N.C. Gen. Stat. § 113-204

The Department is authorized to close areas of public bottoms under coastal fishing waters for such time as may be necessary in any program of propagation of shellfish. The Department is authorized to expend State funds planting such areas and to manage them in ways beneficial to the overall productivity of the shellfish industry in North Carolina. The Department in its discretion in accordance with desirable conservation objectives may make shellfish produced by it available to commercial fishermen generally, to those in possession of private shellfish beds, or to selected individuals cooperating with the Department in demonstration projects concerned with the cultivation, harvesting, or processing of shellfish.