Browsing by Subject "Outer Banks"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5

Open Access
A POLICY-ORIENTED ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE WINTER BLUEFIN TUNA FISHERY IN BEAUFORT AND MOREHEAD CITY, NORTH CAROLINA
(2005) Brazer, Eric O Jr
In the mid-1990s, sport fishermen from the Outer Banks of North Carolina stumbled upon a winter population of bluefin tuna in the shallow waters near shore. Each winter since then, fishermen have braved icy waters and frigid temperatures to capitalize on this resource. In their quest for a commercial share of the U.S. quota, these local fishermen have shown a unique interest in making their voices heard. They now play a significant role in the data collection and management of bluefin tuna, working side-by-side with scientists and forming a non-profit organization. This MP aims to document the cultural system of these fishermen and incorporate recommendations for more effective bluefin tuna management. In an effort to accomplish this goal I produced a policy-oriented ethnography that characterizes the social, economic and regulatory structure of the sport and commercial bluefin tuna fishery in Beaufort and Morehead City, North Carolina.
Open Access
Developing a Sustainable Tourism Framework for the Outer Banks National Scenic Byway
(2016-04-23) Hooper, Patricia; Dykman, Alyssa; Shervanick, Kara
The Outer Banks National Scenic Byway (OBNSB) is a 142.5-mile driving route located along North Carolina’s Outer Banks, one of the state’s most profitable and popular tourist destinations. Spanning across three coastal counties—Carteret, Dare, and Hyde— the OBNSB region supports a growing tourism industry, with a spectrum of impacts that need to be assessed. To address this, we present a framework to measure the current and potential economic, environmental, and social impacts of increasing coastal and marine tourism along the OBNSB. The framework is centered on the utilization of sustainability indicators, informed by an extensive literature review, interviews with select stakeholders in coastal communities, and an analysis of socio-economic and ecological data. The final report provides North Carolina Sea Grant (NCSG), as well as local communities and organizations, with planning information to improve regional economic and environmental conditions and optimize local goals for sustainable tourism development.
Open Access
Evaluating Transportation Alternatives for Hattras Island, North Carolina Outer Banks
(2013-04-26) Kim, Junghwa; Colwell, Courtney; Jenkins, Thomas; Farshchi, Roxanna
The North Carolina coast includes a dynamic chain of barrier islands known as the Outer Banks. Transportation management on these islands has been the subject of debate over the past two decades because of the high cost of maintaining highway NC 12. The road is subject to frequent sand overwash and storm damage that causes interruptions in services and access and the bridge over a major inlet needs replacement. Interest groups disagree about the best solution, with some most concerned about environmental damage, some about economic impacts of service disruption, and some about emergency evacuation. We interviewed nine stakeholders from federal, state, and local government, citizen action groups, and environmental non-governmental organizations, asking them questions about their preferences pertaining to transportation in general and specific alternative transportation methods for the Outer Banks. The alternatives we researched were: (1) replacing the imperiled bridge with a new bridge across the same inlet (Short Bridge Plus), which would not alleviate the road maintenance difficulties on the islands; (2) building a long bridge through the sound behind the chain of barrier islands bypassing the troublesome road sections (Long Bridge) at very high initial cost; and (3) using ferries to provide transportation to the barrier islands (Ferry System), requiring extensive dredging of coastal habitat and high operational costs. Using data from archived reports and from our interviews, we compared these alternatives in terms of (1) access disruption from storm impacts (in days), (2) short-term cost (dollars), (3) long-term cost (dollars), and (4) environmental impacts (acres of habitat disturbed). We then interviewed three key stakeholders from state government, an environmental organization, and local government to determine how important each of the four factors was to each respondent in choosing a transportation alternative. By combining our evaluations of each alternative with the stakeholders’ judgments of importance, we found that the state representative chose the Short Bridge Plus, the environmental organization representative chose the Long Bridge, and the local government representative chose the Ferry System. Because some of these calculated results contradicted what these three respondents told us they preferred, we examined the sensitivity of our calculated results to changes in short and long-term cost estimates, acres disturbed and relative importance of the four factors. A consistent result of our sensitivity analyses was that stakeholders would often switch their preferred alternative to the Long Bridge. Therefore, we believe the Long Bridge might be a point of compromise; however, the massive funding required to build this alternative diminishes the likelihood it will be implemented.
Open Access
Integrating the use of Unoccupied Aircraft Systems (UAS) into Coastal Land Management Strategies on the Outer Banks of North Carolina
(2020-04-24) Adams, Cameron
Unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) stand to dramatically improve the way coastal managers understand and plan for climate change, yet the tool has been underutilized for this purpose. The Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab and the North Carolina chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) collaborated to develop a series of research questions and methods using UAS to assess the effects of climate change at the Nags Head Woods Preserve (NHW), a coastal property TNC manages on the Outer Banks. We aimed to better understand 1) the history of shoreline erosion and 2) the likely climate-driven ecological changes at the site. High-resolution imagery was captured using an eBee Plus fixed wing drone and images were stitched into a single mosaic using Pix4D. Long-term shoreline erosion rates were calculated and interpreted by evaluating shoreline characteristics apparent from UAS imagery. The NHW shoreline has exhibited significant erosion, which varies spatially due mainly to differences in shoreline type and orientation. Ecological vulnerability to climate change could not be assessed without setting high-accuracy baselines for the present-day areal extent of plant communities within NHW. Training data were generated from UAS imagery and used to run a supervised classification, resulting in the first accurate delineation of each plant community in NHW. These methods may be repeated in the future to assess climate-driven ecological change through time. UAS proved to be an effective tool for organizations and managers to improve research and monitoring in the coastal environment.
Open Access
Saving the Outer Banks – Lessons from the Life of Frank Stick
(2017-05-22) Triulzi, Paul Eugene
The joy of finding unspoiled beaches on the island of Ocracoke led to inquiring how these areas escaped the rampant development prevalent in coastal North Carolina. This project’s primary purpose was to investigate a mostly unknown person, named Frank Stick, and to determine his role, if any, in helping to establish the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, and second, to investigate present-day threats to the seashore. The primary inquiry led to Roanoke Island, NC, and the Outer Banks History Center to research from primary sources the life of Frank Stick and the formation of the national seashore. I also interviewed residents of the Outer Banks and descendants of landowners that had contributed to the national seashore. To research current threats, I attended forums of the NC Coastal Federation, Duke’s Ocean Policy Working Group, and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and toured the entire seashore. My inquiry reveals that the formation of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore has a very long and complicated history in which Frank Stick played a major role, and which this paper examines through his life and times. I found that oil exploration and global warming are major threats to the seashore, and that coastal residents prefer tourism to an energy economy. This paper reveals who Frank Stick was and what we can learn from his activism, conservationism and methods in order to counteract current environmental threats to America’s first national seashore.