Commentary

  • Value Fisheries, Communities Who Provide

    Guest columnist Timothy P. Clark writes that in order to promote sustainable seafood, coastal North Carolina needs to promote local purveyors and that the social consequences of fishery decline are drastic.

  • American Shad Restoration Efforts Continue

    American shad, once an important fishery in North Carolina, declined sharply in the late 20th century, but state and federal agencies are cooperating to restore their numbers.

  • Striped Bass Complex, Misunderstood Fish

    NC’s large population of striped bass are anadromous fish, but the behavior of their cousins in other waters varies in numerous ways, as columnist Robert Michelson explains.

  • Second Wave of COVID-19 May Be Deadlier

    Guest columnist Richard Hilderman, former chair of Clemson’s Genetics and Biochemistry Department and Genomic Institute director, warns of a second wave of COVID-19 infections from a rush to restart the economy.

  • Bottlenose Could Be NC’s Marine Mammal

    While bottlenose dolphin stocks in N.C. appear stable and healthy, columnist David Laist notes the perils humans pose and a state bill to name them the state marine mammal that was introduced a year ago and appeared destined to pass.

  • A Taste of the Hatteras Oyster Roast

    Lynne Foster shares her firsthand account of the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s annual Hatteras Island Oyster Roast that took place Saturday, along with recipes in celebration of the cherished bivalve.

  • Birds Tell Us That It’s Time to Act

    Guest columnist Robbie Fearn, director of Audubon’s Donal C. O’Brien Jr. Sanctuary at Pine Island, writes that birds along the N.C. coast serve as harbingers of the effects of climate change.

  • Lessons from Dorian: Oil, Water Still Don’t Mix

    Guest columnist Jean-Luc Duvall of Environment North Carolina writes that the oil pollution resulting from Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas could also happen to the N.C. coast if offshore drilling is allowed here.

  • Strategies for Weathering the Next Storm

    As many N.C. residents continue to deal with Hurricane Florence’s effects a year after the storm’s landfall here, Will McDow of the Environmental Defense Fund offers four steps toward a more resilient future.