Coastal Review that the volunteer-run nonprofit organization is thankful for partners in the NPS, ferry system and aquarium.

“Without the collective work from everyone, managing an event like this would not be possible,’ Rea said.

During the cold-stun season that takes place from December to around March, NEST volunteers patrol the soundside waters of Hatteras Island looking for sea turtles.

“We monitor different things like wind direction and water temperature to determine when the turtles may start to struggle. Sea turtles will generally migrate to warmer waters as our water cools in winter but occasionally we will have a perfect storm like this event,” Rea said, referring to the cold-stunning from earlier this month.

The sea turtles are typically juveniles who are content to feed in sound waters and don’t get the cue to leave when the temperature goes from warm to cold quickly. The sudden drop in temperature and the prolonged nature of it led to NEST finding over 560 sea turtles in one week.

Those turtles are taken to a staging site in Buxton where NEST volunteers take measurements, photos and document them, Rea said. They are then transported to STAR center at the aquarium, a more than 100-mile round trip ride.

“As an all volunteer organization, we are extremely proud of the efforts from our cold stun team. They work in the worst conditions-rain, snow, wind and freezing temperatures. We have over 20 patrol responders, 50 staging site volunteers and many more transporters,” Rea said. “The dedication our volunteers have to rescuing sea turtles is indescribable. It’s an honor to be part of such an incredible team and to see the community come together to help this endangered species.”

Turtle triage, treatment

Once the turtle arrives at the aquarium, staff administer fluid therapy since the turtles have likely been exposed and may have become dehydrated while stunned.

The length, width and weight of each sea turtle is recorded as well as any abnormalities or injuries. Blood work determines if there are nutritional or other deficiencies, like organ impairment. Because their organs are not functioning optimally while stunned, additional medication is not typically dispensed until they are gradually brought to healthy, warm temperatures, Vegas explained.

Bringing sea turtles up to the right temperature cannot happen fast, either. For this process, the turtles are moved to different sections of the aquarium, each set at a slightly warmer temperature, to ensure that the warming is gradual.

The Roanoke Island aquarium uses an incident command system and emergency response in the form of triage, like how humans are triaged in emergency care, to rehabilitate the sea turtles.

“We split the turtles up based on the level of care necessary to release them, as well as by species and size. Some species can be housed together and some cannot. In an event this large, those that are most likely to survive are prioritized to maximize our number of turtles released,” Vegas said. “We provide supportive care to those with more complicated medical issues until we can devote more time to them, after healthier turtles are released.”

The sea turtles that only needed to be warmed up were released within two to four days of rescue. “The more complicated medical cases could be here for weeks or months depending on their rate of progress and the care they may require,” Vegas said.

“If the individual turtle has additional medical needs, we keep the turtle in house for treatment, to go through the full rehabilitation process that addresses their specific medical needs,” Vegas added, but if no other health issues are identified beyond cold stunning, the turtles are released to the Gulf Stream as quickly as possible after they are at temperature, their bloodwork is cleared by veterinary staff, and they exhibit normal sea turtle behaviors.

“The releases are made possible through our relationship with the U.S. Coast Guard at Cape Hatteras, who are kind enough to transport our turtles to the Gulf Stream,” Vegas said.

The incident command system ensures that all departments within the aquarium are engaged to provide excellent turtle care and supportive care for humans,” Vegas said.

“This event involved many partners and staff, and that has been the highlight of it all for me. Seeing the dedication and teamwork that was fostered, along with the animals that were saved, are the things we are most proud to share,” Vegas said.

Sea turtles that appear still or sluggish in the sound water or on a beach during winter months should not be pushed back into the water or moved. Report any turtles under duress to the Sea Turtle Stranding Hotline via N.E.S.T. at 252-441-8622.

The N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island operates under the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s Sea Turtle Permit No. 24ST46.

Coastal Review will not publish Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in observance of the Christmas holiday.

The state agency “dedicated to the conservation and wise management of fish and wildlife, and the regulation of inland fishing, hunting, trapping and boating regulations” will be under new leadership effective Jan. 1, 2025.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission announced Thursday after its commissioners’ business meeting that Michael Kyle Briggs had been selected to serve as the new executive director. Commissioners help create and maintain laws and regulations for governing hunting, fishing and boating activities.

Previously chief deputy director for the agency, Briggs will fill the role being vacated by outgoing executive director Cameron Ingram. Ingram, who has been with the commission since 1997, became executive director in August 2020. He announced in September his plans to retire effective Dec. 31.

As executive director, Briggs will oversee the agency’s 14 divisions and offices and its around 700 permanent employees, as well as the annual operating budget of about $110 million.

“I’m honored and delighted by the opportunity to be the agency’s Executive Director,” Briggs said in a statement. “I look forward to leading the agency’s dedicated and knowledgeable staff who demonstrate their commitment on a daily basis to conserving our state’s fish and wildlife resources.”

In his most recent position as chief deputy director, Briggs oversaw the agency’s day-to-day operations as well as led the agency’s law enforcement, wildlife management, inland fisheries and habitat conservation divisions and a newly established genetics program.

“Having served as Chief Deputy Director for the past two Executive Directors, Kyle’s extensive knowledge of the innerworkings of the agency puts him in a unique position to transition into the executive director role with ease,” the agency’s commission chairman, Monty Crump, said in a statement. “Under his management, we look forward to the agency’s continued sound scientific approach to management of the state’s fish and wildlife resources.”

A native of Lexington, Briggs, 54, resides in Raleigh with his wife, Allison. Their children Kayleigh and Noah are both in college. Briggs holds a bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife science from North Carolina State University. Briggs began his career with the agency in 1994 as an inland fisheries technician at the Pisgah Forest Hatchery, now known as the agency’s Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery.

“It has been an honor and privilege to work alongside Kyle during my tenure,” Ingram said. “His understanding of the science behind sound management practices for fish and wildlife, as well as his experience and perspective as an avid angler and hunter puts him in an exceptional position to lead the agency’s in fulfilling its mission to conserve North Carolina’s wildlife resources and their habitats and provide programs and opportunities that allow outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy wildlife-associated recreation.”

The commission maintains more than 2 million acres of public lands for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation, operates six fish hatcheries for stocking public waters, maintains nine shooting ranges, provides hundreds of free boating access areas and publicly accessible places to fish on more than 100 different bodies of water, and offering free hunter education and recreational boating safety courses.

​Second of two parts. Read Part 1.

By the time Chase Luker pointed the headlights of his king cab truck down a narrow country road that returned to Columbia, nighttime blanketed rural Tyrrell County.

A hunter safety specialist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, Luker had spent his evening with Coastal Review meandering along farm tracks on private land, with permission, and the dirt lanes of the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, to catch a glimpse of American black bears.​

As the unofficial tour of Tyrrell County came to a close, Luker said that he’d never met anyone who hates bears.

“Everybody loves bears, but the people that love them the most are the people that hunt them,” Luker said, adding the hunters “care a lot about the bears and what they can do to protect the species.”

Bears also seem to be a source of pride for Tyrrell County residents and businesses. During an early dinner at the Mexican grill downtown earlier that day, two locals shared photos of bear sightings.

A longtime hunter, Luker manages the 13-county District 1 that spans from Currituck to Carteret County and Greene County is the farthest county west. He also enjoys writing, carving decoys and, when he has time, guiding private hunting tours.

Luker noted that 150 years ago “we didn’t use canola oil, butter, we used bear fat, bear grease, rendered down.” He said there are numerous layers involved in what draws people to bear hunting. There’s a lot of legends surrounding black bears, and it’s “part of our American fabric.”

Black bear hunting heritage in North Carolina dates back to early Native Americans and was adopted by early colonial settlers, “Bear hunting continues to be an important tradition in North Carolina, bringing together friends and families, providing food for the table, and teaching outdoor and naturalist skills, the commission’s Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel told Coastal Review recently.

She was the black bear and furbearer biologist, when she was responsible for managing and conserving black bears and 17 furbearer species, from 2007 until earlier this year, when she took on her current role.

“For decades, most bear hunters used the assistance of trained hounds to pick up the scent of a bear and track it,” Olfenbuttel continued. “In fact, the official state dog of North Carolina is the Plott hound, which was bred for hunting bears in North Carolina starting in the early 1800s.”

For a long time, the state’s black bear population suffered. “Black bears were once restricted to remote areas and reached very low population levels in the mid-1900s,” according to the agency. Hunters and conservationists pushed for bear hunting regulations beginning in the 1930s and for the state to establish a wildlife resources agency to manage wildlife and enforce wildlife laws.

Hunters joined in the conservation effort when the commission began managing the species in the 1970s, she said. The bear hunting community contributed by providing data needed to make science-based management decisions, and helped fund conservation and research efforts through hunting license sales and the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, which imposes an excise tax on firearms and ammunition.

Olfenbuttel added that “The restoration of black bears is also due to the reforestation that occurred, starting in the 1930s, and due to changes in human attitudes toward bears, as well as the remarkable adaptability of black bears. Black bears have adapted well to urbanization, human development and habitat fragmentation,” she said.

Public response

The North Carolina Bear Hunting Association, which formed in 1985, and past hunting clubs have worked with the agency over the decades, including on designating more thousands of acres of black bear sanctuaries, according to a March 2023 letter on its social media page.

In the letter, the organization notes that it has taken issue with how the agency has handled past investigations into illegal poaching, and the fact that the commission has online public hearing because “the anti-community has learned to take advantage of on-line public hearings and meetings.” The online meetings were in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2021-22 session, those who are against bear hunting announced their support of a bill to “disapprove a rule of the Wildlife Resources Commission allowing hunting of bears in certain areas previously managed as bear sanctuaries.” The bill had a first reading but didn’t go anywhere after being referred to the house rules committee.

The bill was in response to the commission changing in February 2022 the title of “designated bear sanctuaries” to “bear management areas” and allow permitted bear hunting in three western lands previous off limits.

The commission made the choice to open up a permitted season to stabilize the growing bear population in the western part of the state.

Bear Defenders said on its its website that on Feb. 25, 2022, “Despite the overwhelming public opposition that included 2,744 comments, 86% percent in opposition, and our petition with over 7,600 signatures, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) voted unanimously to open up the Pisgah, Panthertown-Bonas Defeat, and Standing Indian Bear Sanctuaries to bear hunting and hunting with dogs. In addition, they approved a regulation that changed the term ‘designated bear sanctuary’ to “‘designated bear management area.'”

During a public comment hearing in January 2022, Olfenbuttel said that with a restored and increasing bear population coupled with a diverse and increasing human population and their associated development, “the Commission recognized the need to change from restoration efforts to management efforts to ensure the long-term viability of the bear population as well as assure  and maybe even increase acceptance and support for the restored bear population to do so require developing a statewide Black Bear management plan.”

She added that the bear population had nearly doubled in size between 2005 and 2022, and one reason the commission has not been able to stabilize the bear population is that areas in the mountains where hunting is not permitted are increasing largely due to development.

In Defense of Animals said in a press release at the time that, “Despite public outcry, North Carolina has approved the violent killing of black bears in three of the state’s bear sanctuaries. With few exceptions, black bears have been protected throughout their natural habitats in North Carolina for decades. Thankfully, a new bill has been introduced to stop these shortsighted plans. We must urge North Carolina legislators to support House Bill 1072 to save vulnerable bear populations to agonizing deaths.”

Regulated bear hunting

With the state bear population recovered, Olfenbuttel said the commission’s objective is to stabilize the population so that growth is no more than 0-1%. “Basically, we want to maintain the number of bears we currently have on the landscape, with the bear population neither increasing or decreasing.”

She said that regulated bear hunting is an effective way to keep the bears healthy and reinforce a bear’s natural fear of humans, while allowing the animal to be used, particularly for its meat.

A survey of hunters shows that 99.6% use the bear meat​ they harvest, Olfenbuttel explained. Mostly they feed their household, share the meat or donate it.

