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MARINE PATROL PARTICIPATES IN SPECIAL OLYMPIC TORCH RUN

MOREHEAD CITY - Colonel Joe Lynch, Sergeant Herb Orama and Officer Carter Witten of the North Carolina Marine Patrol participated in the state's Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics as the Flame of Hope made its way through Morehead City last Wednesday, May 22.

In the last 16 years, law enforcement officers from across the state have raised $7 million to help more than 26,400 children and adults with mental retardation train and compete in sports. The program involves more than 4,000 law enforcement officers from more than 400 agencies who take part in the 2,000 mile, 16-day torch relay to pass the Special Olympics Flame of Hope across North Carolina. All relays will converge on Raleigh on Friday, May 31 for the lighting of the cauldron during the 2002 SONC Summer Games Opening Ceremony.

The North Carolina Marine Patrol enforces commercial and recreational fisheries rules and regulations in 2.5 million acres of the state's coastal and ocean waters.

Photo Left: Colonel Joe Lynch of NC Marine Patrol speeds along with the Flame of Hope during the annual Torch Run for Special Olympics. (You may click on the photo to download a larger version.

BIG MONEY AVALIABLE FOR BOATING FACILITIES

MOREHEAD CITY - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has announced a total of $9 million in grants to help improve docking facilities for recreational transient, non-trailerable boats along the navigable waterways of the United States.

The grants are part of the Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program authorized by the Sportfishing and Boating Partnership Act of 1998 and funded by excise taxes on motorboat fuel.

The BIG program provides states with funding for mooring buoys, day-docks, transient slips, safe harbor facilities (including temporary safe anchorage or a harbor of refuge during a storm), floating and fixed piers and breakwaters, dinghy docks, restrooms, retaining walls, bulkheads, dockside utilities, pumpout stations, trash collections and recycling facilities, dockside electric, water and telephone capabilities, navigational aids and marine fueling stations.

"This is an excellent opportunity to strengthen ties between communities and recreational boaters, and promote economic growth by providing enhanced public access," said Maury Wolff, the BIG coordinator for North Carolina. "We encourage private marinas, municipalities and local governments to review the grant guidelines and criteria and take advantage of this program to improve their recreational boating facilities and boost their economy," said Wolff.

BIG program funds are distributed each year over a four-year period. To ensure that each state gets a share, funding is provided on a two-tiered basis. For tier one grants, all states get at least $100,000 per grant cycle as long as their proposals meet the program's guidelines. Second-tier projects are designated for larger, more expensive projects and are awarded on a nation-wide competitive basis.

BIG transient facilities must be built in waters deep enough for boats 26 feet and larger to navigate at a minimum of six feet of depth at low tide. One-time dredging will be allowed to provide access between open water and a tie-up facility.

For more information about grant availability in North Carolina's coastal waters, please contact Maury Wolff, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, by mail at P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557; by phone at 252-726-7021 or 800-682-2632; or via e-mail at maury.wolff@ncmail.net. The deadline for applications is July 1, 2002.

RECREATIONAL FLOUNDER SEASON REOPENS IN SOUTHERN COUNTIES

MOREHEAD - Good news is on the horizon for anglers in Onslow, Pender, New Hanover and Brunswick counties - the recreational season for ocean-caught flounder will reopen from the New River Inlet to the South Carolina state line on Wednesday, May 8 at 10 a.m.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) closed all ocean waters along the coast to the harvest of recreationally caught flounder from April 3 - July 4, in order to meet harvest reduction goals set by the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, in conjunction with the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. Another closure period will occur in the late fall.

The closure was implemented because the 2001 recreational catch along the Atlantic seaboard exceeded the summer flounder harvest target by 5 million pounds. Summer flounder harvest is limited because the stock is considered overfished along the East Coast. North Carolina is required to reduce its recreational summer flounder landings in 2002 by 32.2 percent.

After carefully re-examining recreational landings data, the DMF determined summer flounder harvested in the southern portion of the state's ocean waters during the closure period would have no meaningful impact on meeting the harvest reduction goals. North Carolina is the southernmost range for summer flounder, with most of these fish being harvested above Bogue Inlet.

Recreational fishermen will be allowed to keep up to eight flounder per day caught in the ocean at 15.5 inches or larger, from New River Inlet to the South Carolina state line, when the closure is lifted May 8. Fishermen are still able to catch flounder in the state's sounds, bays and other internal waters.

For more information, please call Rick Monaghan at 252-726-7021 or 800-682-2632. Visit the DMF's Web site at http://www.ncdmf.net/recreational/flounfacts.html to learn more about the recreational ocean closure for flounder .

2001 SEAFOOD HARVEST FIGURES RELEASED
Commercial Catch Down 43 Million Pounds from Five-Year Average

MOREHEAD CITY - Declining harvests of crabs and shrimp, coupled with poor market conditions and the September 11 terrorist attacks, have greatly affected the catch and value for commercial fisheries in 2001, according to harvest statistics released by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries.

Commercial fishermen landed 137.1 million pounds of fish and shellfish at Tar Heel docks, with the catch valued at $88 million. Total landings were down 17.1 million pounds from 2000 and 43.3 million pounds from the previous five-year average of 181.4 million pounds, making the 2001 harvest the second-lowest catch since 1973, when 130.4 million pounds of seafood was landed at N.C. ports. The value of the 2001 catch was $88 million, down $20.3 million from 2000, and down $16.6 million from the previous five-year average of $104.6 million.

Landings fluctuate for a variety of reasons - availability of fish or shellfish, market conditions, harvest restrictions, and shifts in consumer tastes all impact the amount of seafood harvested. All of these factors came into play during North Carolina's 2001 fishing year.

Total finfish landings of 98 million pounds were slightly lower than in 2000, falling below the five-year average by 18 million pounds. The previous five-year landings average for dogfish, a type of shark, had been 7.1 million pounds. Dogfish landings dropped to 510,758 pounds in 2001 due to strict harvest regulations imposed to aid in stock recovery.

Shellfish landings totaled 39.1 million pounds, and fell significantly below the five-year average of 65.5 million pounds. Blue crabs continue to be the top money crop, even though hard crab landings were 29.9 million pounds, a decline of 8.9 million pounds from 2000 and well below the 55.1 million pound average for the previous five years. It is still unclear if the decline in crab harvest can be directly attributed to the effects of the 1999 hurricanes (Dennis, Floyd, and Irene), because blue crab catches are depressed all along the east coast.

In 2001, 5.3 million pounds of shrimp was harvested, a 5 million pound decrease from 2000, and just below 2 million pounds from the previous five-year average of 7.24 million pounds. Shrimp are extremely sensitive to environmental conditions, abundance can be impacted by cold temperatures, wind and rainfall.

There was some good news on the commercial seafood front, peeler and soft crab landings increased by 320,000 and 172,000 pounds respectively. Croaker landings also increased to 12 million pounds, a 2 million pound gain over the 10 million pound average for the previous five years.

Recreational anglers enjoyed their largest catch in the past 13 years, with big gains in dolphin, spot and bluefish landings. Approximately 23.9 million pounds of fish were caught recreationally in 2001, a 2.7 million pound increase over the 21.2 million pounds landed in 2000.

The top-five seafoods recreationally harvested in 2001 by weight were:

Visit the DMF's Web site at www.ncdmf.net/statistics/index.html to view harvest statistics by year. For information on commercial catches call Don Hesselman at 252-726?7021, and for information on recreational landings call Doug Mumford at 252-946-6481.