Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Dominion Energy to acquire offshore wind lease in $160M deal near Kitty Hawk, N.C.

July 10, 2024 — Dominion Energy is set to acquire an offshore wind lease from Avangrid, Inc., near Kitty Hawk, N.C., for approximately $160 million providing another potential option to meet the growing demand for electric use.

Virginia Electric and Power Company, a subsidiary of Dominion, announced the agreement this week.

If approved by regulators and constructed, the offshore facility would have a capacity of 800 MW, enough capacity to serve 200,000 homes and businesses, and the project would connect to the company’s transmission grid.

Read the full article at Augusta Free Press

Fisherman saved from sunken vessel off North Carolina coast

January 19, 2021 — Coast Guard officials say man has been rescued from his sunken fishing vessel off the North Carolina coast.

Officials say the man was rescued Monday with the help of a good Samaritan about 20 miles southwest of Kitty Hawk.

Coast Guard officials received a report from the father-in-law of a man whose 18-foot boat sunk at the mouth of Alligator River, near East Lake.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at 13 News Now

Notice to Offshore Fishing Fleet East of NC and VA

November 4, 2019 – The following was released by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council:

This fall and winter, Avangrid Renewables will continue to study the Kitty Hawk Offshore Wind Lease Area (OCS-A 0508) by conducting High-Resolution Geophysical Surveys to characterize the seabed within the lease area and cable corridor to the northwest. The survey will commence November 1 and is expected to run through January 30, 2020, weather dependent.

Fishermen fishing or transiting northeast of Oregon Inlet, NC, and southeast of Virginia Beach, VA are encouraged to note the survey area locations, activities, and timing. From November 1 through November 15, the M/V Gerry Bordelon will be towing survey equipment up to 1,000′ astern, with limited maneuverability. Mariners are asked to maintain a 1 nautical mile closest point of approach, and fishermen are requested to move any fixed fishing gear out of the area during this period.

Additional information, including charts showing the sampling areas is available at: www.avangridrenewables.com/kittyhawk. For questions, contact Rick Robins, Fisheries Liaison, Avangrid Renewables, 757/876-3778.

North Carolina Fisheries Association Weekly Update for October 13, 2017

October 13, 2017 — The following was released by the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13th!!!

OCTOBER IS SEAFOOD MONTH!

Seafood month got a great kickoff in North Carolina with last Saturday’s Fisherman’s Village on the Morehead City waterfront, and on Sunday morning at the Blessing of the Fleet.

For a message from Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator for NOAA Fisheries, or NMFS, click the link below.
Message from Chris Oliver about Seafood Month

FROM THE DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES:

Advisory committee meetings to focus on cobia management measures – Three advisory committees to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet on separate dates in October to discuss issues related to the cobia fishery.

The advisory committees will be asked to provide input to the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission on management measures contained in the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission Draft Interstate Fishery Management Plan for Atlantic Migratory Group Cobia (Georgia to New York). The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s South Atlantic State/Federal Fisheries Management Board will meet Oct. 19 to vote on this plan.

The draft plan includes size, bag and vessel limits to complement federal measures. Most notably, the draft plan includes several proposed options for state-specific recreational harvest targets that will give individual states more flexibility in developing management measures to best suit their needs.

Currently, the recreational annual catch limit for Georgia to New York is managed on a coastwide basis. This has resulted in federal closures and significant overages, disrupting fishing opportunities and jeopardizing the health of the stock.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will discuss North Carolina’s recreational cobia management measures at its Nov. 15-16 meeting at the Doubletree by Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks in Kitty Hawk.

For more information, contact Steve Poland, cobia staff lead with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, at 252-808-8159 or Steve.Poland@ncdenr.gov.

