2017 North Carolina Coastal Conference

2017 North Carolina Coastal Conference
April 4 - 5, 2017
McKimmon Center
Raleigh, NC

North Carolina Sea Grant will host North Carolina’s Coastal Conference, April 4 - 5, 2017, at the McKimmon Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The 2017 Coastal Conference will energize partnerships to develop solutions that can benefit the state’s coastal communities, economies, and ecosystems.

“Many communities from central North Carolina to the coast found their resilience tested in 2016,” notes Susan White, executive director of North Carolina Sea Grant and the Water Resources Research Institute of the University of North Carolina system. “They continue to need information and resources to respond to, recover from and anticipate both urgent and long-term coastal challenges.”

Coastal Conference sessions will include:

weather, storms and climate;

community and ecosystem health;

fisheries and aquaculture; and

planning and economics.

Experts from the fields of economics, transportation, energy, environment, industry, and health will lead interdisciplinary sessions designed to bring together diverse perspectives.

The program includes a networking reception on April 4 at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences’ Nature Research Center in Raleigh.

Registration and other details are available at ncseagrant.ncsu.edu/nc-coastal-conference.

source: North Carolina Sea Grant

CITES Protection - Sharks and Manta Rays

During the most recent Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Conference of the Parties meeting in Bangkok, countries agreed to increase protection for five commercially-exploited species of sharks and manta rays.

In March, CITES member nations, referred to as “Parties”, voted in support of listing the oceanic whitetip shark, the porbeagle shark, scalloped, smooth, and great hammerhead sharks, and manta rays in CITES Appendix II. The action calls for increased protection, but still allows legal and sustainable trade.

Support of the listings came from a coalition of countries including Brazil, Colombia, the European Union, Costa Rica, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico, Comoros, Egypt, and the United States. Additional support came from Senegal and Sierra Leone.

Due to their low reproduction rates and high economic value, populations of the newly listed shark species have suffered severe declines. Porbeagle sharks also face pressures due to demand for their meat, while manta rays are over-harvested for their gill plates.

Sharks are overfished in many parts of the world due to a demand for fins. Shark fins are commonly exported to Asia, where they are a main ingredient in shark fin soup.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is an international agreement initiated in 1973. The convention is currently signed by 178 countries regulating global trade in imperiled wild animals and plants including their parts and products.

A meeting of the Conference of the Parties is held every 2-3 years to review, discuss, and negotiate changes in the management and control of trade in the various wildlife species covered by the agreement.

source: NOAA Fisheries