Meet the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan Program and Habitat Permitting Staff

The Habitat and Enhancement Section is the section within the Division of Marine Fisheries that houses the agency’s Coastal Habitat Protection Plan Program.

The Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 recognized that to ensure sustainable fisheries, habitat and water quality needs must be addressed, as well as regulating fisheries. Dedicated staff work hard every day to address these needs through numerous activities to support the implementation of the Coastal Habitat Protection Plan.

Staff identify priority habitat areas, referred to as strategic habitat areas, by assessing what habitat areas are most critical for sustaining fish populations and monitoring changes in habitat condition. Two field technicians conduct extensive field sampling of target fish species and habitats in and adjacent to three fish habitats (wetlands, seagrass or submerged aquatic vegetation, and shell bottom) to verify fish use in strategic habitat areas.

Staff also develop coastwide habitat monitoring protocols that link healthy fish populations with the quality and quantity of the habitats they need. During mapping events for seagrass, staff lead field verifications to confirm presence, species, and density of seagrass. The seagrass is delineated from imagery by staff.

To minimize habitat impacts from development, the section has an environmental permit review program. Two staff attend interagency scoping meetings, review more than 100 state and federal applications each year, and provide comments on modifying projects as needed to avoid or minimize potential habitat impacts.

Recently, staff contributed to Governor Cooper’s Executive Order 80, North Carolina’s Commitment to Address Climate Change and Transition to a Clean Energy Economy, representing the division on multiple workgroups and committees.

In addition to their daily activities, staff participate in regional and coast wide committees as well as give presentations to a wide-range of audiences including scientists and the general public. On top of that, staff volunteer regularly for such as Earth Day events where they collected trash from various estuaries in the state.

The staff of the Coastal Habitats Protection Program brings a great deal of knowledge, skills, and professionalism to the division.