Kerri Allen acknowledged early on what was also obvious to her audience…
Kerri Allen acknowledged early on what was also obvious to her audience. “I do not need to tell anyone in here we have a really high density of leases,” the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s coastal management program director said. “In our public trust waters, when you have that many users, there are going to be conflicts.”
Several people sitting inside the Surf City Municipal Complex’s town council chambers that April 14 afternoon nodded in agreement, eager to share their thoughts on the subject. With either temporary or permanent shellfish leasing moratoriums in North Carolina waters to its north and south, Topsail Island’s waters have become a hot commodity for oyster growers.
There are now nearly 190 shellfish leases in the waters behind the 26-mile-long barrier island from the New River and its adjacent estuarine waters south to Topsail Sound. That’s a roughly 46% increase from the collective number of leases in 2018 in Onslow and Pender counties.
The squeeze put on the waters around Topsail Island has prompted ongoing calls for a temporary moratorium on new shellfish leases in the area.
Read more at Coastal Review, coastalreview.org.
The Coastal Federation and Sea Grant are accepting comments online through the Stump Sound shellfish mariculture planning–stakeholder input form through Aug. 1.
