Saving Seafood

JERRY SCHILL: Facts about North Carolina fish stocks

July 13, 2015 — Regarding the June 27 Point of View “The dark side to North Carolina’s fishing heritage”: In 2012, the General Assembly banned the purse-seining of menhaden off our coast, in part due to a stock assessment that was less than ideal. Three years later, we find that the stock assessment was incorrect, and menhaden are not overfished. A 2009 stock assessment claimed speckled trout had been overfished, leading to drastic restrictions. In 2014, we found the assessment was incorrect, moving the fish from the bottom category of “depleted” to the best category of “viable” in this year’s stock status report.

Twice in the past few years through the recommendations of the Marine Fisheries Commission, we banned one type of commercial fishing and restricted the other based upon bad information. Now comes Southern flounder, the most economically important commercial finfish fishery in our state. Since 1979, 28 conservation measures have been put in place in that fishery, including increased size limits and numerous gear changes and closures. Yet the commercial landings have remained steady. Two of the three peer reviewers for the most recent flounder assessment stated it could not be used for management purposes. What is going on? After menhaden and speckled trout, is it any wonder that we question the efforts of the MFC to rush into draconian measures again?

Read the full opinion piece at The News & Observer 

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Second Crystal Coast town enacts fishing restrictions because of shark attacks

July 10, 2015 — A second town along the Crystal Coast is enacting restrictions on fishing in light of recent shark attacks, while the state is giving them the green light.

Pine Knoll Shores says it will ban all fishing with 200 yards of 10 popular beach access locations in the town, effective Monday.

This comes after Emerald Isle put a temporary ban on shark fishing and “chumming” within the town limits until September 15th.

Experts have said that shark fishing can entice the sharks closer to the shore. Since June 11th, eight people in the state have been bitten by sharks.

The locations in Pine Knoll Shores are: Ocean Park, Iron Steam public beach access, Memorial Park public beach access, Hammer Park access, two public accesses at Beacons Reach, the Knollwood public beach access, as well as the lodges at The Atlantis, The Seahawk, and The Windjammer.

Read the full story and watch the video at WITN

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Last call for flounder comment

July 8, 2015 — Flounder are fish enjoyed on many N.C. dinner tables, and their popularity is shared by recreational and commercial fishermen.

That popularity has brought many comments to N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries as the July 10 deadline arrives for public comment on six southern flounder management proposals approved for consideration during the Marine Fisheries Commission’s May meeting.

“We had a public meeting that about 150 people showed up at, and about 60 spoke, and we’ve received quite a few written comments,” said Patricia Smith, Marine Fisheries public information officer. “It’s a very important fish in North Carolina.”

Southern is one of three flounder species found in North Carolina.

Catch reduction options, increased size limits and gill net mesh restrictions are among measures being considered to help southern flounder recover from fishing pressure.

Read the full story at The News & Observer

 

North Carolina town bans shark fishing

July 7, 2015 — An Eastern North Carolina town has banned shark fishing until after Labor Day.

The Emerald Isle Board of Commissioners met in a special meeting on Monday and adopted a new ordinance that temporarily bans shark fishing and / or “chumming” activities on the beach and nearshore areas, effective immediately, according to information from the town.

Read the full story at the Jacksonville Daily News

 

NORTH CAROLINA: Several saltwater species get upgrades in latest stock-status report

July 7, 2015 — The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries upgraded the status of a handful of popular saltwater species in its annual stock status report released last week.

The report upgraded to “viable” the status of spotted seatrout, king mackerel, black drum and kingfish. It upgraded gag grouper from “concern” to “recovering.” A popular baitfish, menhaden, was upgraded from concern to viable. The viable status means the stock is not overfished and is not experiencing overfishing.

Read the full story at North Carolina Sportsman

 

Man, 68, Bitten by Shark While Swimming Off North Carolina’s Outer Banks

July 1, 2015 — It’s still not safe to go in the water.

A 68-year-old man swimming off the North Carolina coast was attacked by a shark Wednesday and had to be flown to the hospital, authorities said.

The unidentified beachgoer was in just waist-deep water, about 30 feet from the shore along Ocracoke Island, when the shark bit him at midday, said National Park Service spokeswoman Cyndy Holda.

She said the man was bitten on his left lower torso, his hip, his lower left leg and both hands. He was treated at the scene and flown to Greenville, on the mainland. His condition wasn’t immediately known.

Read the full story at NBC News

 

Shark attacks have been on the rise this year. Why?

June 30, 2015 — If the number of shark bites along the North Carolina coast the past three weeks seems high, that’s because it is.

Six swimmers have been bitten recently, including two last week along the Outer Banks. The previous four cases were farther south near Wilmington. Two of those cases involved loss of limbs.

None of the victims has died.

But the number of incidents already is more than in all of 2014, when there were four recorded bites in North Carolina, according to the International Shark Attack File, a database compiled by the Florida Museum of Natural History.

“I definitely see this as an uptick,” said Jack Musick, a faculty emeritus shark and turtle expert with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. “It seems like only one of those cases was an actual attack, whereas the others were just bites and the animal stopped.”

Musick said it is difficult to put together “environmental reasons” for the increase, but there are some factors in play.

“The water warmed up quicker this year, and that means more swimmers in the water than usual at this time of year,” he said. That could also lead to more turtles — a food source for sharks — closer to shore, he added.

“And the shark population is on the rise. It’s made a remarkable recovery since all of the over-fishing nearly wiped out many species.”

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

 

North Carolina sees sixth shark attack in two weeks

June 28, 2015 — Officials say a 17-year-old boy is the latest victim of a shark attack off North Carolina’s coast, the second attack in as many days and the sixth attack in the past two weeks.

Rescue personnel and park rangers responded to the boy, who received what they described as injuries to his right calf, buttocks and both hands while swimming in the Outer Banks on Saturday, according to a post on the National Park Service’s Facebook page. The boy was swimming with others when he was bitten, but no one else was hurt, officials said.

The unidentified teenager was treated at the scene before being airlifted to a Norfolk, Virginia, hospital, the park service said.

Read the full story and watch the video from CBS News

 

North Carolina’s “Perfect Storm” for Shark Attacks

June 29, 2015 — There have been six shark attacks in North Carolina this year, all of them in June.

This is already more than last year, when the state saw four attacks. In the previous decade, there were only 25 shark attacks in North Carolina. And there have been just 55 documented shark attacks in the state between 1905 and 2014.

So what’s going on this year?

“It’s kind of a perfect storm,” says George H. Burgess, the director of the International Shark Attack File at the Florida Museum of Natural History. Burgess says across the United States overall, shark attacks are on pace with an average year, and the chance of getting bit is still very low—an estimated one in 11.5 million for an ocean bather. But, he adds, “clearly, something is going on in North Carolina right now.”

Here’s why:

1. Warmer weather

Most shark attacks in North Carolina happen when the water reaches about 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius), something that happened early this year, in April. Most sharks prefer warmer water, and the higher temperatures have drawn them in from farther south.

The warmer weather has also brought more people to the state’s beaches and entices them to take a dip to cool off. That makes more chances to run into sharks.

Read the full story at National Geographic

 

Another shark attack in North Carolina

June 26, 2015 — A shark attacked a person in North Carolina early Friday afternoon, CBS Affiliate Greensboro WFMY reports.

According to Avon Fishing Pier, the shark attacked a person about half a mile down the north side of the pier on Avon beach in Dare County. According to Avon Fishing Pier manager Keith Matthews, the call came in shortly before 12:30 p.m.

A witness posted a video to Twitter appearing to be after the incident.

Read the full story and watch the video at CBS News