First of two parts

SURF CITY – Capt. Ray Brittain wasn’t kidding.

The white PVC pipes he described at a public meeting last April as jutting from waters that hug stretches of banks and fill pockets of bays in the sounds behind Topsail Island are easily in the hundreds, if not thousands.

The pipes signal the locations of shellfish leases in Stump and Topsail sounds, the waters of which have become a hot commodity for shellfish growers shut out from farming in coastal counties north and south of Topsail Island because of temporary and permanent leasing moratoriums.

“We’re not over here hatin’ on anybody,” Brittain said one morning in late May as he stood on the bow of his sleek 22-footer equipped with rods, reels, tackle and other amenities advertised on his fishing guide website. “We don’t own the water. We’re out here sharing it with everyone else.”

Brittain, who owns Spring Tide Guide Service, has been fishing the waters around Topsail Island and the New River for more than 35 years. He’s witnessed firsthand the changes to the barrier island and adjacent mainland areas during that time, where development has exploded on the land and off.

It’s the latter he invited to show North Carolina Coastal Federation Coastal Management Program Director Kerri Allen during a listening session the nonprofit and North Carolina Sea Grant hosted in Surf City on April 14. The meeting was opened to Topsail Island officials, residents, and business owners like Brittain to discuss their experiences with shellfish leases, which have in recent years become contentious as more and more have been permitted.

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, will host an informal presentation and listening session for shellfish growers in September.

Allen; Lela Schlenker, the Coastal Federation’s newest coastal advocate; Capt. Mike Oppegaard, owner of Native Son Guide Service out of Hampstead; and this reporter joined Brittain on a warm, sunny mid-weekday morning on his boat for a tour through the sounds.

Our first stop of the tour was at a large bay punctuated by fields of white PVC pipes marking water column shellfish leases where lines of floating cages poke from the water’s surface.

Brittain didn’t hold back his feelings about the pipes, saying he is “sick of explaining” to curious customers why they’re there. Even so, he complimented the grower of the shellfish lease we visited first.

“He actually runs a good operation,” Brittain said. “Nobody’s arguing that. We’re just overrun here.”

Today, nearly 190 shellfish leases are in the waters behind the 26-mile-long barrier island from the New River and its adjacent estuarine waters south to Topsail Sound. The number of water column leases and bottom shellfish leases in Onslow and Pender counties has increased by roughly 46% since 2018.

The rapid expansion of leases, particularly water column leases where gear must float more than 18 inches above the waterbed, has led in recent years to complaints about impacts to the viewsheds of waterfront properties, boating and kayaking access, and infringement on popular fishing spots.

Those mounting complaints from community members and local government officials who serve them have prompted calls for a temporary pause on new shellfish lease permits in waters behind the island.

State Rep. Ted Davis, R-New Hanover, in late April introduced legislation to extend that county’s 2019-imposed shellfish leasing moratorium by another five years through to July 1, 2031. A little more than two weeks after Davis put House Bill 1113 forward, a section was added to the proposed law to temporarily prohibit new shellfish leases “in certain areas” of Pender and Onslow counties.

And, more recently, the Atlantic Beach Town Council adopted a resolution urging the North Carolina General Assembly to extend Bogue Sound’s moratorium on new shellfish leases. That 2019 moratorium is set to expire July 1.

Allen told those who attended the April forum that a pause would give the Coastal Federation and Sea Grant more time to consult with residents, recreational waterway users, and shellfish growers. Their feedback would help shape future policies to protect the industry, secure its long-term sustainability, and resolve user conflicts, she said.

The Coastal Federation and Sea Grant plan are in the process of creating a Geographic Information System, or GIS, database pinpointing areas where leases may or may not be suitable in the waterways behind Topsail Island. That database is anticipated to be published next year.

Like most who’ve vocalized their concerns about the number of shellfish leases that have been permitted in the waters behind the island, Brittain and Oppegaard say they support the shellfish industry.

“Nobody thought through the issues we’re having now,” Oppegaard said. “We’re saturated. The number one issue is density.”

The large schools of drum that used to swim into the bay where Brittain first stopped once easily accommodated a handful of fishing boats at one time, he said.

“You’ll catch a fish here and there, but you don’t see big schools anymore,” he said. “You can’t pressure them so much or they’re going to leave.”

Oppegaard piped in, “I just quit coming in here.”

The men raised numerous questions regarding shellfish leases, including how aquaculture noise and cages impact fish movement, whether the volume of PVC pipes some growers use is necessary, why growers are not required to carry insurance, and whether farming operations can be moved farther away from shorelines.

“You really want the bank,” for fishing, Brittain said as he coasted along the landward side of Permuda Island Reserve, a narrow, roughly 1.5-mile-long undeveloped island in Stump Sound in Onslow County.

“If you look, it’s all leased up,” he said, pointing to rows of floating shellfish cages near portions of the island’s shoreline. “Every point and pocket has stuff on it now. We’re all pushed into tighter places where there’s actually fish. If we can just get some perimeters in place. We’re just overrun here.”

Next in the series: Leaseholders say they’re boxed in.