Press Releases

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) is accepting public comments on the Coastal Resources Commission Science Panel’s draft Sea Level Rise update.  Public comments will be accepted until July 3, 2024, at 5 p.m.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Infrastructure is accepting comments until June 14, 2024, on updates to several Intended Use Plans (IUPs), and until July 1, 2024, for new Intended Use Plans for the State Revolving Fund programs.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet by web conference on June 6 at 11 a.m. The meeting will be livestreamed on Webex. A listening station will be established at the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office at 5285 Highway 70 West, Morehead City.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission agreed this week that the Department of Environmental Quality's Division of Marine Fisheries should take a broader look at the protection of submerged aquatic vegetation.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality's Division of Water Resources (DWR) reminds the public to avoid contact with discolored water that could indicate the presence of an algal bloom.

In order to preserve the southern flounder resource, the North Carolina recreational flounder season will not open for harvest in 2024. Estimates from 2023 indicate the recreational catch exceeded the quota allowed under a stock rebuilding plan that was included in Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan and adopted by the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR), a program of the Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management, hosted its third stop on the “Discover the N.C. Coastal Reserve” Tour on May 17 at the Rachel Carson Reserve in Beaufort, NC. The tour began with brief remarks by staff, local and state officials at the chapel at the Beaufort Hotel, followed by a guided boat tour, with a stop at the Carrot Island boardwalk.

State recreational water quality officials today lifted a water quality swimming advisory at a sound-side site in Carteret County.

The N.C. Department of Environment Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) is accepting applications for approximately $170,000 in funding under the North Carolina Marine Sewage Pumpout Station Grant Program.