University of North Carolina Archives

UNC Researchers: Climate change causing fish migration

March 30, 2022 — The University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences says climate change is threatening the fishing industry, which contributes close to $300 million to the economy in North Carolina.

Marine researchers say climate change is continuing to impact the environment along the coast and is now impacting the amount of fish in the water here in the east.

University of North Carolina’s Marine Sciences college in Morehead City has conducted research into the decrease in the number of fish.

Dr. Janet Nye, Associate Professor at the Institute of Marine Sciences, has been studying water temperatures and how it impacts fish along North Carolina’s Coast.

Nye says the increase in temperatures has caused flounder and grouper numbers to decrease.

Read the full story at WITN

The 50-Year Shark Search: UNC’s Institute Of Marine Sciences Celebrates Shark Research Anniversary

July 14, 2021 — Two years ago, Jeff Plumlee watched as his fellow crew members reeled a four-foot long blacknose shark onto the research vessel Capricorn. As they prepared to take the shark’s measurements, they saw something unexpected sticking out of her birth canal: a small tail fin.

“It was indicated to everybody on board [that]… okay, that is a baby shark,” said Plumlee. “She is giving birth on board.”

Quickly, the crew unhooked the shark without taking measurements and released her back into the water so she could give birth safely. Plumlee, who is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences, helped carry the shark to the edge of the boat for release.

“It was really just intimate, being able to witness it and get the animal back in the water, watch her swim away,” Plumlee said.

Plumlee was searching for sharks off North Carolina’s coast as part of the UNC-IMS Longline Shark Survey. The survey is an effort from the Institute of Marine Sciences to record the diversity of sharks visiting the state over time. It began in 1972 under the late Frank Schwartz, a former professor and marine zoologist at the IMS. As scientists set off to record shark species again this summer, the survey is celebrating its 50th year of data collection, making it one of the longest-running shark research programs in the United States.

Read the full story at WUNC

A diet rich in omega-3 could reduce migraines

July 2, 2021 — A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids could reduce migraines, a small study suggests.

Researchers found that a diet high in omega-3 – which can be found in supplements and oily fish – could slash persistent headaches by two to four per month.

According to the NHS, a healthy, balanced diet should include at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish. Oily fish – such as salmon and sardines – are particularly high in long-chain omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the heart.

The new research, published in the British Medical Journal, involved 182 people (88 per cent of whom were women, with a typical age of 38), who suffered migraines on 5 to 20 days a month.

The women were split into three groups, with the amount of omega-3 fatty acids (eicosapentaenoic acid – EPA, and docosahexaenoic acid – DHA) varying according to the diet, while the omega-6 linoleic acid was also monitored.

One diet increased the amount of EPA and DHA to 1.5g per day and maintained linoleic acid at around 7 per cent of energy intake. A second diet increased EPA and DHA to 1.5g per day and decreased linoleic acid to less than 1.8 per cent of energy, while the other control diet maintained EPA and DHA at less than 150mg per day and linoleic acid at around 7 per cent of energy.

Read the full story at Science Focus

UNCW Researchers Spawn Endangered Coral

August 25, 2020 — A University of North Carolina at Wilmington laboratory made history this month by spawning in captivity an endangered coral that once thrived in shallow reefs in the Caribbean.

Researchers at the university’s Center for Marine Science are the first to spawn two species of coral, including Orbicella faveolata, also known as mountainous star coral, in a laboratory.

Their success at reproducing the coral stems from a groundbreaking discovery just a few years ago in the United Kingdom, where a then-doctorate student collaborated with Neptune Systems, a company that makes aquarium controller systems, to electronically mimic environmental settings coral rely on in the wild to spawn.

“Ever since then other institutions and other laboratories have been able to do so,” said Nicole Fogarty, the assistant professor who headed the research in the lab referred to as the Spawning and Experimentation of Anthropogenic Stressors, or SEAS facility. “This has just been a big game-changer in trying to spawn corals in technology.”

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

Tracking the mysterious underwater migration of female lobsters

December 9, 2019 — A marine biology researcher from the University of North Carolina is trying to figure out how far a female lobster will go to lay eggs.

Heather Koopman, senior scientist at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, has enlisted the help of Grand Manan fishermen to tag any female lobsters they catch and to report when they recapture one that’s been tagged.

“Some … have gone nine or 10 nautical miles in the space of a little over a week,” said Koopman.

“That’s kind of a distance for an animal … that size.”

It’s hoped the research will shed light on the range of the species and the health of the resource.

“I think our members are actually excited to see what’s happening with them,” said Bonnie Morse, Grand Manan Fishermen’s Association project manager.

