HB 442

Most common sense approach to all fisheries management in NC. It's enlightening to see someone had the courage to finally stick it out there.

Called and emailed all my legislative delegation. Even forwarded Brewski's link . May not help but it can't hurt.
 
Great news for 1.3 million salt water license holders. I'm glad they are addressing the root cause of the problem vs. giving us a few weeks of flounder until they are extinct.

All of y'all cheering "it passed!", it's not law yet. They attached a fiscal note due to the incarnation language, meaning, jailing someone has an impact on the budget. So it has to go to at least the Appropriations Committee, and I'm guessing maybe one of the Justice committees, any of which can leave it there to die, remove or change anything or even rewrite it completely.

If it makes it past all that, then Sen. Berger can call for a floor vote or just never vote on it. If it gets a Senate floor vote and survives, because the Senate changed the House version, it goes to a conference committee. There, a few legislators from each chamber go into a little room, privately, and work out something they can all live with (again, adding, removing, or rewriting anything). The product of that goes back to the floor of each chamber for a concurrence vote. On a concurrence vote, they don't allow any discussion nor amendments, just a straight up or down vote, since all the speeches were given at the floor vote. If it survives all that, then it goes to Gov. Stein to sign or veto. And all this has to happen before they go home in July or August.

So before you get out your party hats, understand that we're a long way from this becoming law.
 
Chicken209 said:
Passed senate.
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They vote again in the morning but I don’t see it not getting passed with a 41-4 vote. Then it goes to house and see how long they sit on it. Anymore changes to the bill and I believe it starts all over again. If it passes house it’s then up to the governor to sign. It’s not over but there’s some hope
 
Read the entire post made by @UpATree, post #94 above. That is a good explanation of path the bill has to follow now to become law or be changed completely. Who knows what will happen in the conference since the house version is so different from the senate version.
 
I’m on the fence on this one. On one hand this will absolutely decimate mainland Hyde County and many small waterfront communities up and down the coast. I enjoy getting fresh shrimp literally straight off the boat when I go to my place in Engelhard (plus those guys are a pretty good source for a scouting report for ducks😜). On the other hand the issues in our sounds need to be addressed.

The elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about is all the :donk:donk:donk:donk that flows into our sounds from upstream. Basically every creek and river from east of Winston Salem ends up in one of our sounds. Fertilizer, pesticides, coal ash, and a lot of other crap ends in our sounds. I wish our politicians would look at the big picture instead of just what CCA money tells them to.
 
When they end trawling then they will move to stop gill nets, then to oyster dredging, then to crab pots. And many will still complain they can't catch fish.
Maybe some day they will look up stream where the real problem lies.
I like 36/40 shrimp from the sound much more than the 16/20 from the ocean.
 
wral says it's because of our depleted fisheries.
wonder why the bill sponsor is from randolph county? he the only one without a house in jeopardy from com's wrath?
 
I am someone who truly believes that trawling within our inshore waters needs to be seriously reformed. But I disagree with how this is being done and the speed at which it is being done. I’ve always supported small time shrimp trawling, with reforms no doubt, even inshore during certain parts of the year. I think it is wrong for the legislature to do this so quickly and leave people’s livelihoods in doubt. I may be missing something but this doesn’t sit well with me and seems like a Trojan horse. Why couldn’t this be put in a standalone bill to have stakeholders truly come to the table?
 
QuietButDeadly said:
Read the entire post made by @UpATree, post #94 above. That is a good explanation of path the bill has to follow now to become law or be changed completely. Who knows what will happen in the conference since the house version is so different from the senate version.
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Thanks for the mention. I did get one thing wrong. It didn’t go through the Appropriations or either of the Justice committees. I have volunteered for some gun rights organizations within the state and that’s the path gun legislation takes. I don’t know why it zipped through Rules (that’s like a traffic cop that every bill has to go through, I can’t explain it) and Rules didn’t send it to Appropriations or J1 or J2. Maybe someone is paying for the express lane.

