The Facts About North Carolina Speckled Trout

By: Bill Hitchcock

It seems our farcical and fantical “friends” at the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group are at it again. They are trying to resurrect the Gamefish Status movement for speckled trout due to the recent cold stun event we had here along coastal North Carolina.

Gamefish Status would ban all commercial take of speckled trout and reserve the fish strictly for the pleasure and enjoyment for recreational fishermen. The two main problems with it is this:

1) It is a small band of recreational fishermen known as “ardent anglers” who are pushing this issue. This is like the wolf banning the take of sheep so as to keep all of the sheep for themselves.

2) There is zero scientific or biological fact or reasoning for their unwarranted demands

(Click chart to enlarge)

As Sargeant Joe Friday use to say, “Just the facts Ma’am”.

The above chart shows that recreational fishermen kill far more speckled trout than commercial fishermen do. But this angry group of ardent anglers hiding behind the fascade of an organization want all of the fish for themselves. The Saltwater Catch Radio Show did several excellent interviews with the biologists and fisheries maangers in charge of speckled trout stocks here in North Carolina. I’d highly recommend you listen to these interviews in that they (the folks interviewed) are the source for all information. (Side note-The radio show archives all of its radio broadcast in the message board section of the web site.)

Also keep in mind that a caught speckled trout stops with the recreational fisherman but with a commercial fisherman its just the beginning of a long journey. The trout will journey from fish dealer, from truck, to fish house, to restaurant and eventually your table. So although you may not fish or really don’t care about fishing-The Coastal Fisheries Reform Group is literally trying to take food off your table and greatly prohibit your ability to buy fresh locally caught seafood.

Now here is the real kicker. The Coastal Fisheries Reform Group is in fact, nothing. It is not an organization. it is not incorporated. It does not have members or chapters. It does not collect membership dues. It has no regular meetings. It doesn’t even have a web site. All that it does have is a blog they got for free from Bloger.com. That’s it. (But you have to be “approved” if you want to be e-mailed for updates from their free blog site.HHhhmmm…………….)

So what is the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group then? Plain and simple the Coastal Fisheries Reform Group is a fascade for a select few to hide behind so they can push their personal agenda in anonymity. It gives them a false presence, an illusion of size all the while moving in secret. “Dirty deeds done dirt cheap” with no repercussions.

No science. No biology. No organization. No members. Complete anonymity-Just personal agenda of a few ardent anglers with the desire to end commercial fishing and curtail your ability to eat freshly caught local seafood.

Now, what does the rececent cold stun event have to do with gamefish status? This “group” is trying to connect the dots between a low population of trout with commercial fishermen as the cause and that the cold stun event has lowered the current stock status even further! Sooooo, according to their logic, we should ban the minority catch group and give it all to them-The majority killer of trout.

Nice.

If you’d like to post a comment and see what other involved in the fishery have to say then log on to Saltwater Catch and enter the message board section of the site. Good stuff there!

Bill Hitchcock

Hitchcock Realty

Are offshore fish about to be stunned?

By: Bill Hitchcock

Are we about to have an offshore cold stun event? Are we about to see offshore fish floating on top of the water out by the Gulf Stream due to extreme temperature differentials? That’s a good question because right now conditions seem conducive for it to happen.

A cold stun event is a naturally occurring phenomenon. It is a hypothermic reaction fish have when exposed to unusually cold water conditions. This reaction can happen over a period of time such as the case of the recent speckled trout cold stun event in Carteret County. Trout that were located up in the shallow head-ends of certain creeks and rivers became stunned as the air temperatures remained unusually low over an extended period of time. As the air temperatures remain cold, the water temperatures gradually declined. These fish became increasingly lethargic and eventually stunned.

An Offshore cold stun event is a bit different. These usually occur when very cold waters and very warm waters get pushed up together. In a very short distance a fish swims from 60-70 degree waters to 30-40 degree waters. This rapid change from warm to cold waters stuns the fish.

Two areas to look at in the image of sea water temperatures above. Southeast off the Point of Hatteras you can see where two water temperature extremes meet. Red and orange waters of the Gulf Stream area butting up against the pink and purple colored waters of the Labrador Current.

Of equal interest is almost due east out of Oregon Inlet. Here you can see a couple of cold water eddies (which rotate counter clockwise) influencing the warm waters of the Gulf Stream. The rotation of the cold water eddy is wrapping the warm waters (which rotate clockwise) around itself. Fish follow currents. So it is possible that any fish swimming in the cold water eddy can confront the surrounding warm waters and vice versa.

There is nothing unusual about the offshore water temperatures that are present. The cold waters from the north move south to their farthest extent to around Ocracoke Inlet in February. The Gulf Stream comes up to the Point of Hatteras then bares east towards the UK. The temperature differences between the two currents are typical. But if a cold or warm water eddy branches off or if the two currents move too close to each other-Then we have the potential of a cold stun event. The satellite image of the sea water surface above shows us that potential.

Saltwater Catch

Hitchcock Realty

Wind Direction and Flooding

By: Bill Hitchcock

One of the most common questions I am asked about an area or property along the coast of North Carolina is, “Has it ever flooded here?”.

The short answer is “Yes!”. At some point in time, since the beginning of time anywhere coastal North Carolina has been underwater. But that’s not what this article is about.

