Despite public outcry against the move, the Senate has voted in favor of the shrimp trawling ban in inshore waters and within a half-mile of the shoreline that was tacked onto a bill earlier this week to open up recreational harvest for flounder and red snapper.
The Senate also is pushing through committee a bill introduced this week detailing a program to compensate commercial fishing operations that sold shrimp caught by trawling.
Supporter Spotlight
When House Bill 442 was introduced in March, the proposed law only addressed recreational seasons for the two species, which has been abbreviated or not opened at all in recent years.
The flounder harvest closure is intended to help restore the species, which is overfished and overfishing is occurring, according to the Division of Marine Fisheries. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Gulf and South Atlantic fishery management councils manage red snapper in the United States. North Carolina defers to NOAA Fisheries on this species.
The amendment to “prohibit the use of trawl nets to take shrimp in coastal fishing waters or the Atlantic Ocean within one-half mile of shoreline” was added Tuesday during the Senate Agriculture, Energy, and Environment Committee and was moved forward by those members as well as the Senate’s rules and operations committee that afternoon.
The Senate passed the second reading Wednesday and the third in a 39-2 vote Thursday. The bill is to go back before the House because of the amendment.
Rep. Edward Goodwin, R-Chowan, is a primary sponsor of the bill and strongly objects to the trawling ban.
Supporter Spotlight
“This will not pass the House. We had a great bill (HB 442) which only sought to re-open the Southern Flounder and Red Snapper season that was shut down by NCDMF proclamation. The problem came when Senator Bill Rabon, Senate Rules Chairman, added this anti-trawling amendment at the 11th hour,” Goodwin wrote Wednesday in a social media post.
He wrote a letter to the speaker where he states that “The Senate amendment will effectively eliminate the Shrimping industry in North Carolina.” Adding, “I have spent the last two days listening to many of my constituents whose families have been shrimping the inner coast of NC for generations. I am not willing to stand by and let this short-sited and ill-conceived idea ruin the lives of so many hard-working North Carolinians.”
The North Carolina Wildlife Federation supports the bill and commends the Senate for moving it forward.
“The North Carolina Senate has taken a bold and necessary step to protect our state’s precious public trust resources on the coast,” CEO Tim Gestwicki said in a statement. “We thank them for demonstrating their commitment to preserving North Carolina’s marine habitats for current and future generations and urge their colleagues in the House to follow suit.”
Also on Thursday, House Bill 441, previously “Loggerhead Turtle/State Saltwater Reptile” was completely rewritten, and is now short-titled, “Shrimp Trawling Transition Program/Fees.” The shrimp trawl transition program would provide temporary transition payments for those with a commercial fishing license that sold shrimp between Jan. 1, 2023, and June 30, 2025.
