MOREHEAD CITY -- The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) has released it’s annual stock status report that details the health of the state’s major fisheries. This year, in addition to the report, the DMF has put together a one-page profile of each species and a glossary of fisheries terms, in order to help the public better understand fishery issues.
North Carolina has 33 major fish or shellfish stocks that fall into one of the following categories: “viable,” “stressed-recovering,” “stressed-declining,” “depressed” or “unknown”. Of the 33 stocks listed, 14 fall into either the “viable” or “stressed-recovering” category, four are listed as “stressed-declining,” five are listed as “depressed” and 10 are listed as “unknown.”
One of the stocks that has shown the greatest improvement has been southern flounder which moved from “stressed declining” to “viable.” While fishing pressure for southern flounder has increased dramatically over the last few years, biological indicators show this stock is healthy.
Striped bass in the Albemarle Sound is another stock that has improved, moving from “stressed recovering” to “viable.” Years of intensive management efforts have been successful in bringing this stock back from a near-collapse.
While there has been great progress in the last few years in stock recovery, several important stocks have declined. Red drum, the state’s saltwater fish, has slipped from “stressed recovering” to “stressed declining” because of a dramatic decrease in the number of fish that are reaching maturity. Sharks and dogfish sharks have also moved into the “depressed” and “stressed declining” categories respectively, because of increased fishing pressure.
Fish and shellfish stocks that are considered “viable,” or healthy, are Atlantic menhaden, southern flounder, Spanish and king mackerel, spot, spotted seatrout (speckled trout), striped bass in the Albemarle Sound and the ocean, bay scallops, and shrimp. ( 30.5% )
The “stressed- recovering” stocks include Atlantic croaker, bluefish, summer flounder, and weakfish. (12%)
Stocks listed as “stressed-declining” include black sea bass south of Cape Hatteras, red drum, reef fish, and dogfish sharks. (12%)
Black sea bass north of Hatteras, river herring in the Albemarle Sound, scup, sharks and oysters are listed as “depressed.” (15%)
The DMF does not have enough data to make a reasonable determination on the health of some stocks. These fall into the “unknown” category. Those species include catfishes, sea mullet, striped mullet, river herring outside of Albemarle Sound, American and hickory shad, striped bass (in waters other than the ocean, Albemarle and Roanoke sounds), white perch, hard clams and blue crabs. (30.5%)
The stock status report, along with the species profiles and the glossary of fisheries terms, can be found at the DMF Internet address at: www.ncdmf.net
For more information about this stock status assessment, please contact Dr. Louis Daniel, DMF-Morehead City, at 1-800/682-2632 or 252/726-7021.
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