Press Releases

The state marine fisheries division will hold a public hearing on a proposed water column lease for shellfish aquaculture in Carteret County. Adam Tyler has filed an application to lease approximately 2.6 acres of water column on his existing bottom lease in Jarrett Bay. The hearing will be held at 6 p.m. on Aug. 3 at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Central District Office, 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City. Also, written comments may be submitted to the Division of Marine Fisheries, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557 until 5 p.m. on Aug. 2.

Federal officials are praising a program in the McCrory administration’s environmental agency for its success at helping small businesses save money and protect the environment. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) awarded the Waste Reduction Partners a $99,825 grant that enabled the program to complete 53 energy audits of rural North Carolina businesses over the past few years. During its audits, Waste Reduction Partners identified $776,000 in annual utility costs savings for the small businesses. The average annual savings equaled $14,600 per business.

Governor McCrory has signed into law a bill that requires Duke Energy to provide well owners with water connections, repair dams around coal ash ponds, and protect public health and the environment from the decades-old threat of coal ash.

The state’s marine fisheries division will hold two meetings this month to explain new flounder permit and reporting requirements for pound net fishermen and fish dealers. The meetings will be held as follows:

The state environmental department commends Governor Pat McCrory for signing a law that sets enforceable deadlines for Duke Energy to provide alternate water supplies to well owners near coal ash ponds. The law also requires the company to repair dams around the ponds and process coal ash for reuse in concrete manufacturing.  

The state environmental agency will host a public information session in Eden on July 27 to inform residents of Duke Energy’s plans to construct and operate a new lined landfill to safely store coal ash at its Dan River Steam Station in Rockingham County. Duke Energy has applied with the state agency for a solid waste permit for the proposed landfill, which would be constructed with a protective liner and would store coal ash currently contained in an unlined basin on the same Dan River facility property.

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission will meet July 12-13 at the NOAA/NERR Administration Building Auditorium, 101 Pivers Island in Beaufort. The meeting will begin at 1:15 p.m. on July 12 and 9 a.m. on July 13. The meeting is open to the public. Items on the commission’s agenda include:

The New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office and the state’s coastal management agency are urging the public to act responsibly this weekend during the July Fourth holiday at the Masonboro Island Reserve. For the 2016 holiday weekend, the state coastal agency and the sheriff’s office have worked together to provide for public safety and increase public awareness of responsible visitor behavior on the island. In particular, the agencies would like to remind visitors to the island not to attempt the very dangerous swim across Masonboro Inlet.

Severe drought has returned to North Carolina for the first time since September 2015 as rainfall deficits continue to impact the southwestern mountains. Portions of Macon, Transylvania, Jackson and Haywood counties were upgraded from moderate drought to severe drought due to lack of adequate rainfall, according to the most recent federal drought map, which is updated every Thursday. Severe drought is the second highest of the four drought categories.

Coastal recreational fishermen hooked more fish in North Carolina in 2015 than they did in 2014. Anglers brought an estimated 10.2 million fish to the docks in 2015, an increase of 6.8 percent over 2014. The estimated weight of these landings rose by 32 percent to 11.6 million pounds. Anglers also released 6 percent more fish in 2015 than in 2014. The top five recreational species harvested, by pounds, were dolphin, bluefish, yellowfin tuna, cobia and wahoo. Landings increased for three of these five species.