A revised rule expanding the winter commercial bluefin tuna season by up to two months was filed on Tuesday, Nov. 29, by the National Marine Fisheries Service. The rule, which will be effective in 30 days, allows bluefin to be caught off North Carolina through March 31, or until the January sub-quota is gone. With […]
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Bluefin tuna have been plentiful during February in recent years off North Carolina. But unfortunately for Outer Banks watermen, the commercial season has been over at the end of January. This winter may be different. A pending rule change in the Atlantic bluefin tuna fishery is expected to extend the season to allow more of […]
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When the dredge Currituck pulled out of Oregon Inlet last Thursday, Nov. 10, the navigational channel under the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge was easily 9 feet deep. By Saturday afternoon, it was about 3 feet, a stunning rate of shoaling even for the notoriously volatile waterway. “I don’t know what happened,” said Roger Bullock, […]
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By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK The lawsuit over construction of the Bonner Bridge replacement will not be decided in federal court anytime soon. A recent filing in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina details a proposed schedule, which all parties agreed to, that stretches into late summer 2012. Defenders of […]
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BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK Bidding on long-vacant U.S. Coast Guard Group Cape Hatteras family housing units in Buxton will be opened in two weeks, with a minimum offer set at $2.5 million. An invitation for bid package was posted late last week on the General Services Administration website, along with a notice about […]
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Mosquitoes getting under control; no more aerial spraying planned BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK A second and final aerial spraying followed by mercifully cooler temperatures on the Outer Banks appears to have ended one of the worst plagues of mosquitoes in memory. “It was terrible,” Carl Walker, Dare County Vector Control […]
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Loggerhead sea turtles that spend at least part of their lives off the coast of North Carolina have been maintained as threatened on the federal Endangered Species Act list, unlike their U.S. Pacific Coast counterparts which are now listed as endangered. The final rule issued last week by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and […]
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The rumor mill was overactive during the hurricane, sheriff’s office says BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK BY CATHERINE KOZAK As Hurricane Irene tore through Hatteras Island, leaving power and phone outages, impassable roads and flooded homes in its wake, some unsavory people took advantage of the darkness and chaos. For the most part, however, […]
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By CATHERINE KOZAK By CATHERINE KOZAK In its 25-page answer to a lawsuit by two environmental groups trying to stop the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge replacement project, attorneys for the state Department of Transportation defended its choice of a short bridge and later road maintenance as the only practical alternative that will be constructed with […]
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UPDATE: Hurricane Irene Cuts Inlets on Northern Hatteras Island By Catherine Kozak By Catherine Kozak Hurricane Irene piled up historic levels of sound tide and left Hatteras Islanders with little communication and no electricity. But worse, eight years after Hurricane Isabel slashed an inlet between Frisco and Hatteras, the storm left the island severed. […]
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