This is the fifth installment in a continuing series on climate change and the North Carolina coast that is part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. Twenty-seven years ago, an interagency panel of bureaucrats, politicians and scientists gathered for the first time in Atlanta, Georgia, to study how to save a North Carolina coastal […]
Island Features | Full Article
Thwarted for months by a series of snags, including the shutdown caused by COVID-19, dredging of the clogged South Ferry Channel could start as soon as week’s end, members of the Dare County Waterways Commission learned at its first-ever Google Meet held Monday evening. “We’re all learning,” Chairman Steve “Creature” Coulter said in a later […]
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If there is anything to conclude from the recent spate of natural disasters and the coronavirus crisis, it is that data powers action, whether responsive or proactive. Data can illustrate the past, reflect the present and predict the future. And as Northeastern North Carolina has seen all too clearly, flooding will be much more a […]
Island Features | Full Article
Even under the current shutdown of the economy, North Carolina consumers still can find fresh or fresh-frozen fish in supermarkets. That belies the enormous financial hit facing the commercial and recreational fishing industries in a state that counts fishing as one of its most valuable resources. “We do have retail markets all across the state […]
Fishing | Full Article
On the Outer Banks, daily life feels almost like the familiar suspension of normality in preparing for a storm: Everyone and everything is hyper-focused on stocking supplies and staying safe. But unlike the adrenaline-fueled anxiety of hurricane readiness, anticipating the impact of looming disease is just endless churning of anxiety. No one knows what to […]
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As interest in Spring fishing is picking up, members of the Dare County Waterways Commission on Monday were anxious about getting Hatteras Inlet in shape before the busy season. Plans are now being proposed for the state, rather than the Army Corps, to dredge a shoaled area on the west end of the South Ferry […]
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The disconnect between current flooding reality and the newly released floodplain maps in Dare County, which decrease flood zones by 41%, may be starker than most coastal areas in North Carolina because of the barrier islands’ geology. But much of the disparity between actual vulnerability and the flood risk reflected in Dare’s pending flood maps […]
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With a freshly-signed agreement in hand, the Army Corps of Engineers next week finally will be able to do long-stalled maintenance dredging in Hatteras Inlet at the South Ferry Channel. That was good news to members of the Dare County Waterways Commission, who said at their meeting in Manteo on Monday that vessels have […]
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In what is envisioned as a creative blending of ecotourism, artisan markets, mariculture and the locavore, or local food, movement, North Carolina’s first oyster trail is readying its launch this spring on the Outer Banks. Prior to a stakeholder meeting at Hatteras Community Center in December, oyster farmer Katherine McGlade, owner of Slash Creek Oysters, […]
Fishing | Full Article
Paper nautical charts will soon be sinking into the horizon, as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this month announced its plan to sunset over five years the hard copy maps of the nation’s waterways. Although NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey has for years offered several digital formats for raster charts – that is, […]
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