“I estimated that the annual regulated bear hunting season provides over 610,000 plates of food for people, which is especially helpful for those North Carolinians that live in food deserts or who are on fixed incomes and have limited financial resources to purchase meat from a store,” she said. Adding that doesn’t account for other ways hunters use a harvested bear, such as rendering the fat, eating the organ meat, and using the bones to make bone broth.

She said that with the commission’s success in recovering the bear population, “we are seeing increased interest from all over North America, and beyond, to hunt bears in North Carolina, partly due to the number of black bears we have, but also due to the size of our bears.”

And bear hunting in eastern North Carolina has definitely grown in the last five or six years.

Luker has led guided hunting tours in the past. “There’s not much to do in Hyde and Tyrrell counties” and he stumbled across the opportunity. Though he enjoys guiding, he said the commission is his priority and “really believes in what the agency does.” In a quick exchange last week, he mentioned that he hasn’t had time to lead any tours this year.

While Luker drove during that recent evening through miles and miles of uninhabited, protected lands, he said that coastal North Carolina wasn’t even on the radar as a destination for black bear hunting until the last five or six years.

Some influential hunters were invited to the area, had a successful trip and put it on social media, and the industry has grown.

There are several outfitters that offer guided hunts on the coast, costing anywhere from $2,000 to $15,000 per person, and in some cases more. The amount depends on the company, length of hunt – usually from one to five days — and what is included in the package like lodging or meals.

Luker said the rates haven’t always been that way, just in the last four or five years, but seem to be leveling out. The guided hunts bring in what he called “high-net-worth” clients who “want to do something that they can’t do anywhere else in the world.” It’s becoming an economic driver.

“They contribute so much money to the local economy here,” he said.

License, e-stamp required

Luker reiterated that the hunter needs a big game license, which can be purchased through Wildlife Resources Commission, and a bear management electronic stamp, or e-stamp.

The license holder is only permitted to take one black bear a season. The bear must be more than 75 pounds and sows, or female bears, with cubs are off limits. The hunter must notify the commission of their take by calling 1-800-I-Got-One.

Bear hunting isn’t like deer hunting, though. “It’s not tricky,” he said. “Bears have a great nose, but they can’t see. Camouflage is not an important aspect of the hunt. You’ve got to wear blaze orange, and you have got to bring a firearm that’s capable of taking the animal clean.”

Luker said that for most hunts offered by an outfitter, the guide usually brings five to 10 hunters to approved land early and gets them ready to hunt by 30 minutes before dawn, when hunting is allowed to begin.

Some outfitters have a processing facility where they can weigh and dress the animal, though sometimes a hunter will remove internal organs on-site before moving the bear to make it lighter.

The hunt must be in a designated bear management area and the hunter must use approved methods only during bear hunting season, which is usually announced about nine months before it starts. Once the guides know the dates, the clients are contacted and told what to expect and what to bring.

“Generally, about every 10 years, our agency will do a bear management plan and make recommendations,” Luker said, but staff use data from year to year to establish the season.

Olfenbuttel is an author of the management plan, the most recent written while she was black bear and furbearer biologist from 2007 to 2024, and in the game and furbearer program.

She said the program works to ensure the long-term viability and sustained harvest of 71 game and furbearer species by providing the best possible scientific information on the status and management of each species and its habitats so that regulations and management are based on objective data and participate in planning and coordination of management directives based on sound science.

“For eastern North Carolina, that means monitoring the bear population using various metrics and surveys, such as harvest rates, age-at-harvest, sex ratio of harvest, number of vehicle-bear collisions, number of human-bear conflicts, as well as conducting bear research,” she said.

The commission is currently estimating the density and population of black bears across the 37 counties making up the Coastal Plain Bear Management Unit, which Olfenbuttel said is the first time the agency had conducted a study of this scale in eastern North Carolina for data to inform future bear management.

“The program uses all the data collected from multiple sources to monitor the status of the bear population and make informed, science-based management recommendations,” Olfenbuttel continued.

Because of regulated hunting, Olfenbuttel said the commission is meeting bear population objectives in eastern North Carolina, but as development increases, people and bears are living more closely together.

“Since bears can easily adapt to living near or in communities and neighborhoods, it will become increasingly common for people to see a bear in their neighborhoods and towns,” she continued. “This is normal, but people can do their part to live responsibly with bears by following the BearWise Basics, which mainly involves securing bird feeders, garbage, and not feeding or approaching bears.”

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday this week in recognition of the Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day holidays, respectively.

First of two parts.

The American black bear population is healthy on the North Carolina coast, but that hasn’t always been the case.

The species was in jeopardy in the 1900s for multiple reasons, but particularly habitat loss, and by the mid-1900s, bears could only be found in the most remote coastal swamps and mountains, according to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages the species.

Since the commission stepped in 50 years ago, the population has been restored to nearly its historic range, Game Mammals and Surveys Supervisor Colleen Olfenbuttel recently explained to Coastal Review.

“The successful recovery of North Carolina’s black bear population was primarily due to conservation and research efforts implemented by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission from the 1970s to present,” she said.

The only kind of bear in the state — and in eastern U.S. — these omnivores are mostly found in the mountains and on the coast. In eastern North Carolina, bears usually prefer uninhabited lowland hardwoods, swamps and pocosins.

Where bears outnumber people

After an early dinner at the Mexican grill in Columbia and chat with the locals about bear sightings, Coastal Review met with Chase Luker, a hunter safety specialist with the commission, at the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge visitor center.

The goal was to cruise around the refuge, which has one of the largest concentrations of black bears found in the United States, according to its website, and some farmland, with permission, with the hope to see bears in their coastal habitat.

Luker, as he steered his king cab truck out of the parking lot and toward the refuge, said “this is Tyrrell County, where bears outnumber people two to one, but there’s only about 3,500 people in the county,” and it’s the same story for Hyde County. The bears probably outnumber people there two to one, as well.

Dusk is the best time of day to see a bear because, “Bears are smart,” Luker said. They have an aversion to humans because humans “mean trouble,” and “just try to avoid confrontation. But late in the day, you’ll see bears starting to come into these fields. They’ll stay in them as long as they possibly can, and will make their way out around daybreak.”

Luker is originally from Alabama, but has been in eastern North Carolina for decades. He has managed youth programs in the region and is currently specialist for the hunter safety program’s 13-county District 1, which covers the northeastern quarter of the state, from Currituck County south to Carteret County and Greene County being the farthest west. The program provides free firearm safety courses while it emphasizes ethics and responsibility, conservation and wildlife management, wildlife identification, survival and first aid, specialty hunting and tree stand safety, the website states.

Luker cruised down a narrow country road before turning onto a wide gravel lane that seemed to stretch for miles. As dusk crept over the refuge, he expertly maneuvered his truck along the network of bumpy dirt paths, taking turns only a local would know. His familiarity with the area also is in part because he’s led hunting tours on nearby private land for an outdoor experience business.

He stopped every 15 to 20 minutes to check out the different paw prints on the dirt tracks, or slow down with hopes to catch a bear as it pops out of the woods or skitters down a tree.

During one of these stops, he nodded toward a stretch of land the size of a few football fields and explained that the breeding season for black bears is in May and June. During that window, bears are everywhere. He added that when people spot a bear limping, it’s usually not because the bear has been run over or been caught in a trap. That bear has most likely been defeated in a fight.

“When they fight, they fight with their front feet, and they bite and chew,” and it takes them a few months to heal, he said.

After breeding, the sows, or female bears, have delayed implantation, which means the egg is fertilized but doesn’t begin to develop until late fall. The bears give birth in January or February, according to the agency.

Species management

The Wildlife Resources Commission manages all aspects of the species, including conservation measures, hunting regulations and seasons, as well as research, which has focused on bear habitat use and home ranges, procedures for estimating bear populations and reducing vehicle collisions.

Olfenbuttel helped write the agency’s current bear management plan that outlines how regulated hunting is key to achieving and maintaining black bear population objectives.

The current stated goal for the agency is to “use science-based decision making and biologically-sound management principles to manage black bear populations in balance with available habitats and human expectations to assure long-term existence and hunting opportunities.”

Olfenbuttel has been in the wildlife profession for nearly 30 years. Before taking on her current supervisor role earlier this year, she had been the black bear and furbearer biologist since 2007. She earned her bachelor’s in wildlife biology from Ohio University and master’s in wildlife management from Virginia Tech, and has been in the wildlife profession for nearly 30 years.

The commission has several rules the hunter must follow, which are listed on the commission’s website. Among those is a prohibition on taking sows with cubs or bears weighing less than 75 pounds.

Hunters must have a bear e-stamp, in addition to a hunting license and big game hunting privileges. “Bag limit is one bear, you must report your bear, and you must submit the premolar (tooth) from your harvested bear to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, in addition to other requirements and restrictions,” Olfenbuttel said, adding that there are further restrictions on game lands for hunting bears.

The commission determines rules and dates for hunting season, which is this time of year but exact dates vary by county. The commission allowed hunting for a few weeks earlier this month in Camden, Chowan, Pasquotank, Currituck, Gates, Perquimans, Beaufort, Bertie, Craven, Hertford, Jones, Martin, Washington, Dare, Hyde and Tyrrell counties and will reopen the season Dec. 14-29.

For Bladen, Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico Pender, Robeson and Sampson counties, season is Nov. 11 to Jan. 1.

“Unlike other causes of bear mortality, such as vehicle collisions or disease, we can regulate levels of hunting mortality,” Olfenbuttel said, adding that regulated hunting is the primary cause of bear mortality, “and that is good, as we can control harvest levels based on our bear population objectives, plus the bear can be utilized by the hunter, hunting is a quick and humane death, unlike disease or starvation, and a bear dying from vehicle collision may also result in a person being injured or killed.”

When the commission began managing the bear population in the 1970s, there was “direct cooperation and help from bear hunters,” Olfenbuttel said.

Hunters help fund conservation and research efforts through hunting license sales and the Pittman-Robertson Act of 1937, which imposes an excise tax on firearms and ammunition, as well as contributed data needed to make science-based management decisions.

Bear hunters also advocated for increased regulations on bear hunting, such as establishing bag limits, season lengths, minimum weight limits and license requirements, to assure the sustainable harvest of the bear population for generations to come.

Most recently, bear hunters joined the commission in calling for the state law that now requires hunters to submit the premolar tooth from their harvested bear, so that agency can use the data to determine its age at harvest and monitor bear population growth trends, Olfenbuttel said.

Luker said that “Hunting is the most reasonable conservation tool. Hunters are citizen-scientists on the ground, they know what’s going on out here. When they harvest a bear, they’re more than happy to send any hair samples, teeth samples, whatever’s needed.”

While bear hunting helps conserve the population, it also helps farmers.

Black bears in eastern North Carolina can cause tremendous agricultural crop damage and financial losses to a farmer, Olfenbuttel said. Regulated hunting allows farmers to offset their financial losses and address crop damage by having licensed hunters pay to access their land and harvest some of these bears.

“The regulated hunting season and the hunting leases that bear hunters are willing to pay landowners and farmers, helps maintain tolerance for bear populations on the agricultural landscape,” she explained.

Visible damage

As Luker guided his truck along the well-worn paths, he pointed out several times during that evening just how much destruction a bear can cause to crops.

“That was corn right there,” he said while pointing out the window to where bears had obliterated several rows of the crop. The closer the land was to the bear sanctuary, the more corn the bears ate.

“Bears typically don’t eat beans but they love corn, and as that corn grows, bears will move into the fields and not leave until the corn is picked,” he said. “It’s shaded. There are no bugs in there because of the pesticides and when they eat the corn, they get all the moisture they need, all the water they need.”

It’s a point of contention.

“Farmers can’t stand it, and I can understand why. Sometimes you can expect up to 20% loss.” For example, if a farmer plants 100 acres of corn, and expects to yield 200 bushels an acre at $5 a bushel, a 20% loss is substantial.

“The margins aren’t super high in farming, and bears literally eat into it,” Luker said.

