Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Five whales have died along NC’s coast this year. Here’s what researchers know so far

May 1, 2024 — Whales found stranded along the North Carolina coast in recent years have died from parasites, infectious disease and – too many times, marine experts say – as a result of human interactions.

At least five whales have been stranded on or near the shore this year, dead or unable to be saved. They include a humpback whale, a minke whale and three dwarf sperm whales.

Dr. Craig Harms, director of the marine health program at N.C. State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology in Morehead City, said the degraded condition of whale carcasses by the time they reach shore means researchers can determine a cause of death in fewer than half the recorded cases.

Read the full article at The News & Observer 

NORTH CAROLINA: Scientist, legislators voice opposition to fisheries procedures

April 30, 2024 — A scientist and two legislators joined the state commercial fishing lobby in protesting the procedure planned by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission for possible changes in regulation of the summer flounder harvest.

The fishery, which brought $4.8 million in dockside value to N.C. fishermen last year, is the top commercial fin fish in the state.

The North Carolina Fisheries Association held a Monday morning press conference at Union Point Park in New Bern to challenge the use of a supplement approach to the management plan for the flounder.

Six management plan proposals were quickly assembled since February, with a public hearing Wednesday in New Bern and a possible vote by the Marine Fisheries Commission at its August meeting in Raleigh.

The 1 p.m. public hearing at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center is set for four hours in anticipation of a large turnout ranging from fishermen and seafood dealers, to related industries such as restaurant owners and consumers.

One main threat from the current proposals is a possible ban on anchored large-mesh gill nets in the state’s internal waters.

The Fisheries Association, headed by President Jerry Schill, favors an amendment process to assess flounder stocks, a process that allows detailed scientific input, public input and advisory panels. It was implemented with the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997.

He said an amendment is used to address a concern and a supplement to address an emergency, such as stocks threatened by environmental factors, including hurricanes and freezes.

Read the full article at The Daily News

A timeline of the whales that have died off Virginia, NC coast this year

April 17, 2024 — In under two months, eight whales have died in and around the Virginia and North Carolina coasts.

This tragic trend may be the result of human impact, according to experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

However, some activists argue that offshore wind farms are to blame.

Whatever the cause, here is a timeline of whales that have died off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts this year:

March 3: Two dead whales are spotted in Virginia Beach, and were later determined to have entanglement scars

Read the full article at WTKR

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NORTH CAROLINA: Can endangered right whales and charter fishing boats co-exist off the NC coast?

April 11, 2024 — The 2024 hurricane season doesn’t officially start for more than a month.

Yet a storm is already raging off the North Carolina coast, and this one involves the future of two of the most iconic symbols of the state’s coastal areas − whales and fishing.

But to save one, whether one of the most highly endangered animals in the world or an industry that supports thousands of jobs and is worth millions to coastal communities, must the other go?

“We’re not against species protection at all,” said Frank Hugelmeyer, president and CEO of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA). “But we don’t think you solve one existential problem by creating another one.”

Read the full article at USA Today

NORTH CAROLINA: Thousands of pieces of fishing gear removed from coastal NC waters over past decade

April 1, 2024 — Protecting our state’s coastal waters is an ongoing effort, and one nonprofit recently hit a major milestone in that endeavor.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation marked 10 years of working with commercial fishing crews to find and remove thousands of pieces of lost fishing gear from the water.

Matt Littleton and Carson Whetherington spend their mornings in Swansboro searching for bouys — but these crab pots aren’t providing their next meal; they’re looking to pull lost and forgotten gear from the water.

“The areas we’re working, continuously we’re seeing lost pots or leftover or one that might have gotten moved around from a storm. In this area we’re running up on just pots that are derelict, debris that’s been discarded somewhere or it’s been hit by a boat or hit by a prop because it’s been in the water for so long,” says Littleton, with Friendly City Fishing Charters.

For years Littleton, who’s a charter boat captain in Swansboro, worked alongside his father as part of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s lost fishing gear recovery project- but now he continues that effort with his own team.

Read the full article at WRAL

NORTH CAROLINA: North Carolina fishermen battle falling prices, foreign imports, and regulations

February 28, 2024 — Local seafood is a favorite in Eastern North Carolina, but with falling prices and more foreign imports local fishermen say they are struggling.

Fishermen battle regulations and imports while trying to keep their business afloat. A fisherman we spoke to says the imported seafood industry squeezes out their ability to provide affordable options.

Monica Smith / Miss Gina’s Fresh Shrimp owner says, “I feel like we’re fighting for the right to go to work. Commercial fishermen get singled out an awful lot. “

Consumers might have to play the ‘price is right’ for locally caught seafood in eastern North Carolina. For fishermen like Kayden Daniels, they are now seeing a potential downturn in business.

Read the full article at WCTI 12

NORTH CAROLINA: Extensive study aims to help state better manage fisheries

February 13, 2024 — A study ordered by the legislature has scientists taking a deep dive into North Carolina’s fisheries management to help the future of state-regulated coastal marine species.

