A North Carolina judge has ruled that the state violated its constitutional and public-trust obligations to protect coastal fisheries, setting the stage for additional court proceedings that could ultimately affect how the state manages commercial and recreational fishing.
Wake County Superior Court Judge G. Bryan Collins Jr. entered judgment Monday in favor of Coastal Conservation Association North Carolina and 86 individual plaintiffs, concluding that evidence presented during the case “overwhelmingly established” decades of systemic failures in the state’s management of coastal fish stocks, according to Island Free Press.
The ruling does not immediately ban shrimp trawling or restrict gillnets, nor does it close fishing areas or change seasons, quotas or recreational bag limits. Those issues could be addressed during a separate remedy phase. Collins ordered attorneys for both sides to meet within 30 days and submit a joint report within 45 days regarding further proceedings.
The lawsuit was filed in November 2020 and went to trial earlier this year, with testimony from fisheries scientists, current and former state employees, commercial and recreational fishermen, fishing guides and other coastal residents, according to Island Free Press.
Collins found that the state breached the public-trust doctrine and violated provisions of the North Carolina Constitution requiring the state to preserve the public’s right to fish and conserve and protect its lands and waters.
The 190-page order found that none of the 13 fish stocks managed under state fishery management plans currently demonstrate long-term viability. Those stocks include Southern flounder, blue crab, red drum, spotted seatrout, striped mullet, river herring, estuarine striped bass, shrimp, kingfish, sheepshead, bay scallop, hard clam, and Eastern oyster.
The court identified inadequate fisheries data, slow revisions to management plans, limited enforcement and the continued use of shrimp trawls and gillnets in estuarine waters among the problems with the state’s management system.
Collins found that large-scale estuarine shrimp trawling has resulted in ecological and economic costs, including the deaths of hundreds of millions of juvenile fish caught as bycatch, while the state has not adequately measured the population-level effects. The court also found that continued gillnet use at current levels results in significant bycatch and removal of older breeding fish, making recovery of depleted finfish populations unlikely.
Those findings could carry particular significance for Pamlico Sound and other northeastern North Carolina waters where shrimp trawling and gillnetting remain important to the commercial seafood industry.
The state argued that coastal fisheries are also influenced by factors beyond fishing regulations, including predation, disease, climate change, water quality and fish moving between state and federal waters. Collins ultimately found the plaintiffs’ fisheries-management experts credible and persuasive.
The practical effects of the ruling remain unclear. The court retains authority to issue additional directives during the remedy phase, when potential changes affecting fisheries management, commercial fishing operations and recreational access could be considered.
