Shrimpers’ outrage over HB 422 reached a boiling point this week at the North Carolina General Assembly and resulted in House Republicans killing the bill during a closed-door caucus.

On June 24, shrimpers descended upon lawmakers in Raleigh at the General Assembly to protest HB 442, which was amended during a Senate Agriculture Committee meeting last week. Sen. Dave Craven, R-Randolph, introduced the amendment to ban shrimp trawling within a half-mile radius of the North Carolina shoreline. 

Supporters of the bill argue that it will not shut down the industry but only move shrimping outside the half-mile radius of the shoreline. They also assert that the legislation aligns North Carolina with other Southeastern states, including Virginia and South Carolina. 

Craven said an estimated 4 pounds of “bycatch,” meaning species that were inadvertently brought in, were caught per pound of shrimp.

“Which is a lot of other species of fish that are getting caught in the net, potentially dying,” said Craven. “This has been an issue for quite some time, and I think it’s time this body addressed it.”

Lawmakers, industry leaders, and experts opposing the bill have disputed these numbers, stating that the 4/1 ratio is inaccurate. Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guildford, said that the individual who made that statement had since indicated that it was made under pressure. 

During a press conference earlier this week, Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, indicated that he intended to kill this bill and “drive a stake through its heart.” He explained that sometimes bills come back to life, describing it as the Freddy Krueger effect. Following the caucus on June 25, Kidwell told independent political reporter Bryan Anderson that the bill was dead and that he had driven a stake through its heart as promised. 

While this bill has been killed in the Republican caucus, it could still be resurrected.  

Sen. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, is one of the only members of the Senate to vocally oppose this amendment. During a press conference earlier this week, Hanig stated that he was “ashamed to be a member of the North Carolina General Assembly.” 

“When people come to realize that something egregious like this is happening, and they come up and have their voices heard and the General Assembly does the right thing…this is the way our democracy was set up and is supposed to work,” said Hanig.

No Shrimp Trawl Ban Sign Photo by Jacob Emmons for Carolina Journal

What started as a noncontroversial bill to expand the fishing season for flounder and red snapper in North Carolina erupted into controversy, sparking an uprising from the shrimping industry in North Carolina. Not only that but the original bill was stripped of it’s primary sponsors because they no longer supported the bill with the trawling amendment. 

HB 442 has been withdrawn from the House calendar and sent to the Rules Committee, where many bills reach a dead end.