The North Carolina General Assembly in the 2021-22 state budget tasked researchers with a “Study of the Coastal and Marine Fisheries of the State” to come up with recommendations on ways the state might improve how it manages 13 regulated species.

To do this, researchers are examining a multitude of information gathered over the past few decades and study trends in everything from water temperatures to commercial harvest patterns.

The study, led by a team of nine researchers who fall under the umbrella of the North Carolina Collaboratory, is expected to wrap sometime next year. The legislature created the policy research entity in 2016. The Collaboratory is to share its recommendations to state lawmakers no later than June 30, 2025.

That deadline was bumped from June 30 of this year, which marks the 27th anniversary of the Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 and the 50th anniversary of the Coastal Area Management Act, or CAMA.

Read the full article at CostalReview.org

From Bubba Gump to bust? American shrimpers face extinction

January 31, 2024 — On a chilly December morning, the captain of the Miss Patti is ready to throw his lines and go shrimping – well, almost. Brian Jordan’s deckhand is in a foul mood, and it’s no wonder why. Is any of this worth it?

Here on the tiny working waterfront of Tybee Island, Georgia, the hesitancy is logical. Shrimp prices cratered this year, and hundreds of boats from Brownsville, Texas, to Harkers Island, North Carolina, remained dockside.

The problem hasn’t been a lack of shrimp or the price of diesel. Instead, freezers across the United States are filled to the gills. A glut of imported shrimp has dropped the price to about half of what shrimp boats received in the 1980s.

At stake is the livelihood of Mr. Jordan and shrimpers like him nationwide. They can’t compete with overseas rivals who raise and harvest shrimp in lower-cost “aquaculture’’ farms. There, baby shrimp essential to the marine life food chain are raised in artificial saltwater ponds, then harvested in bulk and sold for reduced prices around the world.

Because shrimp is the most valuable marine product traded in the world today – growing from a $10.6 billion industry in 2005 to over $60 billion in 2022 – the shift is consequential on many fronts. The practice is generating substantial income for developing countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Brazil, Ecuador, and Bangladesh.

But the trend, some experts say, hurts more than just seafaring boaters like Mr. Jordan: Much of the overseas aquaculture industry is damaging to the environment, they say

Read the full article at the Christian Science Monitor

NORTH CAROLINA: NCCF Lost fishing gear recovery program underway

January 10, 2024 — Throughout this month and with the help of 25 commercial fishermen and women, the N.C. Coastal Federation will undertake efforts to find and remove potentially harmful lost fishing gear. This is the tenth year the federation has held the annual Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project.

Throughout the month watermen will scour parts of the northern and central coast looking to find and remove lost crab pots. Every year, crab pots and other fishing gear are lost in our sounds in various ways.

Lost gear can get hung up or drift into channels, creating serious hazards to boaters, wildlife, and other fishermen. Since 2014, the federation led the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project to remove lost crab pots from North Carolina sounds.

With the help of various partners, commercial fishermen and women are hired to collect the pots during the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish, and shrimp pots, January 1-31 north of the Highway 58 bridge to Emerald Isle. In 2023, commercial watermen and women in partnership with N.C. Marine Patrol removed 2,077 pots from select areas within all three Marine Patrol Districts.

Read the full article at Carolina Coast Online

Agencies acknowledge confusion fisheries conflict creates

January 9, 2023 — Third and final 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.

Disagreements between the two commissions that manage state waters began to flare in 2019 after they formed an interagency committee to work on the required 10-year review on rules for the joint waters they both manage.

With the threat of these rules expiring in 2022 looming over the Wildlife Resources Commission that manages inland waters and the Marine Fisheries Commission manages coastal waters and the two never coming to an agreement, the governor’s office directed the agencies in February 2022 to adopt the existing joint rules without any changes.

The joint rules address scope and purpose, the classification of inland, coastal and joint waters, posting dividing lines, applicability of rules and special regulations for joint waters, and estuarine striped bass management.

Though there was mounting conflict evident between the agencies, what highlighted the impasse was the two recreational flounder seasons in September 2023. The WRC season was the first two weeks and MFC’s was the second two weeks, leading to confusion and even warnings issued to some fishers for breaking one agency’s rules.

North Carolina Fisheries Association Executive Director Glenn Skinner told Coastal Review that with the two agencies trying to decide who has authority over what, “you’ve got a lot of stakeholders that are really caught in the middle. And that’s a shame whenever it comes to that.”

What kept the inland and coastal seasons concurrent was a 2011 Wildlife Resources Commission rule to mirror the recreational seatrout, flounder and red drum seasons set by the Marine Fisheries Commission or Division of Marine Fisheries, which carries out the Marine Fisheries Commission’s rules. The Wildlife Resources Commission amended this rule in late 2021 to establish its own flounder season and limits as well as dozens of species-specific rules that went into effect March 2023.

Read the full article at CoastalReview.org