Saving Seafood

Research cruises assess North Carolina marine resources

March 27, 2025 — An East Carolina University professor is taking part in a series of interdisciplinary research cruises aimed at exploring biological organisms off the coast of North Carolina and gauging how climate and oceanic conditions affect marine resources.

Dr. Rebecca Asch, associate professor in the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Biology, is a collaborator on the $1.5 million Research Opportunities Initiative grant. ROI grants are funded by the North Carolina General Assembly to encourage innovative and collaborative research projects across the state. Dr. Bradley Tolar, assistant professor of biology and marine biology at UNC Wilmington, leads the project with partnerships from ECU, UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State University.

“It’s a really important initiative, and I am proud to represent ECU,” Asch said.

Transect Expedition to Assess Land-to-Sea Habitats via Interdisciplinary Process Studies (TEAL-SHIPS) is the name of the project. It involves researchers exploring the continental shelf of North Carolina to collect data and better understand physical, chemical and biological oceanographic processes. Surveys of the coast, from estuaries along the Cape Fear River near Wilmington to the Gulf Stream, will span two years of data collection throughout eight research cruises (four times per year, or once per season), with one year to analyze the data and findings. They will traverse the same locations, collect the same information and use the same equipment on each research cruise.

Transect Expedition to Assess Land-to-Sea Habitats via Interdisciplinary Process Studies (TEAL-SHIPS) is the name of the project. It involves researchers exploring the continental shelf of North Carolina to collect data and better understand physical, chemical and biological oceanographic processes. Surveys of the coast, from estuaries along the Cape Fear River near Wilmington to the Gulf Stream, will span two years of data collection throughout eight research cruises (four times per year, or once per season), with one year to analyze the data and findings. They will traverse the same locations, collect the same information and use the same equipment on each research cruise.

Asch said many of these offshore areas have not been surveyed by biologists since the 1990s.

Read the full article at East Carolina University

NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina adopts 18 new marine fisheries rules

March 27, 2025 — On March 24, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission implemented 18 new rules designed to enhance the management and conservation of the state’s marine and estuarine resources. These changes encompass improvements in data collection, harassment prevention, and the administration of shellfish leases.

Five of the newly adopted rules focus on bolstering data collection efforts and safeguarding Division of Marine fisheries employees from harassment during field activities, according to Island Free Press. Amendments expand protections against verbal, physical, or sexual harassment that staff may encounter while collecting vital data on marine and estuarine resources. Additional revisions to rules reinforce the obligation of fishermen to cooperate with data collection programs, emphasizing the critical role of accurate data in resource conservation.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

It’s time for collaborative management of North Carolina fisheries

March 27, 2025 — After two weeks of fisheries meetings and numerous comments from stakeholders, it’s clear that our current system of fisheries management leaves much to be desired.

Since the General Assembly passed legislation in 2010 requiring overfishing to be ended in two years, or less, and sustainable harvest to be achieved within 10 years (with management that has at least a 50% probability of success), we have seen nothing but declining harvest limits across every fishery.

This law – pushed by the Coastal Conservation Association (CCA) and then DMF Director Louis Daniel – has made North Carolina the most restrictive state in the Nation when it comes to fisheries management.

Even California has less restrictive mandates!

The Division of Marine Fisheries routinely cites this law as the reason for severe regulatory decisions, pointing to the “statutory requirements” to justify harsh harvest reductions. And they’re right!

When common sense measures other than direct harvest reductions are suggested, again they point to these statutes, which require “quantifiable” reductions, saying only a direct harvest reduction can be quantified.

But the greater truth is this: Our coastal communities are paying the price.

One of the statute’s key requirements is that Fishery Management Plans (FMPs) be developed and reviewed every five years. Yet DMF often lacks the data needed to conduct the stock assessments that inform these plans.

Read the full article at the Island Free Press

NC fishermen: Death by a thousand cuts

March 17, 2025 — The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission faced strong pushback from commercial and recreational fishermen during its first quarterly meeting of 2025, held at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk on March 12 and 13.

It was the first time since 2018 that the commission convened on the Outer Banks, drawing more than 30 speakers who voiced concerns about regulations, stock assessments, and the future of commercial fishing in the state.

As Island Free Press reported, Joe Romano, a commercial fisherman from Wilmington, spoke at the meeting. “Over-regulation has been the default course, and commercial fishermen have borne the brunt of it. We called it death by a thousand cuts, one ruled after another, reducing access, increasing cost, driving more watermen out of business. For years, it was easy to marginalize commercial fishing because there were so few of us.”

At the heart of the debate were proposed management plans to impose new restrictions on commercial harvests of false albacore, spotted sea trout, and southern flounder. While recreational anglers will also see reductions, the most significant impacts will fall on the commercial sector. Many speakers questioned the science behind these restrictions, arguing that flawed or incomplete stock assessments were being used to justify sweeping regulatory changes.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NORTH CAROLINA: At NC Marine Fisheries meeting, commercial fisherman voice frustration with regulation

March 17, 2025 — Facing skeptical and sometimes fiery comments from commercial and recreational fishing interests from Beaufort to the Outer Banks, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission met at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk on March 12 and 13 for the first quarterly meeting of 2025. It was the first time since November of 2018 that the commission has met on the Outer Banks.

