Lawmakers decided yesterday [Wednesday] -not- to pass a ban on shrimp trawling in North Carolina's inshore waters.
Commercial fishermen greeted House Republicans with cheers as they emerged from caucus. Lawmakers had just decided not to take up a shrimp trawling ban being pushed by the Senate.
Representative Keith Kidwell was thrilled. His district includes most of the Pamlico Sound.
“There's families that have been generationally in this business and the Senate thought it was a great idea to flip a switch and shut that off. The House of Representatives did what we were sent here to do, and that's to represent the people. The vote was very strong, to kill that bill," he said.
Last week, senators inserted the trawling ban into a different piece of fishing legislation. It was originally written to expand recreational fishing seasons for southern flounder and red snapper. Because biologists believe both species are overfished, the seasons have gotten shorter and shorter. Lawmakers wanted to intervene.
Senators passed the rewritten bill quickly with bipartisan support. They said a trawling ban will benefit the state's -other- fisheries, like flounder. That's because shrimp nets also trap fish, lots of them.
Bycatch was once estimated to kill 4 pounds of fish for every pound of shrimp. Although -- trawlers dispute those numbers, and [said] they say new gear results in less bycatch.
Earlier in the week, Senate Leader Phil Berger noted no other Atlantic states allow trawling in their sounds and estuaries.
He said, “It's a policy issue that probably has been delayed for a long period of time. Should have been done a while back. North Carolina's the only state on the East Coast.”
Karen Willis Amspacher is from Harkers Island. She and hundreds of others have been lobbying lawmakers to drop the trawling ban.
“This is not just the shrimpers and their wives. This is a whole community," she said. "Because without shrimp, the fish houses cannot operate. Shrimp is the largest commodity they have."
The state has fewer than 300 shrimpers remaining, and Amspacher said they'll keep fighting.
“It's one of the proudest moments ever for down east," she said." I've been here before on battles. What was new about this year is it was young people. It was families. We've had babies here in strollers for the past two days. This is not a dying industry.”
At the end of this week, lawmakers plan to recess for most of the summer.