It’s also puzzling to me that they are giving this any attention in June. Seems like much of the time, they are focused on the budget that expires June 30. I know our gun bills usually just sit there until the budget passes, then it’s like a giant enema of bills that have been stuck suddenly getting flushed through the system so they can go home.
 
The more I think about this, the more torn I am. In my opinion, if the fishery is in poor enough condition that it needs to be closed to rec (or commercial guys) then it needs to be closed for everyone. If you have a hole in your boat that is causing it to sink, it doesn't make sense to plug only half of it.

That said, it seems like the current climate is to pit the recs vs comms at every turn. And really, it's recs vs cca recs vs comms. Everyone is much more aligned than it may appear. Fishermen need to avoid the liberal mindset that if you don't 100% agree with me, then you are my enemy. There has to be a way to work together to find a solution that isn't overly restrictive.
 
Yeah, that's the ticket. Shut down an entire industry that for generations has put quality seafood on the table for millions of Americans because some guy who backs his shiny new boat into the water once or twice a month at 9 in the morning can't catch a limit and be back for the lunch buffet before it gets hot. Congratulations. You just crippled the economy of every small fishing village and tourist destination in Eastern NC because you suck at fishing....
 
Look at the data. Depleted Fin fish stocks along with nursery area degradation can no longer be ignored. Are there alternatives to a complete moratorium on trawling?
 
Longrifle said:
Yeah, that's the ticket. Shut down an entire industry that for generations has put quality seafood on the table for millions of Americans because some guy who backs his shiny new boat into the water once or twice a month at 9 in the morning can't catch a limit and be back for the lunch buffet before it gets hot. Congratulations. You just crippled the economy of every small fishing village and tourist destination in Eastern NC because you suck at fishing....
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The shrimp trawls are also taking fish from the gill netters, a lot of fish.
 
cheapdate said:
The shrimp trawls are also taking fish from the gill netters, a lot of fish.
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Not disputing you and I'm not calling you out but I would like to know where you're getting your numbers. I grew up gill netting and maybe times have changed but I don't know anyone who still does it who would set nets anywhere near trawling grounds, it's usually confined to much shallower waters.....
 
Longrifle said:
Yeah, that's the ticket. Shut down an entire industry that for generations has put quality seafood on the table for millions of Americans because some guy who backs his shiny new boat into the water once or twice a month at 9 in the morning can't catch a limit and be back for the lunch buffet before it gets hot. Congratulations. You just crippled the economy of every small fishing village and tourist destination in Eastern NC because you suck at fishing....
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You ever been to Murrells Inlet or McClellanville SC? Seen how many shrimp boats run out of there? The good folks in SC seem to be able to have local shrimp and plenty of flounder for both the commercial and the recreationals. Without inshore trawling tearing up the estuaries.
 
Longrifle said:
Yeah, that's the ticket. Shut down an entire industry that for generations has put quality seafood on the table for millions of Americans because some guy who backs his shiny new boat into the water once or twice a month at 9 in the morning can't catch a limit and be back for the lunch buffet before it gets hot. Congratulations. You just crippled the economy of every small fishing village and tourist destination in Eastern NC because you suck at fishing....
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A perfect example of why it is so easy to make it a rec vs commercial thing. All or nothing is almost never the best option.

The argument that "you crippled the economy because you suck at fishing" is comical. That is like a rec saying "you crippled the fishery because you have no skills but dragging a net." Doesn't make much sense to me.
 
4lbs dead juvenile finfish to 1lb of shrimp. Largest take of gray trout, spot and croaker are inshore trawls that get shoveled back dead. It’s why you don’t have spot runs in the fall like use to happen. They can catch plenty of shrimp in the fall 1/2 mile off the beach without killing so many fish in the sounds.
 
