Source: Jack Igelman, CAROLINA PUBLIC PRESS, 9/16/21


Editor’s note: This article is part 4 of 5 of the series Changing Tides, which was produced in part through the support of the Pulitzer Center.

Willy Phillips operates Full Circle Crab Co. and Seafood Market in Columbia in Tyrrell County, a wholesale and retail operation. He’s observed a decline in water quality impacting the blue crab fishery.  Blue crabs are a valuable commercial fishery in North Carolina, with a dockside value of more than $20 million in 2020. The Albemarle and Pamlico sounds are among the most productive crab fisheries on the East Coast.

For more of this story, click here.