Fisheries Gone Wild

Join hosts David Sneed and Rocky Carter as they discuss the ongoing issues surounding coastal fisheries management in North Carolina. A variety of guests, each with their own unique expertise, will stop by to take us through the history of these issues and takes on what still faces us today. Fisheries Gone Wild will take the complex subjects at hand and put them into simpler terms so that anyone and everyone who cares about our state's coastal resources can understand the problems at hand and what they can do to help.

Cold Stun Protocol- Spotted Sea Trout 02/03/2025

Spotted Sea Trout FMP Amendment 1 11/12/2024

Man Overboard- Surviving in the open ocean 09/04/2024

Time to stand up for Speckled Trout: Amendment 1 Speckled Trout FMP 08/12/2024

Time to stand up for Speckled Trout: Amendment 1 Speckled Trout FMP Fisheries Gone Wild Podcast is back again to discuss the upcoming Marine Fisheries Commission meeting on August 21-23. Please come out for Public comment in Raleigh 6:00pm August 21 and 9:00am August 22. The Division of Marine Fisheries will be presenting thier management recomendations to the Marine Fisheries Commision on updating Amendment 1 to the Speckled Trout Fisheries Management Plan. CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT: The Division of Marine Fisheries has come out with thier recomendations that go against what the Speckled Trout advisory committee proposed earleir this year. CCA NC is not in favor of the DMF recomendations below: Division of Marine Fishereies Recomendations: Click above for the full report!!!! Summary of Preliminary Management Recommendations A summary of the DMF’s preliminary recommendations can be found below. Based on recreational harvest from 2019-2022, the recommendations for the recreational sector equate to a 39.5% reduction in recreational harvest. Based on commercial harvest from 2019-2022, the recommendations for the commercial sector equate to a 40.2% reduction in commercial harvest. When combined across sectors, the Division is preliminarily recommending a 39.6% total harvest reduction. Please note: these are the Division’s initial recommendations and are subject to change. The DMF recommends the following options that are projected to end overfishing with a greater than 70% probability of keeping SSB above the target: Recreational Recommendations o 3 fish recreational bag limit (Appendix 2: Sustainable Harvest Issue Paper) o 14”–20” recreational slot limit with allowance for one fish >26” (Appendix 2: Harvest Issue Paper) o Jan–Feb statewide recreational harvest closure (Appendix 2: Sustainable Harvest Issue Paper) o Eliminate the captain/crew allowance on for-hire trips with no broader vessel limit (Amendment 3: Supplemental Management Issue Paper) Commercial Recommendations o Oct–Dec, 11:59 p.m. Friday to 12:01 a.m. Tuesday statewide commercial harvest closure (Appendix 2: Sustainable Harvest Issue Paper) o Jan–Feb statewide commercial harvest closure (Appendix 2: Sustainable Harvest Issue Paper) o Stop Net Management (Appendix 2: Sustainable Harvest Issue Paper) o Restrict stop nets to the Atlantic Ocean on Bogue Banks with a 4,595 lb. Spotted Seatrout season quota. o A maximum of four stop nets are allowed between Beaufort Inlet and Bogue Inlet at any one time and each combined fishing operation is limited to a maximum of two stop nets at any one time. o The season will open no sooner than October 15 and close when the Spotted Seatrout quota is reached or no later than December 31. o Stop net crews must contact N.C. DMF Marine Patrol Communication each time a stop net is set and two hours prior to each time a stop net is fished. o The same day a stop net is fished and the catch is landed at the fish house, a representative of the stop net crew must contact DMF Fisheries Management Section to report the daily total of Spotted Seatrout in pounds as it appears on the trip ticket. Same day reporting is required even if zero Spotted Seatrout are harvested. o Failure to follow reporting requirements will result in an immediate closure of the stop net fishery. o Additional gear and setback requirements from previous proclamations will continue /episode/index/show/cca-nc/id/32543897

Anglers Rights Alliance- Fishing with Brewski 07/08/2024

NC's Floundering Public Resources- No Recreational Flounder Season????? 05/29/2024