He said many of the regional outfitters have working relationships with landowners who allow guided hunts on their property.

Next in the series: Bear hunting as heritage, conservation

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Thursday and Friday this week in recognition of the Thanksgiving and Native American Heritage Day holidays, respectively.

Thorough research needs to be done on how wheat straw bales might affect oceanfront habitat before the state allows them to be used as an alternative to sand fencing, a state wildlife official said.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has repeatedly stated its concerns in recent years about straw bales being used as a tool to protect and build up oceanfront dunes, Maria Dunn said in a recent meeting of the state Coastal Resources Commission.

Dunn, who is with Wildlife Resources Commission’s Habitat Conservation Program, said that the agency understands the desire to try and maintain shorelines, but pointed out what she said are “significant differences” between traditional sand fencing and bales.

“We have not objected to traditional use of sand-fencing material as long as installation was done in a manner to effectively collect wind-blown sand and not impede or block areas of the shore for public use and wildlife habitat,” Dunn said at the coastal commission’s Nov. 13 meeting. “Appropriate installation includes the location along the appropriate area of the beach profile, orientation and alignment of fencing, distance between fencing, and length of fencing down the beach profile.”

The proposed rule change the coastal commission approved in April establishes specific guidelines for where and how bales may be placed on a beachfront.

But the potential impacts to shoreline habitat and the animals, including endangered species and plants, that rely on that sandy habitat, remain grossly understudied, Dunn said.

“It was asked if research was available on how bales impact wildlife resources on habitats on ocean shorelines,” she said. “But since they are not permitted on any other Atlantic shoreline’s state shore there is no research or data available to share with you.”

The rule amendment was introduced as a way to help save permittees from waiting for sand fencing to become available during times when it is in high demand.

But unlike traditional sand fencing, straw bales could potentially introduce invasive and nonnative ocean shoreline plant species to shores, influence sand temperatures and, when initially installed, take up 48 times the area that traditional sand fencing uses, Dunn said.

Under the proposed rule amendment, bales cannot be placed in sections more than 10 feet long, 2 feet wide and 3 feet high and ties or binding must be removed from the bales. A permittee must repair or remove damaged, nonfunctioning, or bales sections or stakes moved from the alignment in which they were authorized.

Only local governments, state and federal agencies and large, oceanfront homeowners associations would be permitted to use bales.

A state Division of Coastal Management official told the Coastal Resources Commission in August that the division does not expect a significant uptick in the use of straw bales because they tend to cost more than traditional sand fencing, would need to be replaced more frequently than fencing, and the verdict is still out on how efficiently bales trap sand.

Ocean Isle Beach became the first in the state to test straw bales on a portion of its ocean shore in 2023.

Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith told Coastal Review in late August that the bales worked well, were cheaper than sand fencing and easily accessible during a time when the town could not get sand fencing because of high demand.

Dunn said that the town’s pilot program was monitored by little more than photographic documentation and some surface temperature readings.

There was no designed, controlled experiment comparing different bale installments to traditional sand fencing to see which application best collected windblown said, she said.

“We would recommend that such an experiment is designed with input from state and federal agencies to determine the best type of sand management tools to collect sand for dune structure while minimizing impacts to wildlife resources,” Dunn said.

Smith said in a telephone interview Tuesday afternoon that she never saw a Wildlife Resources Commission representative visit the island to check sand temperatures at turtle nests or conduct other monitoring.

“On any decision we have to make we can always say ‘what if,’” Smith said. “She has no evidence of some of those what-ifs. I don’t think anybody wants to do any environmental damage.”

The town is working on a dune project that will begin sometime this winter. Since the proposed rule amendments have not been made formative, the town has opted to use traditional sand fencing “to move our project along and get it permitted,” Smith said.

Sand temperatures play a significant role in determining the sex of sea turtles in a nest. Dunn said that a half-degree variation can change how many males or females are within a nest and possibly whether a nest remains viable.

Temperatures were not taken at sea turtle nest cavity depths in Ocean Isle Beach, she said.

“We don’t want to artificially create more females,” said Deb Allen, Ocean Isle Beach Sea Turtle Protection Organization coordinator. “We need a balance of males to females.”

Allen pointed to studies that show when nests incubate at higher temperatures it can affect the physical and cognitive abilities of hatchlings, slowing them in their ability to make it from the shore to the ocean.

“We want them to come out of that nest and we want them to crawl to that ocean as fast as possible,” she said.

The coastal commission in August unanimously approved the fiscal impact analysis of the proposed rule. The fiscal analysis measures how a rule may affect a government’s revenue and expenditures to help prepare for or prevent budget shortfalls.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, and Office of State Budget and Management also approved the fiscal analysis.

A public hearing on the proposed amended rule was held Oct. 30 in Morehead City. The public comment period on the rule ends December 2.

The division has not yet received comments from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, according to its public information officer, Christy Simmons.

The wildlife service did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

Division officials anticipate that the amended rule will become effective April 1, 2025.

Pender County has become the latest local government to adopt rules prohibiting boat owners from leaving abandoned and derelict vessels in public waterways.

County commissioners on Monday unanimously adopted an ordinance amendment that allows the Pender County Sheriff’s Office to enforce the removal of abandoned and junk boats in waters within that office’s jurisdiction.

A boat owner will be given a 30-day notice to remove a derelict or abandoned vessel. If the owner does not remove the boat within that timeframe, the county will notify the state Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina Coastal Federation that the boat is ready for removal.

The ordinance amendment aligns with that of Surf City, where elected officials agreed earlier this year to enact similar rules.

Pender County Planning and Community Development Director Daniel Adams explained to commissioners Monday that the ordinance amendment would prevent a boat owner from moving his or her boat from water within one jurisdiction to another to avoid fronting the costs to have it removed.

Thus was the case earlier this year, when a boat owner was notified by Surf City law enforcement that his boat would have to be pulled from public waters within that town’s jurisdiction. 

The owner moved the boat outside of town limits and into a public waterway in the county, Adams said.

In 2020, the Wildlife Resources Commission was given legislative authority to investigate, inspect and remove abandoned and derelict vessels.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, has since that same year received more than $3 million in state and federal funds to remove junked vessels and hundreds of tons of marine debris littering coastal marsh lands and cluttering spoil islands. 

The recent reclassification of the red-cockaded woodpecker from endangered to threatened came some 25 years earlier than initially anticipated.

Wildlife officials attribute the downlisting, announced Oct. 24, to widespread, collective efforts between government agencies and multiple organizations that have worked to restore and manage habitat on which the small birds depend.

But some conservation groups argue that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s decision prematurely removes protections for the species because its habitat remains fragmented, which keeps the birds isolated to certain areas, making them particularly vulnerable in a changing climate.

The red-cockaded woodpecker was listed as endangered in 1970 following decades of habitat loss – largely longleaf pine forests – to logging, fire suppression, urban development and agricultural sprawl. Those practices stripped the nation’s Southeastern landscape of longleaf pine forests from Virginia to Florida to Texas.

John Doresky, Fish and Wildlife Service red-cockaded woodpecker recovery coordinator, said the downlisting “speaks volumes” to the work that continues to be done on the ground to recuperate the birds’ habitat.

“What it says to me is that the scientific advisory committee that was put together that developed the recovery plan, their vision of how we needed to move forward was spot on,” he said.

Here in North Carolina, ongoing collaborations between state agencies, Department of Defense installations, and numerous conservation organizations are actively restoring longleaf pine forests.

Last year alone, the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission burned tens of thousands of acres for the sake of red-cockaded woodpecker habitat creation and restoration.

“The red-cockaded woodpecker is pretty nuanced in that it responds well to active management,” said Nick Shaver, the commission’s coastal eco-region supervisor. “If you create the habitat where it wants to be it will more than likely move there and that’s the reason for the success story. Lots of partnerships have been formed that benefit that critter and lots of land management has been done in the name of the red-cockaded woodpecker and they responded.”

Moving toward recovery

The downlisting means that protections are still in place for red-cockaded woodpeckers.

Under what is often called the “4(d) Rule,” which the Fish and Wildlife Service uses to issue regulations tailored to conserve a threatened species, land managers will continue to have to follow best management practices and rules established by state agencies, Doresky said.

But the rule somewhat loosens what have been historically restrictive land management practices, giving property managers some liberties they have not had these last 50 or so years – as long as the intention is to create old-growth forest habitat for the woodpeckers.

“Generally speaking, the protections remain the same as they were when (the woodpecker) was listed as endangered,” Doresky said.

Land managers will not have to go through some of the more laborious processes they did before to get approval to apply certain management tools such as prescribed fire and chemical applications.

For example, land managers who want to treat a landscape with chemicals have to ensure they’re not making an application of a chemical too caustic or apply it at the wrong time of the year.

Managers who choose to use prescribed burns or thinning to spur healthy pine forests with the goal of creating old growth, which is essential to red-cockaded woodpeckers, will not have to take as many cautions to protect and preserve each tree that has a woodpecker cavity.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers bore cavities into living pine trees, a process that takes the little birds, on average, about a year. These woodpeckers live in groups, or clusters, and help each other raise their young.

Red-cockaded woodpeckers prefer mature, longleaf pine forests that are generally more than 80 years old.

“Because the status is better we’re willing to accept some of those short-term potential risks,” Doresky explained. “We have enough tools now to stabilize and increase these activities in addition to these management strategies in the recovery plan. Once those are in place you’re really just waiting on time and you’re hoping that there isn’t some catastrophic event.”

Too soon?

Opponents of the downlisting say now is simply not the right time, particularly as the Southeast is experiencing more frequent, powerful coastal storms, sea level rise, and rising temperatures fueled by climate change.

According to an Oct. 24 Center for Biological Diversity release, Hurricane Helene destroyed 18 nest cavity trees in one area in Florida alone.

“The recovery of an endangered species is always something to celebrate but, in this case, it’s premature,” Ben Prater, Defenders of Wildlife Southeast program director, said in a statement. “It’s ironic that the decision to downlist has been made in the wake of one of the largest and most destructive storms to hit the Southeast in recorded history, fracturing crucial connections between red-cockaded woodpecker habitats. Decades of significant progress have been made to recover this species and manage habitats effectively — progress which could now be upended at a critical time.”

Defenders of Wildlife was among two dozen conservation groups that signed off on a 39-page letter in 2022 imploring the Fish and Wildlife Service to maintain the red-cockaded woodpeckers’ endangered status.

The letter, submitted on behalf of the groups by the Southern Environmental Law Center argued Fish and Wildlife had not justified downlisting the species

“While it’s encouraging that the service responded to many of our concerns by retaining more of the bird’s prior legal protections, the downlisting decision is still not based on the best interest of the species,” Southern Environmental Law Center Senior Attorney and Wildlife Program leader Ramona McGee said in a 2022 statement. “The service has not met its own scientific recovery plan criteria to justify loosening protections for this imperiled Southern icon.” 

The letter was signed by organizations in North Carolina, including Audubon North Carolina, North Carolina Sierra Club and North Carolina Wildlife Federation.

“These beautiful birds are making an incredible comeback thanks to the Endangered Species Act,” Will Harlan, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Decades of active management by local, state and federal agencies have paid off, but a lot more still needs to be done to protect the long-leaf pine forests these woodpeckers and hundreds of other species call home.”

The future for recovery

The red-cockaded woodpeckers’ new status is more than two decades ahead of when the scientific advisory committee that created the recovery plan for the species anticipated.

While that may be a testament to the effectiveness of the strategies included in the recovery plan, it’s no indication of when the woodpeckers could be delisted.

The delisting criteria for the species includes that they are no longer dependent on artificial cavity inserts, which are used to stabilize and increase populations. Inserts expedite the creation a tree cavity.

Cavities are critical to the red-cockaded woodpeckers’ survival.

“That, to me, is sort of the variable that makes the prediction hereafter almost impossible because almost every single population has false cavities that are sustaining these populations at probably 50%, maybe larger,” Doresky said. “So, trying to anticipate how long it will take for properties to get trees old enough and to no longer be dependent on those cavities that we put in, yeah, that’s a tough one.”

