Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Fisheries service to hold webinars, workshops on turtle excluder devices

June 9, 2021 — Local skimmer trawl fishermen and others have several opportunities to learn more about putting turtle excluder devices, or TEDs, on their trawls.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fisheries Service is offering several webinars to assist skimmer trawl fishermen with TED installation. Fishing gear specialists with the NMFS Southeast Fishery Science Center’s gear monitoring team will host question-and-answer webinar sessions and virtual workshops summarizing upcoming skimmer trawl TED requirements and assist participants with program information and compliance.

These webinars and workshops will be held at 10 a.m. on select Tuesdays and Fridays. The case sensitive password for all these webinars is “noaa.” An audio conference call will also be available at the webinar times at 415-527-5035. The event number for each webinar is the access code for each audio conference call.

Each webinar will be recorded.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

NORTH CAROLINA: ‘It’s fraud’: DNA tests reveal seafood mislabeled in Triangle markets

May 27, 2021 — Fresh and local are huge selling points for seafood, but when you buy fish or shellfish from local grocery stores and markets, are you getting what you’re paying for?

“People want Carolina shrimp. It’s that simple,” said Doug Cross, co-owner of Pamlico Packing, which gets locally caught seafood to North Carolina plates.

“Our shrimp, most of them, are caught in a more brackish environment in the Pamlico Sound, which is one of the best places in the world to grow a shrimp,” Cross said.

But Cross’ competition is not just coming from other coastal fishermen. With demand for fresh and local, many sellers are cutting corners by getting their seafood from other countries. And in some cases, high-demand fish is being mislabeled.

In the past two years, two North Carolina-based crab meat companies admitted in federal court they were labeling crab as a U.S. product when a lot of the meat was foreign.

Read the full story at WRAL

NC to limit flounder seasons again, leaving fishermen in disbelief

May 21, 2021 — North Carolina is trying to slow down flounder fishing on the coast, but leaders of the effort say some fishermen still aren’t doing their part.

To protect the population, the state’s planning on tightening the net on flounder fishing even further.

“There’s definitely been an impact, that’s for sure,” Sound-N-Sea Morehead charter captain Matt Paylor said. “It’s got some people in a whirlwind.”

In fall 2019, North Carolina’s Division of Marine Fisheries said flounder were being over fished, and that anglers needed to be allowed to catch only about a quarter the amount of fish they were catching to get the population back to a healthy size.

Read the full story at WRAL

NORTH CAROLINA: Commercial fishermen say they can’t stay afloat under biased regulations

May 13, 2021 — The commercial fishing industry is a lifeline for many coastal communities in North Carolina.

According to a study from NC State University, the fishing industry provides nearly $300 million to the state’s economy and employs more than 5,000 people.

However, many commercial fishermen feel like they’ve been playing defense for a decade, fighting for their livelihood.

“It’s a hard day to fight when you get up and you know you’re fighting for your survival every day, and you’re regulated to the point where you can barely make it,” said Doug Cross.

Cross runs Pamlico Packing Company with his brother. He grew up around the docks in Vandemere and started helping out at the family business when he was 13.

“I’ve seen years where the boats were a liability, and I’ve seen years where the boats were a blessing,” said Cross.

Read the full story at WNCT

NORTH CAROLINA: Nothing fishy about it: Seafood saves lives

May 13, 2021 — Fish literally saves lives: A North Carolina statewide public relations campaign will focus on promoting the health benefits of eating local seafood.

The campaign explores the health benefits of eating local seafood that directly affect the consumer, backed by well-documented scientific data from respected health professional and scientists.

The Science Behind Your Local Seafood uses a website and digital billboards to promote fish as among the healthiest foods on the planet, emphasizing its nourishment for both body and brain. This data will be used to educate con-sumers across generations.

For example:

  • Scientific Review indicates an average 7.7 IQ point gain in children whose mothers ate seafood during pregnancy compared to mothers who did not.

Read the full story at National Fisherman

NORTH CAROLINA: $5.2M in Relief Awarded to Fishing Industry

May 4, 2021 — More than $5.2 million in financial assistance is on its way to those eligible in fishing industries who sustained income losses because of COVID-19 in the spring of 2020.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries issued funds last week to 197 commercial fishermen and marine aquaculture operations, for-hire fishing operations, and seafood dealers and processors, deemed eligible for assistance from the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act Fisheries Relief Program, the division said Friday.

The following payments were made:

Stakeholder Category

Number of
Applications

Number
Approved

Assistance Awarded

Percent of  Total Award
Commercial Fishermen and Marine Aquaculture Operations

217

137

$3,374,022

64.2%
Seafood Dealers and Processors

35

26

$1,447,221

27.5%
For-Hire Fishing Operations

39

34

$434,243

8.3%
Total

291

197

$5,255,486

100%

An additional $161,287 went toward Division of Marine Fisheries administrative costs.

