Tag Archives: Shem Creek
New bill to expand federal relief eligibility for fishing/shrimping industry
“The influx of imported shrimp has resulted in the decline of our fleets and massive job losses and our local businesses are devastated,” said Bryan Jones, the Vice President of the South Carolina Shrimper’s Association. Standing in front of the shrimp boats of Shem Creek, US Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R) introduced the Protect American Fisheries Act on Friday. “Foreign dumping of shrimp filled with contaminants that don’t meet US safety standards is undercutting honest, hardworking, American fisherman,” said Congresswoman Mace. The bipartisan bill proposes to amend the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act to include “economic causes” as a reason for declaring a fishery resource disaster. Video, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 06:58
$3 million Shem Creek dock renovations aim to boost shrimping, fishing fleet
In a show of support for the longstanding shrimping industry, the Shem Creek docks are undergoing major renovations. The $3 million repair and rebuild of the dock, pier and processing building on Haddrell Street began June 11. Construction for the project was awarded to Cape Romain Contractors in April. Crews will remove and rebuild the existing boardwalk and pier to create a wider walking clearance for shrimpers and improve accessibility for workers and visitors. The shrimp docks are not the same as the boardwalk at Shem Creek Park and are tucked away from the restaurants and nightlife that surround the creek. Crews will also repair the shrimp processing section of the building where Tarvin Seafood operates. The back portion of the building has been condemned for years and is unsafe, said Cindy Tarvin, owner of the family-operated business. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 09:13
Man Of Fortune: Beloved Fisherman to Receive Memorial Statue at Shem Creek
When dawn breaks on Shem Creek, there will soon be a glimmer on the water like never before. Atop the boardwalk that connects both sides of the creek will stand a bronze, life-size statue of a man who is now remembered as a Lowcountry legend. His name is Captain Wayne Magwood and soon his legacy will forever be enshrined as a testament to the role he played in preserving the area’s rich maritime history. Magwood’s life, career and family lineage have revolved around Shem Creek for the past century. In 1930, his father’s cousin, Captain William Magwood, was the first fisherman to bring ocean shrimp into Mount Pleasant and laid the foundation for the commercial industry to be built at Shem Creek. Photos, more, >>CLICK TO READ<< 08:55
High fuel costs impacting shrimping industry in Charleston
The shrimping scene on Shem Creek looks like something out of a movie. Tarvin Seafood supplies shrimp to over 75 buyers in Charleston. In 12 years of business, Cindy and her son Kola Tarvin have seen the tides shift a lot in the industry, but not quite like they have the last two years — especially when it comes to fuel prices. “Couple boats just this year have left the creek,” Kola Tarvin said. Cindy Tarvin says fuel prices have skyrocketed. “It was almost five dollars at the end of last season, per gallon,” Tarvin said. And it has a ripple effect on their business. >video, click to read< 11:37
Hurricane Ian: Shem Creek shrimpers help iconic trawler grounded on Myrtle Beach – Ready to move!
“We’re a community, and we ride together,” said Grace Edwards of Shem Creek Fisheries. “No one wants to see the boat break up on shore. “We all grew up with (that boat),” she said. “Edwards said Magwood’s nephew Rocky and some other Shem Creek fishermen helped unload ice and fuel from the Shayna Michelle to make the 68-foot fiberglass trawler lighter. “That is a piece of Mount Pleasant history, really,” said Mount Pleasant Mayor Will Haynie. “I’m proud that a lot of our local shrimping community has pitched in to help.” 4 photos, Video, >click to read< 18:00
Uncooperative tide delays removal of boat left behind by Hurricane Ian – According to Myrtle Beach Police Department spokesperson, MCpl. Tom Vest, the original plan was to remove the boat Monday at high tide. But that won’t be happening because the tide has kept two smaller tug boats from making it to Myrtle Beach. >click to read<
Lowcountry Shrimpers expect cost of fuel to impact profits, cause issues
With just weeks until shrimp season gets underway, some Shem Creek Shrimpers say they’ve never seen gas prices as high as they are right now. They say the extra cost could push some boats out of the industry or force others to quit shrimping altogether. Shrimpers say with gas prices at nearly $4.50 for boat fuel and boats using hundreds of gallons of gas each day, some boats are sitting idle. Tarvin’s Seafood owner Cindy Tarvin says the higher operating costs will likely lead to higher shrimp and seafood costs through the season in order for shrimpers to offset the expense. video, >click to read< 13:50
Couple recovering after fishing boat sinks in Shem Creek