In North Carolina, multiple agencies are partners are working to expand longleaf pine forests, also referred to as stands, in the state by actively replacing what have been commercial loblolly pine forests, which are forests grown and harvested for commercial purposes, with longleaf pines.

But the longleaf pine is one of the more slow-growing pine trees, Shaver said, and they take decades to mature.

“You’re looking 50, 60 years for stands that we’re establishing right now to be mature,” he said. “But because of the vast effort of longleaf restoration that really kicked off 30 years ago, 40 years ago, those initial stands are going to be mature in 20, 30 years. The outlook is really good because the expansion of longleaf restoration across the southeast, as those trees grow up through time, it’s going to give more and more and more land for those birds to expand.”

Did you hear the one about the alligator?

An alligator walks into … a road, a pool, a miniature golf course, onto a beach, underneath a car, up to the front door of a storefront, by a back entrance of a police station.

Stop me if you read about this while perusing the headlines of your local newspaper, heard about it on the 6 o’clock news, or saw it plastered across social media platforms this past summer.

Alligators have made quite the splash (pun intended) in recent months here in southeastern North Carolina, where seemingly numerous public appearances by these living dinosaurs have produced dramatic headlines and videos shared not only across the state, but the country.

But these typically reclusive reptiles aren’t looking for all the attention they’ve been getting, experts say.

They just want to be left alone. Problem is, they’re being squeezed out of seclusion as housing developments and retail centers continue to crop up along the coast.

“The ever-growing population along the coast of North Carolina is the biggest threat to wildlife in general,” said John Harrelson, a wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission. “Habitat loss is the biggest threat to wildlife in general, not just alligators, and when people move in and we build communities in places that haven’t historically had people, then that leads to lots of interactions.”

And the more interactions that occur, the more comfortable alligators become around people.

Harrelson puts alligators into one of two categories: country alligators and city alligators.

Country alligators inhabit areas up the Northeast Cape Fear River. Those alligators generally try their best to steer clear of humans, he said.

But city alligators get used to seeing people and, just like squirrels, birds, deer and other animals, they become habituated, “realizing that people, for the most part, don’t mean them any harm and that there’s nothing to be worried about,” Harrelson said.

Think of it like a cost-benefit analysis where an alligator weighs the risk of being around people and decides whether the reward is worth the risk.

“And often times the reward is great enough,” Harrelson said.

While development strips away their natural habitat, it tends to provide pockets of prime real estate for alligators in the form of retention ponds.

Harrelson works in the commission’s District 4, which includes Brunswick County, and is home to a reported 30 scenic golf courses (think about all of the water hazards — well, not a hazard from a gator’s point of view — on just one of those courses).

Brunswick, Columbus, Craven, New Hanover, Onslow and Pender counties are home to the largest populations of American alligators in North Carolina and their turf runs from the state’s coastal plains to Texas.

With its barrier island beaches, proximity to Wilmington and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and its numerous golf courses, Brunswick County has become a draw for retirees who, for many, move in from areas where there are no alligators.

Pair that with the influx of tourists who flock to the county each summer – Oak Island’s population more than quintuples between May and August – and odds are high people are going to encounter alligators.

Boiling Spring Lakes Police Capt. Windy Hager knows that when tourism season picks up, so too do the number of calls going in to the Brunswick County town’s law enforcement center about alligator sightings.

“When it’s warmer (alligators) become more active and, when you’ve got people who are not familiar with alligators they get a little excited about, ‘Oh, there’s one in the lake!’ Well, yes, that’s where they live and that’s what we have to tell them a lot of times,” Hager said.

Hager has lived in the area more than 10 years. She’s accustomed to seeing alligators pretty regularly in their own habitat.

But one had to be removed from a swimming pool a couple of weeks ago and the unnamed storm that pummeled Brunswick County with catastrophic rainfall Sept. 16 means there’s a lot of water in places that were previously dry.

“I know that there’s two (alligators) in what used to be somebody’s front yard right now in the city because their front yard is flooded,” Hager said. “But they’re just doing their thing and the people who live there are giving them their space. The people are not messing with them and the alligators aren’t messing with the people so they’re sharing space right now.”

Two days before he spoke in a telephone interview with Coastal Review, Sunset Beach Police Animal Control Officer Bill Arp had removed a small alligator hanging out underneath a car.

“They’ll wind up in people’s garages and on people’s porches, underneath decks, under cars. We find them all over the place,” he said. “Unfortunately, because of such huge development down here, their habitat is starting to shrink and that’s what’s happening. People are calling us and wondering, ‘Why’s it under my car? Why are they on my porch? Why are they in my garage?’ Well, that’s why because the development is robbing them of their other habitat.”

Alligator Do’s and Don’ts

If an alligator settles in an area near you, wildlife and law enforcement officials have tips on how to safely cohabitate.

“A lot of people think, even with birds and deer, it’s nice to feed them,” Arp said. “But alligators, you don’t. Everybody knows an alligator is an apex predator. They’re nice to watch. They’re nice to take pictures of, but to feed them, that’s not a good idea.”

Remember what Harrelson said earlier in the story about city alligators?

“Individual people feeding alligators is the worst thing you can do,” he said. “Alligators are wild animals and they’ve got to work for their food. An easy meal means, ‘hey I don’t have to continue to fail and fail and make all these attempts when I’m not successful. I can just wait for this person to walk over and, if I approach them, they’re going to give me chicken or bread or marshmallows, a fish scrap or whatever else they’ve got.’ We deal with this all the time, particularly with folks who aren’t locals.”

It is illegal to feed alligators. It is also illegal to kill them.

American alligators are protected by the Endangered Species Act as threatened. In North Carolina, a permit is required to hunt alligators. The monthlong season is limited to population control at the request of municipalities in Brunswick, Carteret, Columbus, Craven, Hyde, Jones, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico, and Pender counties, according to the WRC website.

“The Commission does not plan to issue permits to take American alligators, outside of municipality requested population reduction hunts, until further research is conducted to determine the conditions under which alligator populations would be sustained while allowing limited harvest,” the site states.

Harrelson said that alligators are relocated only as a last resort because they, like other wildlife, have a propensity to travel long distances to return to where they were captured.

“This is something that we face ongoing and, as biologists, something that we have to figure out how to address going forward because our agency isn’t going to pick up and move animals,” Harrelson said. “We want to let wildlife be wildlife for as long as we can and maintain the ecosystems that are out there.”

As people build, alligators move. Males can occupy areas greater than 2 miles so, when they move, they’re crossing roads, ditches and yards.

An alligator may be removed from a property when it is considered a nuisance – at least 4 feet long and poses a threat to people, pets or property. To report a potential nuisance alligator, call the N.C. Wildlife Helpline at 866-318-2401.

Experts say simply spraying an alligator with a water hose usually prompts the animal to move away.

If you’re taking a walk and spot an alligator in or near your path, give the alligator a wide berth and go around it. Never walk up to one or try to touch one.

“When an alligator is on a sidewalk or up on a roadway, he’s not hunting, he’s not searching out food. If we give them an opportunity to make that move on their own, most of the time, they will,” Harrelson said. “Our biggest thing, of course, is to keep people safe and then let the animals be animals. That’s what we’re always striving toward.”

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.

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 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.

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.”

State wildlife authorities are ramping up safety awareness as they prepare to turn out in force during one of the busiest boating holidays of the year.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is participating in Operation Dry Water, a national campaign observed July 4-6 that boosts enforcement and awareness of the dangers of boating while impaired.

“The presence of law enforcement officers in North Carolina is a key factor in preventing incidents from occurring or escalating,” Lt. Forrest Orr, of the NCWRC’s Law Enforcement Division stated in a release. “The Operation Dry Water campaign is an effective resource in providing safer boating opportunities, keeping boating safety at the forefront of holiday activities.”  

The campaign was developed through the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators.

Wildlife Resources deployed nearly 160 wildlife officers during last year’s campaign, during which time they removed 40 people from the water who were boating while impaired, according to a news release.

It is illegal to operate a boat with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 or higher, or while impaired by drugs.

There have been 37 boating incidents, including seven that were fatal, on North Carolina waters this year.

A total of 19 people died last year in boating incidents. Seventeen of those killed were not wearing a life jacket.

Operation Dry Water and The Governor’s Highway Safety Program’s Operation Firecracker Booze It & Lose It campaign are also supported by the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement and the North Carolina Forensic Tests for Alcohol Branch.

Second of two parts. Read Part 1.

EAST LAKE — Before guardrails were installed about 20 years ago along U.S. Highways 64 and 264 in rural northeastern North Carolina, residents avoided driving at night in fear of striking a large animal and then sliding unseen into the abyss of a roadside canal.

Even now, with the barriers in place, locals know to drive with caution through the dark wilds of Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, scanning the edge of the forest for glowing eyes or sudden movements of creatures on night hunts — raccoon, possum, bobcat, fox, bear, deer, coyotes and red wolves.

Vehicle strikes are a serious hazard to humans and animals, but they can be especially devastating to the recovery of the endangered wolves that number only about 22 in the wild, 18 of which are collared and within the 1.7-million-acre management area encompassing public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties.

When a wild red wolf is killed, the loss can destroy the cohesion of a pack, creating a negative impact on reproduction that is so critical to the species’ survival.

Last year, for example, in two separate instances, wolves from the same pack were struck and killed on U.S. 64, said wildlife biologist Joe Madison, manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program.

Madison told Coastal Review that one of the males and one of the pups were killed. “So that family group kind of got messed up, and we ended up capturing and placing the female for that family group back in captivity.”

With the loss of her mate, Madison explained, the female had started wandering to a different area and creating issues, such as getting into chickens that made her no longer suitable for the wild. “But it was going well until that mortality of the male and one of the pups, and then it kind of went downhill from there.”

After years of study in the early 2000s, the North Carolina Department of Transportation had developed plans to construct numerous wildlife crossings along U.S. 64 in Dare and Tyrrell counties as part of a proposed 27.3-mile-long road widening and bridge-replacement project. The department has since dropped the widening project, but $110 million provided recently by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law allowed NCDOT to replace the 60-year-old Lindsey C. Warren Bridge over Alligator River. That $270 million project, which began this spring, will include wildlife crossings and under-road tie-ins at both ends of the bridge.

But it’s not enough, conservation groups say. Granted, more wildlife crossings would be costly to build in Alligator River’s swampy land, but considering the enormous investment that’s been put into the life of each red wolf in the interest of restoration of a unique species, these groups contend they’re worth it.

“That’s why one of the things we’re stressing this year is trying to make progress on getting (assistance from) NCDOT, who’s making great strides in the wildlife road crossings department,” Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the nonprofit Wildlands Network, told Coastal Review recently. “We want them to try to put in for federal grants to build wildlife crossings and fencing on 64 through the refuge in particular.”

Sutherland had connected with an anonymous donor who recently pledged $2 million in matching funds for a grant to fund wildlife crossings in the refuge to protect red wolves, and the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity stepped in to help raise the match, he said in recent email.

“I’m working directly with NCDOT to try to bring a big proposal for U.S. 64 to Federal Highways, which can only happen if we have enough nonfederal matching funds to work with, he said, adding that the state would have to provide a 20% match to the Federal Highway Administration money.

Although the costs versus benefit of keeping red wolves away from vehicle tires is clear, he said, wildlife crossings through a refuge teeming with wildlife would provide plenty of benefits to every creature dashing, hopping, galumphing, scurrying, slithering or crawling across the highway.

“That stretch of Highway 64 through the refuge and through the Alligator River game lands, it’s got to be up there in terms of national priorities for reducing roadkill in terms of the sheer numbers of wildlife,” Sutherland said. “There were like tens of thousands of dead animals that they recorded in the DOT-funded study. And so it’s definitely not just the wolves, but bears and deer and bobcats and so many turtles, so many snakes … that I’ve seen dead on that road. Nobody wants to see that.”

