You don’t see shrimp trawlers working the sea like you once did. You don’t see them coming in with their photogenic outriggers up. To be clear, trawlers still work the sea but nowhere in numbers like they once did.,, Times were you’d see them out at sea working, nets out, capturing shrimp. Beachgoers would see several trawlers with nets up coming home with a haul. Beachgoers and locals alike knew where to get fresh-caught shrimp and it was no marketing spin. It was the real deal, but those days are slipping away. Regulations, pollution, imports, inaccessible shrimping grounds, mariculture, maintenance costs, aging fleets, and other factors have put the hurt on the shrimping industry. >click to read< 07:36
Tag Archives: South Carolina
Hurricane Ian Taking Aim at the Carolinas and Georgia – Public Advisory – 800 PM EDT
At 800 PM EDT (0000 UTC), the center of Hurricane Ian was located by an Air Force Hurricane Hunter aircraft near latitude 29.7 North, longitude 79.4 West. Ian is moving toward the north-northeast near 10 mph (17 km/h). A turn toward the north is expected tonight, followed by a turn toward the north-northwest with an increase in forward speed Friday night. On the forecast track, Ian will approach the coast of South Carolina on Friday. The center will move farther inland across the Carolinas Friday night and Saturday. Maximum sustained winds are near 75 mph (120 km/h) with higher gusts. Ian could slightly strengthen before landfall tomorrow and is forecast to rapidly weaken over the southeastern United States late Friday into Saturday. >click to read< Graphics, >click here< 20:15
Many trapped in Florida as Ian heads toward South Carolina – Photos show the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers
Rescue crews piloted boats and waded through flooded streets Thursday to save thousands of Floridians trapped after Hurricane Ian destroyed homes and businesses and left millions in the dark. A hurricane warning was issued for the South Carolina coast, where the storm was expected to again make landfall, having already hit Cuba and Florida. Photos, >click to read< Photos show the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian in Fort Myers – With top winds of 155 mph, Ian was a major storm that left catastrophic damage in its wake after hitting the southern Gulf Coast and moving north through Florida’s inner counties. The images below show its impact around the state. >click to view< 16:40
NOAA must show proof of right whale claims
A port association that includes the Georgia Ports Authority and a large organization in South Carolina that represents hundreds of anglers and others associated with the recreational and commercial fishing industry have submitted a simple request to the federal agencies that regulate U.S. waters. The request: Provide the data behind an amended regulation that could lead to dire consequences for industries that generate billions of dollars in revenue and thousands of jobs. The National Marine Fisheries Service and its mothership, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, are proposing to amend the Atlantic Right Whale Strike Reduction Rule. If adopted, fishing craft between 35 and 65 feet in length will be required to follow the same speed mandate as large vessels. From Nov. 1 to April 15, none would be allowed to exceed 10 knots, roughly 11.5 mph, when in waters frequented by right whales. >click to read< 12:43
Old shrimp boat goes down in Battery Creek in Port Royal
An old shrimp boat has sunk while anchored in Battery Creek near the city-owned dock in Port Royal, which is in the process of evicting boats, many of them in disrepair, in order to build a new dock. The F/V Josie N had been tied to the Port Royal dock, but recently it was moved and anchored about 100 yards out in a channel. “It must have gone down overnight,” Van Willis, Port Royal’s town manager, said early Friday afternoon. The owner, 
he said, was on his way to the location with another shrimper to bring it back up and “drag it out of here.” Includes a video, Woody Collins knew William North for years. He walked the shrimp docks in Port Royal on Wednesday recalling the man the Lowcountry came to know as “Captain Billy.” >click to read< 15:58
Fisherman indicted on attempted murder charges after attacks with fishing gaff
A federal grand jury indicted an Andrews man Wednesday in connection to the attack of a crewmate and his captain after they refused to go back to port so he could buy more alcohol. Matthew Kelly, 49, was indicted on two counts of Assault with Intent to Commit Murder, two counts of Assault with a Dangerous Weapon, and one count of Act of Violence against Persons on a Vessel. The victims of the alleged crime told investigators that Kelly brought two large bottles of alcohol with him when he boarded the boat. He consumed the alcohol over the course of five days until he ran out on June 16. That’s when the other two men noticed Kelly beginning to talk to himself and act irrationally. >click to read< 10:01
