Governor Stein Proclaims North Carolina Oyster Month

North Carolina Oyster Month

2026

By The Governor Of The State Of North Carolina

A Proclamation

Whereas, North Carolina has a valuable and productive coastal ecosystem and many champions who work together to protect it and the keystone species that benefit the state’s marine and coastal environments with food provision, water filtering capacity, and fish habitat; and

Whereas, North Carolina oysters have been the focus of restoration and protection efforts in the state since 1915, resulting in the creation of thousands of acres of harvestable reefs and nearly 400 acres of oyster sanctuary; and

Whereas, North Carolina’s shellfish industry has set a goal to provide more than $100 million in economic impact and 1,000 jobs in the state by 2030, supporting the livelihoods of watermen and women and sustaining traditional working waterfront communities; and

Whereas, partners statewide support the growing oyster industry’s workforce development with university and community college technical training programs, entrepreneurship mentoring, marketing strategies, and more; and

Whereas, more than 20 stakeholders, including state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, growers, harvesters, and independent businesses compose the North Carolina Oyster Steering Committee, which works to develop and implement the Oyster Restoration and Protection Plan for North Carolina: A Blueprint for Action, now in its fourth edition; and

Whereas, in 2018 the North Carolina General Assembly commissioned the North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture: A Vision to 2030, aimed at advancing efforts to bolster North Carolina’s shellfish industry; and

Whereas, in 2018, North Carolina became the first state in the Southeast and sixth in the nation to join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Shellfish Initiative and launch the N.C. Shellfish Initiative; and

Whereas, in 2020, the NC Oyster Trail launched along the coast to provide oyster tourism experiences that help sustain and grow North Carolina oyster supply and demand;

Now, Therefore, I, Josh Stein, Governor of the State of North Carolina, do hereby proclaim October 2026 as “North Carolina Oyster Month” in North Carolina and commend its observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and affixed the Great Seal of the State of North Carolina at the Capitol in Raleigh this twenty-fifth day of September in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty-sixth and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fifty-first.