According to the draft environmental impact statement for the then-proposed widening project, 36% of all crashes and 77% of night crashes on the two-lane road were because of animals. Five crashes occurred within a milelong stretch in Tyrrell County about a mile west of the bridge.

Between July 1996 to June 1999, the fatal crash rate for the project area was 4.13 crashes per 100 motor vehicle miles. After the guardrails were installed along the canals on U.S. 64, the fatal crash rate went down to 1.02 per 100 miles.

The proposed widening had called for about 11 overpasses or underpasses and dozens of smaller structures for amphibians, reptiles and small mammals. Four wildlife crossings that were installed decades ago off U.S. 64 between Columbia and Plymouth had been shown to be about 90% effective, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist had said in 2013. Designed with 6- to 8-foot-high fences at the road edge and both sides of the opening, the fence corrals animals toward underpasses, culverts or a bridge.

Travis Wilson, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Division, said that the east and west sides of the proposed 3.2-mile Alligator River bridge replacement will be lengthened to accommodate culverts for fencing and wildlife passage.

Based on his years of monitoring the commission’s wildlife crossings, Wilson said he expects that all species will use the passages, although white-tailed deer tend to be more skittish.

“I have documented most every large mammal, medium-sized mammal, in North Carolina using culverts fairly frequently, from black bear to coyotes, on down,” he told Coastal Review.

If funding is found for additional crossings beyond the bridge, he said they would be designed in different sizes for different species. Vegetation at the crossings, and the fencing would need to be maintained, and some areas in front of passages would need a timber pole “bridge” over a canal.

“That’s really what the crossings are there for,” he said.  “It’s not for a single species — it’s to reduce wildlife mortality by vehicles … to make the highway more permeable to all wildlife.”

While the recovery team would welcome wildlife crossings, the staff’s focus will remain on keeping wild-born and captive-bred wolves who have been introduced into the wild away from any human interactions and activity whatsoever. The less habituated wolves are to humans, the better for both species. The staff also takes pains to minimize contact as much as possible, Madison said, and when handling is necessary, it is done as gently as possible, with voices low and no petting.

In addition to using a hand-held antenna to keep track of the collared wolves, which wear lightweight GPS devices on reflective collars, or for some, smaller VHF radio devices, there are more than 55 remote sensing cameras to see who is where and when.

GPS collars, which cost about $2,000 and weigh 1.3 pounds, cannot exceed 4% of the animal’s body weight. The VHF collars are lighter but don’t send points from satellites.

A red wolf known as No. 2191 was recently sighted in the Milltail area of the Alligator River refuge. Madison said that the young male’s fear of people gives him a better chance to avoid becoming one of the unfortunate number of casualties suffered by red wolves from too-close encounters with people.

Madison held a small radio telemetry antenna during a visit to the Milltail area in late April. A steady beep revealed that the wolf — or more specifically his GPS collar — was close but too far away to see without field glasses. The wolf was born at Wolf Haven International in Washington state, one of the 50 zoological institutions and wildlife centers that participate in the captive-breeding program that is critical to repopulating the species in the wild.

When 2191 — the animals purposely are not named — was deemed ready for life in the wild, he was transferred to Alligator River.

“They did an excellent job,” Madison said, referring to Wolf Haven, “because he wants nothing to do with people.”

After his arrival, 2191 was placed in an acclimation pen before being released on Jan. 29 to meet a female who had come into heat, “in the hopes that they could become a pair,” said Madison.

The good news is that it appears that the handsome wolf is the father of a litter of eight pups born in the refuge in May. It’s the third year in a row that the Milltail pack has produced a litter, and this was the first sired by 2191. The previous breeding male that had sired two litters was killed by a vehicle last year.

Madison said he understands why zoos and conservation centers name the wolves, but it’s against the recovery team policy. The studbook number that is assigned to each animal identifies them in sequence that is vital management information.

American red wolves once had an enormous range in the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast. But because of habitat loss and hunting, the population collapsed. The red wolf was listed as endangered in 1973 and declared extinct in the wild in 1980. In 1987, four pairs of captive-bred wolves were released at Alligator River refuge.

Innovative management practices, such as pup fostering and coyote sterilization programs, grew the population, and by 2010, there were about 130 red wolves in the wild. But politics and funding shortages led to management cuts, and the population plummeted to seven before a federal judge ordered the program to resume in 2021.

Starting over has had its challenges. When 11 captive-born wolves were released in 2022, three wound up dead from gunshots and five were killed by vehicles. In the last year alone, four wolves have been killed by vehicles.

Still, the new litters provide hope, and the restored pup fostering practice — where a captive-born pup is slipped into a wolf den with a litter of pups about the same age — has been successful. So has the renewed coyote sterilization program, which allows hormonally-intact coyotes to hold territory, keep out fertile coyotes and prevent hybrids.

From November until March, the recovery team is kept busy doing captures to collar older pups, perform health check on the mature wolves and sterilize coyotes. There are 16 pens in the Sandy Ridge area, each double-fenced, but only 13 are currently usable. Interns and other staff enter the pen to water and feed the wolves and check on them. At that point, the wolves either go to the farthest distance and pace, or they go to their den box. The never try to escape.

“They don’t want to come near you,” Madison said. “They’re very nonaggressive.”

The pens are especially useful in letting wild wolves visit the captive wolves and start making friends. Recovery staff can watch with the remote-sensing cameras for signs that courtship may be blooming. Once they’re let free, all bets are off.

“We’ve had bonded pairs that came from captivity,” Madison recalled. “They were bonded in captivity, had had previous litters together, they had a litter in the pen, and they still left each other when we opened it up. It was like, ‘Now that I have options, you ain’t it!’”

Sutherland said that he is encouraged that the red wolf population is rebounding and that wildlife crossings are a critical component in its recovery. Healthy numbers of red wolf packs also would go far in pushing out a lot of the opportunistic coyotes and raccoons that swooped into vacated wolf territories, he said.

As they’ve done out west, he said, wolves can keep other species in check not just by eating them, but also by creating a climate of fear that works for the good of the entire ecosystem.

“So that’s the value of having the wolves back,” he said. “Not only are they the only thing that seems to control coyotes, but they also do kill the raccoons and we think that’s important from the standpoint of bird populations.”

“The red wolf was a success story of the Endangered Species Act, and it’s been saved from extinction,” Sutherland said. Now the question is whether the program can rebuild, without the apex predator being plowed down on a strip of asphalt.

Note: Coastal Review will not publish Wednesday in observance of Juneteenth National Independence Day, a federal holiday.

Two eastern North Carolina men have been found guilty of 15 counts of unlawfully taking deer at night using a spotlight.

Dylan Scott of New Hanover County and Nicholas Rackley of Duplin County have been ordered to pay $9,030 in replacement costs for illegally killing 15 deer with the use and aid of an artificial light, referred to as spotlighting, in Duplin County.

Scott was fined $1,500, his hunting license will be revoked for 10 years, and he received five years of supervised probation. Rackley was ordered to pay $750 and his hunting license will be revoked for five years.

Wildlife Resources Commission officials were contacted with an anonymous tip through its Turn-in-Poachers Program, called NC WILDTIP, Nov. 28, 2023. The tip, which included a photo of Rackley posing with 15 antlerless white-tailed deer, stated Rackley killed all 15 deer the previous night and forwarded the photo to multiple individuals.

“It’s a big penalty we hope sends a strong message,” Capt. Chad Arnold, who heads NCWRC’s Investigative Unit and NC WILDTIP program, said in a statement. “We typically don’t see punishments like this, but we also typically don’t find individuals who kill 15 deer in one night’s illegal escapades.”

Wildlife Resources Commission officers obtained a search warrant after the anonymous tip, and during the investigation, Rackley admitted he and Scott shot 15 deer in Duplin County on the night of Nov. 27, 2023. They took the carcasses to a home in Pender County to have the deer processed. At the Pender location, officers found four coolers full of deer meat. The resident admitted to processing the deer for Rackley. Search warrants were issued for Scott, and his truck and phone were taken for evidence, according to the commission.

In the past six months, Wildlife Resources Commission has received 598 tips through NC WILDTIP and rewarded a total of $3,478.

Anyone with information on illegal hunting can anonymously submit information through a secured online reporting tool on the agency’s website. Information may also be submitted by texting keyword WILDTIP and the tip information to 847411 or through a mobile app. To report a poaching violation in progress, call Wildlife Law Enforcement dispatch at 800-662-7137. Tips that lead to arrests and convictions may lead to a reward of $100 to $1,000.

First of two parts.

EAST LAKE — From a half-mile away, the red wolf was a blur on the flat farmland within Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Through binoculars, the young male was strikingly muscular, striding with confidence on the dirt access road, seemingly unperturbed by the spying humans.

“He’s a big guy — yeah, he’s close to 80 pounds,” said Joe Madison, manager for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Red Wolf Recovery Program, while peering through his field glasses in late April from the cab of his truck. “If we got closer, he’d definitely start running, but I don’t want to do that.”

Madison, a wildlife biologist who has had earlier stints with grizzly bear and gray wolf management, is keenly focused on conservation and protection of the only wild red wolves in the world. He knows that the wolves’ instinctual fear of people is critical to their survival. The two biggest contributors to wild red wolf mortalities are directly related to interactions with humans: The first is intentional killing by gunshot or poisoning, the second is vehicle strikes.

After establishing cooperative programs with landowners and others in the community to prevent wolf shootings, officials with the refuge are now working with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission and the North Carolina Department of Transportation on constructing wildlife crossings at both ends of the planned replacement bridge over the Alligator River on U.S. Highway 64 between Tyrrell and Dare counties.

The hope is that, beyond the bridge project, funding also will be available to build numerous crossings along U.S. 64, said Travis Wilson, a biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Habitat Conservation Division.

“It’s kind of a standalone discussion on wildlife improvements in highway permeability improvements,” Wilson told Coastal Review. “It’s outside the scope of a highway project.”

The Center for Biological Diversity announced last week that an anonymous donor had pledged a $2 million match of other donations toward wildlife crossings across U.S. 64, which bisects the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes wildlife refuges. If the additional $2 million can be raised by the nonprofit center and its supporters by the target date of Aug. 1, it could leverage an additional $16 million in federal funds.

Funding for $350 million in grants was provided in the Wildlife Crossings Program, established in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

A million wildlife-vehicle collisions occur in the U.S. annually, costing more than $8 billion and resulting in thousands of injuries and hundreds of fatalities, according to the Federal Highway Administration website.

A second round of Highway Administration discretionary grants will be opened this summer under the Wildlife Crossing Pilot Program with the stated mission of reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions while improving habitat connectivity for terrestrial and aquatic species.

Marissa Cox, the Western Regional Team lead with NCDOT’s Environmental Policy Unit, said that her team intends to apply for a grant, but it does not know yet what the total cost of the project would be. NCDOT is using information from the proposed — and since dropped — U.S. 64 widening project design plans to try to estimate costs for the structures, she said in an interview.

“It’s very competitive, and there’s not a lot of funding,” Cox said about the grant program.

During the first round, she recalled, the amount of project applications far exceeded the available funds.

Although Cox said there are about 26 wildlife crossings in North Carolina, Wilson said that when standalone structures are included, there are “dozens and dozens” of crossings.

As part of a wildlife stewardship memorandum of understanding signed in March 2023 with Wildlife Resources, NCDOT is currently compiling information and Global Positioning System data on all the crossings that it has committed to, designed and constructed, she said. The agencies are also finalizing a joint Wildlife Crossing Guidance document to be made available online.

With U.S. 64 and other less-traveled highways cutting through the 1.7 million-acre management area encompassing public and private land in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, the wildlife crossings could benefit not only the survival of the red wolves, but also the taxpayer who is supporting the recovery program.

A recently updated red wolf management plan estimated costs of $328 million over 50 years, and that does not include the millions spent over the decades since the wolf conservation program began.

