Maryland officials placed new restrictions Monday on harvesting wild oysters this fall and winter but dropped a plan to shorten the season that had drawn fire from watermen and seafood dealers.

“There are approximately 54 new inlets cutting through from the Atlantic Ocean to the Core Sound at various points of North Core Banks,” officials said in an advisory Monday.

EMERALD ISLE — Carteret County’s plan for a major Bogue Banks beach nourishment project to begin in November was bolstered financially Friday when the Federal Emergency Management Agency announced it approved $18 million in reimbursement money for the cost of replacing sand lost during Hurricane Florence last September.

RALEIGH. Tanika Outlaw was working as the food and beverage manager at the Doubletree Hotel in New Bern last September when Hurricane Florence began shoving feet of water into the city’s downtown area.

Tasked with finding ways to reduce flood risks and improve community resiliency, the Northern Virginia Coastal Storm Risk Management Study developed out of a two-year study of the North Atlantic Coast that Congress commissioned in 2013 after Hurricane Sandy devastated the eastern seaboard in 2012, directly killing 72 people in the U.S. and producing an estimated $71 billion in damages.

Topsail Island’s last chunk of undeveloped land was listed for $7.9 million. Although the town of Topsail Beach and the N.C. Coastal Federation hope to preserve it, the state said it has no funds to purchase property that is “not nationally significant.”

The strange shapes rising out of the sand are hard to make sense of from a distance. Sun-bleached and jagged against the skyline, they resemble antlers of enormous deer, or perhaps the splintered bones of giants.

For years, Pawleys Island residents have watched their coastline recede after hurricanes and high tides.

The AIWA - the Voice of the Waterway - is a national non-profit organization with the mission of securing funding and support for the maintenance of the AIWW (Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway). We are the only organization dedicated to ensuring the future of the AIWW and proudly represent all stakeholders of the waterway. 

Dorian’s landfall in the Outer Banks of North Carolina did more than flood coastal communities — it reshaped parts of the barrier islands, early damage assessments show.

Despite the neighborhood’s vibrant population and reputation as a summer destination, a Coney Island shopping corridor has one of the highest rates of storefront vacancies in the borough.

There are two ways to go whale-watching. One is to take a boat, and go to them. The other is to stay on shore — and let them come to you.

The Army Corps of Engineers recently finished up a $45 million beach renourishment project on Grand Strand beaches, but impacts from Hurricane Dorian may lead to more work.

As Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas and headed toward the United States, like everyone else watching I thought: Could it come here and are we ready for it? In the years since Superstorm Sandy, the New York metropolitan area has done a great deal to repair infrastructure and prepare for another storm. When buildings are built anywhere near New York City’s 600 miles of coastline or on the shores of Long Island or New Jersey there is a built-in assumption that it makes sense to try to prepare for floods and winds. Con Edison has spent over a billion dollars to protect its facilities from flooding. The MTA’s Fix and Fortify Program spent billions of dollars as subway tunnels and stations were renovated to limit future flood damage. That work continues today with repairs throughout the system. The region’s beaches are being widened, jetties are being rebuilt, while storm walls and sand dunes are built and reinforced. New Yorkers understand that climate change is real and we need to do everything we can to get ready for the storms that are coming.

THE HATCHING OF dozens of tiny loggerhead sea turtles at the north end of Virginia Beach’s Oceanfront early in August was cause for celebration.

Surf City, Oak Island report gaining sand after Dorian made its pass by the region this week

Hurricane Dorian - Preliminary Assessment for Bogue Banks Oceanfront released by Carteret County Shore Protection Office

EMERALD ISLE — Carteret County Shore Protection Office Manager Greg Rudolph said Wednesday all “assets are in place” to ensure that if Hurricane Dorian appears to cause significant beach erosion when it moves through the area later this week, the erosion can be measured.

In its original incarnation a few years back, the two-turbine wind project Dominion Energy proposed to build off the Virginia Beach coast was billed as a “research” project. In the hope of winning a $40 million federal research grant, Dominion wanted to see how well the two wind turbines held up in hurricane conditions of the mid-Atlantic before committing to a large-scale wind farm.

Reinforcing nearly 75% of the oceanfront in roughly two months, the Virginia Beach Hurricane and Storm Damage Reduction Project has come to a halt.

AIWA's 20th Anniversary Annual Meeting is November 21 - 22, 2019 in Savannah, GA

When the next big hurricane hits North Carolina head on, the Outer Banks barrier islands extending from Ocracoke to the Virginia line will be particularly dangerous to escape. Riding out The Big One in most cases is not a good option.

Nags Head officials say to not be surprised to see scarps, or ledges, along the beach thanks to the recent strong northeast winds and larger than normal surf.

While there are many uncertainties, state regulators plan to enact significant restrictions on flounder fishing including a recreational fishing moratorium that would begin around September 4 and last for nearly a year.

