June 20, 2025
On June 18 the North Carolina General Assembly’s Senate voted on an amended House Bill 442 that would ban shrimp trawling in all the state’s sounds, estuaries, and rivers, and within half a mile of the state’s coast.
“Now it has to go back to the House,” says Ryan Speckman, owner of Locals Seafood in Raleigh, N.C.. “If it passes, it will eliminate 70 percent of North Carolina’s shrimp harvest.”
“Speckman contends that the North Carolina shrimp fishery is one of the most regulated in the country and has gone farther than any other in reducing bycatch. “And it provides the highest quality shrimp for the people of North Carolina,” he says.
“But if this passes, it will take shrimp off the plates of local consumers and force them to rely on imported farmed shrimp that’s full of antibiotics and is just not healthy.”
According to Speckman, commercial fishermen initially supported Bill 442 because it increased the harvest of southern flounder and red snapper. “But then in the 11th hour they threw in this amendment. It’s the CCA,” he says. “They want to get rid of commercial fishing.”
Speckman believes the CCA (Coastal Conservation Association) – which is currently suing the state, alleging it has failed in its legal duties to properly manage coastal fisheries resources – is behind the amendment. “I’ve been in this business for 15 years, and all that time the CCA has been looking for every angle to choke us out. But this is the biggest bomb yet. After crabbing, shrimp is the second most important fishery in North Carolina, taking 70 percent of that is going to destroy families and communities.”
According to a story by North Carolina radio station WRAL, “Opponents said that a study commissioned by the General Assembly on the impacts of shrimp trawling is due this year, and that this legislation is trying to preempt those findings.” State Sen. Bobby Hanig asked that any legislation wait until that report comes out and the CCA lawsuit is resolved. “It’s disgraceful,” he told WRAL. “This is nothing short of special interests and backroom deals.”
Barbara Garrity-Blake, president of NC Catch, an organization promoting North Carolina seafood, wrote in a letter to the Senate that: “A ban on estuarine shrimp trawling disadvantages the very fishermen who feed consumers with minimal carbon footprint, traveling the shortest distance and burning the least amount of fuel to get product to the dock.”
In her letter, Garrity-Blake points out that consumers have become more concerned about where their seafood comes from. “According to a 2021 Sea Grant-led economic impact analysis, 83 percent of respondents named shrimp as their favorite seafood. 98 percent preferred local over imported shrimp; 94 percent said that buying local helps support coastal livelihoods; 70 percent believed that it was good for the environment to purchase seafood from NC fishermen,” she wrote.
Blake adds that the amendment has divided what was bipartisan support for the bill and she urges support for the unamended House version. “On the positive side, one legislator said there was no chance the Senate version will pass when it goes back to the House,” says Blake. “But at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised by anything.”
