Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: Coastal communities fear the many ripple effects of a shrimp trawling ban

June 24, 2025 — When traveling east on U.S. 64 – the main highway that connects central N.C. to the Outer Banks – drivers will encounter a billboard encouraging visitors to ask for local seafood.

Part of the “Got To Be NC” marketing campaign, an initiative on behalf of the state’s Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services to promote N.C. agricultural goods, the billboard includes a link to https://nc-seafood.org/, which further touts the state’s fish and shellfish, the finest available “anywhere in the world.”

Even the state’s corresponding Got to Be NC website understands the singularity of local North Carolina seafood, with a featured image of fresh shrimp next to a search for restaurants that have local ingredients on the menu.

There’s a real possibility, however, that in the not-so-distant future, one of the Outer Banks’ most heralded homegrown products will no longer be available to residents and summertime visitors.

“The best shrimp on the East Coast are Pamlico Browns,” said Woody Joyner, President of North Carolina Watermen United (NCWU). “If you can’t shrimp on the sound, and you have to go out on the ocean, you aren’t going to get Pamlico Browns.”

Parc Greene, owner of Risky Business Seafood in Hatteras, estimates that 60% of his business is North Carolina shrimp alone. “I will always sell local shrimp – I will never sell any foreign shrimp,” he said. “And if the ban goes through, there will be no fresh shrimp until the fall, when the boats can go into the ocean. So, no tourist will be able to enjoy N.C. shrimp during the summer season – it won’t be a thing anymore.”

Tilman Gray, who has owned and operated Avon Seafood for 35 years, says that a shrimp trawling ban would cost his business around $200,000 in gross income every year.

Read the full article at the Island Free Press

NORTH CAROLINA: N.C. Senate advances buyout program bill for shrimpers affected by trawling ban

June 24, 2025 — On Monday, June 23, the North Carolina Senate advanced a bill that provides temporary compensation for commercial fishermen who will be deeply affected by a proposed shrimp trawling ban in a related bill, House Bill 442.

House Bill 441 passed 45-2 in its second reading on Monday night, with only Senators Bobby Hanig and Norman Sanderson casting a “no” vote. A third reading and final vote is scheduled for Tuesday, June 24.

Senator Hanig proposed multiple amendments to House Bill 441 prior to the second vote, which were rejected, similar to his efforts last week before the passing of House Bill 442.

House Bill 441 was gutted by the Senate just a few days before it passed its second reading, changing its verbiage and intent.

Originally entitled “An act to adopt the Loggerhead Sea Turtle as the official saltwater reptile of the state of North Carolina,” this innocuous turtle-related bill passed 113-0 in the N.C. House on May 7, 2025.

The revised HB 441 bill – different in every aspect but the House Bill number – has the title “Shrimp Trawling Transition Program/Fees” and it outlines a temporary payment plan for commercial fishermen who will face future losses as a result of a shrimp trawling ban.

Read the full article at Island Free Press

NORTH CAROLINA: Outer Banks shrimpers anxiously await fate of trawling ban in NC House

June 23, 2025 — Outer Banks commercial shrimpers will be waiting until next week to learn the fate of a bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives that could potentially destroy their business.

An amendment inserted unexpectedly into HB 442 last week set off a firestorm in coastal communities that harvest the majority of the state’s wild-caught shrimp.

The new language, added to what was originally a bill focused on expanding recreational fishing access to flounder and red snapper, calls for a ban on shrimp trawling in all of North Carolina’s inland waters and within a half mile of the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. “You’d be wiping out almost a whole industry,” said Steve House, chairman of the Dare County Commission for Working Watermen, which met in a special meeting on Thursday June 19 to discuss the bill.

In a later interview, House, who is vice chair of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, confirmed that HB 442 would likely be voted on in the NC House on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday next week.

“They haven’t put it on the calendar yet,” he said.

Although he believes it will be a close vote, House said he is reasonably optimistic that the controversial bill will fail. “I know our representatives up and down the coast have been working hard to get this bill squashed,” he said.  If the measure passes in the NC House, it will go to the desk of Governor Josh Stein, who House said would not be expected to veto it.

Read the full article at Outer Banks Voice

North Carolina Lawmakers Are Trying To Kill the State’s Booming Shrimp Industry

June 23, 2025 — North Carolina lawmakers are advancing a bill that would kill the state’s shrimping industry.

On Thursday, the state Senate voted on House Bill 442, which had recently been passed by the state’s House of Representatives to expand the recreational fishing season for southern flounder and red snapper and establish a pilot program to restore their populations. Both species had their seasons shortened in 2024 because they were considered overfished by state agencies, despite local fishermen arguing otherwise.

Leading up to the vote, an amendment was added to the bill that would restrict trawling for shrimp—a fishing method that involves mechanically dragging a large net close to the seabed—in inland waters and within half a mile of the coast. Those found violating the trawling ban would be charged with a class A1 misdemeanor, which carries a maximum punishment of 150 days of “active, intermediate or community punishment” and a fine subject to a judge’s discretion.

The measure, and the bill, passed on its third reading with a 39–2 vote. The two dissenting votes came from senators representing coastal counties. Other coastal senators who had previously voted against the amendment voted “absent.” The bill now heads back to the House and, if passed, will go into effect December 1.

The impacts of the legislation could be potentially devastating to the state’s commercial seafood industry, which contributed nearly $300 million to North Carolina’s economy in 2021 while supporting over 5,000 jobs. Nearly 75 percent of the state’s shrimp is caught in the waters that this bill would close off.