The red wolf had once roamed much of the Southeast, but overhunting and habitat loss decimated its population. In 1973, the species was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Fish and Wildlife, the agency charged with implementing the Endangered Species Act, first listed the red wolf as endangered in 1967, and it was declared extinct in the wild in 1980.

As part of an effort in 1987 to restore the species in the wild, four pairs of captive-bred red wolf pups, offspring of the few remaining from the wild population captured earlier in Louisiana, were released at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge.

After a series of setbacks beginning around 2010 — with the wild population plummeting from as much as 130 to seven — the recovery program has been renewed and reinvigorated since 2022.

Currently, there are 18 known and collared red wolves and a total of about 20 to 22 wolves in the wild and 263 in the captive-breeding population.

Wildlife crossings have been studied, planned and – sometimes – built along roadways in northeastern North Carolina, but in coming years they are to be a more significant part of the focus on conservation of the fragile population.

“Wildlife crossings along one of North Carolina’s most dangerous highways are crucial to protecting the world’s most endangered wolf,” stated Will Harlan, southeast director the Center for Biological Diversity.

In a study done for NCDOT by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and completed in 2011, hair samples caught on a barbed fence were from 890 black bear crossings from March 2009 to March 2011 in the 147,432-acre Alligator River Refuge. The Virginia Tech study also found that 15 GPS-collared bears crossed the highway 99 times. In addition, 170 white-tailed deer, 200 bobcats and raccoons, and an additional 260 bear were caught on camera.

Surveys of roadkill from November 2008 to July 2011 showed eight deer killed. Between January 1993 and July 2011, factoring in historical data, there were 63 bear, 75 bats, 82 small mammals, 134 mid-sized mammals, 1,153 birds, 4,014 reptiles and 7,498 amphibians killed on the road. And in 2012, refuge biologists reported that 11 bear were hit by vehicles, not including those who ran off into the woods after being struck.

Data from the Virginia Tech study will be used to guide project estimates for crossings through the refuge, Cox said.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, in its February red wolf recovery program five-year status review, said that between 1987 and 2013, vehicle-wildlife collisions resulted in 34% of all mortalities related to humans; and there were 11 vehicle-related mortalities between 2019 and 2023.

“This mortality level would be expected to increase as habitat becomes more fragmented by roads and with increasing human traffic that would be expected with increased development,” the report said. “Additionally, this threat would also likely increase with increases in the population size of red wolf.”

Madison said that there is now orange reflective material on the GPS collars placed on the wild wolves to increase their visibility at night. There are also roadside mobile electronic message signs to warn drivers on all the highways.

Any wildlife crossings that are proposed separately from an NCDOT project, which would absorb some of the costs, will “not be inexpensive,” Wilson said.

“We have been successful in putting underpasses in coastal North Carolina in various places,” he said. Swampy Alligator River, with its numerous roadside canals, “has its own unique features and soil conditions,” Wilson said.

“That’s a big part of the conversation, building in the soil types that are out there, the fill and the engineering that have to go in place there. And as you know, anything that becomes more complex, the dollar figures begin to increase with that complexity,” he said.

“When it comes to the mammals that we’re talking about, if your structure is designed correctly and located correctly, and you have appropriate fencing, then you’re going to have mammals find those crossings and use those crossings,” he said. “And once they start, they’ll keep using them.”

The crossings provide habitat connectivity, as Wilson explained it.

After the New York Times recently published an article about wildlife crossings that included video of wildlife using an overpass, public interest in wildlife passages nationally increased dramatically.

“My phone blew up with reporters and the public wondering when is North Carolina going to do these things. And it felt like I spent a year on the phone every other day explaining to people that North Carolina has been doing it for two decades,” Wilson said. “The documents are memorializing a lot of what we’ve done but also will be good tools to give to people who have interest.”

Next in the series: Wildlife crossings dovetail with red wolf conservation science.

Plans to pull out a dozen abandoned and derelict vessels from New Hanover County waters are in motion.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, marine contractors, local governments and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are working together this week to remove the 12 vessels from different locations in New Hanover County, including Carolina Beach and Wrightsville Beach.

The work began last week and is expected to last for the next several days.

“It takes a huge coordinated effort to find the owners, authorize the removal, and dispose of these boats from where they have been abandoned,” Coastal Federation Marine Debris Program Lead and Coastal Scientist Ted Wilgis said in a statement. “Without the support of our local governments, the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management, and the efforts of the Wildlife Resources Commission, we wouldn’t be able to remove these vessels and protect our coastal waters and habitats.”

The Coastal Federation has removed 110 vessels from the state’s waterways since 2021. The organization and Wildlife Resources Commission, which has removed more than 200 vessels in the last few years, plan to pull an additional 40 vessels from waters from Pasquotank to Brunswick counties by the end of the year.

Funding is through the North Carolina General Assembly and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program, part of the federal agency’s nearly $6 billion total investment under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act.

Local governments, state agencies and the Coastal Federation are looking into ways to increase penalties for abandoned vessels, develop voluntary measures to reduce abandoned vessels, and use insurance and ownership transfer requirements to increase the vessel owners’ share of removal costs, the organization said.

The vessel removal is under the organization’s Marine Debris Program that is focused on ensuring that storm-related debris, lost fishing gear and derelict vessels are properly located and removed.

The public is encouraged to report abandoned or derelict vessels to the Wildlife Resources Commission via email to adv@ncwildlife.org. The agency also maintains a map of current abandoned and derelict vessels.

First in a series investigating why, after years of consistent seasons for inland, joint and coastal waters, recreational anglers found themselves negotiating different flounder and mullet rules in 2023.

Up until recently, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages coastal waters, and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages inland waters, appeared to have a system in place for the shared responsibility of what’s known as joint waters.

However, since forming a Joint Committee on Delineation of Fishing Waters in late 2018, there’s been a paper trail of mounting disagreements between the two on managing the area between inland and coastal waters. 

Division of Marine Fisheries Public Information Officer Patricia Smith told Coastal Review that the joint committee was formed to determine boundaries defining inland, coastal and joint fishing waters under a statutorily mandated periodic review of rules. Delegates of the two commissions met periodically, but the discussions ended without consensus.

The conflict came to a head last year because the two were unable to agree on changes to joint water rules, which require approval by both commissions before they expired. Because of the dispute, the governor’s office intervened in February 2022 and directed both to approve existing joint rules as written, according to past meeting minutes of both agencies.

Both agencies readopted the joint boundary rules without change later that year but continue to strive for consensus, Smith said.

A Wildlife Resources Commission’s committee approved that summer a memorandum of agreement that included maps with proposed boundaries for coastal and inland waters. The Marine Fisheries Commission discussed the agreement, maps and other aspects of this issue at its November 2022 meeting, but did not vote on the agreement, she said.

Friction appears

The friction between the two agencies became evident earlier this summer.

For the first time in years, recreational flounder seasons for inland waters and coastal waters didn’t overlap, meaning rules for joint waters didn’t either.

Flounder season for Wildlife Resources Commission in inland waters was the first two weeks of September with a limit of four fish per day, and for Marine Fisheries, the second two weeks of September in coastal waters with a limit of one fish per day.

Mullet seasons are inconsistent as well.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission officials said in a statement provided Thursday that, “there is no closed season for the harvest of Striped Mullet and White Mullet in Inland Fishing Waters by any lawful method or in Joint Fishing Waters by hook and line. The daily creel limit is 200 mullet in combination with no minimum size limit.” 

As with flounder, the statement continued, “WRC enforcement officers will enforce our season and creel rules, and, for questions about how marine patrol plans to enforce the proclamation, please contact NCDMF,” or the Division of Marine Fisheries. 

Commission Inland Fisheries Division Chief Christian Waters explained in an email that its current mullet rule applies to all legal gears used in inland fishing waters and for joint fishing waters when taken by hook and line.

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Kathy Rawls declared by proclamation that it is unlawful to possess mullet in North Carolina coastal and joint fishing waters for recreational fishers and for commercial purposes such as possessing, selling or offering for sale, in waters north of the Emerald Isle bridge as of Nov. 7, and as of Nov. 10, south of the bridge. The closure expected to end Dec. 31 is estimated to result in a 20% reduction in harvest. 

Marine Fisheries Commission officials said in May when they approved the measures to address overfishing of striped mullet in state waters that the most recent striped mullet stock assessment indicated that the stock is overfished and that overfishing is occurring.

North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner told Coastal Review that he is concerned about the consequences. Both agencies claim authority over joint waters, meaning anglers may or may not be allowed to possess mullet in joint waters, depending on which agency’s officer they encounter.

To make matters worse, Division of Marine Fisheries officials have given dealers, fish houses and bait shops until Nov. 18 to dispose of any mullet they have at their place of business, even though they were caught and purchased legally, prior to the closure, Skinner said.

“We believe this represents an illegal take of property by the State, violating both our State and Federal Constitutions,” he said.

Flounder in joint waters

The Wildlife Resources Commission established in February 2022 its 2023 flounder season set for Sept. 1-14 for inland fishing waters and when using hook-and-line gear in joint fishing waters. 

The Marine Fisheries Division announced June 28 that its 2023 recreational flounder season for coastal and joint fishing waters would be Sept. 15-30, with a possession limit of one flounder per person, per day. 

Both agencies in late August released statements explaining their decisions regarding the flounder seasons. 

Waters said in the Aug. 30 statement that when the commission adopted in February 2022 its current rule for flounder, it “mirrored the recreational season, size, and creel limits established by proclamation of the Division of Marine Fisheries director for coastal fishing waters.” 

He continued that it was not until June 28 that the commission learned through a Division of Marine Fisheries news release of its intent for this year’s season and creel limit. 

“You may ask, ‘Why can’t the Wildlife Commission change or simply not implement its rule?’ Legally that is not an option, given the Wildlife Commission does not have proclamation authority like the Division of Marine Fisheries,” he said. “Our agency cannot modify a rule or suspend a rule without going through the rulemaking process, which includes opportunity for public input. Had we been informed of Marine Fisheries’ plans sooner, we could have attempted to address the discrepancies through temporary rulemaking. However, two months is not enough time to complete the rulemaking process as outlined in the Administrative Procedures Act.”

Division of Marine Fisheries officials said in an Aug. 31 announcement that the flounder management measures “are science-based and required by law to ensure the long-term viability of the State’s commercially and recreationally significant species. Ending overfishing and rebuilding overfished stocks within the timeline set out in the Fishery Management Plans is essential for the conservation of these fish for the enjoyment of current and future North Carolinians.”

Additionally, the Division of Marine Fisheries rule prohibits the possession or transport of flounder through coastal or joint fishing waters when those waters are closed to flounder harvest, regardless of where the species was taken.

The inconsistent flounder seasons led to four warnings from Marine Patrol in the first two weeks of September for unlawfully possessing or transporting flounder through coastal waters.

“These warnings were a direct result of the Wildlife Resources Commission’s opening the flounder season in inland waters and the fisherman transporting outside of those waters,” a division representative said.

In response to these warnings, Wildlife Resources Commission Executive Director Cameron Ingram wrote a letter Sept. 8 addressed to Rawls, stating he was appalled when he was informed marine fisheries officers had been directed to take enforcement actions against anglers for fishing or transporting fish in joint waters during an open season that was adopted in 2022, approved by the Rules Review Commission, subjected to legislative review, and codified months before the division’s proclamation. 

He said the warning citations issued by Marine Patrol officers for “transport fish not in compliance w/ body of water” were issued to anglers in joint waters on Wildlife Resources Commission ramps and these “actions are completely unacceptable, unprofessional, and likely unlawful.” He said that Wildlife Resources Commission officers would not be taking similar criminal actions against the angling public during the Marine Fisheries Commission season announced in joint waters starting Sept. 15. 

Division’s view

Rawls, during a Marine Fisheries Commission meeting Aug. 25, explained that although the Wildlife Resources Commission has authority in inland waters, their rule conflicts with the requirements of Amendment 3 to the Flounder Fishery Management Plan, therefore causing confusion to the regulated public. Amendment 3 maintains a 72% reduction across the fisheries, according to the division. 

