The Outer Banks Voice - So far, 13 counties to participate in the Coastal Fisheries Coalition

So far, 13 counties to participate in the Coastal Fisheries Coalition

With the first meeting of the Coastal Fisheries Coalition a week away, a majority of the 19 counties invited to participate have said they will join the group and send a representative to that Aug. 5 meeting in Morehead City.

The creation of the coalition was proposed in a July 3 letter to the board chairs of the 19 coastal counties from Dare County Board of Commissioners Chair Bob Woodard. It was written in the wake of the NC Senate’s approval of a measure to ban shrimp trawling in North Carolina’s inland waters and within a half mile of the Atlantic shoreline. That ban was killed for this legislative session by the NC House on June 25 following vocal opposition from coastal communities and commercial fishing industry