Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Proposed shrimping regulations worry coastal fishermen

MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — The N.C. Wildlife Federation submitted a petition earlier in November calling for restrictions on shrimp trawling along the coast, saying more regulations are necessary to protect important nursery areas.

But local long-time fishermen in eastern North Carolina don’t necessarily agree, and the regulations on catching shrimp could have detrimental effects on the industry.

“If the consumer is looking for fresh, local seafood, I think these regulations like this will put fisherman out of business and make the American consumer to have to buy more imports,” said Jack Cox, Blue Ocean Market. “That’s something that we don’t want to do.”

The petition includes restrictions like limiting trawling to three days per week, limiting head rope length to 90 feet and making nets smaller.

“It’s also asking that they limit tow times to 45 minutes and that they open Pamlico Sound on a shrimp count,” said Patricia Smith, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

The count would require 60-count shrimp, or 60 shrimp per pound, in the Pamilico Sound before trawling would be allowed in those waters.

Read the full story at WNCT

NORTH CAROLINA: Group to Get Grant to Build Oyster Reefs

August 23, 2016 — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has given preliminary approval to a $1.3 million grant to the N.C. Coastal Federation for oyster restoration in Pamlico Sound, boosting the organization’s multi-decade efforts to turn the state into what founder and executive director Todd Miller believes can be “the Napa Valley” of oysters.

The money is part of $9 million for 17 habitat-restoration projects in coastal states. NOAA recommended all of the projects last month. Final approval depends on a legal review and on NOAA’s budget for the new fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The federation could receive as much as $4.3 million over a three-year period.

Miller said he believes that will happen, because even though federal budget appropriations have been uncertain in recent years, this program has been consistently well-funded. Either way, he said, it’s one of the most significant grants his organization has received, both in amount, but especially in potential effects on the state’s economy and a crucial part of its marine the environment.

In large part, that’s because the money leverages existing state appropriations to increase the acres of reef restored in North Carolina’s sounds. This year the state legislature appropriated $1.3 million for oyster restoration efforts in the state. The federal grant doubles the total funds available for oyster restoration in the next year.

As a result, Miller said, the federation and the state will embark on a joint effort that will be “industrial in scale” and will undoubtedly create jobs, both now, during construction, and in the future, as the oysters attracted to the reefs are harvested and sold.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

North Carolina spending, researching to get more tasty, earth friendly oysters

July 5, 2016 — MANTEO, N.C. — North Carolina will spend more than $1.6 million improving the habitats of oysters living in its waters.

The money will go toward further restoring oyster sanctuaries in the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds in hopes the species will rebound to levels not seen in decades.

“The General Assembly’s new budget takes big steps toward making coastal North Carolina the Napa Valley of oysters,” Todd Miller, founder and executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, said in a news release.

The state’s 2015 wild oyster harvest of 119,000 pounds is nearly 20,000 pounds less than in 2014 but still much higher than in the 1990s and 1980s when diseases decimated the population.

The total population was 800,000 pounds in 1889, when scientists first began measuring the catch. It fell to 200,000 pounds by 1960.

Read the full story at the Virginian-Pilot

North Carolina Budget Marks $1.4 Million for Oyster Work

June 29, 2016 — Coastal conservationists and shellfish growers are cheering new investments in the state’s oyster industry included in the state budget compromise.

The $22.34 billion spending plan announced Monday includes $1.03 million in one-time funding to build oyster sanctuaries in Pamlico Sound. Also, a $300,000, non-recurring, shellfish rehabilitation fund will go to build new oyster reefs all along the coast. The budget also includes $149,000, recurring, for two new positions at the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to accelerate shellfish industry growth and increase shellfish production and recycling.

“The General Assembly’s new budget takes big steps toward making coastal North Carolina the Napa Valley of oysters,” said Todd Miller, executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. “This funding will help implement the state’s blueprint for restoring the oyster industry and help attract more federal money to restore our oyster beds.”

The budget also provides $100,000 to clean up abandoned crab pots in state waters.

Advocates say boosting the shellfish industry can benefit coastal communities by providing work for fishermen and marine contractors and improving water quality.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

North Carolina shrimp was a really big deal

June 19, 2016 — Rested, ready and eager to get going after what some people down this way refer to as “white gold,” owners and operators of a large fleet of boats will be shoving off from various coastal points … in search of the wily shrimp that are now beginning to move in commercial quantities in State-controlled waters.

The shrimpers, who run into the hundreds, are quite naturally hopeful as they prepare to sally forth into the sounds and coves after the shrimp that usually find ready markets to the north as well as in the Tar Heel State. …

Numerous buyers, especially from the New York area, are always on hand to buy the bulk of the the shrimp catch. The shrimp that go to northern markets are iced and rushed northward on trucks.

Read the full story at The Post and Courier 

JERRY SCHILL: Kinston authors’ proposal would hurt North Carolinians

March 21, 2016 — The following is an excerpt of a Letter-to-the-Editor written by Jerry Schill, President of the North Carolina Fisheries Association:

In response to a letter to the editor, “Thoughts on marine fisheries,” Wednesday, March 16, I offer the following comments. It should be noted that the Kinston authors sent the letter to several media outlets.

On the subject of shrimp trawling, the writers fail to acknowledge the many studies done by researchers over the years that have documented bycatch associated with this fishery and that despite decades of trawling, overall benthic productivity is dramatically increased. They also ignore the efforts by commercial fishermen to work proactively to reduce bycatch. Those studies began in the late 1980s and resulted with bycatch reduction devices in shrimp trawls. Currently, even though North Carolina is ahead of federal requirements to reduce bycatch, there is cooperative research ongoing to reduce it even further.

According to Kevin Brown, a gear development biologist with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, biologists and fishermen were amazed how effective the test devices have been. “I am pleasantly shocked at where we are,” he stated at a recent workshop of a bycatch reduction team that includes state biologists, net makers, boat owners, shrimp boat captains and Sea Grant. It should also be noted that nearly 50% of the Pamlico Sound is already off limits to shrimp trawling due to the status of primary or secondary nursery areas, which were so designated with the support of the North Carolina Fisheries Association many years ago.

Read the full letter at the Carteret County News-Times

FLORIDA: Waters close to gill nets

November 5, 2015 — Waters in the Pamlico Sound and the northern portion of Core Sound will close to anchored, large-mesh gill nets starting this morning due to interactions with sea turtles.

The closure impacts Management Unit B under the state’s Sea Turtle Incidental Take Permit, which includes all of Pamlico Sound and the northern portion of Core Sound down to a line from Club House on Core Banks to a point on the shore at Davis near Marker 1, according to a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries news release.

The closure took effect beginning one hour after sunrise.

DMF staff have observed numerous interactions with sea turtles in the management unit since it reopened Nov. 2. The closure is meant to avoid exceeding the allowed number of sea turtle interactions for the management unit.

Read the full story at Jacksonville Daily News