Nov 11, 2006 - State aquatic officials have developed a plan that would create three shellfish hatcheries in North Carolina to help restore natural oyster stocks that have fallen victim to disease, overfishing and pollution. The hatcheries could produce billions of tiny seed oysters for restoration projects that have relied on imports from other states, said Mike Remige, planning coordinator for the North Carolina Aquarium Division. Under the plan, the hatcheries would likely be built next to the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, at Morris Landing near Holly Ridge and at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Remige said. The state's oyster industry has been declining for decades, prompting officials to look for solutions. Pollution has forced the closure of 365,000 acres of the 1.4 million acres of shellfish water in the state. Read Shellfish Hatcheries
Nov 3, 2006 - Although Election 2006 is front and center this week, the following news article is one that all of us should be aware of, especially here in Brunswick County, where the seafood industry is a way of life. Overfishing, pollution, warming are destroying stocks, study finds Clambakes, crabcakes, swordfish steaks and even humble fish sticks could be little more than a fond memory in a few decades. If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, by 2050 the populations of just about all seafood face collapse, defined as 90 percent depletion, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a study published in Friday’s issue of the journal Science. “Whether we looked at tide pools or studies over the entire world’s ocean, we saw the same picture emerging. In losing species we lose the productivity and stability of entire ecosystems,” said lead author Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. I was shocked and disturbed by how consistent these trends are — beyond anything we suspected,” Worm said. When ocean species collapse, it makes the ocean itself weaker and less able to recover from shocks like global climate change, Worm said. “This research shows we’ll have few viable fisheries by 2050,” Andrew Sugden, international managing editor of Science, told reporters at a telephone news briefing. “This work also shows that it’s not too late to act.” - MSNBC Reports
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