NORTH CAROLINA DIVISION OF MARINE FISHERIES
Annual Fisheries Bulletin
2022 Commercial and Recreational Statistics
License and Statistics Section, PO Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557
July 2023
Included in this bulletin are the 2022 landings and harvest information from the commercial and recreational fisheries
programs, along with the 2017 to 2021 finalized landings for comparison. The bulletin also contains a summary of
commercial fishing trips by major gear.
The North Carolina Trip Ticket Program (TTP) collects commercial fishery landings and effort statistics. This program
collects mandatory trip-level fish dealer reports for all finfish and shellfish landed in the state. Recreational fishery harvest
and effort statistics are derived from the Marine Recreational Information Program (MRIP) that conducts recreational angler
interviews at public access points and telephone/mail surveys.
Total Pounds Harvested in 2022
Commercial
Recreational1
35,052,564 pounds
21,258,304 pounds
1 Bluefin Tuna data are collected from a catch card program, not MRIP, and are therefore not included in the sum of the
Recreational Total Pounds Harvested.
Top Five Species Caught in Each Fishery in 2022
Commercial
Species
Pounds
Hard Blue Crabs
9,087,184
Shrimp (Heads On)
4,780,857
Striped Mullet
2,720,092
Catfishes
2,477,012
Summer Flounder
2,190,368
Recreational
Species
Pounds
Spotted Seatrout
3,756,040
Spanish Mackerel
1,841,527
Black Drum
1,710,528
Bluefish
1,645,410
Kinqfishes
1,631,041
Issued by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, Department of Environmental Quality
For additional information regarding commercial and recreational statistics, please contact:
Commercial Statistics
Alan Bianchi
Trip Ticket Coordinator
(252) 726-7021 or (800) 682-2632
Alan.Bianchi@dea.nc.gov
Recreational Statistics
Jeff Moore
Coastal Angling Program Manager
(252) 808-8101
Jeff.n.Moore@dea.nc.gov
Electronic copies of the dealer report and landings bulletin can be found at
https://deq.nc.gov/fisheries-statistics.
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