How climate change affects North Carolina’s fisheries and the people who rely on them for a living.
Warming temperatures due to human-produced carbon emissions are melting the world’s ice, leading to warmer seas, rising water levels, lower salinity, changing currents and more frequent and powerful storm systems that often strike and severely damage coastal areas. These conditions threaten to upset the balance of sea and estuary species on which fisheries depend. All of these factors create challenges for access for many North Carolina coastal residents whose jobs or food supply depend on what they catch. People dependent on the water, government officials and scientists are doing their best to adapt or encourage resilience. But the tides, they are a changing.
Changing Tides is a five-part in-depth series being published serially beginning Sept. 13, 2021. Changing Tides is made possible in part with support from the Pulitzer Center Connected Coastlines initiative, a nationwide climate reporting initiative in U.S. coastal states, and through the support of readers like you. You can support nonpartisan in-depth and investigative journalism in North Carolina from our nonprofit newsroom by becoming a member today.
follow our investigation
Lose the seagrass and lose the fisheries
Marine and estuary plant life on which North Carolina’s fish species depend are vulnerable to warming and rising seas, scientists say.
Commercial fishing in NC adapts to threat of warming seas
Environmental changes are just one of many factors placing stress on the state’s commercial fishermen.
Changing climate poses burden as people count on fishing
Extreme weather damages access points for coastal residents dependent on seafood, while warming seas shift the balance of life under the water.
Toxins and mislabeling threaten NC seafood
Algal blooms thrive in warming seas, but generate toxins that damage fisheries, likely contributing to declines in blue crabs.
Seeking solutions for NC shoreline and fisheries
Projects focusing on coastal habitat resilience and regulations eying species restoration offer hope for fisheries despite climate change.
SpecIAL EVENT
How is climate change destabilizing NC coastal ecology?
’10 for NC’ event brings together scientists and people whose livelihoods depend on the water to examine effects of climate change.
Resources
Follow the dynamic path of the coastal ecology and economy in North Carolina.
Contributors
This series is produced by the news team of Carolina Public Press.
Reporting by Jack Igelman, with contributions from Calvin Adkins.
Photos by Mark Darrough, Calvin Adkins and Jack Igelman.
Illustration by Mariano Santillan.
Graphics by Raman Bhardwaj.
Editing by Frank Taylor and Laura Lee.
