Press Releases

State recreational water quality officials are advising the public to avoid swimming in North Carolina coastal waters affected by Hurricane Ian.

The state Secretaries’ Science Advisory Board will meet on Monday, October 3 in the Archdale Ground Floor Hearing room at 10am.  The public is invited to attend the meeting in-person or online.

An advisory against swimming was posted today at a sound-side site in Dare County, where state recreational water quality officials found bacteria levels in the water that exceed the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s recreational water quality standards.

The fall recreational striped bass season in the Albemarle Sound Management Area will not open in 2022 because a stock assessment update shows further harvest reductions are needed.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Nominating Committee will meet by web conference on Oct. 11 at 1 p.m.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) has issued an air quality permit to World Cat Greenville, a fiberglass boat manufacturing facility in Pitt County.

The Division of Water Infrastructure’s application deadline for the Fall 2022 round of drinking water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure project funding is Sept. 30, 2022, no later than 5:00 p.m.
All applications must be completely submitted and received via the Division’s online submittal portal by 5:00 p.m. on Sept. 30, 2022

The commercial flounder season is closing for mobile gears in internal coastal waters statewide. Additionally, a flounder trip limit is established for the Pound Net Northern Management Area.

The Secretary’s Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board will hold its quarterly business meeting in-person on October 13 at 3 p.m. Members of the public are invited to attend in-person or online.

The Division of Marine Fisheries is developing Amendment 2 to the N.C. Striped Mullet Fishery Management Plan (FMP). The division will hold a public scoping period Sept. 26 to Oct. 7 to solicit public input on potential management strategies for the upcoming amendment and discuss stakeholder priorities. Scoping is the best opportunity for the public to inform the plan.

The N.C. Division of Coastal Management (DCM) is accepting applications for grants for local government planning and management projects for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Local governments in the 20-county coastal area are invited to apply for funding for projects that are anticipated to begin Dec. 1 and to be completed by June 2023.

More than $7.6 million in federal financial relief is on its way to eligible members of fishing industries that sustained income losses or damages from Hurricane Florence.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality has issued the discharge permit for a treatment system to remove PFAS compounds from contaminated groundwater on the Chemours Fayetteville Works Site. The treatment system is part of the larger barrier wall remediation project to substantially reduce PFAS entering the Cape Fear River and impacting downstream communities.

The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission Commercial Resource Fund Committee and the Funding Committee for the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Fund will meet jointly by web conference on Sept. 29 at 6 p.m.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) will hold a community information meeting on Tuesday, October 11, at Roland-Grise Middle School in Wilmington.