Why It Matters: The Public Trust Doctrine establishes that wildlife resources are owned by the public and are to be managed by government agencies for the benefit of the public. This key principle is a core tenant of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation which is widely renowned as the most successful model of wildlife conservation in the world. When game managers responsible for these valued public trust resources stray away from proper management, it is important that the sporting-conservation community hold them accountable to manage game species in a manner that is sustainable for generations to come.
Highlights:
- In 2020, the North Carolina Coastal Conservation Association (CCA NC) alongside 86 citizen plaintiffs sued the State of North Carolina for failing to manage its public-trust costal fisheries resources properly. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) supported CCA NC’s legal efforts over the case’s six-year journey.
- North Carolina is one of the 24 states that has the constitutional right to hunt and fish (RTHF). In its ruling, the Court cited North Carolina’s constitutional RTHF and held that the State is obligated to preserve people’s right to fish and harvest fish.
- Following the Court’s ruling, fisheries managers, recreational and commercial anglers, and elected officials will need to come together to find a path forward in restoring North Carolina’s coastal fisheries.
Many of the fish stocks critical to both anglers and entire marine ecosystems have declined significantly and are at risk of complete collapse in what was once a thriving and abundant coastal fishery in North Carolina. In the Court’s ruling, there is an incredible amount of evidence cited that demonstrates the precipitous decline of many coastal fish stocks and the State’s failure to address those declines and properly manage these public trust resources.
The 190-page Court Order specifically references several very compelling arguments made by the plaintiffs. Among the most convincing pieces of evidence of the State’s failures is “that not a single species managed by the State exhibits long-term viability.” In North Carolina, this refers to 13 state-managed fish stocks. This matter of fact went unrebutted, meaning that it was not challenged or disproven by the State. Additionally, expert opinions stating that “the state has continued to tolerate and protect indiscriminate and destructive commercial fishing gear – most notably, estuarine shrimp trawling and gillnets – that cause high, uncharacterized bycatch mortality and well-documented adverse impacts on non-target species and the ecosystem” also went unrebutted by the State.
As previously reported, North Carolina is an anomaly among Southeastern states in that they allow for industrial trawling for shrimp in the state’s inshore waters, including in sounds and estuaries. It is well understood that trawling in sensitive habitats, like estuaries and sounds, can have a significant negative impact on critical nursery habitat that supports important recreational and commercial fisheries. Finally, the following expert opinion provided by the plaintiffs and cited in the Court Order also went unrebutted by the State: “The State’s failures are not the product of any one decision, but rather, are the products of a systemic, decades-long pattern of risk-prone management dominated by short-term commercial-industry considerations to the detriment of the North Carolina’s coastal fisheries and the general public.”
The Court goes on to conclude that “the evidence overwhelmingly established that the State breached its obligations under the public-trust doctrine and the North Carolina Constitution” and “…the State did not protect the harvestable fish population for the benefit of all its citizenry in violation of the Constitution.” CSF played a major role in establishing the constitutional right to hunt, fish, and harvest wildlife in North Carolina in 2018. This exact section of the Constitution was referenced in the Court’s Order: “based on the preponderance of evidence…the Court concludes that the State has breached its obligations under the public-trust doctrine, Article I, Section 38 of the North Carolina Constitution…”
Last week’s Court Order really put an emphasis on the current state of many North Carolina coastal fish stocks and the dire need for changes to the state’s fisheries management protocols. This will serve as a critical inflection point where both commercial and recreational anglers, fisheries managers, state lawmakers, and other stakeholders must come together to right decades of mismanagement to begin restoring the fisheries for today and for future generations to enjoy. CSF commends CCA NC for its six-year legal battle that got us to this point, was proud to support the effort, and looks forward to coming to the table on behalf of North Carolina’s recreational fishing community.