Read the full article at Reason

“Shrimp Fraud” Allegations Are Rocking the Restaurant World. We Talked to the Company Blowing the Whistle.

June 20, 2025 — Last week, the Texas-based firm SeaD Consulting released the results from a study that shook the culinary scene in Charleston, South Carolina. A team of undercover testers had paid visits to randomly selected seafood restaurants around the city and used on-the-spot genetic testing to determine whether the shrimp came from local waters. The results were shocking in a town that prides itself on abundant fresh catch: Forty out of the forty-four restaurants it tested, the company reported, served imported, farm-raised shrimp.

Charleston isn’t the first market the company has scrutinized since ramping up its testing efforts last August. SeaD has also visited New Orleans, Savannah, Tampa–St. Petersburg, and Wilmington, North Carolina, among others. Of those cities, New Orleans fared best, with only 13 percent of restaurants misrepresenting their shrimp (largely due to more stringent food labeling laws in Louisiana, according to SeaD). Savannah and Wilmington each tallied 77 percent inauthenticity. In Tampa, just two restaurants of forty-five were serving Gulf shrimp, the firm reported.

Since the Charleston bombshell dropped, the plot has thickened. Local shrimpers have come forward to vouch for clients who buy from them, since SeaD didn’t reveal the names of the forty establishments that served imported shrimp. And the S.C. Shrimpers Association has announced a lawsuit against those unidentified restaurants (referring to them as “John Doe Restaurants” in the complaint) in which it accused them of false advertising and in violation of South Carolina’s Unfair Trade Practices Act.

With the industry still reeling, we chatted with SeaD founder Dave Willams and his daughter, chief operations officer Erin Williams, to find out exactly how the team conducted its testing, if the Charleston results surprised them, and what changes they hope to see in the shrimping and restaurant industry. And, yes, they know where they’re headed next, but they’re not saying.

Read the full article at Garden and Gun

NORTH CAROLINA: Restaurateur rips NC bill HB 442: ‘Slitting the throats of the commercial fishing industry

June 20, 2025 — Ryan Speckman is the co-owner of Locals Seaford and told ABC11 that 99% of his product comes from North Carolina waters. Only salmon is brought in from Maine. He has made it a mission to highlight the work of local fishers, and his No. 1 seller year-round is shrimp.

Speckman said supply and prices are in jeopardy because of House Bill 442.

It’s a serious issue for Speckman, who said the shrimping industry itself could be destroyed.

“You’re basically slitting the throats of the commercial fishing industry,” said Speckman. “We have to decide do we want good food or do we want to rely on other countries to get the food.”

Read the full article at ABC 11

NORTH CAROLINA: New plan would pay shrimp trawlers who lose access to inland waters

June 19, 2025 — North Carolina lawmakers have a plan to pay commercial fishermen impacted by proposed restrictions on shrimp trawling in the state’s coastal sounds.

The Senate gave its final approval to the trawling ban Thursday afternoon. The proposal now goes to the House of Representatives.

Earlier Thursday, the Senate unveiled its plan to “provide annual transition payments to eligible holders of commercial fishing licenses with verifiable lands of shrimp” since 2023.

The payments would last until Oct. 1, 2028. The amount of the payment would depend on the value of eligible shrimp trip tickets submitted by the license holder, plus $180.

The bill would also increase the cost of a Standard Commercial Fishing License from $400 to $580. It would increase the license fee for non-residents to at least $2,000. The fee for a Retired Commercial Fishing License would increase from $200 to $290. The bill includes fee increases for commercial fishing vessel registrations, shellfish licenses, new fish dealers, land or sell licenses and temporary fishing licenses.

Supporters of the ban say it is necessary to help other fish stocks and that it would align North Carolina with other East Coast states that ban trawling inland. Opponents of the ban say it will destroy the shrimp industry in the state and hurt the entire commercial fishing industry.

Read the full article at WRAL

South Carolina shrimpers sue local restaurants over shrimp fraud

June 18, 2025 — The South Carolina Shrimpers Association has sued roughly 40 restaurants in the U.S. state, claiming they were falsely presenting the imported shrimp they sell as locally sourced.

“It’s illegal to say that a product is from South Carolina when it’s not, and similarly, federal law prohibits the mislabeling of the origins of seafood. It’s simply illegal at a state and federal level,” South Carolina Shrimpers Association Attorney Gedney Howe said, according to local news outlet WCSC-TV.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NORTH CAROLINA: Fishermen fight Senate’s push to restrict shrimp trawling

June 18, 2025 — North Carolina’s shrimp industry faces a potential crackdown, as state senators pushed forward a bill on June 17 with a controversial amendment banning shrimp trawling within a half mile of the shoreline and inshore waters.

House Bill 442 passed the House in May, aiming to expand recreational flounder and red snapper fishing. However, during a Tuesday morning meeting, legislators in the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Energy, and Environment added the last-minute shrimp amendment, prohibiting trawling in coastal fishing waters and within one-half mile of the shoreline, effective Dec. 1, 2025.

Sen. David Craven, R-Randolph, who introduced the amendment, 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.”

Supporters of the amendment argued it aligns North Carolina with South Carolina and Virginia, reducing bycatch and protecting estuarine habitats.

The bill proposes a recreational fishing season for flounder of not less than six weeks between May 15 and Nov. 15 annually, with a limit of one fish per person, per day. Similarly, a year-round red snapper season with a limit of two fish per person, per day, and a 20-inch size limit in state waters.

Read the full article at The Carolina Journal