Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Pamlico Sound fishermen push back on proposed military training expansion

October 15, 2026 — Commercial fishermen in North Carolina are pushing back against a proposed expansion of military training operations in Pamlico Sound, warning that additional restricted waters could limit access to productive fishing grounds and interfere with navigation.

According to reporting by Carolina Coast Online, the proposal from Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point would increase aircraft and unmanned systems operations, add watercraft operations, and expand restricted waters around two longtime bombing targets in Pamlico Sound.

The proposal is currently undergoing a federal consistency review by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM), which must determine whether the project complies with the state’s coastal management laws and regulations.

The plan would expand the existing intermittent restricted waters surrounding Bombing Target 9 at Brant Island Shoal and Bombing Target 11 on Piney Island, effectively connecting the two areas into a single restricted zone stretching more than nine miles across Pamlico Sound near the mouths of the Neuse and Bay rivers.

Project documents acknowledge that activating the expanded area could “impede navigation or interfere with access or use of public trust areas or estuarine waters.” The documents do not, however, define how frequently the proposed “intermittent” restrictions would be put in place. The Navy would issue Notices to Mariners before closing the larger area to non-military users.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen oppose expansion of military training area in Pamlico Sound

October 9, 2026 — Commercial and recreational fishermen are objecting to a proposed expansion of Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point’s military training and operations in public trust waters. Some voiced strong opposition during an in-person public hearing Sept. 29, hosted by the North Carolina Division of Coastal Management (DCM) at NC State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology.

The six in-person comments opposing the measures — which are the only comments made available to the News-Times — are among more than 30 that have been submitted to the state environmental agency so far, as DCM completes a federal consistency review of the proposal.

The proposed project, submitted to the state by military officials, would increase aircraft and unmanned systems operations, add watercraft operations and increase restricted areas around two bombing targets in the Pamlico Sound.

Read the full article at Carolina Coast Online

NORTH CAROLINA: Coastal habitat plan, commercial fishing licenses lead Marine Fisheries Commission meeting in Raleigh

August 14, 2026 — Possible new protections for submerged grass beds and other fish habitat in the Albemarle and Pamlico sounds will move closer to public debate if the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission sends a draft Coastal Habitat Protection Plan amendment out for review next week.

The commission meets Aug. 19-20 in Raleigh and is scheduled to vote on releasing the proposed 2026 amendment for public and advisory committee review. The vote would not adopt the plan or impose new fishing restrictions.

The draft recommends beginning a separate rulemaking process in 2027 to develop a broader framework for protecting habitats under the commission’s authority.

That process could consider how fishing gear and other activities affect submerged aquatic vegetation and deep-water oyster recovery areas, along with rules governing the harvest and transplanting of vegetation for restoration projects.

Any regulations developed through that process would require additional commission action and public review.

North Carolina’s coastal waters have historically supported nearly 200,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation, commonly called SAV.

Read the full article at the Island Free Press

NORTH CAROLINA: State announces commercial flounder season opening dates

July 17, 2026 — The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has announced opening dates for the 2026 commercial flounder season in internal coastal and joint fishing waters.

Opening dates for pound net management areas are as follows:

Tuesday, Sept. 15 in waters north of Pamlico Sound. Wednesday, Sept. 30 in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries. Wednesday, Sept. 30 in waters from Core Sound to the South Carolina line. Trip limits will not apply to pound net management areas. The opening date for commercial fishers who use mobile gears, which are all gears other than pound nets, is Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Read the full article at the Coastal Review

NORTH CAROLINA: Pamlico Sound survey continues without longtime research boat

November 7, 2025 — A state agency has been conducting research on aquatic life in an important North Carolina body of water since the late 1980s.

It’s collected valuable information that’s helped the state keep adequate fish stocks while protecting wild species.

Now, the boat that’s been used in this research for decades has been pulled out of the water.

Researchers have a plan to keep a valuable study afloat without their prized vessel, continuing a data set they’ve been building for decades.

“Our data is collected in the Pamlico Sound, it’s a very important region.” said Holly White, north district manager for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

White said the Pamlico Sound survey began in 1987.

Read th full article at Spectrum 1

NORTH CAROLINA: A 38-year research project in Pamlico Sound ends with fisheries boat breakdown

August 27, 2025 — Nearly four decades of research ended this year because a dwindling budget in the state Division of Marine Fisheries left its research boat out of commission.

Scientists have trawled the Pamlico Sound netting fish and crustaceans since 1987.

But the boat, named the Carolina Coast, won’t go out in 2025.

“This is the end of the data set. There’s nothing we can do about that. It’s over,” said Kathy Rawls, who directs the Division of Marine Fisheries.

