Tag Archives: Bluffton Oyster Co
Human waste may end oyster harvesting on the May River. Can Bluffton clean it up?
Larry Toomer’s business depends on the May River. On a cold January morning, he stood on the boat ramp outside the Bluffton Oyster Co. with a paper cup of steaming gas station coffee in hand. A lifetime of wrestling shrimping nets has left him with a sturdy build. His rose-colored face is in stark contrast with his ghost-white hair. Behind him, dense clouds of powdery fog swallowed the river, giving his shrimp trawler the illusion of flight. The well-worn ship is easily two stories tall. “Daddy’s Girls” is painted in black-and-blue block lettering on the side. Named for his three daughters, the trawler has become the unofficial town seal. When a home is on a septic system, he said, everything that is flushed down the drain goes into a tank below the house. The solids are filtered out and held in the tank. The liquids go into a drain field below. “Do you understand what I’m saying?” Toomer said, elaborating on the path of human excrement. “Every day, right out the toilet.” >click to read< 15:41
Will South Carolina shrimp season delay pay off with big crop this fall?
The first of the fall white shrimp are coming in — and they’re coming in surprisingly big. Shrimpers and customers are edgily anticipating these next few months as they await the bounty harvest that makes or breaks a season. But whether big shrimp this early is a good sign is anybody’s guess after this year’s opening was delayed and the summer catch was spotty. “Who knows? This has been such a wacky season,” said Rutledge Leland of Carolina Seafoods in McClellanville. Big fall shrimp this early could mean there just aren’t that many of them out there, he said. But Shem Creek shrimper Tommy Edwards thinks the early shrimp are promising after the relentless July storms. Rains promote algae and zooplankton, which shrimp feed on. >click to read<19:47
Shrimpers with chainsaws: Local commercial fishermen carry on after Hurricane Matthew
October is supposed to be a month for prime Lowcountry seafood but this month, Hurricane Matthew had other plans. The Category 2 storm put local seafood production on hold. The storm hit Beaufort County just a week after the start of the oyster season and in the middle of shrimp season. But not to worry. Most local fishermen stayed with their vessels through the storm and — with the resilience the trade has always required — are making their way to recovery. “A chainsaw becomes necessary equipment on a shrimp boat now,” Reeves said. “Anything you can imagine, we see: pilings, lawn chairs, refrigerators. Cutting through can be difficult and very costly.” The long-term impact on local shrimp populations is also still not clear, local shrimpers say. Read the story here 14:01
