I am a life-long angler. In fact, I can't remember at time in my life when I did not fish. To say I've seen changes over the decades would be an understatement. My uncle, an avid angler, told me of the days catching large red drum from the surf on the north end of Wrightsville Beach. The drum were the old drum, the very large fish, not the small puppy drum, as we called them, of today. He told me about abundant gray trout (weakfish) and speckled trout in Banks Channel, large croakers and spot runs that lasted for weeks.

I got to experience some of this when I was younger. I could catch speckled trout off the bridge near my home. I would sometimes go before school. Breakfast did not matter; fishing was more important than eating. I could catch bluefish until my arms hurt or the fish chewed up all of my lures. Flounder were abundant and the fall runs of spot were epic. I never got to experience large red drum from the surf on Wrightsville Beach. They were gone by the time I was old enough to fish from the surf. I only knew them from my uncle's stories.

As years went on, my passion for fishing never waned, but catching fish became more challenging. There were fewer fish of all species I pursued. The epic fall runs were considerably shorter with fewer fish, The days of catching croakers and gray trout in Banks Channel ended. Speckled trout were around, but small, 12-13" fish far exceeded larger fish.

Today, if I caught a flounder I could not keep it, with the exception of a brief, 2-week period per year with a 1 fish limit. And last year the season was open for only one week. Leading up to the moratorium on keeping a flounder, it was a challenge to catch one of legal size (15"). They were/are grossly overfished. Speckled trout are also overfished. Red Drum are overfished, along with spot, croaker, gray trout and more. The data showed that all of the state-managed fish stocks, 13 species, are overfished and not viable.

NC anglers had enough. After years of attempting to work with the NC Division of Marine Fisheries structure to get meaningful restrictions on the state's fisheries--without success--Coastal Conservation Association of NC filed a lawsuit against the NCDMF. In August of this year, a judge ruled that NC had failed protect the state's fisheries, a public trust resource. Here's a summary: https://www.msn.com/en-us/politics/government/court-rules-nc-failed-its-fishermen-and-coastal-waters/ar-AA2aARuU?ocid=BingNewsVerp&al_applink_data=%7B%22qpl_join_id%22:%225C150134-27B7-4793-A074-FC739CB7DD8E%22%7D

The next step will be the most important. What is going to be done to rebuild and recovery NC fisheries? Equally important is what will happen to ensure sustainability for the future. Major changes are needed within NCDMF and the governing body -- NC Marine Fisheries Commission. If NCDMF and the commission return to their past practices of allowing destructive and indiscriminate commercial gear, ignoring harvest quota mandates, and ignoring science, fisheries will quickly return to depressed populations and overfished status.

So there's a chance to get it right this time. There's a chance to recover the state's coastal fisheries and there's a chance to sustain fisheries for the future.