Press Releases

The North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) will meet Feb. 25 and 26 at the Dunes Club, 710 E. Fort Macon Road, Atlantic Beach. Members of the public may attend in-person or join the meeting online.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet Feb. 18-19 at the Hilton Garden Inn, 5353 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Kitty Hawk, NC 27949. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on YouTube.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries will close all Coastal and Joint fishing waters in North Carolina to both commercial and recreational Spotted Seatrout harvest at 4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, 2026, due to widespread cold stun events.

Due to the forecasted winter storm, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council has postponed the Lines of Communication meetings that were scheduled for next week in Winnabow, Morehead City, Hatteras, and Manteo.

The North Carolina Oil and Gas Commission will meet at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Raleigh.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries wants to remind the public to report any cold stunned spotted seatrout they may see in North Carolina coastal waters.

The N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (CRC) Executive Committee is scheduled to meet via web conference on Jan. 27 at 11 a.m. to discuss the agenda for the February regular business meeting. The public may listen to the meeting by computer or phone.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) anticipates that approximately $1.5 million in funding will be available for the 2026-27 fiscal year to help local governments improve public access to coastal beaches and waters. The Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access program provides matching funds to local governments to construct public access facilities in the state’s 20 coastal counties.

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve, a program of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, is again partnering with Cape Lookout National Seashore and the Foundation for Shackleford Horses Inc. to offer the Pony Patrol volunteer program.

Sheepshead regulations will change for both recreational and commercial fisheries beginning March 1. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is implementing changes because of increases in sheepshead harvest, particularly juvenile fish, in recent years.