Research vessel Lady Lisa may be nearing its end
Beach visitors were captivated by what appeared to be a shrimp trawler meandering close to shore along St. Augustine Beach last week. But this was no ordinary shrimp trawler, nor was it actually “shrimping.” The vessel in question was the Lady Lisa, a 75-foot former shrimp trawler, and now a research vessel, which has appeared for more than three decades in local waters – usually twice a year. Although it appears that it was in violation of off-shore limits, the regulations do not apply to the Lady Lisa, which was built in St. Augustine in 1980 by St. Augustine Trawlers Inc. But it was not the shrimp business that its owners had in mind. >click to read< 21:04
South Carolina shrimp harvest opens fully
After a cool spring in South Carolina, the majority of white shrimp in coastal waters have reproduced — and officials at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources have given the go-ahead for shrimp season to open in full. Commercial shrimp trawling opened in all legal South Carolina waters at 8 a.m. June 1. The trawling season in Georgia waters was scheduled to open at the same time. Shrimping season in South Carolina typically starts in spring with the opening of a small subset of waters, called provisional areas, that allow shrimpers to take advantage of the harvest offshore while still protecting the majority of shrimp that have yet to spawn. >click to read< 08:05
Lowcountry shrimpers facing challenges as season begins along SC coast
The full 2022 shrimping season is underway along the South Carolina coast, but economic woes may cause a challenge this year. While the offshore shrimping began in April, which allows shrimping three miles off the coast – or in South Carolina’s provisional area – Lowcountry shrimpers can work closer to the coast as of June 1. “Today, what we call the beaches, open for in-shore trawling. So, shrimpers are allowed to come in within, I think, a half-mile of the beach,” explained Cindy Tarvin, co-owner of Tarvin Seafood on Shem Creek. Video, >click to read< 18:56
Happy National Shrimp Day! Here’s what to know about South Carolina shrimp
Every year on May 10, National Shrimp Day recognizes America’s favorite bite-sized seafood. If you’re a fan, today’s the day to make your favorite shrimp dish and learn more about how these little crustaceans are involved in South Carolina’s history and ecosystems. Commercial fishing in South Carolina is dominated by shrimpers whose trawlers can reach up to 85 feet in length or more. These boats can be multipurpose and can be used locally for both shrimping and crabbing as well as for line-fishing and trawling. Shrimping can be a tedious and at times, dangerous business. Yet, it remains to be a fundamental part of South Carolina life. >click to read< 08:08
More than a dozen shrimp, fishing boats blessed during Mt. Pleasant’s ‘Blessing of the Fleet’
The 35th Annual Blessing of the Fleet took place Sunday afternoon at Mt. Pleasant’s Memorial Waterfront Park. Fifteen shrimp and fishing boats took part in the blessing and parade. The event is a way to show community support for those taking to the waters this season- along with those no longer with us. Wayne Magwood’s memory continues to be honored- through his former vessel making an appearance from its new home in North Carolina, 
to one the current local boats being renamed in his honor. Magwood’s daughter Melissa said, “this festival has been a part of my life like the entire time, the 35 years, of celebrating the blessing of the fleet.” It’s a time for Melissa and her family who is deeply rooted in the shrimp catching industry to honor the local “legend” who passed away in 2020. Photos, videos, >click to read< 14:49
South Carolina: The 35th annual Blessing of the Fleet & Seafood Festival returns
It’s oh-fish-ial! The 35th annual Blessing of the Fleet and Seafood Festival is returning this weekend. The festival has one purpose: To celebrate Mount Pleasant’s local fishing and shrimping industry. Held at Memorial Waterfront Park on Sun., April 24, this free event features a boat parade, live music, a dance competition, and a shrimp eating contest. The festival also includes a ceremonial blessing of the fleet. Attendees are encouraged to come hungry,,, >click to read< 08:05
Commercial fisherman medevac’d 50 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina
The Coast Guard medevac’d a man Wednesday aboard the fishing vessel F/V Crystal C, 50 miles east of Charleston, South Carolina. A Coast Guard Air Station Savannah MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew transferred John Gary Modin to awaiting emergency medical services at Air Facility Charleston. EMS transported him to the Medical University of South Carolina for further medical care. >click to read< 18:30
Port Royal ousting old shrimp boats from dock.
