Press Releases

The 2026 recreational flounder season will open Sept. 1-14 in Coastal and Joint Fishing Waters of the state.

The N.C. Coastal Reserve and National Estuarine Research Reserve is accepting applications for several local advisory committees (LACs). Community members are needed for each of the Coastal Reserve’s 10 sites: Bird Island Reserve, Bald Head Woods Reserve, Zeke’s Island Reserve, Masonboro Island Reserve, Permuda Island Reserve, Rachel Carson Reserve, Buxton Woods Reserve, Kitty Hawk Woods Reserve, Currituck Banks Reserve and Emily and Preyer Buckridge Reserve. 

Today, the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced a $1.6 million nature-based flood resilience project that will create floodplain storage and restore natural streamflow to reduce flood risk and recurring flooding in downtown Bladenboro. The Bladenboro South Main Street Flood Resiliency Project is funded by the NC Flood Resiliency Blueprint within DEQ.

MOREHEAD CITY – State recreational water quality officials today lifted a water quality swimming advisory at a sound-side site in Beaufort County.

Recent rainfall helped improve drought conditions in some parts of the state, but most of the state remains in extreme or severe drought, according to the N.C. Drought Management Advisory Council. The exceptional drought classification has been removed.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries recently certified a new state record for the Graysby Grouper (Cephalopholis cruentata).

The N.C. Artificial Reef Program this month completed two major reef enhancements at offshore reefs off Cape Hatteras and off Ocracoke.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Red Snapper South Atlantic Exempted Fishing Permits (EFP) for southeastern states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, are no longer in effect until further order from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The recreational harvest of Red Snapper in the South Atlantic remains closed.

As the summer beach season begins, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Coastal Management (DCM) Public Beach and Coastal Waterfront Access Program reminds coastal residents and visitors about its helpful, interactive public beach and waterfront access map. The map can be accessed directly from mobile devices and desktops to help locate public beach and waterfront access sites along North Carolina’s coast. The map includes a “Find Sites Near Me,” feature that helps users locate sites within 10 miles of a location.

Drought conditions have intensified in five counties in western North Carolina, while extreme and severe drought continue across most of the state.