More than 200 lobsters had been tagged for the project by Tuesday. Koopman said the project hopes to reach the 1,000 mark in the next few weeks.

Read the full story at CBC News

Study details mislabeling of North Carolina shrimp

September 10, 2019 — A third of shrimp labeled “local” wild shrimp in North Carolina was actually imported farmed shrimp, a new study found.

A forensics sciences class at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill obtained shrimp samples from 60 grocery stores and seafood markets across the state, and found that 35 percent mislabeled local shrimp at least once. That is consistent with the mislabeling rate on shrimp nationwide, the students wrote in the article published on BioRxiv.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Are these shrimp actually local? Falsely labeled seafood coming to forefront in North Carolina.

August 30, 2019 — Seafood may be labeled as local from North Carolina, but often it actually comes from Asian ponds and arrives infused with harmful supplements, according to a new study.

A third of the shrimp marked as harvested from North Carolina waters likely was farm raised in a foreign country with fewer laws and oversight, according to a new study by the University of North Carolina.

Members of the study group bought 106 shrimp from 60 vendors, including 14 in Dare County and 15 in Hyde County. DNA tests determined the species.

The study highlights a practice where companies falsely label foreign seafood as local to sell at higher prices, double the amount in some cases.

“Consumers deserve to know what they’re getting,” said Glenn Skinner, executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association. “We feel strongly this should not be going on.”

Read the full story at The Virginian-Pilot

Fish 2.0 to host free workshop for seafood entrepreneurs and investors

March 27, 2019 — Aquaculture entrepreneurs and researchers seeking capital for ventures and technologies supporting sustainable seafood or the marine environment are encouraged to join a Fish 2.0 workshop at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Marine Campus on 23-24 April.

The event is part of the Fish 2.0 initiative and established businesses from the US South Atlantic coast (Maryland, DC, Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, and the Atlantic coast of Florida) involved in seafood supply chains, climate resilience technologies, or seafood production, including aquaculture, wild harvesting or trade are eligible to apply at no cost.

“If you know of technologies being commercialised at universities or ventures getting started in your state, please forward this message. We want to help those entrepreneurs meet investors that can fund these important ventures,” say Fish 2.0’s organisers.

Fish 2.0 is a year-long global programme that connects entrepreneurs with business-building resources and a network of investors and innovators that are shaping the future of fisheries, aquaculture, and the marine ecosystem.

Read the full story at The Fish Site

Study: Marine Protected Areas Won’t Matter

May 10, 2018 — New research from the University of North Carolina concludes that most marine life in marine protected areas will not be able to tolerate warming ocean temperatures caused by greenhouse gas emissions.

There are 8,236 marine protected areas around the world covering about four percent of the surface of the ocean. They have been established as a haven to protect threatened marine life, like polar bears, penguins and coral reefs, from the effects of fishing and other activities such as oil and gas extraction.

The study found that with continued “business-as-usual” emissions, the protections currently in place won’t matter, because by 2100, warming and reduced oxygen concentration will make marine protected areas uninhabitable by most species currently residing in those areas.

The study predicts that under the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 emissions scenario, better known as the “business as usual scenario,” marine protected areas will warm by 2.8 degrees Celsius (or 5 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. Mean sea-surface temperatures within marine protected areas are projected to increase 0.034 degrees Celsius (or 0.061 degrees Fahrenheit) per year.

Read the full story at the Maritime Executive

Gulf of Mexico red snapper get traded like stocks. So just how big is the market?

December 5, 2017 — For the next two years, a team of researchers studying red snapper — the sweet and nutty star of seafood menus that also happens to be at the center of a heated regulatory battle — will do the seemingly impossible: count the number of fish swimming in the Gulf of Mexico.

The $10 million study, meant to provide an independent tally for fishermen around the Gulf, may ultimately offer the largest fish survey ever performed, and lead to more accurate counting tools for the complex job of assessing fish stocks. It’s also a stab at resolving the ongoing dispute over strict snapper rules that critics say favor commercial fishermen, allowing a few powerful ones to control lucrative catch limits traded like shares in the stock market.

“It’s a very touchy subject,” said Bob Spaeth, former owner of the Madeira Beach Seafood Co. on Florida’s Gulf Coast and executive director of the Southern Offshore Fishing Association. “We have some unintended consequences.”

Red snapper once filled the Gulf and supplied an industry that made fried, grilled or blackened snapper a staple at seafood restaurants and markets. But by the 1980s, the population had dropped to unsustainable numbers, with an absence of long-lived adults, which can live to age 50. That spawned years of shifting regulations, scrutinized stock assessments and debates between commercial and recreational fishermen who were regulated differently.

Read the full story at the Miami Herald