New Outer Banks nonprofit, inaugural event to celebrate Chief Wingina

From CoastalReview.org A nonprofit organization founded late last year honors the Secotan leader, Chief Wingina, who was beheaded by the English in June 1586. Wingina was chief of the tribes that inhabited modern-day Roanoke Island and the mainland across the Albemarle and Croatan sounds. Wingina was first documented by the English during their initial contact […]

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Homecoming: Portsmouth Island descendants set to gather

From CoastalReview.org Now uninhabited and listed on the National Register of Historic Places and part of Cape Lookout National Seashore, the 250-acre Portsmouth Village established in 1753 was the largest settlement on the Outer Banks by 1770. As the former port town’s bustling industry declined and the Civil War forced islanders to leave, the island’s […]

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Conflicting mullet, flounder seasons signal bigger problems

From CoastalReview.org First in a series investigating why, after years of consistent seasons for inland, joint and coastal waters, recreational anglers found themselves negotiating different flounder and mullet rules in 2023. Up until recently, the North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission, which manages coastal waters, and North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, which manages inland waters, appeared […]

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Court upholds that trawling doesn’t violate Clean Water Act

Commercial shrimpers can continue to harvest by trawler in the Pamlico Sound without a Clean Water Act permit, and the state will continue to manage its fisheries. The U.S. Court of Appeals upheld last week a district court’s Sept. 17, 2021, decision that trawling in the North Carolina estuary does not violate the Clean Water Act, […]

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Outer Banks coastline is new home for complex ocean-observing system

  Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution scientists and engineers are on their way to deploy test moorings off the coast of Nags Head to better understand conditions before relocating the Ocean Observatories Initiative’s Pioneer Array ocean-observing system, which most recently was collecting data about 75 nautical miles south of Martha’s Vineyard. The science team headed […]

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Coastal commission delays vote on clarified septic rules

The state Coastal Resources Commission, when it met earlier this month, put off until next year any decision on proposed new septic system rules for oceanfront structures, changes drafted in response to recent sewage spills from erosion-compromised homes on the Outer Banks. The commission met Nov. 10 in Beaufort and took the Division of Coastal […]

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Lighthouse restoration needs exceed $8 million available

Cape Lookout National Seashore has about $8 million to go toward repairs of the 1859 lighthouse, but that’s not nearly enough to cover a total rehabilitation. Seashore Superintendent Jeff West said recently that not only does he and the rest of the folks at the park want to repair and renovate the 163-foot lighthouse, they […]

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Bill would fund efforts to support growing shellfish industry

Last year was a banner year for farmed oyster production in North Carolina, with a 111% increase compared to the previous year. The state’s shellfish industry had $27 million in economic impact and supported 532 jobs in 2019, according to the latest available economic totals, and various groups are working together to double the number […]

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Highly infectious virus spreads among wild birds on coast

Coastal North Carolina’s wild birds and commercial poultry have not been immune to the outbreak of the highly pathogenic avian influenza. The virus, often called bird flu, can be fatal for poultry, especially backyard or commercial flocks, but doesn’t appear to be a threat to humans or other animals. While there are no reported positive […]

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