Tag Archives: Pamlico Sound
North Carolina: Debates over ending inshore trawling to protect marine life
For commercial fishermen like Thomas Smith, who works in the Pamlico Sound, shrimp trawling is essential for their livelihood. “Most of our income comes between July and November while working on inshore waters,” says Smith. He said that keeping shrimp trawling operations only in the ocean would only be viable for about two months each year, potentially devastating his business. “It would put me out of business,” he adds. Tim Gestwicki, CEO of the NCWF, supports ocean shrimp trawling but insists that inshore trawling must be stopped to protect juvenile fish species, such as the Southern flounder. “It’s time for us to catch up with the times and quit squandering our resources unnecessarily,” said Gestwicki. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:37
EDITORIAL: Commercial fishing avoids being gaffed one more time
In August of 2020, almost three years before the date of the circuit court decision, a citizen’s lawsuit was filed against local shrimp trawl operators who regularly trawl for shrimp in Pamlico Sound. The plaintiffs argued that shrimp trawlers are violating the Clean Water Act by engaging in two type of unpermitted activity, “throwing bycatch (untargeted fish) overboard and disturbing sediment with their trawl net.” Named as defendants were local trawl owners who fortunately, with the help of outside support, were able to withstand the cost and time to defend themselves and by extension, the commercial fishing industry, during the three-year path of the lawsuit. >click to read< 08:15
N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission moves forward with amendment to Shrimp Plan, Southern Flounder update
The draft amendment focuses on reducing bycatch of non-target species and minimizing habitat impacts. It includes a suite of options ranging broadly from status quo to a complete closure of all inside waters, including Pamlico Sound, to shrimp trawling. The Division of Marine Fisheries will announce the public comment period and advisory committee meetings by news release in the next couple of weeks. Also, the Marine Fisheries Commission received an update on southern flounder. Division Director Kathy Rawls reviewed the updated timeline for Amendment 3 to the Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan. >click to read< 11:26
A Day in the Life of a North Carolina Fisherman
65-year-old Bob McBride greets two helpers before the three steps aboard John 3:16, his 25-foot fiberglass fishing boat. For the next 45 minutes, the fishermen motor east across the Pamlico Sound until they reach an outcropping of wooden stakes rising from the water. The stakes support a series of nets, and McBride navigates his boat into the center. McBride is a pound netter, one of the world’s oldest forms of fishing. Long before Europeans came to the mainland, Native American tribes submerged logs into the Chesapeake Bay to capture Spanish mackerel in their netted maze. For the past 40 years, McBride has followed that same method, as twice a year he sets out a series of nets that form a sort of live aquarium in the Pamlico Sound. >click to read< 13:59
Anti-Commercial Fishing Lawsuit demands NC coastal fishing reforms
The N.C. Coastal Fisheries Reform Group, a nonprofit organization, has said the degradation of marine fisheries is the most significant environmental issue facing the state, and it is going to court to seek change. Joe Albea, a spokesman for the organization, said that “vast schools of croaker and gray trout all over North Carolina in the sounds and along the beach” were present in the 1970s and ’80s. “Through the years we have lost those great schools of fish,” he said. Brent Fulcher, whose fishing vessel, the Micah Bell, is named as a defendant“,, Glenn Skinner, executive director of the trade group the N.C. Fisheries Association, believes the lawsuit is without merit. >click to read< 14:44
Coast Guard suspends search for two missing fishermen in Pamlico Sound
The Coast Guard suspended its search Thursday afternoon for two fishermen who were reported missing after the commercial fishing vessel Papa’s Girl capsized in the vicinity of the Pamlico Sound. Watchstanders at the Fifth Coast Guard District command center were notified Tuesday night by a distress signal that was sent from the vessel’s emergency position indicating radio beacon. >click to read< 14:58
Coast Guard pulls two fishermen from water, searching for two others in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina
The Coast Guard pulled two mariners from the water after their vessel sank on Tuesday night, and is currently searching for the other two crewmembers in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, Wednesday morning. Watchstanders at the Coast Guard’s Fifth District command center received a distress signal from an emergency position indicating radio beacon registered to fishing vessel Papa’s Girl. >click to read< 14:01
Coast Guard medevacs fisherman suffering severe abdominal issues in Pamlico Sound
