After galvanizing an industry, sparking death threats for state lawmakers and creating a divide between the House and Senate, a bill prohibiting shrimp trawling in North Carolina’s sounds was the topic of the day on Tuesday when hundreds of shrimpers flooded the Legislative Building to oppose what they called “Shrimpgate.”

House Bill 442 originally sought to expand the commercial and recreational fishing season for flounder and red snapper, which was widely praised. But an amendment was tacked on before a June 17 committee to prohibit shrimp trawling within a half mile of North Carolina’s coast. The amendment faced limited opposition in the Senate, which adopted the revised bill.

For shrimpers and lawmakers representing coastal towns, the bill’s original intentions of expanding access to fishing was rendered obsolete.

Shrimpers and their supporters spoke to lawmakers Tuesday and protested on the streets outside.

Shrimpers unite

David Lewis, 70, drove three hours from Marshallberg, an unincorporated town on Carteret County’s coast, with his wife and 19-year-old son to advocate for the generations of shrimpers he said their coastal town is built on. While not a commercial shrimper himself, the trade is a part of his heritage, he said.

His family took up shrimping after it moved from Maryland to North Carolina in the 1800s. His wife, Karin Patrick, said her father was a commercial shrimper, which was how he paid the bills and put food on the table. Regulation has turned a once-thriving backbone of coastal life into a dying industry, they said.

Fewer than 300 shrimpers remain in North Carolina, down from around 1,000 in the 1990s.

“There’s no time to quit now,” Lewis said.

Customers will take hours-long trips to towns like Marshallberg for fresh shrimp caught in-state, Lewis said.

“We take pride in that. We take pride in our heritage — that we come from a long line of shrimpers. People don’t realize how hard shrimping is,” Lewis said.

Why the bill was proposed

The proposed bill is now in the House’s hands, after four Republican senators voted against it during a Senate session last week.

The House is not expected to take up the bill before lawmakers leave Raleigh for what could be an extended break. But it could resurface later.

Senators attributed their broad support for the bill to environmental consciousness, citing concerns that trawling in North Carolina sounds ushers in more by-catch — or unwanted fish picked up in the process of commercial fishing — and damages the waterways.

Groups like the Coastal Conservation Association, a nonprofit made up of recreational fishermen, have cited concerns of a general trend of over-harvesting in estuaries and coastal waterways. The N.C. Wildlife Federation has also blasted commercial fishers for using trawling nets with rough, heavy chains that drag along to seafloor, causing damage and uprooting marine life.

Lewis’ son, Paul, said most trawling nets barely touch the sea floor and some don’t at all. And, he added, trawling nets nowadays are designed with openings for by-catch-prone fish to escape and are just strong enough to collect shrimp. He’s concerned lawmakers are using outdated or unreliable data to justify the bill.

Lee Lawrence, one of Lewis’ neighbors, said shrimpers strive to avoid by-catch at all costs. By-catch adds weight to the nets and can cause damage, he added.

Lawrence said he has sent about 680 emails to legislators since last week urging them to kill the bill.

His daughter, Caroline Lawrence, 28, has been active on social media, raising awareness among a tight-knit community of shrimpers and sharing her research on the sustainable advancements North Carolina’s shrimping industry has made.

The state brings in $15 million annually from local fisheries. Commercial fishing is the seventh-most regulated industry in the United States, according to North Carolina Fisheries Association, an organization of commercial fishermen. The state also allows “proclamation authority,” which allows public notices to enact changes and restrictions to commercial fishing practices within a 48-hour notice.

“We are one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world already,” Caroline Lawrence said. “We can already celebrate that we’ve already made it to that point. So for people to say we’re not sustainable doesn’t make any sense.”

Other issues impacting coastal sustainability, like pollution and urban development, should be further researched, she added, rather than delivering what she said feels like an unjustified punishment to an industry that relies on a healthy environment.

Two chambers divided

During a 10 a.m. press conference, shrimpers, researchers and legislators spoke against the bill.

Sen. Bobby Hanig, a Powells Point Republican and the Senate’s biggest voice of resistance against the bill, was met with cheers from the shrimpers as he moved through the crowd into the conference room.

Hanig told the Senate during its Monday night session that a newly proposed bill did not do enough to combat the likely effects of a trawling ban. House Bill 441 would pay shrimpers impacted by the trawling ban through Oct. 1, 2028.

Republican Sen. Brent Jackson of Autryville said it would enable shrimpers to purchase advanced equipment that can withstand offshore waters or provide some financial stability “to quit and do something else” for a career.

The Senate approved the bill with opposition from Hanig and Republican Sen. Norman Sanderson, who also represents coastal areas.

At Tuesday’s press conference, Republican Rep. Keith Kidwell of Chocowinity balked at the notion that the payments would make up for the ban.

“These people don’t want to live on welfare from the government,” he said to applause.

The General Assembly commissioned the North Carolina Collaboratory in 2022 to complete a report on the environmental impacts of coastal shrimp trawling. Hanig said it is expected to be released June 30 and that “the truth is going to come out.”

“Last week, I was ashamed to be a member of the North Carolina General Assembly,” Hanig said.

The issue has scrambled the usual party lines. Almost all Republicans and all Democrats voted for it in the Senate. In the House, two lawmakers on the left and right of their parties — Democratic Rep. Pricey Harrison and Kidwell — have rallied behind the shrimpers.

“(The bill]) has to be wrong,” Kidwell said of the unlikely alliance between himself and Harrison. “That takes a miracle, right there.”

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