Bill banning shrimp trawling along NC coast passes Senate

RALEIGH — A bill that would ban shrimp trawling along North Carolina’s coast passed the Senate Thursday with bipartisan support. Meanwhile lawmakers have also introduced a provision to help ease the economic impact on the fishing industry.

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An amendment added this week to House Bill 442 bans shrimp trawling within a half mile of the shore, essentially making the sounds between the Outer Banks and coast off limits for trawling.

Supporters say this will help protect fish and wildlife and is in line with protections in neighboring states.

Shrimp trawling, or dragging nets to catch shrimp, results in a large portion of bycatch, or fish caught alongside the shrimp. Some estimates say bycatch makes up 4lbs of every catch for every 1lb of shrimp.

According to Tim Gestwicki, the CEO of the North Carolina Wildlife Foundation, when the trawling takes place near the shore, this has a massive impact on fish nurseries and juvenile fish species.

“What we’ve seen is the harm to commercial fishing and our coastal communities and that there aren’t other fish stocks that have traditionally been harvested by commercial fishermen,” he said. “These are the fish that are being killed unnecessarily as bycatch.”

Opponents say it will decimate local seafood production and the state’s commercial fishing industry. Glenn Skinner, the executive director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, explained the industry has been working diligently to reduce bycatch and this amendment punishes the hardworking people in North Carolina’s poorest counties.

“We have the most effective bycatch requirements, reduction requirements of any state in the U.S.,” he said. “They’re taking what we’ve done here in our studies and going to the Gulf and trying to apply it there and reduce bycatch in those states.”

HB 442 passed the Senate with bipartisan support and goes to the House for further review.

Lawmakers also introduced a provision in HB 441 to allow for three years of annual payments to help shrimpers adjust to the new rules. The payments would end in October 2028.

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