More than 30 speakers addressed the commission, consistently calling out what they criticized as questionable science and data and the effect it has had on the commercial fishing industry.

“Over-regulation has been the default course, and commercial fishermen have borne the front of it,” Joe Romano, a commercial fisherman from Wilmington told the commission. “We called it a death by a thousand cuts, one rule after another, reducing access, increasing cost, driving more water men out of business. For years, it was easy to marginalize commercial fishing because there were so few of us.”

Read the full article at The Outer Banks Voice

NORTH CAROLINA: Octopus farming in NC? A bill was filed banning it

March 12, 2025 — A leading environmental voice in the North Carolina House has introduced a bill to outlaw octopus farming for human consumption.

Why it matters: Farming and keeping captive one of the most intelligent species is inhumane, critics say, and could harm the coastal ecosystem.

Yes, but: North Carolina has no octopus farms or known plans for any. In fact, no commercial octopus farm exists in the world. So, why file such a bill?

Driving the news: Congress and several states are considering similar legislation in response to international research on breeding octopuses. All the bills are intended to prevent such operations from opening in the U.S.

The North Carolina bill has already caught the attention of other top state legislators — but not in a good way.

  • “While we’re trying to deliver 90 million dollars in Corn Relief to NC farmers. The Democrats are worried about banning Octopus farming in NC,” House Majority Leader Rep. Brenden Jones posted on X.

Read the full article at AXIOS

NORTH CAROLINA: Comment period open for state flounder management plan

February 28, 2025 — The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is taking public comments beginning Saturday through to the end of March on a plan that would allow more recreational fishing access for southern flounder.

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

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

Read the full article at CostalReview.org

NORTH CAROLINA: African Americans in seafood industry heart of new exhibit

February 21, 2025 — Capt. John Mallette grew up fishing, but didn’t come from a fishing family.

Born and reared around Sneads Ferry and the Topsail area, he said his mother worked in real estate in Wilmington and his father was one of Ocean City’s original developers and bought a home there in 1950.

Ocean City was established on Topsail Island in 1949 and was “the first place where Black people could have oceanfront property” in the state, Mallette recently told Coastal Review.

The motel had a pier, and “I pretty much lived on the pier fishing as a little kid,” he continued.

“There was a lady who had One Stop Bait & Tackle in Surf City — Betty Warren, she’s long passed away now — but she would babysit me, basically, and I would sit there and help sell seafood and head shrimp and filet flounder. And then her husband, Preston, would take me out shrimping in the waterway with him, and that’s how I got started commercial fishing and just never stopped. I just grew into it, and started running boats.”

From there, he became a captain and spent several years piloting various commercial, private and charter vessels in Central and South America, Australia and Hawaii. While a fishing guide on a private island near Turks and Caicos, he learned his mother was ill and returned to the U.S. in 2008 to take care of her.

These days he co-owns Southern Breeze Seafood Co. on U.S. Highway 258 between Richlands and Jacksonville. He delivers fresh seafood all over the state, including to a handful of universities such as Elon and North Carolina Central.

Read the full article at CostalReview.org

NORTH CAROLINA: Commercial fishers search for lost fishing gear

January 31, 2025 — This January, the North Carolina Coastal Federation kicked off its 11th annual Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, enlisting the support of 20 dedicated commercial fishermen and women. This initiative aims to locate and remove displaced and potentially dangerous fishing gear along the northern and central coast, noted a news release from NCCF.

“Throughout the month, crews will diligently search designated areas to recover lost crab pots, which pose serious threats to boaters, wildlife, and the fishing community,” stated the release.

Read the full article at the The Coastland Times

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Trump moves to curb wind farms, part of North Carolina’s clean energy plan

January 22, 2025 — The fate of North Carolina’s offshore wind farms, both active and planned, is in question after President Donald Trump took executive action to halt offshore wind energy production on his first day in office.

The order halts offshore wind leasing on the Outer Continental Shelf and prohibits new or renewed permits, leases, and loans for wind energy projects, both onshore and offshore. The sweeping action has drawn sharp criticism from clean energy advocates in North Carolina, where offshore wind was poised to play a significant role in the energy transition.

It was one of dozens of executive orders signed Monday by Trump, a Republican who returned to the White House after a four-year absence. Trump signed other executive orders related to climate, too, removing the U.S. from the Paris Climate treaty and pushing back on Biden-era mandates on electric vehicles.

“We’re not going to do the wind thing,” Trump said during an event at Capital One Arena on Monday hours after being sworn in.

The Biden Administration approved 11 commercial-scale offshore wind projects in the past four years.

Trump is a proponent of expanded drilling for oil and fracking. He said Monday that the U.S. has more oil and gas than any other nation.

Read the full article at WRAL