Skip to main content
What Happens to Fish Caught in the Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament?

CMAST News

Dr. Craig Harms releases a juvenile loggerhead sea turtle that was a repeat customer at the pound nets. Photo by Annie Gorgone.

Aug 30, 2023

CMAST Collaborates on Summer-long Sea turtle Study

The Marine Health Program at the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) is wrapping up a month-and-a-half long set of sea turtle studies in collaboration with NOAA, Duke University Marine Laboratory, and Arizona State University. Sea turtles are being collected in research pound nets, which are stationary fish traps that sea turtles…

Aug 17, 2023

Eggleston Earns Prestigious Stewardship Award

Congratulations to Dr. David B. Eggleston, who has been awarded this year’s Margaret A. Davidson Stewardship Achievement Award by The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF)!  According to the Davidson Stewardship Achievement Award Committee, Dr. Eggleston is, “The consummate steward, focusing much of his professional career on the sustainable management of estuarine and coastal resources.”…

Aug 17, 2023

CMAST Welcomes Dr. Maria Rodgers

The NC State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) welcomes Dr. Maria Rodgers to its faculty as an assistant professor. Rodgers is a native of Pennsylvania, where the rivers were historically polluted from the steel mills.  Over time, she says there was a movement to clean up the rivers, which became a recreational…

Aug 9, 2023

Pilot Whale Stranded

Last week, a short-finned male pilot whale (269.5 cm long) stranded live and unfortunately later died at Rodanthe in Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. Cape Hatteras National Seashore responded to the stranding. The animal was transported by UNC-Wilmington to the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST), where it was necropsied.  Results are pending. 
Dr. Harms on watch from Eagle's Nest looking for incoming minke whales, above the modified salmon farm ring where the hearing testing was conducted.

Jul 26, 2023

Harms Researches Hearing of Baleen Whales in Norway

This summer, Dr. Craig Harms, NC State Professor and Director of the Marine Health Program at the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST), participated in a global research team to collect data on the hearing of baleen whales in Norway.  Harms was one of two veterinarians working on the project.  Research results…
Mirtalebi, left, is pictured with her poster and Dr. Alex Chouljenko, Director of the NC State Seafood Lab at the Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST).

Jul 26, 2023

Mirtalebi Places in Oral Competition

Sanaz Mirtalebi, NC State PhD student in Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences, was recognized at last week’s annual Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) meeting in Chicago, for a poster presentation on her research titled, “Combining fish and crustacean byproducts to produce pelleted aquafeed: Effect of byproduct type on pellet properties.”  Mirtalebi recently placed third in…
Dr. Harms, bottom right, with KBSTRRC interns and the loggerhead named Sulfur.

Jul 26, 2023

Interns Perform Surgery on Loggerhead

Interns from the Karen Beasley Sea Turtle Rescue & Rehabilitation Center (KBSTRRC) visited the NC State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) recently with a loggerhead sea turtle named “Sulfur” for hook removal. The hook was lodged deep down in the esophagus, which required a surgery, conducted by second-year zoological medicine resident, Dr. Nick…
Sarah examines stomachs for potential microplastics

Jul 10, 2023

CMAST Summer Fellow Researches Microplastics in Dolphins and Fish

Sarah Smith, a 2023 NC State Semester at CMAST student, has returned to CMAST as a summer fellow to continue working on a student research project from the spring.  Sarah is working with deceased dolphins from strandings and various fish to determine what types of microplastics are in their stomachs and where these microplastics originate. …
Iileyah prepares for a dive.

Jun 26, 2023

CMAST Summer Fellow Continues Work from Spring

Iileyah Braxton, a Spring 2023 NC State University Semester at CMAST participant, has been selected as a CMAST 2023 Summer Fellow.  She says, “From this wonderful experience, I was given the opportunity to continue my research from spring semester as a summer fellow.” As a summer fellow, Iileyah will continue her work with Spot-A-Shark from…
Sarah Smith with a blue marlin on the Morehead City waterfront, before it leaves the dock for CMAST.

Jun 14, 2023

What Happens to Fish Caught in the Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament?

The 65th Annual Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament is underway.  While this well-known event provides an opportunity for anglers to compete in landing the largest blue marlin, dolphinfish, yellowfin tuna, and wahoo, it also boosts the local economy.  However, many people may not know that that it also provides research opportunities for scientists across the…