The state was allocated about $5.4 million in May 2020 from the federal CARES Act for financial relief through direct payments to fishery-related stakeholder groups affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

Ambitious Vision for North Carolina’s Oysters Outlined in New 5-Year Plan

April 29, 2021 — Restoring oysters can boost water quality and offer shoreline protection from storms, and this week the North Carolina Coastal Federation released its five-year action plan, outlining steps to keep this valuable shellfish thriving.

Leda Cunningham, officer for Conserving Marine Life in the U.S. at the Pew Charitable Trusts, said North Carolina’s oysters are in good shape, but face threats from storms, poor water quality and the impacts of climate change.

She believes the new Oyster Blueprint offers an example for other coastal states of how to restore and protect oyster populations.

“In those 15 or so years, it’s led to measurable progress in the state, and that is really a result of the inclusive systematic approach that Coastal Fed has taken with its partners to identify challenges and opportunities with this special resource,” Cunningham stated.

Guided by the Blueprint over the years, North Carolina has restored nearly 450 acres of oyster habitat, grown shellfish aquaculture from a $250,000 to $5 million industry, increased the number of shellfish farms in the state tenfold, and developed a nationally recognized shell recycling program.

Erin Fleckenstein, coastal scientist for the North Carolina Coastal Federation, said the plan includes new management strategies to help safeguard North Carolina’s waters, particularly in the Newport River and Stump Sound.

Read the full story at the Public News Service

Efforts On to Rebuild North Carolina’s Oyster Population

April 27, 2021 — North Carolina’s estuaries were teeming with oysters 150 years ago. In the time since, a combination of factors has caused oyster populations to decline.

Development, urbanization, point and nonpoint source pollution, intensive farming, harvest pressure, and increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events such as freezing temperatures, hurricanes, heavy rains and prolonged winds have all contributed to the loss, said state marine ecologist Jason Peters.

As supervisor of North Carolina’s cultch planting program, Peters has been heading up an effort by the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries to rebuild the oyster population.

“Cultch planting is an oyster restoration technique employed by many states along the East and Gulf coasts to return hard bottom habitat to our estuaries. This hard-bottom habitat, usually in the form of oyster shell of fossilized limestone marl, is placed in areas with suitable conditions for recruitment, growth and survival of oysters,” said Peters, who also supervises the state’s artificial reefs and oyster sanctuaries program. “The objective of this program is to mitigate habitat loss from harvest or natural events by establishing new, successful oyster reefs.”

Erin Fleckenstein is coastal scientist with the Wanchese office of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review. She explained that cultch planting activities are part of a comprehensive strategy to build back oyster resources and support a wild harvest fishery in the state.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

NORTH CAROLINA: Changes made to MFC citation program criteria

April 26, 2021 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries will make several changes to its Saltwater Fishing Tournament criteria effective May 1.

The tournament, popularly known as the Citation Program, is not a competition but a longstanding certification program that recognizes outstanding saltwater catches. Catches that meet minimum weight or release length requirements, along with other qualifications, are eligible for an 8½-by-11-inch citation (certificate) that is suitable for framing.

Changes to the requirements:

  • Atlantic bonito and striped bass will no longer be eligible for citations.
  • Atlantic croaker will be eligible for a citation at 1 pound, 8 ounces.
  • Black drum will only be eligible for a release citation. The minimum release length will remain 40 inches.
  • Gag grouper will be the only species eligible for a grouper citation. The minimum weight will remain 20 pounds.
  • Sea mullet will be eligible for a citation at the minimum weight of 2 pounds.
  • Sharks will only be eligible for a release citation. The minimum release length will remain 80 inches.
  • Gray tilefish a will be eligible for a citation at the minimum weight of 12 pounds.
  • Blackfin tuna will be eligible for a citation at the minimum weight of 25 pounds.

Read the full story at The Coastland Times

NORTH CAROLINA: Researchers talk coastal habitat risks from sea level rise, other hazards

April 22, 2021 — Coastal habitat loss may cost North Carolinians the natural benefits the habitat provides, but researchers are working to keep decision makers informed of the risks and potential solutions.

Representatives from Pew Charitable Trusts, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Duke University and East Carolina University held an online workshop Monday discussing the hazards coastal habitat faces and how scientists and state officials are working to preserve and protect it. Pew Charitable Trusts Director Jennifer Browning said the workshop was a part of the trusts’ coastal habitat learning series and evolved from approximately three decades of fisheries management.

“It’s been wonderful to watch how the (N.C.) Coastal Habitat Protection Plan has evolved,” said Ms. Browning, who was on the team which developed the CHPP.

Duke University Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions Ecosystem Services program director Lydia Olander said Duke researchers, in partnership with the U.S. Climate Alliance, have been taking part in a project to map the effects of sea level rise on coastal ecosystem services. She said the project focused on six Atlantic Coast states, including North Carolina.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times