Do you like seafood? (Opens mouth)

Here's some good news on the economic/agricultural front: North Carolina's commercial seafood harvest increased by 13 percent last year.

"The state Division of Marine Fisheries said Monday that the seafood landings of 71.2 million pounds in 2008 marked the end of a five-year decline in the seafood industry," according to the Associated Press. "The division said more than 32 million pounds of the harvest was blue crab. The crab accounted for $25 million of the $87 million total value of seafood. That was an increase of $4 million over 2007. Division official Alan Bianchi said shrimp harvests were down 1 percent and that might be caused by last year's high fuel prices. North Carolina's oyster harvest was up 5 percent, to 88,008 bushels."

(Blue Crab image from NationalGeographic.com)