The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) approved a temporary amendment to the flounder rule at their business meeting on July 25th that was subsequently approved by the N.C. Rules Review Commission (RRC) on July 31st. Under this modification, the 2024 flounder season will be open in Inland Fishing Waters and in Joint Fishing Waters for hook and line fishing only on September 1st and 2nd and again on September 7th and 8th.
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The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) at its July business meeting adopted an emergency rule and initiated temporary rulemaking at White Lake in Bladen County that will require motorboats to travel perpendicular to the shore and at no wake speed within the restricted area at White Lake.
Because of the changes to the 2024 deer season, this amendment is needed to remove the one day of introductory antlerless deer harvest during the gun season on the Needmore Game Land in Macon and Swain Counties, and will align Needmore Game Land to the same antlerless deer season structure as the adjacent Nantahala Game Land in Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties.
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF) has stated they will not open the recreational flounder harvest season in 2024 due to the recreational sector exceeding the 2023 harvest allotment. To be consistent with the annual quota management measure of the North Carolina Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 and with the NCDMF closure of the recreational season in coastal waters, the proposed amendments close the flounder harvest season in 2024.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will open 32 trout streams and two lakes classified as Delayed Harvest to trout harvest on June 1 through Sept. 30.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) is confirming 13 new cases of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) from deer samples submitted since July 1, 2023.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) welcomes returning Commissioner Joseph (Joe) R. Budd of Winston-Salem to its governing board. Budd was sworn in on Jan 30. He previously served as NCWRC’s District 7 commissioner from 2014 to 2020.
What may initially appear to be just a pile of brush, a crawl space or a hollowed-out tree, may actually be the winter home of a bear, and possibly its cubs. If disturbed by humans, a bear may be inadvertently flushed from the den, and if it’s a female bear with cubs, she may orphan her cubs if humans do not leave the area immediately.
The N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission are accepting public comments on temporary rules to implement mandatory harvest reporting requirements passed by the N.C.
The plan will guide the agency’s efforts to maintain and increase populations of five species of sea turtles that nest on North Carolina beaches, primarily from May to August, and are declining in the state. All five species are federally and state listed as either endangered or threatened and need additional assistance to persist and thrive. They are: