If you follow fisheries management at all, you’ve most likely heard the phrase “tragedy of the commons”. The concept originates from a 1968 article written by Garrett Hardin, which describes the problems that occur when individuals exploit a shared resource to the extent that demand...

  Written  by: Glenn Skinner   For decades, states from Texas to South Carolina have been portrayed as a sportsman’s paradise for recreational anglers.   Some claim that bans of commercial fishing gears and gamefish bills in these states have created coastal Shangri-La’s where size limits are...

WRITTEN AND CONTRIBUTED BY: EASTON EDWARDS   I recently attended the Marine Fisheries Commission meeting held in New Bern, NC on February 19th & 20th.  Public comments were Wednesday night and Thursday morning.  I sat and listened to individuals rant and rave that gill nets were the evil...

Mike Loeffler netted a southern flounder from a tank and pulled it out of the water where Shelby White and Anne Markwith were waiting with a measuring board. “First, we’ll get a length on her,” said White, and she called out the length of the fish to a nearby technician recording the data. “Then...

Most North Carolinians realize that there are two agencies that deal with fishing in our state’s waters.  One, the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC), regulates hunting and freshwater fishing (Inland waters), while the other, the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) sets restrictions on fishing in...