It was a difficult morning for a young couple and after their commercial fishing boat sunk in Shem Creek sometime during the early morning hours, dumping around 100 gallons of water into the creek as it went down. “We woke up this morning, came down to check the boat as normal,” said one of the boat’s owners. But things were anything but normal. Their source of income was gone. “We just have to keep our composure. It’s just a big old bump in the road, one foot in front of the other and keep on going forward. That’s just life of a commercial fisherman.” Video, >click to read< 09:03
Commercial fishing boat sinks in Shem Creek
Boaters are being asked to avoid the area of Shem Creek on Monday as crews work to clean up an oil spill that resulted from an overturned boat. According to the Mount Pleasant Fire Department, the Hampton Caroline spilled around 100 gallons of oil into Shem Creek. The boat was first reported sinking around 9:00 a.m. Monday, but officials believe it began taking on water overnight. video>click to read< Crews clean up fuel spill after boat sinks at Shem Creek – The clean up effort is underway in Shem Creek after a vessel sank in the early hours of Monday morning, leaking 50-100 gallon of fuel. photo, >click to read< 19:33
SC shrimp season opens with a brighter outlook – “One of the restaurants said its like July Fourth every day,”
“Over the past several years we’ve seen a lot of larger shrimp offshore that are probably coming down from up north, just because of the range expansion of (white) shrimp.” There’s hope that this season will see a comeback for the industry that sells these shrimp, in part because measures to combat coronavirus in 2020 severely restricted restaurant dining and dampened demand for local product. Last year, Cindy Tarvin of Tarvin Seafood, based on Shem Creek, told The Post and Courier that restaurant orders had dropped to between one-quarter and one-third of normal. This year, she said, sales have bounced back dramatically as diners have rushed back to restaurants. “One of the restaurants said its like July Fourth every day,” she >click to read< 16:21
34th Annual Blessing of the Fleet will be April 25th, craft show applications available
The Town of Mount Pleasant Blessing of the Fleet & Seafood Festival craft show applications are now available. The 34th annual festival will be April 25 at Memorial Waterfront Park. The Blessing of the Fleet & Seafood Festival aims to promote local fishermen and the town’s seafood legacy, educate the public on the importance of supporting local fishermen and shrimpers by buying wild-caught and local seafood, and to give back to the community by giving proceeds to a nonprofit that supports Mount Pleasant residents as well as the event. >click to read< 14:44
Shem Creek: Keeping the Lowcountry shrimping industry afloat
The Carolina Breeze leaves the dock every day at 6:00 a.m., with Captain Donnie Brown and his crew Joe, Ziggy, and Emily in tow. Taylor Tarvin — owner of Tarvin’s Seafood on Shem Creek and two boats, including the Carolina Breeze — says that while the business is easy to get into, it is not easy to stay in. He says that while he gets a lot of satisfaction out of supplying “a wholesome, healthy product for people to consume,” the business has become tough. Just 30 years ago, there were over 70 shrimp boats in Shem Creek. Now, there are only about 13. >video, click to read< 09:33
Honoring Captain Wayne Magwood
The Town of Mount Pleasant’s Special Events staff worked with the Magwood family to organize an event to honor the life of Wayne Magwood on Thursday, Oct. 1. Nearly 200 people attended the Celebration of Life ceremony for Magwood at the Mount Pleasant Waterfront Park from 6-7:30 p.m. On Saturday, Oct. 3 the Mount Pleasant shrimp fleet, followed by personal and charter boats, left Shem Creek in a parade in memory of Magwood. A gallery of 52 images is featured, >click to read< 15:47
Magwood death a blow to Mount Pleasant. A Letter by Jimmy Bagwell
When I think of my hometown, my thoughts always go to Shem Creek and the shrimp fleet that has been the most recognizable image of our town for 70 to 80 years. On Sept. 11, one of the icons of that creek was killed in an accident on Coleman Boulevard. Wayne Magwood’s death was met with great sadness by all who knew and loved him. Wayne’s family began the shrimping industry on Shem Creek in 1930 when Capt. C. Magwood became the first fisherman to bring ocean shrimp into the creek. >click to read< 17:23
Wayne Magwood remembered as mentor by fishing community
Wayne Magwood was on his way to the Shem Creek dock to meet Lockwood Freeman when he was struck by a truck on Coleman Boulevard near the docks his family helped build nearly 50 years ago. “It still feels like a dream — I had just talked to him that morning,” Freeman said. “We were meeting at my boat and he wasn’t there, and I knew something had happened. I sat on my boat for 15 minutes and then I went up to an officer and he said Wayne was involved in the accident.” The incident involving the 67-year-old shrimper occurred Friday around 10 a.m. near the intersection of Coleman Boulevard and Mill Street when a truck turned at the intersection and struck Magwood, according to a report by the Mount Pleasant Police Department. >click to read< 16:15
Police: Truck driver ‘distraught,’ didn’t realize he’d hit local shrimper – Police have released new details on the tragic circumstances surrounding an accident that left Lowcountry shrimper Capt. Wayne Magwood dead. >click to read<
Shem Creek blessing
