North Carolina sets Nov. 3–5 public peer review of its draft blue crab stock assessment

North Carolina's next blue crab management decisions will rest on a new stock assessment, and that assessment is headed for outside review. The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality's Division of Marine Fisheries says independent experts will review the draft at a workshop Nov. 3–5.

The workshop is at Craven Community College in New Bern, Room CTC 118 DE, 800 College Court, and is also on Webex. It runs 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 3 and 4 and 9 a.m. to noon on Nov. 5. The public can watch, and comments and questions will be taken from 5 to 5:30 p.m. on the first two days.

The division explains that the reviewers had no part in building the assessment and have no stake in its outcome. Their job is to judge the data, the model, and the assumptions behind it before it is used to manage the fishery. Blue crab is one of the state's most valuable commercial fisheries, and recreational crabbers also rely on it. Registration links for each day are on the DEQ release.

This is a The Gillnet news desk summary, not a reprint.

Source: N.C. Department of Environmental Quality — Peer review workshop scheduled for draft Blue Crab stock assessment (Oct. 22, 2026).