Three months after his confrontation with homeowners over beach access in Duck went viral, Bob Hovey, and his wife Tanya, have filed a complaint in Dare County Superior Court against the Sand Dollar Shores Homeowners’ Association (HOA) and the Town of Duck over their right to use the Sea Breeze beach access in that neighborhood.

Pawleys Town Council didn’t cast its votes yet, but all members reached a consensus Tuesday, Aug. 27, that they would go ahead with a maximum amount of sand for their beach renourishment project.

Study says vulnerable communities are especially at risk of exposure to toxics

RALEIGH. Limits placed on scientists reporting on sea level rise may be eased by a North Carolina commission that sets policies for coastal management.

The beacon at the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse has stopped rotating, and has been stuck in a fixed position since Sunday night, according to several Buxton residents and the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

NAGS HEAD, N.C. — Of all the communities across the United States wrestling with climate change, few face its effects day to day like the strand of coastal islands that make up Dare County.

A proposal is advancing to deposit dredge spoils from the Port of Baltimore onto two eroding Chesapeake Bay islands.

The Nags Head beach nourishment project has finished! Check out this time lapse video of the construction from the Town of Nags Head as it neared Outer Banks Pier from August 9-11, 2019.

After the land on Topsail Island's southern tip was listed for sale last week, conservation groups say there are no current efforts to protect it.

When Superstorm Sandy hit the shores near the Barnegat Bay Beach, it destroyed several homes. As a result, some properties like the one located at 361-363 Bay Shore Drive, remain free of any existing structures.

Preliminary findings suggest some of the Chesapeake’s underwater grass beds were hurt by heavy rains, heat

The main part of the Nags Head beach renourishment project came to a close over the weekend, as the final yards of sand were pumped on to a stretch off South Nags Head right around the expected date.

COROLLA, N.C. -- Currituck County is resisting calls to widen beaches like other nearby coastal towns from Virginia Beach to Buxton. Officials propose instead new rules on pool construction at beachfront homes to better preserve dunes.

TOPSAIL BEACH - -The isolated southern tip of Topsail Island, a 26-mile-long barrier island north of Wilmington, is now for sale.

RALEIGH - The U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development intends to publish within weeks a Federal Register notice that is required for North Carolina to receive a $168 million Hurricane Matthew disaster relief package, a HUD senior official said Friday.

Duke conference on climate change and hurricane resilience exposes continuing challenges for state

Several months after a viral video turned the subject into a hot-button issue, the Duck Town Council has decided to defer further discussions about public beach access in the town until next spring, when the municipality expects to finalize its Coastal Area Management Act Land Use Plan (LUP) update.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore and Cape Lookout National Seashore will celebrate International Lighthouse and Lightship Weekend on Saturday, August 17 and Sunday, August 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

This summer, coastal newspapers all around the country boasted headlines of record-breaking sea turtle nests along their local beaches. These headlines were especially prevalent in communities along the shorelines of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, which includes are our own home turf of the Outer Banks.

For nearly as long as scientists have been sounding alarms about rising seas, they’ve warned that North Carolina’s long Atlantic coastline and vast network of estuarine waters makes its coastal property especially vulnerable.

A new report finds that the state of North Carolina—as well as Dare and Currituck counties—rank near the top of U.S. locations when it comes to building new homes in areas potentially threatened by flooding.

VIRGINIA BEACH -- For the past week, a robotic-looking all-terrain vehicle has been towering over the beach at 38th Street where the sand meets the ocean. But don't worry, Imperial ground forces have not invaded the city.

RALEIGH - North Carolina was among the nation’s leaders between 2010 and 2016 in building homes that will be in the 10-year floodplain if a moderate sea level rise projection holds true, according to a new study conducted by Climate Central and Zillow.

An unassuming landmark sits in plain view in the City of Myrtle Beach.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be dredging the inlet in Ocean City, Maryland.

Nearly one year after Hurricane Florence pummeled North Carolina’s central coast, Croatan National Forest is still recovering from an estimated $17 million in damage to the forest’s infrastructure and costs to respond to the storm.

Scientists have found still another reason why it is important to restore seagrass beds, including in Delmarva's coastal and bay waters.

North Carolina can expect to have paid a minimum of $34.8 billion for building seawalls to protect coastal communities from rising seas by 2040, according to a recent report from the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development’s Center For Climate Integrity.

Hopper dredger Liberty Island has returned to Nags Head and is hard at work nourishing the beach in the vicinity of the submerged pipeline near the Epstein public beach.

“Wishful thinking,” says Mayor Dan Tuman

The company that manages the railroad on Virginia's Eastern Shore notified government officials earlier this month that it will petition to abandon the line from Hallwood south to Cape Charles.

