Releases – November 14, 2013
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries has certified a new state record golden tilefish.
Rex Allen Bunting Jr., of Frisco, caught the fish on April 7 while fishing off Hatteras. The fish weighed 46 pounds. It measured 43 inches from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail and had a 29-inch girth.
Bunting’s fish topped the previous state record, caught off Hatteras in July 2010, by one pound. The world record golden tilefish, weighing 65 pounds, 3 ounces, was caught off New Jersey in 2012.
Bunting caught the fish using squid as bait on an Okuma jigging rod and a Saltist Big Game 30 reel with 80-pound line test. He was fishing with Capt. Kenny Koci on the Big Tahuna out of Teach’s Lair Marina.
Bunting will receive a certificate and be listed on the Division of Marine Fisheries website as the state golden tilefish record holder.
For more information, contact Carole Willis, division sportfishing specialist, at (252) 808-8081 or carole.y.willis@ncdenr.gov.
Cameron Wright, of Charlotte, has been named executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association of North Carolina, the state’s largest marine conservation organization.
CCA of North Carolina’s president, Greg Hurt, announced that Wright begins working with CCA of North Carolina in mid-November. Having fished on every continent around the globe, he brings a wealth of knowledge to the position. As a native of Charlotte, Wright has frequented the coast of North Carolina his entire life and understands the importance of conserving our coastal resources.
As head of CCA of North Carolina, Wright will oversee the organization’s conservation programs, legislative initiatives, and developmental activities of the state’s chapters and its 3,500+ members. He will also oversee CCA’s staff at its Raleigh headquarters.
“CCA of NC is fortunate to have Cameron Wright join our organization as Executive Director. Cameron is a life-long saltwater fisherman. He has written and spoken extensively on various fishing topics, but most importantly he has a strong passion for protecting our state’s precious marine resources,” says Hurt.
Wright is the author of The Southern Surfcaster and a regular saltwater fishing contributor for ESPN Radio. He is also on the faculty for George Poveromo’s Saltwater Sportsman National Seminar Series. Wright holds degrees from N.C. State University and Montreat College.
“Having been taught to fish at an early age by my father, our actions today, as it relates to the education and conservation of our coastal resources, will have a lasting effect on my children and future generations to come. We must provide them the chance to enjoy the fantastic fishery found here in North Carolina. CCA has been and will continue to be the voice for recreational anglers, and I am honored to have been chosen to serve as the new executive director,” says Wright. “We are going to take CCA of NC to new heights.”
NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries) has announced $8 million in funding for habitat restoration projects in Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Alabama to restore threatened coral populations and marshes and to remove marine debris.
In addition, this funding is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional contributions for this work from project partners.
“Our wetlands are disappearing, but we’re not willing to sit on the sidelines and watch it happen,” said Leslie Craig, Southeast Regional Supervisor for NOAA’s Restoration Center. “The cost of investing in wetland restoration is dwarfed by the value wetlands provide to commercial and recreational fisheries and the protection they offer to people and property.”
Recent successes show that restoring habitat can help halt the decline of fish populations and boost the commercial and recreational catch of fish, shrimp and crab: Wetlands also help absorb hurricane storm surges, protecting people and property along what are often densely-populated areas of the coast.
Coral planting, reduction of land-based pollution to protect coral reefs, and marine debris removal are also key strategies in NOAA’s investment portfolio designed to improve habitat conditions in the Southeast in order to boost the productivity of commercial and recreational fisheries.
The money slated for these targeted restoration projects is intended to deal with long-term habitat decline and is separate, but complementary, to restoration projects funded through the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Natural Resource Damage Assessment court settlements or the RESTORE Act.
The North Carolina project is as follows: North Carolina Coastal Federation, Inc. ($35,000): to work with fishermen to create new oyster reefs from recycled derelict crab pots in North Carolina.
NOAA’s Restoration Center, which provided the funding for these projects and which will provide technical oversight as they go into construction, has been working in the Southeast to restore habitat since 1996. To date, the Restoration Center has constructed 678 projects, restoring nearly 50,000 acres of marine fish habitat and opening over 280 stream miles for fish passage in the Southeast with the help of state, federal and nonprofit partners.
NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Join them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NOAA.
The commercial harvest of gag in federal waters of the South Atlantic from North Carolina to Key West, Florida, will be closed, effective 12:01 a.m. (local time), November 13, 2013, through the remainder of the January 1 to December 31, 2013, fishing year. A seasonal closure is in place for gag from January 1 until May 1. Therefore, commercial harvest of gag will not reopen until May 1, 2014. The commercial annual catch limit for gag is 326,722 pounds.
The operator of a vessel that has been issued a federal commercial permit for snapper-grouper and is landing gag for sale, must have landed and bartered, traded, or sold such gag prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, November 13, 2013. The prohibition on sale or purchase does not apply to sale or purchase of gag that were harvested, landed ashore, and sold prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, November 13, 2013, and were held in cold storage by a dealer or processor.
Recreational harvest of gag remains open. All harvest and possession of gag in or from closed federal waters of the South Atlantic is subject to the applicable bag and possession limits, and the sale or purchase of gag taken from closed federal waters is prohibited. In addition, those bag and possession limits, and the prohibition on sale or purchase, apply in state and federal waters of the South Atlantic for a vessel for which a valid federal commercial or charter vessel/headboat permit for South Atlantic snapper-grouper has been issued.
A seasonal closure is in place for gag from January 1 until May 1; therefore, both recreational and commercial sectors will be closed from January 1 until May 1, 2014.
