RICHMOND - Commercial shrimpers in the state’s sounds received an overwhelming vote of confidence Monday, Aug. 7 with a unanimous decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a lower court ruling dismissing complaints against shrimp trawling under the Clean Water Act.
Commercial shrimpers in the state’s sounds received an overwhelming vote of confidence Monday, Aug. 7 with a unanimous decision by the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals affirming a lower court ruling dismissing complaints against shrimp trawling under the Clean Water Act.
The case stems from a 2020 complaint filed by recreational fishermen Joseph William Albea, David Anthony Sammons, Capt. Seth Vernon, Capt. Richard Andrews, Dwayne Bevell and the North Carolina Fisheries Reform Group.
The case stems from a 2020 complaint filed by recreational fishermen, Joseph William Albea, David Anthony Sammons, Capt. Seth Vernon, Capt. Richard Andrews, Dwayne Bevell and the North Carolina Fisheries Reform Group.
The Reform Group states on its website that its mission, in part, is “in association with our conservation partners, to change how the State of North Carolina manages our public trust marine resources. We will support the implementation of a new comprehensive management plan to restore our fisheries back to the world-class fishers that they once were.”
The plaintiffs contend that shrimp trawlers in Pamlico Sound are violating the Clean Water Act by engaging in two types of unpermitted activity, “throwing bycatch overboard and disturbing sediment with their trawl net.”
The complaint named local fishermen and businesses that regularly trawl in Pamlico Sound as defendants, including Capt. Gaston LLC.; Joy, Inc.; Hobo Seafood, Inc.; Lady Samaira, Inc.; trawler Capt. Alfred, Inc.; trawler Christina Ann, Inc.; and trawlers Garland and Jeff, Inc.
The plaintiffs argued that the Clean Water Act, which is described in the lawsuit as a “comprehensive scheme to reduce water pollution in the United States” by prohibiting “the discharge of any pollutant by any person” without first getting a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers.
In writing the unanimous dismissal, Appeals Court Judge Julius Richardson concluded that while the Clean Water Act does forbid unpermitted discharge of a pollutant, returning fish that are non-targeted and inadvertently caught in the trawl nets, known as bycatch, do not qualify as pollutants.
“Returning bycatch to the ocean is not discharging a pollutant, so throwing it overboard without a permit is not forbidden by the act. Likewise, because the trawl nets merely kick up sediment already present in the sound, their use does not discharge any pollutants either,” he noted in his summation.
The judge went further, noting that the suit went to extremes that would impact more than just the targeted trawling industry. “Anyone who fishes from a boat using live bait, or by chumming, or who - after catching a fish - releases it back into the ocean would violate the Clean Water Act unless they first obtained a Clear Water permit alongside their ordinary fishing permits.”
Glenn Skinner, executive director of the N.C. Fisheries Association which represents the state’s commercial fishing industry, noted that this lawsuit had far-reaching impact and could have, if approved, closed the commercial industry.
The North Carolina shrimp fishery is immensely important to the state’s commercial watermen but also to the state’s economy. Much of the fishery is in Pamlico Sound and its tributaries.
In 2021, shrimpers, mostly by trawling, landed 9.15 million pounds, worth $24.69 million, according to statistics from the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries. That was about 21.4 percent of the entire fish and shellfish landings in the state – 42.3 million pounds – and more than a quarter of the value of the landings that year, with an estimated total value of $89.7 million.
This lawsuit is only one of many legal efforts that certain recreational fishing organizations have attempted to decrease or eliminate commercial fishing operations in the state.
Skinner said in a phone interview that “This decision will not stop the attacks (on the commercial fishing industry) that have been going on for the last 20 years. They pretend that they’re concerned about the condition of the fisheries, but if they take away the primary gear (gill nets and trawls), they take away the industry.”
Noting the impact on all the fisheries as Judge Richardson stated, Skinner described the decision as “a big win for everybody, including the recreational and commercial fishermen.”
Judge Richardson was joined by Appellate Judge Allison Jones Rushing and U.S. District Judge Lydon of South Carolina in the unanimous decision.
According to Beaufort attorney Steve Weeks, who represented one of the defendants in the case, the plaintiffs have 14 days from release of the judicial decision to petition the 4th Circuit for an "en banc" hearing by all the judges on that circuit court. The other option he said would be a direct appeal for a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court.
This article has been corrected removing the statement that "All the businesses and individuals live and work in Pamlico County." This statement was in error, all the businesses and individuals operate shrimp trawlers in Pamlico Sound.
