The Lawsuit to Save North Carolina's Coastal Fisheries

Read the full-length op-ed from Tim Gestwicki, CEO of North Carolina Wildlife Federation.

Tim Gestwicki, Chief Executive Officer

The Fisheries Reform Act of 1997 (“FRA”) was enacted to rebuild our depleted marine fisheries. In the 29 years since, North Carolina hasn’t rebuilt a single coastal fishery. In fact, every stock managed under the Fisheries Reform Act has declined further. From where I sit, the biggest challenge facing conservation in North Carolina is the blatant mismanagement, abuse, and waste of our fisheries by state government.

Closing arguments in a landmark lawsuit that could force the State to finally accept responsibility for that reality concluded last month. Every North Carolinian who has ever fished our sounds, eaten our seafood, or simply valued what our coast means to the state should be paying attention.

This lawsuit resurfaced issues that the North Carolina Wildlife Federation (“NCWF”) has been emphasizing for more than a decade. NCWF is an organization that brings together scientists, conservationists, wildlife enthusiasts, hunters and anglers, government, and industry to protect North Carolina’s natural resources. I have been with the Federation since the early 1990s and have served as CEO since 2009. In that time, I’ve seen many changes in our state’s natural resources – some good and some bad. For our marine resources, some are overwhelmingly negative.

The North Carolina Wildlife Federation is not a plaintiff in this case, but we filed a formal "friend of the court" brief in support. North Carolina Wildlife Federation brings together scientists, hunters, anglers, conservationists, and industry partners to protect North Carolina's natural resources.

North Carolina Wildlife Federation has been raising the alarm about fisheries mismanagement for more than a decade. The Federation tried rulemaking petitions, pushed for legislation, and engaged directly with state agencies. These solution-based efforts were thwarted and even out right lobbied against by the state via the agencies overseeing fisheries management in North Carolina-NC Department of Environmental Quality which oversees the Marien Fisheries Commission and the NC Department of Marine Fisheries.

The state of North Carolina is only responsible for managing 14 coastal fish stocks, species that were the backbone of our coastal ecology and economy, culture, and history. By scientific definition, a stock is considered "collapsed" if landings fall below 10% of historical highs. In the 30 years since the FRA became law, every stock has declined further. Our weakfish and southern flounder fisheries are all but gone. Other fisheries, once cornerstones of NC’s fishing economy, have collapsed or are collapsing, including spot, croaker, and blue crab. These fisheries have declined by as much as 95% over the past three decades.

The mechanism of this collapse is not a mystery to those paying attention. North Carolina remains the last state on the East and Gulf Coasts permitting large-scale estuarine shrimp trawling and unattended gill nets in waters designated as juvenile fish nurseries. For every pound of shrimp harvested by trawl, studies show more than four pounds of these valuable juvenile finfish are killed as bycatch. That means the dominant catch in a shrimp trawl is not shrimp, it’s fish, many of which are juvenile and will never spawn because they are shoved overboard by the millions of pounds. Bycatch reduction devices have not solved this problem. Meanwhile, the bottom habitats of the Pamlico Sound – the sea whips, sponges, and seagrass that form the foundation of the entire ecosystem – are destroyed by trawl after trawl. Allowing this continued practice in our well-designed, but unprotected, nursery grounds is a classic case of the Tragedy of the Commons and a precursor to ecosystem collapse.

The good news is that recovery is possible, and it would come faster than most people expect. Remove trawlers from the sound, and mature, high-quality fish would return within a year. Spring harvests would improve. Summer recruitment of new spawning population members would rise. Bottom habitats would begin to recover within a decade, but the benefits to the fishery, both commercial and public, would be nearly immediate.

Opposition to reform has been fierce and organized. However, the most prominent arguments against reform aren’t grounded in science. They are unsubstantiated anecdotes from a few interested parties with an economic stake in the outcome of reform. We observed that in the testimony provided during last month’s trial.

The trial concluded after five weeks of testimony. By April, all legal filings should be submitted to the judge, who will make the final ruling. All sworn case expert testimonies and state positions will soon become public record, allowing the world to learn what we’ve been working to correct for years.

North Carolina's coastal fisheries are a public trust resource. They belong to every citizen of this state. The question before this court is whether the state has honored that trust. From my perspective, and that of the Federation, after years of fighting and monitoring, the answer is clear. The fish in our sounds belong to the people of North Carolina. It’s time the State started acting like it.