Topics Related to Marine Fisheries

The Marine Patrol Swift Water Rescue Team deployed for about a week to the western North Carolina to assist with Hurricane Helene safety efforts. This was the first deployment of the Swift Water Rescue Team, certified in 2021 after several years of training, that resulted in real-life safety missions and rescues.

Learn how to eat oysters safely this season!

Marine Patrol Pilot Mark Daniels taxied the 2004 Cessna 182 to a runway at Carolina Regional Airport in New Bern.

After a short wait in line behind other plans, he is cleared for takeoff. Then he is up in the sky on a beautiful summer day, watching the Trent River disappear into the Croatan National Forest.

As beautiful as the scene is, it is not a pleasure flight. Daniels is protecting North Carolina’s vast coastal marine resource from above the water.

Learn how to tell the difference between Common Dolphinfish and Pompano Dolphinfish.

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Kathy Rawls put on her fishing boots and went to the beach at Cape Point in Hatteras this week, but she wasn’t trying to hook a fish.

It requires a lot of training, but when they are finished, the N.C. Marine Patrol will have a certified swift water rescue team, yet another way they can help save lives during emergencies.

Clark Purvis could not have known just how remarkable that striped bass he recently caught would turn out to be.

Sure, it was a big fish – 40 inches long – given that it was caught in the Roanoke River. Most striped bass caught in North Carolina’s sounds and rivers range between 16 and 24 inches. But that’s not what made the fish so special.

It was the information researchers with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries’ Tagging Program got from the tag on the fish that showed how extraordinary it was.

“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”

― Dr.