Port Royal is moving ahead with a plan to demolish the town-owned dock,,, “I think we all want to see a working waterfront,” Town Manager Van Willis says of the effort. “We’re hoping with a new dock and state-of-art processing facility we’ll become a location to offload.” Owners of the old boats tied up at the dock have been given until April 15 to move. The town, however, will be responsible for moving abandoned boats or those that have sunk. Most of the boats never leave the dock. “Unfortunately, almost every single one doesn’t actually shrimp,” Willis says of the shrimp boats, some of them barely seaworthy, that are tied to an equally dilapidated dock. >click to read< 16:33
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
South Atlantic: NMFS accepting input on “ropeless” black sea bass pots
The National Marine Fisheries Service is accepting comments on an application for an exempted fishing permit from Sustainable Seas Technology Inc. The applicant proposes deploying modified black sea bass pots with acoustic subsea buoy retrieval systems in federal waters off North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and northeastern Florida. Adaptation of “ropeless” systems for this style of pot fishing could reduce risk to these whales and other marine animals that suffer entanglements, according to the applicant. >click to read< 09:56 fixed gear
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
South Carolina: Multiple people, businesses charged for illegal commercial fish harvest and sales
James Wooten of Bluffton, Dawson Loper of Bluffton, and David Festerman of Griffen, GA are each facing multiple charges for illegally harvesting and selling flounder, tripletail, sheepshead, and red drum. 42 fish were seized during the arrest. Restaurants buying the fish were also implicated. Chef Eric Seaglund at Hudson’s Seafood House in Hilton Head “was charged with one count of unlawful purchase of a saltwater fishery product, and one count each of possessing undersized tripletail and undersized flounder.” >click to read< 08:32
S.C. Lawmakers set aside $3.2M for projects. Where the money’s going? Some to Port Royal’s shrimp docks
A handful of local projects will see at least $3.2 million in state tax dollars, thanks to money earmarked by Beaufort County legislators in the state budget was approved over objections from S.C. Gov. Henry McMaster. Among the projects receiving the money are Port Royal’s shrimp docks,,, In the state budget, lawmakers designated a total of $900,000 for repairs and redevelopment of a town-run shrimp dock in Port Royal, where seafood processing operations will be suspended after years of financial losses. “It’s the only publicly owned shrimp dock on the eastern coast of the United States,” said Rep. Shannon Erickson, a Beaufort Republican who sponsored the earmarked money. >click to read< 11:03
08:00 – Commercial Shrimp Season is Now Open in South Carolina!
The bright lights of shrimp trawlers have been visible against the offshore horizon each night this week, which can only mean one thing, shrimp season is about to open in full in South Carolina. Commercial shrimp trawling will open in all legal South Carolina waters at 8 a.m. on Thursday. Georgia officials have not yet set an opening date for trawling season in their state waters. “After a slightly cooler start to spring, things now look pretty normal for this time of year,” >click to read< 07: 50
Fundraiser established after shrimp boat capsizes on first day of shrimping season in South Carolina
A commercial shrimping vessel, F/V Miss Kim, has been deemed a loss after capsizing on opening day of inshore shrimping season in South Carolina. A GoFundMe has been established to support the crew. Organizers say Skipper Lockwood McCants Freeman and his two-man crew set out to begin the season when the boat capsized near Morris Island on Thursday morning. >click to read< 09:44
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
“It’s time for our community to get back together,” Mount Pleasant Blessing of the Fleet and Seafood Festival
A day filled with seafood snacking and shag dancing can only mean one thing – the 2021 Blessing of the Fleet and Seafood Festival which will celebrate fishers and shrimpers in typical Mount Pleasant fashion. The daylong festival is April 25 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Mount Pleasant Memorial Waterfront Park. There will be a variety of activities throughout the day with the boat parade and blessing beginning at 1 p.m. After taking a one-year hiatus due to the pandemic, the Blessing of the Fleet and Seafood Festival is “back in business.” Schedule, details, >click to read< 10:54
