Sara Mirabilio

Bio

Sara Mirabilio is a fisheries extension specialist whose work includes cooperative research with, and providing technical training to, North Carolina’s commercial, for-hire and recreational fishing men and women. She received the Governor’s Conservation Achievement Award Program’s Natural Resources Scientist of the Year Award in 2011 for her research with industry to test a modified turtle excluder device in the summer flounder winter ocean trawl fishery. Since 2019, Mirabilio has particularly focused on researching use of electronic devices producing microvolt signals to deter sharks in baited-hook fisheries.

But most of Mirabilio’s recent work has centered around securing the future of North Carolina’s Seafood Industry, addressing the “graying of the fleet” through workforce development and training. She was integral to development of “Fish Camp,” a commercial fishing workforce development program launched in January 2018. This three-day, retreat-style training builds capacity and workforce skills for the state’s early career commercial fishers. Fish Camp has been held three times (2018, 2020, and 2023), with over 55 participants completing the program. And in March 2025, Carteret Community College, in partnership with Sea Grant programs in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, as well as with the Alaska Marine Safety Education Association, offered a Commercial Fishing Academy with accompanying unique paid apprenticeship program for people who live in the South Atlantic region. This program was designed to prepare individuals for rewarding careers in commercial fishing, providing the skills and credentials needed to boost employability in the commercial seafood industry. The apprenticeship program was made possible through funding from the National Sea Grant Office’s 2023 “Young Fishermen’s Career Development Projects” grant program to North Carolina Sea Grant, with Mirabilio serving as principal investigator.

More broadly, Mirabilio contributes in many ways to her specific professional area.  She currently serves as chair of the N.C. Aquarium on Roanoke Island’s Advisory Committee and also as the chair of the Awards and Scholarship Committee for the Tidewater Chapter of the American Fisheries Society.

Prior to joining North Carolina Sea Grant in 2003, Mirabilio served as a John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellow through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant Office and, following this, was a program analyst for the NOAA Ocean Service’s Chief Scientist.

She holds a master’s degree in marine science from the College of William and Mary’s School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, and a bachelor’s degree in marine science from Long Island University’s Southampton College, where she graduated summa cum laude and with honors diploma.

Area(s) of Expertise

Coastal community development, collaborative processes, cooperative research, marine fisheries management, seafood marketing, working waterfronts