Nantucket is a resilient community. Historically, we have weathered many storms and come back; the great fire of 1846, the end of the whaling industry, and countless hurricanes, a sewer main break.

There isn’t much left of the former Borough of Island Beach half a century after its official dissolution in 1965 as an Ocean County municipality incorporated just 32 years earlier.

When the Conowingo Dam opened to fanfare nearly a century ago, the massive wall of concrete and steel began its job harnessing water power in northern Maryland. It also quietly provided a side benefit: trapping sediment and silt before it could flow miles downstream and pollute the Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary.

NOAA today officially designated its first new national marine sanctuary since 2000, aiming to preserve the remains of more than 100 World War I-era steamships and vessels on an 18-square-mile stretch of the Potomac River coast.

North Carolina - Oak Island, Caswell Beach, and Holden Beach could join in a collaborative study of beachfront erosion, making use of recently-approved federal funds available in a disaster relief act.

ESSEX, MASSACHUSETTS — Should North Shore communities consider buying their own regional dredging equipment or outsource the work to a private company?

Vineyard Wind plans to build its 800-megawatt project (in yellow) 15 miles south of Martha's Vineyard.

A country that refuses to confront these changes, that shrugs off the planning and preparation needed, and certainly does not have the desire — or, at this moment, the capacity — to absorb those costs is making a choice to put millions of its residents in harm’s way.

The Edgartown conservation commission, in a 5-1 vote, has denied a permit for cables that would pass through the Muskeget Channel.

Check out the newest National Marine Sanctuary

For the third time in five years, a sea turtle nesting record at Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Seashore) has been broken.

For the third time in five years, a sea turtle nesting record at Cape Hatteras National Seashore has been broken.

A historic 120-year-old data set is allowing researchers to confirm what data modeling systems have been predicting about climate change: Climate change is increasing precipitation events like hurricanes, tropical storms and floods.

After contractors spent the last few days working near mile post 16 north of Jennette’s Pier, the Nags Head beach renourishment project has jumped back to the mile post 15 area.

Carteret County officials hope to begin a beach nourishment project on Bogue Banks by mid-November for western Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, the far western end of Emerald Isle and a portion of Salter Path left out of the last project completed this spring.

The US east coast state of New Jersey is undertaking a "full review of its lobster management" practices, including possible changes to the minimum size, following a continued drop in landings, the New Jersey Evening Post reports this week.

DURHAM, North Carolina — In a release Wednesday, the state of North Carolina and the Federal Emergency Management Agency have reimbursed another $2.3 million to Carteret County for Hurricane Florence storm debris cleanup.

EMERALD ISLE, North Carolina — Carteret County officials hope to begin a beach nourishment project on Bogue Banks by mid-November for western Atlantic Beach, Pine Knoll Shores, the far western end of Emerald Isle and a portion of Salter Path left out of the last project completed this spring.

A seashell hunt at Kure Beach turned dangerous when a North Carolina couple found a “big bullet” in the sand — and hauled it home as a keepsake.

Pilkey Commentary: Retreat from the shoreline is now the global wave of the future and is already under way.

The Port of Virginia, that comprises four marine terminals, has completed the expansion of its Virginia International Gateway, a container terminal located along the Elizabeth River in Portsmouth and has been able to handle handled a record 2.9 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in fiscal year 2019, which is a volume increase of 4 percent when compared with last fiscal year.

The remote, pristine islands of North Carolina are rich with dunes, wildlife – and the ghost of Blackbeard

Of all the communities across the United States wrestling with climate change, few face its effects day to day like the strand of coastal islands that make up Dare County.

The Nags Head beach renourishment project reached another milestone over the weekend, as sand pumping operations moved south of Jennette’s Pier off Whalebone Junction.

In the summer on Jekyll Island, researchers drive slowly up and down the beach all night, the red-shaded headlights on their utility vehicles illuminating ghost crabs and shorebirds.

Offshore aquifers may be a common feature along passive continental margins around the world.

North Carolina joins Florida and South Carolina to officially oppose offshore oil and gas exploration and drilling,

Beach nourishment construction has passed Jennette’s Pier and is progressing south near Mile Post 16.5 in the 8000 block of South Old Oregon Inlet Road.

The heating and air conditioning in Carrie Johnson’s home – damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 – still wasn’t fixed when Hurricane Florence flooded her house last September. Now, her home of over 50 years is gutted, the flooring and walls nothing more than bare wooden beams smelling faintly of river water.

“We don’t think it’s constructive to get into the causes of sea level rise. But we see flooding issues, and we’re addressing it.”

It’s a warm evening in May. I am standing along the edge of the ocean at the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area in New Jersey. It’s an approximately seven mile-long and one-mile wide (at its widest point) narrow spit of land at the southern entrance to New York Harbor. A slender sandy peninsula that forms a natural boundary between the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean and shallow estuarine waters of Sandy Hook Bay.