On Tuesday, April 14 there was a downscaled version of the Blessing of the Fleet ceremony without the Seafood Festival and the large crowds. A more private family gathering took place on the Shem Creek Park side of the creek with several shrimping trawlers docked and ready for the start of the provisional season on Wednesday, April 15. Chaplain Jeff Wallace of Charleston Port and Seafarers Society blessed each vessel with holy water and prayed that each would have a bountiful season for a bountiful season for each. Boats included: Winds of Fortune, Eleanor Paige, Miss Bridget, The Family Thing and the Lady J were all blessed at the ceremony. 20 photo’s, >click to read< 15:13
F/V Jamie Lynn stuck ashore due to tides, strong winds, and a needed plan to release her
Feb. 6 when high-speed winds howled through the Lowcountry, a shrimp trawler was pushed into the mud. It remains there until a plan can be made to release it. The Jamie Lynn was anchored on the Mount Pleasant side of Crab Bank and blew onto the bank of the Old Village, just southeast of the mouth of Shem Creek between two privately-owned docks. The boat was purchased by captain Wayne Pye and his fiancé, Jamie Lynn Kennedy,,, According to Kennedy, that’s right about the same time that the shrimp stopped showing up. photos, >click to read< 16:20
Shem Creek Fisheries sells 2020 calendars to support local shrimp fleet
The Shem Creek Fisheries of Mount Pleasant, a local non-profit organization dedicated to Shem Creek’s shrimping fleet, is selling 2020 calendars to help fund their mission. The nonprofit will donate all of profits from the calendar sales to support their purpose of preserving the creek’s heritage, providing education to the public, helping with financial support when needed and helping the fleet continue to bring a sustainable product to the public. >click to read< For more information about this organization and the 2020 calendars visit scfisheries.com09:42
2019 Climate Ready Fisheries Act: Rep. Cunningham meets with Lowcountry fishermen, will introduce sustainable fishing bill
2019 Climate Ready Fisheries Act – Congressman Joe Cunningham met with fishermen on Shem Creek to discuss the impacts of climate change on the fishing industry. The democratic representative for South Carolina’s 1st Congressional District says he plans to introduce a bill on Capitol Hill Tuesday that will encourage sustainable fishing. Rep. Cunningham says development and rising costs have forced fishermen out of business Shem Creek. But tonight he says the way to save the industry is to preserve the environment. >click to read< 12:05
Town of Mount Pleasant acquires ownership of Wando Dock
The Wando Seafood Dock on Shem Creek has changed hands twice in less than a week, this time its ownership has fallen into possession of the Town of Mount Pleasant. The acquisition was announced Friday on the heels of previous owner Brett Elrod, who closed on the property and then flipped it to the town for $4.35 million. Last August, Elrod entered into a contract to purchase Wando Dock for an undisclosed amount, which encompasses a 1-acre lot and 350 feet of dock space. He signed with the intent of refurbishing its preexisting state of affairs which were in need of repairs and an environmental study. >click to read<17:36
Shrimp season to open next week in outer SC waters
The fresh shrimp of the coast will be back on the plate, and soon. Commercial netting opens Wednesday — two months earlier than last year. It’s a welcome change after the brutal winter in 2018 halted any commercial shrimping until late June. The relatively early opening had been expected after this year’s warmer winter. Shrimper Tommy Edwards, who works out of Shem Creek in Mount Pleasant, predicted in February the S.C. Department of Natural Resources would open the “provisional,” or outer, waters by the first full moon in April. >click to read<21:00
Maritime Center ice machine breaks leaving shrimp fleet troubled
The ice machine at Charleston Maritime Center broke in November 2018. As a result, shrimp boats throughout Charleston and Shem Creek are starting to fret about how they’ll keep their shrimp cold this season. Jack O’Toole, director of communications for the City of Charleston explained that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently changed ice machine regulations.,,, Tommy Edwards, captain of the shrimp boat Playboy, docks his boat at Wreck of the Richard & Charlene. Edwards said he’s been going to the Maritime Center since they opened for ice because it’s the only resource he has. Edwards said that he called the Maritime Center on March 4 and found out they didn’t have plans to replace the ice machine.“The only way I found out is I called them. They didn’t notify us. They’re letting us hang on thinking it’s back to the regular routine,” Edwards said. >click to read<17:52
Shem Creek dock partnership in the works for Mount Pleasant
The town is opening negotiations to take a role in saving one of the last shrimp boat docks on Shem Creek, the picturesque tourism hub. Mount Pleasant Town Council this week voted unanimously for staff to move ahead “with due diligence” after receiving legal advice on the sought-after shrimp boat dock on Shem Creek. The discussion was held in an executive session, a meeting out of the public eye. >click to read<20:02
