August 19, 2026 — North Carolina violated its constitutional and public-trust obligations to protect coastal fisheries, a Wake County judge has ruled in a major victory for a recreational fishing organization and 86 residents who sued the state nearly six years ago.
Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins Jr. entered judgment for the plaintiffs on Monday after concluding that the evidence “overwhelmingly established” decades of systemic failures in the state’s management of coastal fish stocks.
The decision does not immediately ban shrimp trawling, restrict gillnets, close fishing waters or change seasons, quotas or recreational bag limits.
Those questions could be addressed during a separate remedy phase, and Collins ordered attorneys for both sides to meet within 30 days and submit a joint report within 45 days about scheduling further proceedings.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the state violated its duties and a prospective injunction requiring the state to protect and rebuild coastal fisheries, rather than monetary damages.
The 190-page order followed a trial that ran from Jan. 20 through Feb. 25 and included testimony from fisheries scientists, current and former state employees, commercial and recreational fishermen, fishing guides and other coastal residents.
Collins found the state breached the public-trust doctrine, which requires it to manage resources belonging to the public for the benefit of current and future residents.
He also found violations of two provisions of the North Carolina Constitution: Article I, Section 38, which says the right to hunt, fish and harvest wildlife must be preserved for the public good, and Article XIV, Section 5, which establishes a state policy of conserving and protecting lands and waters.
The lawsuit was filed in November 2020 by Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina and 86 individual plaintiffs, including five former members of the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission.
A 2022 N.C. Court of Appeals ruling allowed the case to proceed and held that the state has an affirmative duty to preserve the public’s right to fish, protect fisheries from destruction and manage them for the public’s benefit.
Collins said that appellate decision established the law he was required to apply during the trial.