As if it already wasn’t hot enough in the Tar Heel State in late June, a small crustacean that’s long been a popular food staple at the N.C. coast has succeeded in sending temperatures surging at the N.C. General Assembly in Raleigh.
But this has nothing to do with a polite squabble over the best way to cook shrimp. This, shrimpers and their supporters say, is about protecting their livelihoods.
About 70% of the state’s shrimp catch is caught in waters that would have been declared off limits under House Bill 442, according to NC Catch, an advocacy group for the state’s commercial fishing industry. According to statistics from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, more than 9 million pounds of shrimp annually were caught by commercial shrimpers in the four years pre-Covid, worth upward of $20 million a year.
But supporters of the ban also say the proposed bill is about survival, in this case protecting the future of the state’s fisheries, many of which are overfished and struggling.
State Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, has said continuing to allow trawling in inland waters is detrimental to the state’s fish populations that use the shallow near-shore waters as spawning and nursery areas and, in the long run, damaging to the state’s commercial fishing industry, noting that North Carolina is the only state along the East or Gulf coasts that allows the practice.
While the N.C. House has decided not to move forward with the legislation that would ban shrimp trawling in the state’s inland and coastal waters, the bill previously easily passed the N.C. Senate. Legislation also is never truly dead and can be revived at anytime, something that has often happened in the past in Raleigh and could be a possibility with the two chambers still at loggerheads over the state budget.
The two views of inshore trawling
The crux of the dispute surrounds the use of nets in the state’s inland waters, like the Albermarle and Pamlico sounds up north and the Intracoastal Waterway in the southern part of the state. The bill also would have banned trawling within a half-mile of the N.C. coast.
Some environmentalists have claimed the inland trawling indiscriminately wrecks important marine habitats, including oyster reefs and seagrass beds, for spawning and juvenile fish, thereby hurting the state’s overall recreational and commercial fishing industries. They also note that up to 4 pounds of bycatch − a catch-all word for fish shrimpers don’t want − are indiscriminately caught in the trawl nets for every 1 pound of shrimp. Juvenile fish caught in the shrimp nets can include flounder, spot, croaker and even blue crabs.
“This is an emotional issue for many,” said Tim Gestwicki, head of the N.C. Wildlife Federation in a release. “But the facts are clear. Large-scale, inshore bottom shrimp trawling kills hundreds of millions of juvenile fish and destroys vital seafloor habitats each year.”
The state’s recreational fishery also is big business, dwarfing N.C.’s commercial fishing sector. According to a report by the American Sportfishing Association released in May 2022, the state’s recreational fishing industry supports 455,000 jobs and generates $152 in economic impact for every pound of fish landed.
The ban was approved by the Senate in a 41-4 vote. The chamber also passed a bill that would offer impacted shrimpers financial compensation for any losses associated with the water closures.
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Shrimpers strike back
But shrimpers say banning trawling in inland waters could put many fishermen out of business, since their boats aren’t built to trawl in the open ocean. That loss of business could have a knock-off effect on local seafood processors and fish houses, which would then impact other commercial fisheries.
They also note that nearly 1 million acres of the most environmentally sensitive areas in the state’s big sounds are already protected from trawling, and that N.C. shrimpers are among the leaders in the country in looking at ways to reduce bycatch.
According to NC Catch, fewer than 300 shrimp boats worked in N.C. waters in 2023, and the industry struggling from a wave of cheaper imported shrimp and increased regulations has seen boat trips drop 85% since 1995. The state’s shrimpers are mostly small family operations where the fishermen have lived in their communities for an average of 35 years, fished commercially for 25 years, and are keen to carry on a centuries-old profession that is vital to the welfare of their small hamlets.
“Fishers see themselves as carrying on a proud heritage and employing a body of knowledge that is unique and useful in conservation efforts,” stated a fact sheet sent to all legislators by NC Catch. “A ban on trawls would create a significant barrier to the next generation of fishermen seeking work and apprentice opportunities, choking off an already limited labor supply.”
Shrimpers and their supporters also are angry over how the trawling ban was suddenly added by the Senate to a bill that was supposed to focus on reestablishing a recreational harvest season for flounder and red snapper, something that has broad support in the General Assembly after state regulators severely limited the recreational seasons for both fisheries in recent years due to concerns over dwindling stock numbers.
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North Carolina shrimpers say a proposed ban on inshore trawling, paused at least for now by legislators, would have been lights out for many fishermen, whose boats aren’t built to fish in the open ocean.
Strange political bedfellows
Opponents of the bill soon cast a wide net, mobilizing commercial fishermen and their supporters to flood legislators with calls and holding a rally in Raleigh attended by hundreds opposed to the ban.
The proposal also scrambled the usual political lines, with most coastal legislators from both parties lining up against it despite strong support from much of the Republican leadership. In the Wilmington area, that found Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, one of the most powerful legislators in Raleigh, on one side favoring the ban and GOP House members Ted Davis Jr., R-New Hanover, Carson Smith, R-Pender, and Frank Iler, R-Brunswick, among others, in opposition.
The proposed inland trawling ban also saw the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which opposed the ban due to its potential economic impacts and lack of sound science to back it up, squaring off against the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, which saw it as a logical move to protect and conserve the state’s struggling fish stocks.
Even the environmental community saw some splits on the issue, with some conversation groups favoring the trawling ban while traditional backers of environmental issues said there were bigger factors, like climate change and declining water quality, that need to be addressed if you really want to help the state’s stressed fisheries.
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What happens now?
With emotions raw in Raleigh, and the issue having spawned death threats against lawmakers in favor of the ban, it’s likely the issue of inshore trawling could be allowed to sink away for a few months − at least until the short session next year.
But other events outside of legislators’ control could bring it back to the forefront.
A study commissioned by the General Assembly several years ago on the impacts of shrimp trawling is due this summer, and the findings by the North Carolina Collaboratory at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill could prompt another look at the impacts of inshore trawling.
A lawsuit filed by the Coastal Conservation Association N.C. alleging that the state has mismanaged its fisheries, including not doing enough to mitigate impacts in inland waters, also is still working its way through the courts.
Reporter Gareth McGrath can be reached at GMcGrath@Gannett.com or @GarethMcGrathSN on X/Twitter. This story was produced with financial support from the Green South Foundation and the Prentice Foundation. The USA TODAY Network maintains full editorial control of the work.
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: A proposed trawling ban left NC shrimpers boiling. Now what happens?
