North Carolina Archives - Page 55 of 74

Seismic Testing Evicting Fish from Reef

February 13, 2017 — Fish are being pushed from their homes by seismic testing, a surveying method that uses dynamite, a specialized air gun or a seismic vibrator to develop images of the rock layers below the ground.

Avery Paxton, a marine ecologist Ph.D. student from the University of North Carolina, recently studied the impact seismic testing has on fish who inhabit a reef 30 miles off the coast of North Carolina and found that during seismic surveying, reef-fish abundance declined by 78%.

“What was really interesting is that this decrease occurred during the evening hours, when before the survey the fish were most active on the reef,” Paxton said in an exclusive interview with R&D Magazine. “We don’t know exactly where they went, we assume that they moved from the noisy reef to a nearby quieter reef or perhaps some of the smaller fish went and hid in the holes or crevices.”

Paxton said to conduct the study the research team placed underwater cameras and microphones at the reef and observed the data three days before the test and also during the seismic test.

However, due to a battery issue the study does not include any data after the survey.

Paxton said the majority of research on the impacts of seismic testing centers around marine mammals and not fish.

Read the full story at R&D Magazine

NORTH CAROLINA: Marine Fisheries meetings planned for Feb. 15-16

February 8, 2017 — The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet over two days instead of the usual three for its Feb. 15-16 meeting in Wilmington, and time for public comment will be included.

At the meeting at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside, 301 N. Water St., the business sessions will start at noon Feb. 15 and at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 16. Among items on the agenda is the N.C. Wildlife Federation petition for rulemaking regarding shrimp trawling season, along with potential cobia management measures and decisions on hard clam and oyster management.

Public comment will be heard at 3 p.m. Feb. 15. First to speak will be members of the public who signed up to speak about the petition during a Jan. 17 meeting but did not get to speak before time ran out. Afterward, anyone from the public may speak on fisheries-related topics.

Deliberation and voting on the petition is scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. Feb. 16. A complete agenda can be found at http://bit.ly/2k3WCat.

Up to 200 visitors may listen to a webcast and view presentations at http://bit.ly/2kP9gcU. An audio file will be posted after the meeting.

Read the full story at The News & Observer

Sandy Semans Ross: OBX Catch responds to proposed shrimping rule

February 2, 2017 — Outer Banks Catch executive director Sandy Semans Ross presented the group’s position on the proposal by the N.C. Wildlife Federation that could result in major changes to the state’s commercial trawling industry.

Outer Banks Catch is a non-profit group focused on providing fact-based education to consumers about the commercial fishing industry and communities, and the habitat and water quality needed to maintain a robust fishery.

With that mission comes a responsibility to correct erroneous statements whether made in the press or, such as in this case, in petitions for rule-making before the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission.

The petition filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center on behalf of the North Carolina Wildlife Federation is based on the work of Jack Travelstead, an employee of the Coastal Conservation Association, and former N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries director, Louis Daniel, now contracted with NCWF.

Read the full opinion piece at The Outer Banks Voice.

Noisy tests offshore scaring fish away from reefs

January 31, 2017 — The sonic tests used to map the ocean floor in order to explore for oil and gas is scaring fish away from reefs, according to a first-of-its-kind study released by a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researcher.

Avery Paxton, a marine ecologist with UNC’s Institute for Marine Sciences, has for two years been studying the effects of loud manmade noises on fish in the ocean.

“These noises, on the reef, they’re repetitive,” Paxton said. “The sound levels on the reef that were heard by these fishes were loud enough that, in laboratory experiments, fish did have physiological damage.”

Read the full story at WRAL.com

SOUTHEASTERN FISHERIES ASSOCIATION: Eat More Sustainable Seafood for Health and Taste Benefits

January 20, 2017 — The following was released by the Southeastern Fisheries Association (SFA):

SFA President Peter Jarvis Says: “Eat More Sustainable Seafood for Health and Taste Benefits”

WASHINGTON — Soon after he’s sworn in as the 45th President of the United States, Donald Trump will dine on Maine lobster, Gulf shrimp, and Seven Hills Angus beef, to name a few dishes.

