On Tuesday, my husband and I and some friends attended a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, to support our local shrimp fishermen. The purpose of the rally was to ask the legislature not to pass House Resolution 442. We visited a number of legislators and asked them to kill the bill. I am not in any way directly involved with the fishing industry, but while living in Massachusetts, I watched government regulations drive generations of Portuguese fishermen out of business along the southern coast of Massachusetts. I don’t want to see that happen to the shrimp fishermen in North Carolina.
On Tuesday, Yahoo News reported:
North Carolina fishermen abandoned their boats on Tuesday to walk the halls of the General Assembly and voice strong opposition to legislation that would ban inland shrimp trawling. House Bill 442, passed by the Senate last week, would prohibit trawlers from using their nets for shrimping in all inshore waters and within a half mile of the coast.
The original bill passed by the House in May dealt with strengthening the state’s flounder and red snapper stocks by regulating the harvest season and the number of fish that could be taken. The measure, however, was rewritten to address the shrimp trawling issue and quickly approved by the Senate last week.
The article includes some of the comments made by the legislators:
Rep. Phil Shepard (R-Onslow) said the legislation was not just bad for commercial fishermen, but consumers who prize fresh seafood.
“I was born Down East, and I know the difference in a local shrimp and one that comes from Thailand or China.”
Rep. Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford) — one of the legislature’s leading voices for environmental protection — also joined the chorus of voices opposing the trawling ban.
Senator Bobby Hanig, who represents ten coastal counties, has been fighting the ban in the upper chamber. Hanig called the Senate maneuver to pass the revised version of HB 442 “sleazy politics at its worst.”
Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort) said the bill would “flip the switch” on the economy in eastern North Carolina, harming not just the commercial fishermen, but all the supporting businesses.
“Are we going to shut down the people who live every day making an honest living because some branch of the government finally decides some slimy backroom deals that they don’t want to do this anymore?”
Kidwell said the bill would not advance in the state House on his watch.
“We’re going to spike this bill. And we’re going to drive a stake through its heart so it’s dead — because as you’ve noticed many times in this building, bills are like Freddy Krueger. Once you think they’re dead, they come back to life. This one’s going to die. It will be a swift, painful death.”
Kidwell also predicted House Bill 441 that would offer temporary “transition payments” to commercial fishermen impacted by the proposed trawling ban, would also fail as primary sponsors of the original bill have asked that their names be removed from the legislation.
The article concludes:
The commercial shrimping industry in North Carolina is valued at more than $14 million per year.
