Shrimp baiting season begins today, to the chagrin of commercial fishermen

It's a big day for recreational shrimpers.

Not so much for those who run commercial trawlers, though.

The shrimp-baiting season opens at noon today and ends at noon Nov. 10. Recreational shrimpers who purchase a license -- the fee is $25 for residents and $500 for non-residents -- can throw their cast nets over bait placed in the water and marked by a series of up to 10 poles.The catch limit per boat is 48 quarts of shrimp with their heads on or 29 quarts with heads removed.

Though shrimp baiting is a Lowcountry tradition, commercial shrimpers say it continues to hurt their dwindling industry.

"Baiting season will stop the movement of the shrimp," said Clay Cable, a former shrimper and vice president of the S.C. Shrimpers Association. "Shrimp have a normal migration pattern. They move offshore as they mature, and when the baiters start spreading the fish meal in the nurseries, the shrimp stop. ... And the few boats that are shrimping at this point will quit next week or so because the shrimp ... won't be out there where (shrimpers) can legally fish."

Craig Reaves of Sea Eagle Market in Beaufort said the baiting season hurts his business every year. The recreational season reduces his catches by about two-thirds, he said.

"Where the shrimp normally tend to move toward the ocean, they don't during baiting season," he said. "In most recent years, there have been less people participating, so it hasn't affected us as badly. But it definitely hurts the commercial industry, and overall, I think it hurts the shrimp because the natural migratory patterns are changed."

DNR biologist Larry DeLancey said he's not sure how the baiting season affects theshrimp population.

"Some move offshore and some don't, anyway," he said. "What's had more of an impact has been just the climate change. We've got a lot warmer in the past decade, so shrimp tend to stay longer or through the winter because it's so much warmer."

License sales for shrimp baiting peaked at 17,497 in 1998 and have declined steadily, with 8,346 licenses purchased last year, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

Annual state surveys since 1988 show a steady decline to less than 1 million pounds per season, significantly lower than the 1997 peak of more than 3.6 million pounds.

DeLancey said people have lost interest in the practice.

"You can buy shrimp pretty cheaply these days, and (shrimping) is hard work," he said.

DeLancey said the 2009 season outlook "should be about average, depending on weather conditions."