Rawls broke the news about the rotting and leaking 41-year-old boat last week to the Marine Fisheries Commission, a policy-setting board appointed by the governor.

“We lack the resources to repair or replace the vessel,” she said. “As you can imagine, that is a huge blow.”

Doug Rader, an oceans scientist serving on the commission, said the news is “close to catastrophic.”

Read the full article at WUNC

1 dead, 2 missing after shrimp boat sinks off North Carolina coast, Coast Guard says

January 8, 2020 — The Coast Guard rescued two crew members from a shrimp trawler when it went down in the Pamlico Sound on Tuesday, officials said.

One of them was pronounced dead at the hospital, and two others are still missing.

“This is a rough case and as we continue to search, our thoughts are with the families of the mariners,” search and rescue coordinator Matthew Brooks said in a news release.

The Coast Guard received a distress signal Tuesday night and sent rescuers by boat and helicopter from Hatteras Inlet and the Elizabeth City Air station, according to the release.

Two crew members were located by the aircrew and taken to Sentara Albemarle Hospital in Elizabeth City. One was hypothermic and the other, who required CPR, was pronounced dead at the hospital, according to the release.

Read the full story at The Charlotte Observer

NORTH CAROLINA: Trawlers catching “unheard of” amounts of shrimp off Corolla

January 14, 2019 — South of the Virginia border, the shores off Corolla have become an Outer Banks hot spot to catch winter shrimp.

Trawlers have clustered there within 3 miles of shore in recent weeks, each bringing in as much as 20,000 pounds of the delicacy per trip.

Last week, the “Capt. Ralph” hauled in 30,000 pounds, the most ever for the crew, said Ashley O’Neal, manager of O’Neal’s Sea Harvest.

In the past, 12,000 pounds was a good catch no matter where it came from, he said.

“This 30,000-pound stuff is unheard of,” O’Neal said. “We are seeing a lot of shrimp.”

In 2016, North Carolina shrimpers harvested a record 13.2 million pounds, worth $28.2 million. It was a 45 percent increase over the previous year, according to state statistics. The record fell again in 2017 with a harvest of 13.9 million pounds worth $29.6 million. The 10-year average is just short of 8 million pounds. Most of the catch comes from estuaries like the Pamlico Sound.

Shrimp consumption in the United States reached a new record in 2017 at 4.4 pounds a person per year, making it America’s favorite seafood, according to NOAA Fisheries. More than 90 percent of what’s eaten in the U.S. comes from foreign markets raised on farms.

Read the full story at the Daily Press

NORTH CAROLINA: Federation Nets Grant for Oyster Restoration

September 20, 2017 — The North Carolina Coastal Federation has received $1.088 million in funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to continue its oyster restoration work in Pamlico Sound. Construction on the second phase of the project is slated to begin in January.

This is the second year the federation has received funding from NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program for its oyster restoration work. Last year, it was awarded a $1.275 million grant. By the end of the three-year period, the federation could receive up to $3.8 million for oyster reef construction. This funding supports the federation’s goal to build 50 acres of oyster reef statewide through its 50 Million Oyster Initiative.

Matching state budget appropriations from the North Carolina General Assembly have helped the federation receive this federal grant funding in 2016 and 2017. When combined with existing state funding, the budget provides $1.3 million to continue work on the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

Warming Waters Bring New Marine Species to NC, But Chase Away Some Familiar Ones

Bull sharks and lion fish are among the species becoming more common in North Carolina, while black sea bass and other fish are getting harder to find.

August 8, 2017 — A big reason reason North Carolina is seeing so much change in its marine species is because the state has an unusual variety of them, said Sara Mirabilio, a researcher and fisheries extension specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant.

Near Cape Hatteras, the cold Labrador Current comes down from the Arctic, and the warm Gulf Stream flows up from the Gulf of Mexico.

“We are at the northernmost range for southern species and the southernmost range for northern species,” she said. “So climate change at the boundaries will show the most impact.”

In many ways climate change is unfolding as the slowest of slow-motion disasters. But fish can move quickly and for long distances when spurred by relatively small changes in water temperature.

Lately they have moved so quickly that fisheries regulations are lagging, and tensions are rising between commercial fishermen based where the fish used to be, and those where the fish have moved.

On a recent day, Mike Ireland’s 99-foot trawler “Sharon Nicole” was docked behind a seafood wholesaler in the Hobucken community east of New Bern, just off the Pamlico Sound.

Shrimp season was under way, but he and his crew were repairing one of the massive, powered winches that haul in their nets. It was an especially crucial one, because it reels in the small net they drag to locate fish.

“This is probably the most important tool on the boat,” Ireland said. “With this little sample net you can really pinpoint where they’re at.”

Read and listen to the full story at WUNC