What happened to all the fish?

When I was a boy, I could walk along the Neuse River shoreline in front of our summer home and cast a rod with two shrimp-baited hooks and catch a supper of croaker or spot most any day. You can’t do that today.

By the 1980s and 90s there were noticeable declines in fisheries, prompting the passage of the N. C. Fisheries Reform Act in 1997. It charged the Marine Fisheries Commission (MFC) with ensuring the long-term viability of our fish and shellfish stocks.

The MFC has the tools available to stop those declines and restore fish stocks, but decades have passed and the MFC is neither halting declines nor rebuilding stocks. Current counts for croaker, spot, flounder and blue crab show increasing stock reductions. In too many instances these species are bycatch for commercial shrimp trawlers. By one measure there is reportedly at least four pounds of bycatch (dead juvenile fish) for every pound of shrimp caught in trawl nets. The loss of juvenile fish can be measured annually in the millions.

The first instinct is to get mad with commercial fishermen for creating this crisis, but the truth is they are only following the rules that have been set for them. The problem lies in fishing regulations and management.

And here’s where this saga gets really fishy!

The MFC consists of nine people appointed by the Governor. By statute three of them come from the commercial fishing profession (receiving 50% or more of their income from fishing), three are recreational fishermen appointed at large, however, at least one is also required to receive at least 50% percent of their income from fishing.  So, only two really sit “at large.” And one member is a scientist. A close study of decisions this group has made over time reflects that commercial fishermen have had a disproportionately high influence on how our resources are managed, even when the science showed more restrictive harvest limits were needed to ensure long term viability.

There are an estimated 7,000 fishermen with commercial licenses in our state, but only 2-3,000 actually make sales to dealers, amounting to some 60 million pounds worth an estimated $200 million in revenue. Tourism revenues from recreational fishermen dwarf those numbers, estimated as high as $5 billion per year. They stay in hotel rooms or cottages, rent boats, shop, eat at restaurants, buy gas, bait, tackle and supplies. But the stringent regulations on recreational fishermen are having a staggering effect. In 2024, for instance, it was illegal for the average citizen to catch and keep a single flounder. In 2023, our state projected the fewest number of recreational fishing trips since 2003.

In 2020, The Coastal Conservation Association (CCA), along with some 90 residents, sued the state for its mismanagement of coastal fisheries, saying “enough is enough.” Current regulations obviously aren’t working. The N.C. Court of Appeals has confirmed our fisheries are a public trust resource that the state must protect from injury or harm for all time. The case is proceeding to trial.

North Carolina’s leaders need to immediately respond. First, we need to disband the Marine Fisheries Commission. It has proven unable or unwilling to do its job.  North Carolina should move the supervisory and regulatory authority to another group, like the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, which has a track record of protecting fish and game. Its mandate must be twofold: First, to restore depleted stocks of endangered fish and shellfish. Then, once restored, regulations must ensure that healthy and sustainable levels be maintained for ALL current and future residents.

We must ban trawlers in inland waterways. And North Carolina is the only state on the east coast that still allows gill nets. Why? And at what costs? Next, we must tighten laws on who can keep a commercial fishing license. It’s simple: to keep a commercial license, you must show you sell some minimum amount of fish, like is the case in other states.

Commercial fishing has an important role in providing us with goodness from our waters. But our recreational fishermen are more important to tourism as well as the enjoyment of waters. We need both, but no individual or group should be able to cause or to continue the crisis we now face.

It’s been 27 years since the Fisheries Reform Act was passed and we are in worse shape today than when it was enacted. And this is not another tired argument between commercial versus recreational fishermen. It is far more essential than that.

We must think more broadly about the greater public interest in how our fisheries are managed. It is past time to restore and sustain these valuable resources for the overall benefit of our state.

There are yet-to-be-born boys and girls who should be able to share their fishing memories with their children.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@carolinabroadcasting.com