Lawmakers in the North Carolina House of Representatives have effectively killed a ban on inshore shrimp trawling, a proposal that was hailed by conservation groups but widely rejected by shrimpers and seafood providers in the state.
“When a coordinated assault was launched to kill North Carolina's shrimp industry with junk science, hundreds of dedicated fishermen and supporting businesses walked the halls of the state capital, meeting legislators face to face and sharing the truth about their livelihood," Southern Shrimp Alliance Chief Executive John Williams said in a release about the news. "We are immensely grateful to the NC House of Representatives for doing the right thing.”
NC House Bill 442 was initially written to establish a state-managed groundfish fishery in an effort to avoid federal fishing restrictions on red snapper and other fish. The legislation was quickly approved by the state's house of representatives, but when the state senate took up the bill, it added an amendment banning inshore shrimp trawling, only allowing the practice to continue in waters 1.5 miles off the coast. The surprise change to the bill was championed by local conservation groups, which claimed inshore trawling devastates seafloor habitats and kills juvenile fish.
“This wasteful practice is destroying our coastal ecosystems and threatening the livelihoods of anglers and the tourism industry related to recreational fishing,” the North Carolina Wildlife Federation said in a social media post. “NC House Bill 442 would prohibit large-scale, inshore bottom trawling in our sounds and estuaries. All other states on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts have protected their fisheries from this destructive practice. We can't let this destruction continue in North Carolina.”
The legislation cleared the state senate easily; however, it prompted outrage from local fishers and officials representing coastal communities.
“To eliminate trawling in the inner banks will effectively destroy the whole system; the industry will be gone,” North Carolina Representative Ed Goodwin said in a press conference. “We’ll put thousands of hardworking North Carolinians out of work if we allow this to happen. We're talking about generations of shrimpers who have done this their whole life. This is all they've done, and we have no right to take that away from them.”
In the same press conference, North Carolina Representative Pricey Harrison pushed back on conservationists’ criticism that North Carolina is the only state that allows inshore trawling, claiming that Virginia and Georgia have reinstated the practice. She also pointed out that regulators have already closed off the most sensitive areas to commercial fishing.
“It's actually wrong to compare us to other coastal states because we've got more estuarine acreage than any other state in the United States,” Harrison said.
While the state senate also passed legislation that would provide financial compensation to shrimpers whose business would be impacted by the ban, it did little to alleviate the mounting frustration, leading to protests at the state house.
On 25 June, House lawmakers announced the bill was dead on arrival and would not be picked up for a hearing in the current legislative session. North Carolina shrimpers and seafood providers celebrated House lawmakers’ decision.
“The House will not be hearing HB442, effectively killing the bill!!! We can’t thank you enough for all of your support over the last week and for helping save NC shrimp for all North Carolinians,” NC Catch, a local nonprofit working with commercial fishers, consumers, seafood dealers, and scientists, said on social media after the announcement. “We are not out of the woods yet. Technically, the bill could be picked back up, but that is unlikely during this session.”