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
Mount Pleasant developer to buy one of Shem Creek’s last shrimping docks
One of the last shrimp boat docks on Shem Creek might be saved. Or it might be developed out from underneath the boats, as some fear. Builder and Mount Pleasant resident Brett Elrod has stepped in to buy the Wando dock at the mouth of Shem Creek. Elrod said he plans to work with the community developing the property while maintaining a dock and facilities for shrimp boats.,, But the East Cooper Land Trust, which had been trying to raise money to buy the property, is not convinced and is not partnering with Elrod in the effort. Director Catherine Main said the trust is skeptically optimistic. >click to read<15:16
Save Shem Creek Corp. won’t fundraise until Land Trust offer accepted – >click to read<
Shem Creek’s Wando dock up for sale, one of last for area shrimp boats
One of Shem Creek’s last remaining shrimp boat docks is quietly up for sale. The loss of the Wando dock could be the tipping point for the vanishing fleet in the creek made famous by its hanging nets. The Wando dock is one of the last three commercial docks mooring shrimp boats that are a picturesque hallmark of the creek. Five boats now tie up there — about half the fleet that once existed. In previous years, it was common to see shrimp boats tied off three or more abreast and their catch sold from the docks. Losing it could mean those boats would have nowhere else to tie off, much less sell their shrimp. It also could put more development pressure on the owners of the other two. >click to read<19:32
Cold waters, few shrimp means delay in South Carolina season opening
Two years ago, Greg Herald and two partners decided to try to beat the odds. They bought a shrimp boat and began working from Shem Creek. They wanted to become part of the traditional Lowcountry fleet that is struggling just to hang on. Today, the partnership has liquidated. The veteran commercial fisherman among them, Vince Shavender, has gone home to North Carolina. Herald plans to continue selling shrimp from a roadside stand — local catch if he can get it. But last year he traveled as far as North Carolina and Georgia to find enough to sell. The third partner, who bought out the boat, didn’t return phone messages asking if he is still in the shrimping business. >click to read<10:32
It’s getting harder to reel in a living on South Carolina coast
Pete Kornack launched his oyster boat into “white knuckle” thick fog on a recent morning and came back with a good harvest, some 16 bushels. The hoist squeaked almost musically pulling the bags of oysters from the boat to the dock. But it wasn’t like the days when Kornack, 50, was young. Crews then would bring back 90 bushels, sometimes shoveling them into the boat. Today, commercial shellfish harvesters like Kornack often have to supplement the living they love by finding other jobs. >click to read<10:27
There’s a new girl in town – Geechie Girl calls Shem Creek home
Renee Rector Suggs is no stranger to the life of shrimping. She is the daughter of Bubba and Pam Rector who has owned numerous shrimp boats docked in Shem Creek. Bubba’s most current is the Warren H. Rector found at Geechie Dock down Magwood Ln. Her mom came from six generations of shrimpers. And while Warren is a first generation shrimper he provided a life for his kids that put shrimping in their blood. Shrimping is not an easy profession. It’s hard work, it’s seasonal and has it’s ups and downs. But despite it all, Renee and her husband Terry took the plunge and have purchased a trawler out of Darian, Ga. and named her Geechie Girl. click here to read the story 16:47
Finding purpose and taking pride in your work, even when it’s cutting fish
As a young boy, David Bruns loved to play on the docks at Shem Creek. He’d always wait to see what the fishing boats and shrimp trawlers unloaded. The salt spray and pluff mud seemed part of his DNA. Born and raised in Mount Pleasant, Bruns looked like he could be a defensive lineman. But he was far more fascinated with fish than football. After his days were done at Wando High School, Bruns found work as a driver for Simmons Seafood. While some workers might complain about the smell or the hours, Bruns believed he was around the business and the people for a reason. After three years, he applied for a position with Crosby’s Seafood. This, too, involved making some deliveries, but there was an additional opportunity. He could learn to cut fish. Bruns was taught the intricacies of boning and filleting fish. If you cut meat, you’re a butcher. If you dissect fish, you’re a fish cutter. click here to read the story 20:18
South Carolina: 30th on the 30th – Blessing of the Fleet marks start of shrimp season
The 30th annual Blessing of the Fleet will be held April 30 with an anticipated fleet of 13 boats. Continuing the tradition began by the Magwood family, who started the festival in 1988, every year the proceeds from the festival are donated to local nonprofit organizations. The Town of Mount Pleasant has chosen the Charleston Port and Seafarers’ Society and East Cooper Meals on Wheels to receive the net proceeds of the 30th annual Blessing of the Fleet & Seafood Festival. Meet the captains – click here to read the rest and view the images 15:28
