Source: PRESS RELEASE, 2/28/20


A new study will calculate the economic impacts of North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry. All active commercial fishermen — almost 2,500 individuals — are receiving a survey by mail as part of the research. Those who fill the survey out will receive a $50 Amazon gift card. Completed surveys should be returned by March 20, 2020.

Glenn Skinner, a commercial fisherman and executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association, sits on the N.C. Commercial Fishing Resource Funding Committee, which requested this study to be done. Skinner says, “We need to know the total economic value of the seafood industry to this state. It’s not just the seafood sales. It’s the money we spend on gas for our trucks and boat repair, the jobs created at seafood processing facilities and restaurants.”

Are you an active commercial fisher but didn’t receive a survey? Contact Chris Dumas at the University of North Carolina Wilmington. His email is dumasc@uncw.edu and his telephone number is 910-962-4026. Only fishermen with 2019 North Carolina commercial fishing licenses who had trip ticket sales in 2019 are eligible to take the survey.

For more details about the survey, visit this informational page. To learn more about the research project, read this blog post.