CALENDAR

Oct 15 – 19; ASMFC Annual Meeting; Waterside Marriott; Norfolk, VA

Oct 24; 6:00pm MFC Northern Advisory Committee; Dare County Complex; Manteo, NC

Oct 25; 6:00pm MFC Southern Advisory Committee; Cardinal Drive; Wilmington, NC

Oct 26; 6:00pm MFC Finfish Advisory Committee; DMF District Office; Morehead City, NC

Nov 8; Noon; NCFA Board of Directors; Civic Center; Washington, NC

Nov 15-16; NC Marine Fisheries Commission; Kitty Hawk

Dec 4 – 8; South Atlantic Council; Doubletree; Atlantic Beach, NC

Dec 6; Noon; NCFA Board of Directors; Civic Center, Washington, NC

Dec 11 – 14; Mid Atlantic Council; Westin Annapolis; Annapolis, MD

Mid-Atlantic Council Initiates Action in Response to Overage of Black Sea Bass Catch Limit

December 21st, 2016 — The following was released by the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council: 

On December 15, 2016, at their meeting in Baltimore, Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council initiated a framework action to review and modify accountability measures (AMs) for the commercial black sea bass fishery. The Council initiated this action in response to new information from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) indicating that commercial catch in 2015 exceeded the annual catch limit due to higher than anticipated discards. On December 21, NMFS announced a rule which reduced the 2017 commercial quota by 34% in response to this overage, as required by the Council’s AMs.

AMs are measures that are implemented if annual catch targets are exceeded and are intended to mitigate the negative biological impacts of such overages. Commercial AMs for black sea bass currently require pound for pound paybacks through quota deductions in following years, regardless of the circumstances of the overages. The Council initiated a framework action to consider adding flexibility in the commercial AMs based on stock status. The Council intends to develop and implement this framework by mid-2017.

Black sea bass management measures for 2017 may also be modified as a result of a new benchmark stock assessment, which was peer-reviewed this month. According to this assessment, black sea bass are not overfished and overfishing is not occurring. The Council’s Scientific and Statistical Committee (SSC) will meet in January 2017 to review the assessment and determine if it can be used to inform the Council’s management decisions. If so, the SSC will recommend acceptable biological catch limits for black sea bass for 2017-2019. At their February 2017 meeting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the Council plans to recommend commercial and recreational black sea bass catch and landings limits for 2017-2019 based on this new information. These recommendations are expected to result in a revised 2017 commercial quota that could reduce the magnitude of the reduction needed to address the overage of the 2015 annual catch target.

NORTH CAROLINA: Anglers angling for tougher rules on shrimp trawlers

November 18, 2016 — KITTY HAWK, N.C. — On a sunny fall day when commercial fishermen would normally be on the water hoping for a big catch, many were crammed into a dimly lit hotel ballroom in Kitty Hawk on Thursday trying to head off proposed rules that could limit future catches.

The state Marine Fisheries Commission is considering a petition from the North Carolina Wildlife Federation to adopt regulations for shrimp trawlers operating in coastal sounds that would reduce the size of their nets, limit how long nets could be pulled in the water, permit shrimping only three days per week and eliminate night-time shrimping.

The goal of the changes, according to Wildlife Federation officials, is to protect fish nurseries.

“We have found doing the research – looking at the science, looking at the data and doing the analysis – that we are losing too many fish to shrimp trawling,” David Knight, a policy consultant for the Wildlife Federation, told the commission.

“It’s kind of crazy that it comes up now because we just passed, last year, the shrimp plan,” commission Chairman Sammy Corbett said.

One of the proposals would cut the length of the head rope attached to the top of a trawler net from 220 feet to 90 feet.

Read the full story at WRAL

VIRGINIA: Cobia hearings will play a role in future regulations

August 10, 2016 — The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council is holding public hearings this week and the input from anglers could play a role in the future management of cobia.

The SAFMC is proposing regulations that will further reduce next year’s allowable catch. The council forced closures in federal waters this year to reduce the catch, leaving North Carolina and Virginia to adopt tighter regulations that include a reduced season in state waters.

Opponents of increased closures and tighter regulations are asking that anglers attend as many of this week’s meetings as possible.

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot 

Councils to Hold Cobia Management Meetings in N.C.

April 19, 2016 — SAVE THE DATE – May 9, 2016!
Councils to Hold a Q&A Public Meeting on Cobia Management

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, in conjunction with the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, will hold a Q&A Public Meeting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina to address cobia management issues.

DATE: May 9, 2016

TIME: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

LOCATION: The meeting is being held in Kitty Hawk, NC and is also being broadcast via webinar. Registration for the webinar only is required – see below for registration link.

Read the full story at The Fishing Wire