Press Releases

The Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board will hold its quarterly business meeting in-person on October 13 at 3 p.m. Members of the public are invited to attend in-person or online.           Who: Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board           What: In-person quarterly meeting           When: Thursday, October 13 at 3 p.m.

The commercial flounder season is closing for mobile gears in internal coastal waters statewide. Additionally, a flounder trip limit is established for the Pound Net Northern Management Area.

The Division of Marine Fisheries is developing Amendment 2 to the N.C. Striped Mullet Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The division will hold a public scoping period Sept. 26 to Oct. 7 to solicit public input on potential management strategies for the upcoming amendment and discuss stakeholder priorities. Scoping is the best opportunity for the public to inform the plan.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) is accepting applications for grants for local government planning and management projects for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Local governments in the 20-county coastal area are invited to apply for funding for projects that are anticipated to begin Dec. 1 and to be completed by June 2023.

More than $7.6 million in federal financial relief is on its way to eligible members of fishing industries that sustained income losses or damages from Hurricane Florence.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Resource Fund Committee and the Funding Committee for the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund will meet jointly by web conference on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has issued the discharge permit for a treatment system to remove PFAS compounds from contaminated groundwater on the Chemours Fayetteville Works Site. The treatment system is part of the larger barrier wall remediation project to substantially reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River and impacting downstream communities.

The commercial flounder season opens for mobile gears tomorrow, and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is reminding gill net fishermen that an Estuarine Gill Net Permit (EGNP) is required to use anchored gill nets in estuarine waters.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission is looking for commercial and recreational fishermen, scientists, and other interested parties to sit on various fisheries advisory committees.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, October 11, at Roland-Grise Middle School in Wilmington. DEQ will share updates on private well sampling underway for PFAS contamination in New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus and Pender counties.  Staff will also answer questions from the public about the private well sampling and alternate water supplies.  When: Tuesday, October 11 at 6 p.m. Where: Roland-Grise Middle School Auditorium