One of the main causes for flooding is wind. What area gets flooded will depend on the direction of the wind and its strength. Unfortunately, most folks just think in terms of wind strength and not wind direction.

Here’s why the direction of the wind is so important. The coast of North Carolina, including the inner banks and outer banks has beaches and rivers and sounds that face all directions. If, for example we have a strong northerly wind this will help to push water from the north towards the southand up on and in to beaches, rivers and creeks facing north. The map below highlights my point.

Now if the wind is coming hard out of the south then the opposing (on the north side) beaches and rivers would have waters pushed in.

If the wind is in your face and you are facing water then the water is being pushed towards you. But-If you have the wind at your back and you are facing water then the waters will be pushed away from you.

I once owned a piece of waterfront property on Bogue Sound that faced south. One year we had a hurricane that brough 100mph winds out of the north. I was left high and dry while across the sound on Bogue Banks had severe flooding.

Storms and hurricanes come from all different directions. The coast of North Carolina faces all different directions. Each storm is different and will create a different effect. This is one of the reasons that makes responding to the question about flooding so difficult.

Bill Hitchcock

Saltwater Catch

Hitchcock Realty

Bill Hitchcock of Saltwater Catch Radio interviews Dr. Loius daniel, Director of the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries about the upcoming gill net closure and turtle interactions in NC coastal waters. The radio program broadcast from 94.1FM WNBU but can be heard anytime online at the Saltwater Catchweb site. Listen to this half hour special now in the Message Board/Forums!

The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries is proposing a seven-month closure of large-mesh gill net fishing this coming summer and fall in most inshore waters of the state south of Oregon Inlet to eliminate unauthorized interactions with sea turtles. This action is in response to a notification from the National Marine Fisheries Service that high levels of unauthorized takes of threatened and endangered sea turtles have been observed in the large mesh gill net fishery in state waters.

Listen to the half hour radio interview online at Saltwater Catch in the Message Boards/Forums

Crystal Coast Home Sales & Inventory Report

Bill Hitchcock

Hitchcock Realty 

The following encompasses the entire Crystal Coast  Multiple Listing Service (MLS) area including the citities of Morehead City, Beaufort, Atlantic Beach, Emerald Isle, Newport, Down East, Swansboro and surrounding areas.

All information was derived from the Crystal Coast Association of Realtors database. Condominiums and Townhouses are not included.

December home sales in the Crystal Coast and Neuse River MLS area

Courtesy of Hitchcock Realty

Information derived from the Crystal Coast and Neuse River Board of Realtors

Home sales, real estate and propertiesa

Seawater surface temperatures for the North Carolina coast.

January 14, 2010

Visit the Saltwater Catch web site for complete news and information about the fisheries, fishing and management

Average sold prices for Crystal Coast homes for the year 2009

(Click image to enlarge)

Bill Hitchcock

Realtor/Broker

Morehead City, NC

Hitchcock Realty

Y-T-D (Jan 1thru Dec 22, 2009) average sold prices.

(Click graph to view full size)

Homes and properties listed in Morehead City, Beaufort, New Bern, Atlantic Beach, Newport, Oriental and select subdivisions. Log on to Hitchcock Realty at http://www.HitchcockRealty.net for more detailed information.

Hitchcock Realty will be releasing in January of 2010 a detailed market analysis. This report is a compilation of over 5 years research and data of the North Carolina coastal real estate market

Has Crystal Coast Real Estate turned the corner?

By: Bill Hitchcock

Hitchcock Realty

Home sales along the Crystal Coast have been holding steady for the past few months. And with one exception, sales have mirrored 2008 as well. The one exception being last November. The month of  the Presidential election saw sales plummet.

But something else is mirroring last year- Price. The average sold price for a Crystal Coast home is virtually the same as it was last year. (See chart)

The main problem with the Crystal Coast real estate market has been that homes have been priced too high and too much inventory has been on the market.  The true gauge of a markets condition is its absorption rate. The absorption rate is when you factor together the rate in which properties come on the market for sale and the rate in which they go off the market as sold. Expressed in months, the absorption rate shows how long it will take to sell off the entire inventory currently on the market.

By most standards-A normal stable market has a 6 month supply of inventory. In other words-If no new homes came on the market, it would take 6 months to clear it all out.  This is why a listing agreement traditionally (or should I say use to be?) was for 6 months. Take a look at the chart below.

You can see that 2005 was the last year the Crystal Coast area had a “normal” market. Inventory started stock piling up after that until it reached an unbelievable 33 month supply in 2008.

Now I realize that I am only concentrating on one month-But when I see prices stabilizing and inventory thinning I get highly encouraged.

Below are the actual number of sold homes. Note the “Presedential Dip” in sales November 2008 that I mentioned earlier

But the underlying problem with the Crystal Coast market really hasn’t been the sales, but rather the “for sale”. Our market can only handle so much inventory. There has been no mass exodus to our coast to warrant all of the homes that have been offered up.

This all brings us back to 2005 when we last had a normal real estate market. We must reduce the price thus reducing the inventory so we can achieve a means level in our housing market.

The biggest problem I have encountered has been the sellers refusal to understand that price is like the tide. It ebbs and floods. And no matter how hard you try-You can not change the market you are currently in.

Bill Hitchcock

Hitchcock Realty