NC's Floundering Public Resources- No Recreational Flounder Season????? Listen in to the latest episode of Fisheries Gone Wild!! On this episode we take a dive into Southern Flounder, the states failed management approach and how we got to this point. The state has truly failed the public angler , we have now been shut out of another public trust fishery here in North Carolina with no recreational southern flounder season this year. Why did this happen? How in the world did our public trust fishereies get to this point? Why is the public angler taking the brunt of the States failure to manage our fisheries and what can you do about it? Now is the time to become informed on the issues, contact your legislaters, send that email raising your concerns, become apart of the process. We need your voice now more than ever!! For nearly three decades, North Carolina has managed its marine and estuarine resources under the auspices of the Fisheries Reform Act. It sets forth a series of policies and regulations that are overly cumbersome, unflexible, and inefficient. By design, changes needed to modify the base FMP take an average of 3-5 years to enact. And no matter what those changes need to be, a politically appointed MFC can undo those years of work on a whim. Because we are mandated to manage our fisheries resources through separate FMPs, too many problems slip through the cracks, too many issues can be purposely ignored. All the while, we continue to watch species after species fall into decline. A few examples follow: → From the speckled trout FMP, it is noted that small mesh gill nets are very effective at removing 14” trout, with very few speckled trout discarded as bycatch. Because of this, the commercial industry claims that this is a clean, selective gear and that they should be given a greater share of the fishery because they will fish it more effectively than public anglers will. What isn't mentioned or considered in developing future management measures for speckled trout is the effectiveness that those same nets have when it comes to removing 14” (sublegal), striped bass and red drum. Rather than be allowed to recruit to their respective fisheries, these fish are discarded and left to serve as fodder for scavengers. In addition, the mullet fishery is closely tied to the speckled trout fishery, with each species being listed as the primary incidental catch for the other. If mullet fishermen catch trout and trout fishermen catch mullet, then the two species should co-managed to mitigate the bycatch losses that the coming restrictions in each amendment to each FMP will generate. In other words, gill net restrictions in one fishery should be applied to both fisheries. → When it comes to striped bass in NC, we commonly hear, “It's all about flow.” Clearly, it isn't as good flow rates in the ASMA for the past five years have led to nothing but failed spawns. The real issues are: (a) a lack of big fish, the best spawners, which DMF stats show have been historically harvested in gill nets, (b) an increasing problem from blue catfish through food competition and/or direct consumption of juvenile stripers, (c) climatic changes altering spawning cycles, or zooplankton availability, or egg density, or etc... → Shrimp trawling in our estuaries continues to destroy millions of juvenile spot, croaker, weakfish, Southern flounder, and blue crab. (a) We continue to cut the legs off of spot, croaker, and weakfish recovery by trawling through a key secondary nursery habitat, the Pamlico Sound, for the coastwide populations of these species. (b) Ignoring blue crab bycatch in this industry is certainly contributing to the troubled status of that fishery where the latest series of management measures has failed, again. (c) Failing to protect a documented Southern flounder hotspot in the latest version of the shrimp, Southern flounder, and CHPP plans will only further hamper its recovery. → The benefits of SAV habitats are undeniable. In fact, they are one of the most critical areas throughout the coast of NC. Failing to protect them because of the recommendations of standing ACs that are dominated by the commercial industry shows only a willingness to genuflect to that industry. → Continuing to allow mechanical harvest of our few remaining oyster reefs: (a) removes more key habitat for numerous species, (b) promotes diminished water quality, and (c) leads to shoreline loss as oyster reefs diminish wave energy during storms. With no synergy, no connectivity between plans, failures such as this have become the rule instead of the exception. We will not save our fisheries until we can find a way to manage the system as a whole. Remember your basic biology. Our estuarine system is a resilient, yet fragile one full of complex habitats, food webs, and trophic levels that are all interdependent. How many important finfish species forage on crabs, mullet, menhaden, shrimp, croaker, and more? How often do flounder, stripers, trout, redfish, black drum, and sheepshead occupy the same habitat areas? What untold damage is done by excessive shrimp trawling in Pamlico Sound? How much longer can we afford to ignore the subtle complexities of our estuaries? It is a unique system that should be managed and protected as a whole. /episode/index/show/cca-nc/id/31515942

Crowded Waters- A dive into NC Oyster Aquaculture 02/08/2024

Fishing Nosara Costa Rica 01/18/2024

November 16th Marine Fisheries Commision Meeting 11/13/2023

November 16th Marine Fisheries Commision Meeting The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission will meet in-person next week at the Islander Hotel and Resort, 102 Islander Dr., Emerald Isle. The meeting will also be livestreamed on YouTube. The meeting will begin at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 15; at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16; and at 9 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 17. The commission will hold in-person public comment sessions at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15, and at 9 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 16. We will have a special edition of the Fisheries Gone Wild podcast posted by the end of this week when we dig into what on the surface appears to be a light meeting agenda and look closer at how the sausage is being made. We will post the link here as soon as it is live or add us to your library on Spotify or Apple podcasts to make sure you do not miss an episode. The following information pertains to in-person public comment: Those who wish to speak may sign up at the hotel prior to the public comment period in which they wish to speak. To accommodate as many speakers as possible, the chair will limit each speaker to 3 minutes. Those making comments will be asked to speak only once, either Wednesday night or Thursday morning, but not during both public comment periods. Those who wish to submit handouts to the commission during a public comment period should bring at least 12 copies to the meeting. The public may also submit written comments via the following methods: An online form accessible through the . Mail to November 2023 Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, N.C. 28557. Dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City. The deadline to submit written comments for this meeting is 4 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13. The YouTube link will be posted on the . After the meeting, a recording will be posted online. Agenda items include: Votes on a slate of nominees for the at-large seat for the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council and the at-large seat for the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Review of the scoping meetings and approval of the goal and objectives for the Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 and Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5. Approval of the Draft Striped Mullet FMP Amendment 2 for public and advisory committee review. Final approval of proposed rules pertaining to data collection and the prevention of harassment of N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries staff, the Shellfish Relay Program and shellfish leases and franchises, oyster sanctuaries, and shellfish sanitation procedures. The full agenda and briefing book are posted on the /episode/index/show/cca-nc/id/28615508