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The season for licensed, recreational shrimp baiting begins at noon Friday and runs through noon Nov. 9. On the right tide and in the right location, a good shrimp-baiter can fill a 48-quart cooler in an hour or less.
However, Vincent Flowers, a commercial shrimper based on Edisto Island north of St. Helena Sound, said the cost of shrimp baiting in today's economy keeps many off the water and the 60-day season no longer poses the threat to his business it once did.
"Back when it first started (in 1988), it used to affect us a good bit because the shrimp wouldn't move," said Flowers, who has been a shrimper for more than 30 years. "They wouldn't move up the creek like they're supposed to."
That's because the shrimp were attracted by all the bait -- usually fish meal mixed with clay and rolled into softball-sized lumps -- that remained in the water long after the shrimpers who put it there returned to the landing. The shrimp would stay in the creeks or close to the shore for easy meals instead of moving into open waters where trawlers could catch them.
Flowers said that hasn't happened in recent years because of the reduction in the number of shrimp-baiters.
License sales for shrimp baiting peaked at 17,497 in 1998 and have steadily declined since, totaling just 8,262 last year, according to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources.
S.C. Seafood Alliance director Frank Blum said shrimp-baiters can create problems if they sell their catch, which is illegal. And baiters don't always adhere to the daily limits of 48 quarts of shrimp per boat, or 29 quarts of shrimp with heads removed, he said.
On average, shrimp-baiters have hauled in 20 to 22 quarts per trip, heads-on, since 2001, according to DNR. Meanwhile, the total catch for shrimp baiting has fallen from 3.6 million pounds in 1997 to less than 1 million per season in recent years.
"The stable catch-per-trip suggests that shrimp abundance has remained relatively good, but fewer licenses and shrimping trips are resulting in a lower overall harvest," according to a DNR news release.
Craig Reaves, president of the S.C. Shrimpers Association and owner of Sea Eagle Market in Beaufort, said he enjoys seeing recreational shrimpers have a good time on the water. Occasionally, some of them stop by his shop to buy shrimp if they have no luck.
Flowers and Reaves said it's been a strong season so far for the commercial shrimp trawlers, and Clay Cable, vice president of the S.C. Shrimpers Association, said he expects a good fall harvest.
"It looks like they're going to have a tremendous fall crop of white shrimp," Cable said. "The creeks are literally full of white shrimp."
That could also mean good news for shrimp-baiters.
WANT TO GET A LICENSE?
Shrimp baiting involves throwing cast nets over bait placed in the water and marked by a series of as many as 10 poles. Licenses for shrimp baiting cost $25 for S.C. residents and $500 for non-residents. To get a license for shrimp baiting, go to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources' website at www.dnr.sc.gov or call 803-734-3833. To report violations of saltwater recreational and commercial fishing laws, call the toll-free, 24-hour DNR Coast Watch at 800-922-5431.
