Brunswick County fisherman warns amendment in House Bill 442 could ruin NC shrimp & fishing industry

SUPPLY, NC (WWAY) — Brunswick County resident Brad Robbins has spent years trawling for shrimp on two boats he owns, but a new bill in the NC General Assembly could cause problems for him and other fishermen.

House Bill 442, originally meant to reintroduce the state’s recreational flounder season, had an amendment added to it once it went to the Senate.

The amendment would ban trawlers from using their nets in all inshore waters and within a half mile of the coast.

“I don’t know where the half a mile come from, other than that’s what South Carolina does,” Robbins said. “You would have to be quarter of a mile to six-tenths of a mile, maybe 3 quarters of a mile off the beach for them to even have a chance. Shrimp, it’s like a highway. They run here to here, they’re not just everywhere from a half a mile everywhere you want to go.”

Thousands of people came to Raleigh on Tuesday to protest against the amendment added to the bill by Senator Bill Rabon.

A Brunswick County man is facing a felony charge after allegedly threatening to kill Rabon and other senators for adding the amendment.

Ricky Crabtree, who has trawled for more than 40 years, met with Iler on Tuesday.

“He was very apologetic about the way it got done,” Crabtree said. “He didn’t get told until just a few minutes before it was going up on the floor that he knew anything about it.”

Anderson Clayton is the state party chair for the North Carolina Democratic Party.

She said people on both sides of the aisle have issues with the amendment.

“You can’t do public policy without having public opinion,” Clayton said. “I think that Republicans in the legislature need to understand that they control both chambers right now of our House and our Senate and they need to understand that the public needs to have opinions on what type of legislation that they’re passing.”

Robbins said if the amendment goes through, the rest of the state’s commercial fishing industry could be damaged beyond repair.

“You’re not just taking away shrimp. You’re subject to shut down fish-houses everywhere because of this. Because shrimp is the backbone of a lot of the commercial fishing industry.”

HB 442 has been sent back to the House, after it passed it’s 3rd reading in the Senate last week.