These foods are all on the menu for the inaugural luncheon, a long-standing tradition in which the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies hosts a meal for the president and vice president at the Capitol following the inaugural address.

The committee organized its first luncheon in 1953, when lawmakers welcomed President Dwight Eisenhower for creamed chicken, baked ham and potato puffs in the Capitol’s Old Senate Chamber.

Dishes, consumed between toasts, gift presentations and speeches, often encompass foods from the home states of the new leaders, though Trump’s menu owes heavily to California, not his home state of New York or Vice President-elect Mike Pence’s state of Indiana.

President Barack Obama’s 2013 luncheon boasted a menu of steamed lobster, grilled bison and apple pie.

Trump’s, which will be held in the Statuary Hall, will feature three courses.

The first, Maine lobster and Gulf shrimp with saffron sauce and peanut crumble, will be accompanied by a J. Lohr 2013 Arroyo Vista Chardonnay.

The Gulf shrimp may be a tribute to Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort is located and which the President-elect has called his “second home.”

Read the original story at CNN

NORTH CAROLINA: Hearing on proposed fishing limits draws a thousand

January 19, 2017 — Commercial fishermen, biologists, conservationists and seafood consumers came out in force Tuesday in New Bern to stop proposed regulations that would restrict commercial fishing in North Carolina’s sounds and estuaries.

Several shrimp boats traveled up the Neuse River and anchored off Union Point Park for Tuesday’s meeting at New Bern Riverfront Convention Center, a meeting that drew about a thousand people, most of them opposed to a petition from the nonprofit N.C. Wildlife Federation to restrict commercial fishing in North Carolina.

Committees of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission voted at the end of the 7½-hour meeting to recommend denying the petition that would have restricted the number of days commercial fishermen could fish in special secondary nursery areas to three a week (four days per week in the ocean); reduce headrope length on shrimp trawlers to 90 feet from 220 feet in internal coastal waters and 110 feet in the ocean; and calls for a mesh size study on fishing nets to limit the harvest of juvenile Atlantic croaker and spot.

Supporters of the petition said the restrictions were an attempt to increase the bounty of shrimp, croaker and spot by giving juveniles a chance to mature and reproduce for one generation instead of being lost in the bycatch, which generally are fish not targeted by commercial fishermen that nevertheless are caught up in nets.

However, opponents to the petition said there was no science to the studies that looked at the fish populations from 1981 to 2015. Despite the declining numbers of stock being presented, shrimpers said last year was the best catch they could remember and the stock was not declining.

Read the full story at the New Bern Sun Journal

NORTH CAROLINA: Fisheries committees vote against further regulations

January 18, 2017 — NEW BERN, N.C. — Five North Carolina fisheries committees have rejected a proposal to further regulate shrimp trawling after a public meeting that ended with 60 people waiting to speak.

The Sun Journal of New Bern reports (http://bit.ly/2jZDKVo) the committees voted Tuesday to recommend that the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission deny the request from the state Wildlife Federation for more regulations.

The nonprofit conservation group’s petition wanted to reduce the number of days shrimp trawlers could fish, how much they could fish and where they could trawl in North Carolina waters.

So many people spoke against the petition that the chairman of the panel had to stop the public hearing while 60 people were still signed up to speak.

Read the full story from the Associated Press at the News & Record

NORTH CAROLINA: Questions surround funding for flounder fishery observers

January 17, 2017 — Watermen want to know what happened to commercial license fees that were collected to fund observers required by law for flounder fishing when sea turtles are spotted in area waters.

Few answers were provided at a meeting of the North Carolina Commercial Fishing Resource Funding Committee on Jan. 4.