“And more importantly, because these regulations are a divergent from the current Marine Fisheries Commission regulations, which in contrast are based on data, sound science, and management and in accordance with sustainable harvest requirements, which are outlined in state law, this impacts the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Division of Marine Fisheries ability to meet the objectives of the Flounder Management Plan,” she continued. 

Rawls explained that the Wildlife Resources Commission “now believes that they have sole authority over all hook and line fishing in joint waters despite the fact that they have not exercised that authority since the joint rules were created decades ago.”

The Wildlife Resources Commission executive director had called her earlier in the week to let her know that they would be announcing their authority over hook and line in joint waters to the public “and that he hoped we could be on the same page about this interpretation,” she continued. 

“Certainly, not to his surprise, I let him know that we are absolutely not on the same page and that the Division of Marine Fisheries nor the Marine Fisheries Commission agree with this interpretation. I let him know and I also want to let this commission know that the Division of Marine Fisheries will continue to implement and enforce the rules and regulations of the marine fisheries commission as we always have.”

Rawls referred to the governor’s office having directed in 2022 both agencies to readopt the joint rules as is and the Division of Marine Fisheries has been operating as is — not only the rule text but also the way the rules have been implemented and enforced for decades. 

“It has become abundantly clear with the Wildlife Resources commission’s recent actions that their focus is on jurisdictional boundaries with a total disregard for the condition of the flounder stock,” she said.

Wildlife Resources’ perspective

During a Wildlife Resources Commission committee meeting Aug. 24, Waters, while discussing the two flounder seasons, told the board that it has regulatory authority over inland waters and hook and line in joint waters, but with joint waters, “there’s a little more nuance.” 

State law says that “joint waters are deemed coastal waters from the standpoint of laws and regulations administered by the Department,” which is the Department of Environmental Quality and its Division of Marine Fisheries, “and are deemed inland waters from the standpoint of laws or regulations administered by the Wildlife Resources Commission,” Waters read. 

“‘The Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission may make joint regulations governing the responsibilities of each agency and modifying the applicability of licensing and other regulatory provisions as may be necessary for the rational and compatible management of marine and estuarine and wildlife resources in joint fishing waters’ And that’s because an animal or fish that is in joint waters is legally both a marine and estuarine resource and a wildlife resource.”

He said that joint rulemaking took place in the late 1970s or early 1980s, was revisited in the 1990s and readopted in 2022, at the direction of the governor’s office.

“At the time, it was really adopted based on what both boards were told to do, and that we would address this issue after it was readopted,” Waters said.

Included in the rules readopted by both with no substantive changes, which went into effect Sept. 1, 2022, coastal fishing laws and regulations administered by NCDEQ and the Marine Fisheries Commission apply to joint fishing waters except “the following inland fishing laws and regulations administered by the Wildlife Resources Commission apply to joint fishing waters and shall be enforced by wildlife officers: (1) all laws and regulations pertaining to inland game fishes; (2) all laws and regulations pertaining to inland fishing license requirements for hook and line fishing; and (3) all laws and regulations pertaining to hook and line fishing except as hereinafter provided.”

Commission Chairman Monty Crump of Richmond County told Coastal Review in a recent phone interview that during the Feb. 17, 2022, meeting with the governor’s office that he clarified that Wildlife Resources managed hook and line in joint waters. “I said I want to be clear, so there’s no misunderstanding” that while Marine Fisheries has made it clear that they do not agree with WRC having authority over hook and line in joint waters, the governor’s office was telling both agencies to adopt rules as written. 

Crump, who owns a small family farm and has been on the commission since 2017, said he was asked during that meeting why he thinks the Wildlife Commission has hook and line authority, and “I said because it’s plainly clear in the general statute that Wildlife has hook and line authority in joint waters, which means all species, they consider coastal under them, and when they get into joint waters in inland waters, they’re under our jurisdiction. And they don’t agree with that,  that is the crux of the whole deal, that statutory language.”

Waters told Coastal Review in an email that by rule, WRC has regulatory authority for species in joint fishing waters when taken by hook and line, and certain species listed as “game fish,” and Marine Fisheries Commission has regulatory authority over all other fishing activities.

“These differences in authority means that WRC and MFC can only implement seasons, size and creel limits within their respective jurisdiction. Therefore, there is a critical need for open communication between WRC and MFC/DMF when there is a regulatory change for a given species,” he said.

He said the Wildlife Resources Commission needs to know of a potential change six months in advance of when it is to be effective to have rules in place. 

“In the case of recent changes for Flounder and Mullet, WRC did not learn of the change in time to implement a rule change. The result is that the DMF proclamation is effective in the MFC/DMF jurisdiction and WRC rule is effective in its jurisdiction,” he said. “Traditionally, seasons, size and creel limits have been communicated between agencies. And the WRC has promulgated rules that are consistent with MFC/DMF management. Recently DMF has implemented management changes through proclamation, not allowing WRC sufficient time to address the changes through rulemaking. This occurred with both Flounder and Mullet seasons.”

Waters continued that at this point, regulations for other species are substantially similar, if not identical.

“The WRC has tried to match our rules with MFC/DMF for those species for which they generally take the management lead. The flounder season is now closed in all waters, and we are trying to coordinate with DMF to address regulations for the 2024 harvest season,” he said, adding that the mullet season closure implemented by DMF through proclamation is different than the open season established by the WRC in rule.

Rule change exposes clash

Skinner explained that the conflicting seasons had been avoided in years past because of a Wildlife Resources Commission rule that was amended in 2022. 

The rule, before being changed, read, “In inland fishing waters, Sea Trout (Spotted or Speckled), Flounder, and Red Drum (also known as Channel Bass, Red Fish or Puppy Drum) recreational seasons, size limits, and creel limits are the same as those established in the Rules of the Marine Fisheries Commission or proclamations issued by the Fisheries Director in adjacent joint or coastal fishing waters.”

The rule that went into effect March 15, now reads, “(a) The daily creel limit for flounder is four fish. (b) The minimum size limit is 15 inches. (c) The season for taking and possessing flounder is September 1 through September 14.” 

Skinner noted that the recreational southern flounder season and/or bag limit has changed every year since Amendment 2 to the flounder management plan was adopted in the fall of 2019. “That being said, there’s no way the WRC could have thought that their new rule would have matched the DMF/MFC seasons or bag limits on any given year.”

There was no recreational season in the fall of 2019 because harvest had been allowed all year prior to adopting Amendment 2. In 2020, the season was Aug. 16 to Sept. 30, and a four-fish limit. In 2021, the season was Sept. 1-14, again with a four-fish limit. In 2022, the season was Sept. 1-30 with a one-fish limit. 

Skinner said with the previous rule, the Wildlife Resources Commission acknowledged the Marine Fisheries Commission’s authority over joint waters, “which they now claim they have authority over, at least for the hook-and-line fishery. If they’ve always had authority over the hook-and-line fishery in joint waters, why wait decades to exercise that authority?” he said.

Next in the series: How did this unfold?   

Youngsters can try their hand at fishing 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, June 11, during the annual Kids’ Fishing Day at Croatan National Forest.

Kids 15 years and younger can fish for free without a fishing license at Cedar Swamp Pond, located just south of Newport off Hibbs Road.

Croatan National Forest and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission are hosting the fishing day. Fishing poles and bait will be available while supplies last.

All children must be accompanied by an adult. Staff and volunteers will be onsite to assist with fishing.

There will also be games available for prizes including fishing gear and a cooler set.

Participants will also be able decorate ornaments for the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree.

From Newport, take U.S. 70 East and turn right onto Hibbs Road. Turn right onto Transfer Station Road, and then left at the white gate.

Register upon arrival or by calling the Croatan ranger station at 252-638-5628 ext. 4006.

The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is asking for the public to document and submit alligator sightings in an effort to better understand where people, both residents and visitors, see the American alligator.

Commission officials say those who see an alligator can contribute to the project by taking a photo with their phone and uploading it to the iNaturalist app or the iNaturalist website under the NC Alligators project..

“If the picture you upload was taken with a smartphone,” said Alicia Davis, a natural resources technician with the Commission and the project curator, “the iNaturalist platform automatically gathers data on when and where the photo was taken. If you take the picture with a traditional camera, you can drop a pin where you saw the alligator using the Google map on the website.”

Davis warned that observers should take caution when an alligator is nearby and keep their distance.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of seeing an alligator and get too close, which could be dangerous,” Davis said. “Also, we don’t want people feeding them to get a better picture. Not only is that dangerous for both the observer and the animal, but it is also illegal.”

People who want to report observations but do not want to use iNaturalist can send their alligator observations directly to Davis, along with a photo, an estimation of class size and details on the date, time and location the alligator was found.

The commission said the project will allow researchers to better understand how alligator populations respond to habitat changes, including saltwater intrusion and habitat loss.

“Data collected from this project will also help us identify areas with high potential for human-alligator interactions,” Davis said. “We could use this type of information to reduce negative interactions between people and alligators. For example, these observations could help WRC staff decide where to focus educational efforts about alligators.”

North Carolina is the northern extent of the reptile’s range and it is generally found throughout the eastern and coastal parts of the state. They’re usually found in marshes, swamps, ponds,river backwaters and lakes, but have also been found on beaches. The largest populations are found in Brunswick, New Hanover, Craven, Onslow and Pender counties.

Learn More

• Profile of the American alligator
• Check out iNaturalist.org
• Learn more about the project
• To submit sightings, email Alicia Davis at  alicia.davis@ncwildlife.org or call 919-707-4087

SWANSBORO – Are alligators a public safety menace or a misunderstood creature that deserves protection?

A divided crowd of about 30 people showed up last week to voice their opinions and thoughts about an alligator management plan the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is drafting. The meeting, which was held Wednesday at the Swansboro Recreation Center, was one of three public forums hosted by the commission to gather public comments before the plan’s completion. The other two sessions were in Leland earlier in the week and in Manteo on Thursday.

Gordon Myers, the commission’s executive director, appointed the 15-member North Carolina Alligator Task Force, which is set to release a draft of the management plan next spring. The task force is made up of scientists, North Carolina residents and commission staff. Myers said that the public comments collected would be considered in the final plan.

“Tonight’s forum is part of the process of developing the alligator management plan,” he said to the crowd. “It’s very important that the public participate.”

The task force was assembled after the commission received public comments, including many from conservation groups, opposed to a proposal to allow alligator hunting. The commission, in a resolution, asked the task force to develop a management plan that includes characteristics of alligators, identifies knowledge gaps and lays out the public’s opinions on alligators and their management. Additionally, the plan will include recommendations for management strategies in areas with alligator overpopulation and recommendations of management areas.

The American alligator, which finds its northernmost range in North Carolina, was once listed as an endangered species. Because of measures enacted to protect it, alligator populations bounced back. However, the alligator is still listed as endangered based on its similarity in appearance and range to the American crocodile, which is extremely rare.

People who attended the meeting were asked about their knowledge of alligator biology, their opinions on the proposed alligator management methods and where they see over-population. Most of the questions were multiple choice, and the audience used electronic clickers to submit their answers.

When asked why they chose to attend the forum and voice their opinion, members of the audience were split: 35 percent said alligator conservation was their main concern while 42 percent said public safety was of utmost importance.

One woman said she worried about the safety of children in camps in the region where she lives.

“We live in Pamlico County and there are several camps – sailing camps, swimming camps – where we are, and now we’re seeing quite a few alligators,” she said, “and that’s one of the reasons we’re here, because we’re fighting for these children.”

Another man asked whether someone would have to be hurt, or possibly killed, by an alligator before officials address their presence.

“What does it take in public waters … before something is done about the alligators?” he said. “Is it kind of like intersections out here on the roads, several people have to get killed?”

The man later said alligators should be removed.

Others said they supported efforts to stabilize populations, rather than reduce their numbers. Robbie Withington, a wildlife biologist at the Marine Corps Air Station New River, said in an interview after the forum that alligators play a specific role in the local ecosystem.