Two missing after shrimp boat capsizes in Beaufort County, South Carolina
The U.S. Coast Guard and multiple other agencies are searching for two adult males who disappeared after a shrimp boat capsized Tuesday. Responders found the capsized shrimp boat in St. Helena Sound near Harbor Island where the pair had been fishing. Multiple agencies have boats, cutters and helicopters searching for the fishermen. >click to read< 07:14
Coast Guard, partner agencies searching for 2 men near St. Helena Sound – Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Charleston received notification at 3:47 p.m., Tuesday from a family member stating the two men were overdue. A Coast Guard Air Station Savannah helicopter aircrew deployed a rescue swimmer to the 27-foot capsized vessel with no signs of the two men. >click to read<
McClellanville receives $25K grant to help preserve its working waterfront
McClellanville is one of 12 towns recently awarded the Hometown Economic Development Grant from the Municipal Association of South Carolina. The $25,000 grant will go towards an economic development plan to keep and preserve it’s working waterfront, the main economic and cultural aspect of the town.,, “It’ll help the whole town out, this is a shrimping and fishing village, so that working waterfront, probably about half of that town relies on that working waterfront,” >Video, click to read< 09:49
President Trump to to prohibit offshore drilling along Florida, Georgia and S.C. coasts
The president signed a memorandum on Tuesday instructing the interior secretary to prohibit drilling in the waters off the South Carolina coast, Georgia coast and both Florida coasts. The ban would last for a period of 10 years, from July 1, 2022, to June 20, 2032. “South Carolina is blessed with the most beautiful and pristine beaches, sea islands, and marshes in the nation. Seismic testing and offshore drilling threatens their health and jeopardizes the future of our state’s $24 billion tourism industry. Today’s announcement is good news, but we must remain vigilant in the conservation and preservation of our coastline,” said Gov. Henry McMaster. The existing moratorium covers the Gulf of Mexico, and Trump said the new one would also cover the Atlantic coast. >click to read< 08:30
Average forecast as shrimp season opens May 27 in South Carolina
Commercial shrimp trawling will open in all legal South Carolina waters at 8 a.m. on Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Georgia officials have not yet set an opening date for trawling season in their state waters. Shrimping season in South Carolina typically starts in spring with the opening of a small subset of waters, called provisional areas, that allow shrimpers to take advantage of the harvest offshore while still protecting the majority of shrimp that have yet to spawn. This year, following a mild winter, South Carolina’s provisional trawling areas opened unusually early, on April 15, 2020. >click to read< 22:38
Soft-shell crab season is ‘the start of all the good stuff’
One local delicacy seafood is quite popular in the Lowcountry this time of year. Soft-shell crabs, or female blue crabs, are being caught, sold and cooked in homes and restaurants along the state’s coast. Callinectes sapidus or “beautiful swimmers” are more commonly referred to as Atlantic blue crabs. Although they can be caught all year long, the peak molting, or shedding process, of a female crab’s exoskeleton to create the soft-shell normally occurs during the springtime in South Carolina saltwater. “The timing is dictated by the crabs, and when they molt is really dictated by water temperatures. So in our waters, molting can occur year round, but the peak of molting for these females is really in the April-May,, photo’s, >click to read< 13:52
Shell game: Conflict, secrecy cloud battle over SC oyster farming permit
A conflict of interest involving a floating oyster farm in a popular creek has spawned hard questions about government secrecy, insider dealing and the sanctity of public lands in South Carolina. Caged oyster farming has become a growing and potentially lucrative industry in recent years. It offers the promise of eco-friendly jobs and year-round, succulent bivalves for Charleston’s renowned dining scene. But a battle over one such operation sparked a state ethics investigation. That probe found a Department of Natural Resources permit coordinator had used his position to help his brother win approval to grow oysters along a Charleston County creek. The coordinator later quit his job and became a partner in his brother’s company, an Uncovered investigation found. >click to read< 14:11
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