Records show that $1.3 million was allocated for the observers in the 2015-2016 fiscal year, but only $608,065 was spent.

Dewey Hemilright, who attended the meeting, asked how so much could have been spent on the Section 10 permit program when the flounder fishery was closed much of the season.

“Expenses need more accountability,” said Hemilright, a long-line fisherman. “This doesn’t affect me, but I’m willing to pay the extra money if it allows others to fish. But if there’s more being paid in than is needed, then it should be returned to the fishermen.”

An additional license fee was imposed after a state appropriation to cover the cost of complying with the federal permit’s conditions was eliminated. One condition requires the observers, who monitor interactions with endangered sea turtles and sturgeon.

The fishery can be shut down if turtles and sturgeon are found in the management area.

Section 10 observers are a part of the DMF Observer Program, also called the Resource Protection unit, which has much broader responsibilities, The unit develops fishery management plans, assesses stocks and collects at-sea information about commercial and recreational catches.

After the loss of revenue to pay for the permit program, the North Carolina Fisheries Association brokered a deal in which fishermen agreed to pay substantially higher license fees to fund the Section 10 permit observers.

“It was the only way they could continue to fish,” said Jerry Schill, NCFA director.

Read the full story at The Outer Banks Voice

NORTH CAROLINA: Public comment to be taken on petition impacting shrimp trawling

January 16, 2017 — A meeting set for this week will put the issue of resource protection versus gear restrictions on the shrimping industry up for debate.

The five advisory committees to the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission will meet jointly on Jan. 17 at the New Bern Riverfront Convention Center to receive public comment on a petition for rulemaking that would, if adopted, impact shrimp trawl fishing in most North Carolina waters.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation submitted the petition on Nov. 2, and the commission has 120 days from that date to grant or deny the request that calls for stricter regulations for shrimp trawling and the shrimp season as a means to better protect habitat for juvenile finfish.

The petition asks the commission to designate all coastal fishing waters not already designated as nursery areas as special secondary nursery areas, including the ocean out to three miles. It also calls for establishing clear criteria for the opening of shrimp season and defining the type of gear and how and when gear may be used in special secondary nursery areas (SSNAs) during shrimp season.

Jerry Schill, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, a nonprofit organization for the state’s commercial fishing industry, said the restrictions sought through the petition would have severe impacts on the state’s shrimping industry.

NCFA: Workshop Meets to Address Bycatch in North Carolina Shrimp Trawl Fishery

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

A workgroup formed by the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission in 2015 to investigate ways to further reduce bycatch in shrimp trawls met recently in New Bern. The industry work group is a collaborative effort that consists of staff from the Division of Marine Fisheries, N.C. Sea Grant, fishing vessel owners, net makers and a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The meeting recently held at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern follows the second year of a three year project, and is showing some very promising results.

The goal set by the Marine Fisheries Commission for the workgroup was set at 40% reduction in finfish bycatch.

Of the devices that were tested, the device achieving the highest reduction in the previous year was further modified for year two, resulting in a 54.5% reduction of finfish bycatch and a 52.2% reduction in bycatch of all types.

It was noted that none of the sampling for the project was done by extrapolation, but by sampling the entire contents of over 180 tows.

The meeting was held while a Petition for Rulemaking, filed by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and the Southern Environmental Law Center, is being considered by the Marine Fisheries Commission. If the proposed regulations were enacted as proposed by the petitioners, there would be severe restrictions to shrimping in North Carolina.

“In the many years that I’ve been involved with representing the state’s commercial fishermen, there is no one issue that we’ve spent more time on than reducing bycatch in the shrimp trawl fishery”, said Jerry Schill, President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association. “Further, there is no one issue where we’ve had more success than reducing that bycatch. However, with their goal of eliminating shrimp trawling in our state, the onslaught continues. It will not abate until they’re successful”.

The public meeting to address the petition will be held on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at the Riverfront Convention Center in New Bern, NC, beginning at 12:30pm.