Shrimp is America’s favorite seafood and one of the most important to North Carolina’s coastal economy because the fishery supports the livelihoods of so many commercial fishermen.
NORTH CAROLINA SHRIMP
A Fishery Built Around Our Estuaries
North Carolina's shrimp fishery is different from many other shrimp fisheries because much of it is closely connected to our sounds and estuaries.
North Carolina has approximately 2.2 million acres of estuarine waters—the sounds, rivers and creeks where fresh water and salt water come together. Together they form one of the largest estuarine systems in the United States.
Pamlico Sound lies at the heart of that system.
WHY THE ESTUARY MATTERS
Brown, white and pink shrimp are all estuarine-dependent species.
Young shrimp enter our estuaries, where shallow, productive waters provide food and nursery habitat. As the shrimp grow, they gradually move into larger waters and eventually toward the ocean.
That natural migration is what has shaped North Carolina's shrimp fishery for generations.
Our fishermen follow the shrimp through the seasons—brown shrimp during the warmer months and the white shrimp we commonly call greentails later in the season.
CONSERVATION AND HARVEST CAN EXIST TOGETHER
North Carolina does not treat every acre of estuarine water the same.
Important nursery areas and other sensitive habitats already receive additional protection. Shrimp trawling is prohibited in designated Primary and Secondary Nursery Areas and in a number of other protected waters.
State fisheries documents have reported that of North Carolina's approximately 2.2 million acres of estuarine waters, roughly 900,000 acres—about 45%—were closed to shrimp trawling under the management framework described by the state.
Those protections recognize something commercial fishermen understand well: some areas are particularly important for young fish and shrimp and should receive greater protection, while other waters have historically supported a working fishery.
PAMLICO SOUND IS BOTH HABITAT AND A WORKING WATERWAY
Pamlico Sound is not simply a place where shrimp are harvested. It is part of the habitat that makes North Carolina's shrimp fishery possible in the first place.
Protecting water quality, nursery habitat, submerged grasses and the overall health of the estuary matters to everyone who depends upon the Sound—commercial fishermen included.
But protecting an estuary does not necessarily mean removing people from it.
For generations, North Carolina has managed these waters through seasons, gear requirements, nursery-area protections, closed areas and other regulations intended to balance harvest with conservation.
We believe the future of the Pamlico Sound should continue to include both:
Healthy estuaries and working fisheries.
A NORTH CAROLINA HARVEST WORTH PRESERVING
Commercial fishermen are part of North Carolina's agricultural community.
Instead of planting a crop, they follow a naturally occurring one.
Shrimp have even been described by North Carolina fisheries managers as an annual crop because of their short life cycle and the strong influence that temperature, salinity and other environmental conditions have on each year's abundance.
When North Carolina fishermen harvest shrimp from the Pamlico Sound, that harvest supports far more than the boat that catches them.
It supports fish houses, seafood dealers, processors, truck drivers, restaurants, markets and families in coastal communities like ours.
And it gives consumers something increasingly valuable:
The opportunity to know where their seafood came from.
At Diamond Shoal Shrimp Co., we believe North Carolina can protect the waters that produce our seafood while also preserving the ability of North Carolina fishermen to make a living from them.
The Pamlico Sound is worth protecting—and so is the working-waterfront heritage that depends upon it.
“North Carolina agriculture doesn't end at the shoreline. Our commercial fishermen harvest food from the waters of our state just as our farmers harvest food from its land.”