By Patricia Smith
Fish Eye Editor

Each week this summer Cynthia Kroswek and Kelly Smith set beach seines at different spots along the Albemarle Sound then hauled the nets to shore.

It was a ritual for the two N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries technicians, who were sampling the juvenile fish population to see how many they catch.

“Each time we do it, we do it in the exact same spot,” said Kroswek, who was hired to work with the river herring program.

They pulled in silversides, crab, needlefish, bay anchovies, spot, bluegills and a variety of other species – just not river herring.

“This year, we haven’t caught any river herring yet,” said Kroswek, during one of her August rounds.

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State expands oyster restoration programs

By Kelly Odom
Fish Eye Reporter

The N. C. Division of Marine Fisheries hopes to one day operate a full-production oyster hatchery to generate oyster seed for state shellfish rehabilitation sites.

The agency could be on its way because 2008 appropriations have been directed toward expansion of the oyster sanctuary program and a research hatchery.

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