UpATree said:
You ever been to Murrells Inlet or McClellanville SC? Seen how many shrimp boats run out of there? The good folks in SC seem to be able to have local shrimp and plenty of flounder for both the commercial and the recreationals. Without inshore trawling tearing up the estuaries.
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Now tell me how many of them are under 50'. When you limit the waters they can use you eliminate all of the small mom and pop fishermen....
bte0816 said:
A perfect example of why it is so easy to make it a rec vs commercial thing. All or nothing is almost never the best option.

The argument that "you crippled the economy because you suck at fishing" is comical. That is like a rec saying "you crippled the fishery because you have no skills but dragging a net." Doesn't make much sense to me.
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You're right, my apologies. It just pisses me off because I know so many seniors in my area that count on running a small boat with a try net to supplement their grocery bills. What are they supposed to do now? Go on EBT I guess....
The elephant in this room is that all the boats that are capable of "going outside" are from big fleets and they're already outside and working North and South. It's the little guy that's gonna starve.
 
Scrub said:
4lbs dead juvenile finfish to 1lb of shrimp. Largest take of gray trout, spot and croaker are inshore trawls that get shoveled back dead. It’s why you don’t have spot runs in the fall like use to happen. They can catch plenty of shrimp in the fall 1/2 mile off the beach without killing so many fish in the sounds.
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This.....NC is the ONLY state that allows trawling in the estuaries. NC is the ONLY state that has little to no season on target species of fish
 
Longrifle said:
Yeah, that's the ticket. Shut down an entire industry that for generations has put quality seafood on the table for millions of Americans because some guy who backs his shiny new boat into the water once or twice a month at 9 in the morning can't catch a limit and be back for the lunch buffet before it gets hot. Congratulations. You just crippled the economy of every small fishing village and tourist destination in Eastern NC because you suck at fishing....
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If doesn't matter how good a fisherman you are, if the state won't allow you to keep a fish.
 
Longrifle said:
Now tell me how many of them are under 50'. When you limit the waters they can use you eliminate all of the small mom and pop fishermen....

You're right, my apologies. It just pisses me off because I know so many seniors in my area that count on running a small boat with a try net to supplement their grocery bills. What are they supposed to do now? Go on EBT I guess....
The elephant in this room is that all the boats that are capable of "going outside" are from big fleets and they're already outside and working North and South. It's the little guy that's gonna starve.
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Those seniors are going to be paid by the state not to shrimp. Sounds like a good deal to me.
 
Longrifle said:
Not disputing you and I'm not calling you out but I would like to know where you're getting your numbers. I grew up gill netting and maybe times have changed but I don't know anyone who still does it who would set nets anywhere near trawling grounds, it's usually confined to much shallower waters.....
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My numbers come from common sense and rational logic. If four pounds of bycatch are killed to catch one pound of shrimp, then that is a lot of fish that otherwise could have gone to market.
 
I see dozens of iron hulled trawlers coming by our house headed to the sound. They are much bigger than 50' and a bunch of them are painted exactly the same. I assume they are corporate fleet vessels. I also see plenty of wooden hull boats headed the same way. Most of the wooden boats are much smaller, but they are fishing the same areas. I see dozens of them at night in the sounds while I'm drum fishing.

I watched a wooden hull trawler discard by catch for an hour the other afternoon. They sat in one spot with hundreds seagulls dive bombing. I can see both sides of the argument, but the clearest loser is the resource. Since we are the only state that allows trawling inside the estuary, I feel like we get hit even harder, because it's the only place that allows it.

I think the closed trout, closed flounder, 1 pup, spot and croaker situation has motivated some people with some with political pull to get something done. I think the writing has been on the wall for a while. The can has just been kicked down the road.

I guess we will find out soon enough if the fishery can finally get a win.
 
I mentioned it before, so please forgive the repeat,,, but lots of local folks made a living market hunting ducks (and all other game),,,,, until the resource couldn't handle it anymore,,,, and we managed to make it through

industries of the past go away, and new industries come along,,, it's the way of the World
 
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