The Coast Guard medevaced a man who was reportedly suffering from severe abdominal issues on a fishing vessel in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, Wednesday morning. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Station Hatteras Inlet were notified by a crewmember on the fishing vessel Capt Phillips, via VHF FM radio channel 16, that a 57-year-old crewmember was having abdominal pains and needed medical attention. >click to read< 20:50
Shrimp Tales
It’s the middle of June, and Buddy Davis’ trawler is tied up at the family’s fish house on the banks of the New River in Sneads Ferry. There’s plenty to do around the dock — boats to paint, nets and equipment to repair or replace, general maintenance to make sure everything is operating like it’s supposed to when it’s time to go out. Davis is 77, but he still does much of the work himself. “From daylight to dusk, he’s finding something to do,” says Stevie Davis, one of Buddy’s three shrimping sons. But it’s not where he wants to be. At this time last year — and the year before that, and the year before that — he was out shrimping. But in the early summer of 2018, it’s not worth leaving the dock. by Simon Gonzalez>click to read< >click to read virtual article with images<16:15
Coast Guard rescues 2 survivors clinging to debris in Pamlico Sound, NC
Two men were rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter crew Wednesday morning, after their fishing boat capsized Tuesday near Hog Island.,, The wife of a fishermen called for help Tuesday night, on behalf of her husband, reporting the generator on the men’s boat was not working properly and the men were trying to find safety near shore in the deteriorating weather. They had departed Ocracoke Tuesday morning and were planning to shrimp in Pamlico Sound before unloading their catch in Engelhard. >click to read<07:54
Two rescued after shrimp boat capsizes during storm in Pamlico Sound
The two-man crew of a small shrimp boat from Carteret County were rescued by the Coast Guard early Wednesday after their craft capsized in the Pamlico Sound during a thunderstorm. The Mad Lady II from Marshallberg was reported overdue Tuesday evening, after reportedly running into generator problems while trying to reach Englehard.,, A Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Elizabeth City located the Mad Lady II capsized off Hog Island around 6:20 a.m., and a Good Samaritan also reported finding debris nearby, Kendrick said. At 7:32 a.m., the captain and mate were found by the helicopter crew clinging to debris about seven miles from where the boat went down. >click to read<10:26
Coast Guard medevacs injured fisherman in Pamlico Sound
The Coast Guard medevaced an injured fisherman in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, Thursday. Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector North Carolina in Wilmington received a call on VHF-FM channel 16 at about 5:55 p.m., reporting that a 53-year-old deckhand aboard the 83-foot fishing vessel Chasity Brooke injured his hand about 10 miles east of Hobucken, North Carolina. Sector North Carolina watchstanders issued an urgent marine information broadcast and launched a Coast Guard 24-foot Special Purpose Craft-Shallow Water boat crew from Station Hobucken to assist. –USCG–
Coast Guard medevacs man off fishing vessel near Hatteras, NC
The Coast Guard medevaced a man Tuesday off a fishing vessel in the Pamlico Sound near Hatteras. Sector North Carolina watchstanders were notified at approximately 9:15 p.m. Tuesday a man aboard the fishing vessel Jane Carolyn, was reportedly unconscious and would not awaken. A Coast Guard 47-foot Motor Lifeboat crew from Station Hatteras Inlet launched at approximately 10:00 p.m. and arrived on scene at approximately 10:40 p.m. The crew medevaced and transferred the man to Outer Banks Hospital in Nags Head for further medical attention. “We were glad the crew was able to arrive quickly to the fishing vessel,” said Craig Sanders, operations unit controller at Sector North Carolina. “We value the training of our crews to respond quickly to these situations.” Link 12:51
Sharks and stingrays in the Pamlico?
The only large shark I’ve ever actually seen in Pamlico Sound was behind Cedar Island. Two large commercial fishing boats were going about setting out a huge “long-haul net” in one of the unusually deep (maybe 9-feet deep) sections of the sound. The two boats gradually played out the net off their sterns as they went in opposite directions, circled around and completed the net-set with the estimated net length of one mile. With the aid of several smaller boats,,, Read the rest here 13:10
Massive fish kill continues in the Neuse River By Eddie Fitzgerald, Sun Journal Staff NewBern, North Carolina
A massive fish kill on theNeuseRiver that has been ongoing for nearly a month has resulted in thousands of menhaden washed up on beaches nearNeuseHarbor. Mitch Blake, Neuse Riverkeeper, viewed the area Tuesday afternoon, saying there were several hundred thousand dead fish washed up on the beach and in the river. For 21 days, mostly Atlantic menhaden have been dying over a large portion of the river fromNew Bernto Hancock Creek, Blake said in an email. Some of the dead menhaden have ulcers that National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials have identified as Aphanomyces invadans from six samples analyzed in Beaufort.
http://www.newbernsj.com/news/local/massive-fish-kill-continues-in-the-neuse-river-1.31744
