![]() News Release Archives: April 2019
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WHO: | Coastal Habitat Protection Plan Steering Committee |
WHAT: | Discuss progress of CHPP progress and discuss upcoming SAV flights |
WHEN: | April 23 at 1 p.m. |
WHERE: |
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Washington regional office 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington |
nr-35-2019
Release: Immediate
Contact: Patricia Smith
Date: April 4, 2019
Phone: 252-726-7021
MOREHEAD CITY – North Carolina will create a no gill net corridor along the ocean surf zone later this month to reduce bottlenose dolphin interactions.
N. C. Division of Marine Fisheries Director Steve Murphey issued a proclamation today, effective April 22, expanding the current restriction on small mesh gill net use within 100 yards of the ocean surf zone to include large mesh gill nets.
For more specifics on the regulation, see Proclamation M-8-2019 .
The intent of prohibiting all gill net use within 100 yards from shore in the Atlantic Ocean is to provide a safe corridor along which bottlenose dolphins are known to travel.
This no gill net corridor is in accord with recommendations provided by a federal Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Team. These recommendations were addressed in a November 2018 letter from National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Administrator Roy Crabtree.
Crabtree wrote that bycatch from commercial gill nets continues to exceed allowable levels for two North Carolina stocks of dolphins under the Bottlenose Dolphin Take Reduction Plan, which is required under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act. North Carolina estuarine stock dolphins are known to spend significant time in the surf zone foraging and traversing the area, Crabtree wrote.
This proclamation applies to large mesh and small mesh gill nets. Run around, strike or drop nets that are used to surround a school of fish and are then immediately retrieved are exempt from this restriction. Also, the restriction does not apply to stop nets, which are stationary nets used to trap schooling fish so that they can be harvested with a seine. Stop nets are managed under a different set of proclamations.
For more information, contact Lara Klibansky with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, at 252-808-808-8088.
nr-34-2019
Release: Immediate
Contact: Patricia Smith
Date: April 1, 2019
Phone: 252-726-7021
MOREHEAD CITY – The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will hold two workshops this month to train current and prospective taggers in the proper methods of tagging fish.
The workshops are free, and all current and prospective taggers for the division’s Multi Species Tagging Program should plan to attend one of the two workshops scheduled for:
April 11 at 6 p.m.
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality
Washington Regional Office
943 Washington Square Mall
Washington
April 16 at 6 p.m.
UNCW Center for Marine Science
5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane
Wilmington
Division staff will also provide information on the purpose and expected benefits of the tagging program and highlight results from the previous five years of tagging. The workshop will be broken into two parts: a review of the program objectives and results; and hands-on tagging demonstration and training for all new and current taggers.
Division researchers use fish tagging to study the migration, growth, habitat use and population status of striped bass, red drum, spotted seatrout, southern flounder, and cobia in North Carolina. Fish tagging programs are a vital part of a fishery manager's tools for assessing fish populations.
For more information, contact Trevor Scheffel, marine fisheries biologist with the division, at 252-948-3867.
WHO: | N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries |
WHAT: | Workshops to train current and prospective taggers |
WHEN: | April 11 at 6 p.m. |
WHERE: |
N.C. Department of Environmental Quality Washington Regional Office 943 Washington Square Mall, Washington |
WHEN: | April 16 at 6 p.m. |
WHERE: | UNCW Center for Marine Science 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington |
nr-33-2019
Release: Immediate
Contact: Patricia Smith
Date: April 1, 2019
Phone: 252-726-7021
MOREHEAD CITY – Forty-one readopted fisheries rules become effective today, but very little will change.
The rules, re-adopted under a state-mandated periodic review schedule, are a portion of existing fisheries rules in 15A NCAC 03I, 03J, 03K, 03L, 03M, 03O, and 03R.
The primary changes:
Other changes are technical in nature. For specific wording of the rule changes, see the April 1, 2019 Rulebook Supplement on the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission rules webpage. The May 1, 2015 Rulebook is incomplete without this supplement, as some rules and laws have changed.
This is the first of four Marine Fisheries Commission rule packages in 15A NCAC 03 to be re-adopted. Other portions will be up for re-adoption over the next three years. State law requires state agencies to review its existing rules at least once every 10 years.
For more information, contact Catherine Blum, rules coordinator for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, at 252-808-8014.
nr-32-2019