“For so many years and they’ve been here and the other populations have basically kind of stabilized around them,” Withington said. “If you decrease alligators, someone else (another species) is going to increase.”

Withington said alligators are misunderstood. He said that in the last 25 years North Carolina has only seen three incidents of injuries related to alligators, but no deaths.

“They’re not historically a big issue. They’re not, like, aggressive,” he said.

Mary Ann Ryan of Havelock said in an interview after the forum that she attended the meeting because she loves learning about animals and educating others about them. She said alligators are harmless if left alone and that the public should do more to learn about them.

“The information is out there,” she said. “You can go right to the wildlife website. You can read everything about the alligator: that not to be afraid of them, don’t feed them, don’t go stick your hand in their mouth.”

Also during the meeting, Mike Campbell, an outreach specialist at the commission, discussed so-called “nuisance” alligators. He said what is considered a nuisance is relative based on the person that finds them. For some people, he said, just the sight of an alligator is considered a nuisance.

“They see an alligator, they’re afraid. Something’s got to be done with it,” he said.

From the agency’s perspective, however, Campbell said nuisance alligators are primarily ones that have lost their fear of humans. He said this is because alligators have learned to associate people with a handout.

“They’re almost always alligators that have been fed,” he said. “They’re just habituated to people.”

Alligators that escape their natural habitats and wander onto roads or other public places, those that cause property damage and those who have shown the ability to be a threat to humans, pets or livestock are also considered nuisances.

Fifty-two percent of respondents at the forum said education is the best way to prevent the illegal feeding of alligators. Ryan echoed the sentiment, noting that many negative alligator incidents are the result of feeding the alligators.

“I think we definitely need to educate the public,” she said, “because in Pamlico County, where they’re talking about the alligator problem there, deer poachers throw their carcasses in the water, fisherman throw their trash in the water. What are they doing? They’re feeding alligators.”

While attendees were divided on most topics discussed, one question elicited a unified response. When asked if alligator hunting would support the species’ conservation, 79 percent of attendees said “yes.” Allen Boynton, Wildlife Diversity Program coordinator at the commission, said some populations of endangered animals, including bears, have been brought back through the support of hunters.

“Bear hunters are some of the strongest advocates for bear conservation in the state,” he said.

Members of the audience nodded in agreement.

Hunting, however, isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. In North Carolina, cooler weather causes slower population growth rates in alligators compared to southern populations due to a later age of sexual maturity. In the alligator hunting resolution, the commission states that “these variable life history traits make alligators in North Carolina more vulnerable to over-harvest.” However, the resolution also states that alligators have a “patchy” distribution throughout the state, and that there is a public interest in allowing hunting in areas where populations are sustainable or overabundant.

Task force member Alvin Braswell, emeritus research curator of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, said the task force would continue to seek public participation in the management plan. He said individuals and organizations are encouraged to comment on the draft plan when it is released next spring.

“Everybody deserves to be heard,” he said.

Steve Dinkelacker isn’t wild about the idea that the state’s main wildlife commission floated recently about allowing an alligator hunt in North Carolina. A certified wildlife biologist and an expert on alligators in North Carolina, Dinkelacker isn’t anti-hunting, or even against hunting alligators in North Carolina… someday.

“I can envision an alligator hunt in the state,” said Dinkelacker, who is a biology professor at Framingham State University in Massachusetts, but has conducted years of research on the animals here. “And I understand the appeal. It’s an apex predator, one of the ultimate prizes for any hunter. It’s like a bear.

“But I can’t support it in North Carolina yet,” he continued. “A lot more research is needed before anyone can be sure that any alligator hunt in North Carolina won’t harm the species. The data just isn’t there. ”

Dinkelacker recently expressed that same opinion in formal comments to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which has proposed an alligator hunt in the state in 2016 and will take public comments in a series of hearings, including one in Edenton on Tuesday at 7 p.m. and another the next day at the same time at Craven Community College in New Bern.

According to the commission’s public notice, the proposed season would be from Sept. 1 to Oct. 1, by permit only, with a bag limit of one alligator that can be taken with a catch pole, harpoon, gig, wooden peg, bang stick and bow and arrow. A gun could be used only to “dispatch” alligators that are restrained.

In the official public hearing document, the commission states that a hunt is justified because, “There is increased interest in hunting American alligators in eastern North Carolina, and population evaluations indicate that the population can sustain a limited harvest.”

How Many Out There?

Dinkelacker doesn’t doubt the interest – generated in large part by increased sightings of and confrontations, however benign, with alligators – but he and others have serious doubts about the population estimates and the methodology.

“You can see a lot of alligators in one place, but they will be totally absent in others,” he said. “And what they have primarily based their numbers on is what’s called a ‘spotlight survey.’” That amounts to cruising along waterways and using a powerful spotlight to seek the telltale red shine of gators’ eyes.

Chris Moorman, coordinator of fisheries, wildlife and conservation biology programs at N.C. State University in Raleigh, led the most recent significant study, in 2012-13, and his report did indeed find plenty of alligators, comparatively speaking.

The research team covered a similar compilation of lakes, rivers and swamps in 25 counties as a previous survey published in 1986 did, and coordinated it with commission biologists and officers. They counted 117 gators on 103 routes.

In June 2013, according to the report, the team focused more intensely on the most productive gator locations, and estimated 672 gators on 43 routes, using a statistical model to estimate animals that were likely there, but hidden from the spotlights.

But Moorman’s report concluded that a harvest might send overall numbers falling by removing females from the population, in large part because alligators in North Carolina – the northern limit of their range – don’t grow and reproduce nearly as fast here as they do in warmer states like Louisiana or Florida. Females here don’t reproduce until they are 18-20 years old, or perhaps older, compared to 10 years, for example, in Louisiana. Females ‘gators here also have fewer babies.

In his comments to the commission, Dinkelacker stated that, “To my knowledge, nothing is known about alligator reproduction in N.C… Best guess scenarios would probably use data from South Carolina, which are probably incorrect for North Carolina, given the latitudinal and habitat differences.”

Hunters typically take both males and females, since the sexes look alike, according to Dinkelacker. Alligators longer than 10 feet are usually males, but those less than 10 feet long can be either sex. Moorman said in an interview that his work couldn’t give an accurate estimate of the total gator population in the state, although that could be done through modeling if the commission wanted it done. And, he said, the geographical differences in the population are striking, or at least were he’s done his work.

Some Numbers

For example, the teams found 53 alligators in Lake Ellis Simon near Havelock, in the central coastal region, up from 33 in the last count in the early 1980s, and 79, up from 40, at Orton Pond in Brunswick County, but only a few in the most northern sampling site, Merchants Millpond State Park near Virginia.

As a result of the long time period necessary for reproduction and the geographic distribution, Moorman said, the report concluded that, “even low levels of female harvest would cause populations to transition from stable or slightly increasing to a state of decline.”

The report also said alligators were most abundant in areas where they are most protected, including military bases, national forests and private property with restricted access to water bodies. He pointed out that alligators in North Carolina are susceptible to harsh winters, and can be affected adversely by hurricanes, too. That relative abundance in protected areas, Dinkelacker said, points out the continued fragility of the population and the likely problems if hunting were to be allowed.

Moorman, like Dinkelacker, said he’s not necessarily against an eventual alligator hunt. “We were only concerned … about … what would maintain a stable population,” he said.

Dinkelacker said the surveys in North Carolina have not been adequate to justify a hunt. “It’s like counting deer,” he said. “You can go out in one area one night and count 10, then count two in the same area the next night, then 20 the next night. What’s the real number? You don’t know. All you can really say is, ‘Yes, there are deer.’ It’s much the same with alligators. And I’m just not confident that is adequate to justify a hunt, especially given the long, long time it takes a female to reach reproductive size in North Carolina. It’s not like Florida, where there clearly are a LOT of alligators, up to a million by some estimates. That gives you some margin of error. In North Carolina, there just isn’t enough data.”

Dinkelacker knows that North Carolina is the only state in the American alligator’s range where a hunt is not allowed, and he knows there’s a lot of pressure to allow one. But he also noted that alligators can be taken now, if they are a problem, under a “depredation” permit, by state agents.

If the state wants to allow a hunt, Dinkelacker said, it should invest the necessary resources to get a population estimate that supports the contention that a hunt is sustainable.

The American alligator was listed as “threatened” on the U.S. Endangered Species List in the 1960s. They had become became scarce early in the 20th century, because of loss of habitat, in part, and unregulated hunting.

“We don’t want the alligator to disappear, for a variety of reasons,” Dinkelacker said. “An apex predator affects a lot of things.”

For example, they eat nutria and beavers. Those animals, he said, can play roles, some known, some not known, in flood control.

‘Delicate Balance’

John Hammond, a fish and wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Raleigh, said that while it’s true that the American alligator was “de-listed” in the 1980s, the slow reproduction of alligators in the state make a hunt at least somewhat problematic; it’s difficult to know what level of hunting would render the population unsustainable.

His agency, he said, hasn’t taken a position on the hunting proposal and would work with the commission if the state decides to allow hunting.

“It’s a delicate balance, though,” Hammond cautioned. “If a hunt is allowed, it would certainly be wise to keep a close eye on what happens. We look at the ecosystem as a whole, and the alligator is an important part of it.”

Then, too, Dinkelacker said, there’s the simple fact that the alligator is a native species, and one that many want to see, alive. “It is a magnificent creature,” he said. “People might be afraid of them, but many do want to see them, and not just on a wall somewhere.”

Dinkelacker, like Moorman, noted that no matter the accuracy of the surveys, it is very clear that alligator populations in North Carolina vary widely by region, with far more in the southeast and relatively few in the northeast. While there is some indication the gator is extending its range northward, both said, if that’s occurring, it’s a very slow move.

Still, Allen Boynton, the commission’s diversity coordinator, said the regional distribution could be a reason to establish different hunting rules in different areas, or for allowing a hunt in one area and not in another, should the commission approve a hunt. “We do that all the time,” he said. “A good example is deer. We have a shorter season in the mountains, and we don’t allow dogs in the hunt there.”

Boynton said he believes the numbers do make a case to justify a limited gator hunt, and agreed there’s a lot of interest.

Part of that interest, he said, is obviously that people are seeing more alligators – and they don’t want to see them in their swimming pools or too near them on the golf course – and part of it is the popularity of “gator hunt” shows, such as Louisiana-based “Swamp People,” on television. Hunters also hear friends from other states talk about alligator hunting.

Boynton, though also understands the scientists’ concerns. “They (alligators) do grow much more slowly here,” he said. “But if we do allow a hunt, and really all we’re doing right now is getting public input, we would take that into consideration, and we’d be very careful. We’d certainly increase our monitoring of the population so we’d know what would happen.”

Although there have been a lot of budget cuts in the state in recent years, Boynton believes the commission could find partners in the state universities to handle the additional monitoring and research.

He also noted that while the number of alligators in North Carolina is small in comparison to the numbers in other states, the American alligator population as a whole has been growing throughout the range. The main reason it’s still protected, he said, is because it’s so similar in appearance to the crocodile, which is considered more threatened.

Boynton noted that the commission’s discussion about a potential hunt took into account the need to maintain a stable alligator population because a big decline in numbers would diminish “viewing opportunities” that could affect some businesses.

The commission, he said, does not plan to charge for the permit itself, but could charge potential hunters a $5 fee to enter a lottery to win a permit.

It’s not hard to kill gators, Dinkelacker notes, and he worries about. “You can just throw out a baited hook,” he said. “It’s kind of like setting a crab pot. How hard is that? And you can shoot one in a ditch from the back of a truck. I’m not judging anyone. Again, I’m not against hunting, and I get why people want to hunt alligators. I just think the data we have isn’t good yet. I think it is premature.”

Related Content

• How Many Alligators in N.C.?

To Learn More

• Proposed hunting regulation, see pg. 12
• Profile of the American alligator
• Alligators on the rise in N.C. but vulnerable