State / Commonwealth / Territory - Marine Managed Areas (MMAs)

Highlighted MMAs: Primary Nursery Areas
North Carolina Statutes § 113A-118.2
Contact: Mike Street, NC Division of Marine Fisheries

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission began designating estuarine primary (PNAs) and secondary nursery areas in 1977. To date about 147,000 acres are designated. Fishing restrictions generally include prohibitions on trawling, dredging and seining in these areas. Channel dredging and other development activities are also restricted in PNAs. The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has similarly designated more than 10,000 acres as Inland PNAs.

Primary nursery areas (PNAs) are designated based on specific sampling of the populations in the area and bottom type. Their purpose is to protect the nursery area habitat, especially the bottom structure (sea grasses, oyster rocks, sand and mud) and adjacent wetlands. The N. C. Marine Fisheries Commission's rules prohibit use of gears (trawls, dredges, long haul seines) that can severely impact the habitat regardless of who uses the gear. Both commercial and recreationally licensed fishers can use trawls in North Carolina; however, recreational trawlers cannot sell their catch and are limited to small nets. Hook and line, gill nets, hand gears for shellfish, cast nets, crab pots, and similar gears with little or no bottom impacts can be used in PNAs, subject to other restrictions (seasons, times, etc.) that may apply. Shoreline development is limited by rules of the N.C. Coastal Resources Commission. New channels cannot be dredged in PNAs, while maintenance of existing channels is allowed only during the winter. Shoreline development is restricted to protect water quality and limit runoff. No new commercial marinas are allowed in PNAs. Upstream development is not especially limited by downstream PNA designation. But most PNAs are small creeks and bays that are designated as PNAs from a given downstream point up to their headwaters. The N.C. Environmental Management Commission designates all PNAs as a class as High Quality Waters, limiting point source discharges and stormwater runoff. Designation of PNAs is done entirely under state authority; however, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council includes North Carolina's PNAs as Essential Fish Habitat by reference.

The program works quite well, with good support from both commercial and sport fishermen. It is well established (since 1977). State officials will continue to sample a few areas annually and recommend designation as PNAs, as the data dictate. An important problem is that the existing sampling protocol was developed for use in areas with sufficient depths to pull a small trawl (10 ft mouth opening) from an outboard motor boat. However, researchers cannot trawl effectively in some very shallow areas or in sea grass beds, but they function as PNAs. Officials to develop additional sampling protocols for these areas that can be compared with the existing protocol. Some of the original sampling in the mid-1970s was conducted under federal aid projects, but since 1977, all of the PNA work has been entirely state funded. The program is an integral part of management operations, with annual juvenile abundance data used in stock assessments. Other agencies use the data for various programs, and a number of university scientists and graduate students have used our PNA data for their research projects.

Relevant Agencies/Programs:

Marine Managed Area Systems:

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