New cobia rules limit fish taken from Beaufort County waters

Fishermen in Beaufort County waters can no longer keep their cobia catches during the month of May and face stricter catch limits after that.

The new state law passed last week aims to rebuild the population of the popular gamefish, most notably in Port Royal Sound. The issue had long been a topic of discussion among local captains and scientists.

Under the new rules, in effect south south of Edisto Island’s Jeremy Inlet and three nautical miles offshore, cobia may only be caught and released during May. In all other months, only one fish per person may be kept, and three per boat.

The previous state rules allowed two fish per person and no boat limit. The minimum size for a keeper remains 33 inches.

The window to keep the fish is smaller this year.

Federal and state waters will be closed to keeping cobia starting June 20 through the end of the year, a federal rule in place because catch limits were exceeded last year.

The rules don’t keep anglers from targeting the fish, only from keeping them.

“For me, the thrill is being able to hook up on a large cobia and bring it to the boat and release it,” said Al Stokes, director of the Waddell Mariculture Center in Bluffton. “It (the new rules) haven’t stopped you from enjoying fishing.”

With the cobia protected, Stokes and DNR plan to capture fish to spawn and will later release the offspring into Port Royal Sound. Stokes wants fishermen to report their catches and give DNR the fish carcasses when the season opens again in June.

DNA allows scientists to differentiate between the wild population and the fish DNR breeds. The data will be used to better manage the wild population, Stokes said.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity.”

Cobia come inshore this time of year to reproduce and in past years drew a crowd of boats to the Broad River Bridge where S.C. 170 crosses the water. The large fish with the body of a shark and broad head are known as good eating.

But the cobia population has dwindled in the Port Royal Sound, as has the number DNR stocks.

Years of S.C. Department of Natural Resources data illustrated the problem and spurred public support when the agency shared the numbers.

In considering the new rules, DNR asked for public input and its biologists studied the species in the state. Scientists found the cobia in Beaufort County waters to be genetically unique, returning here each year to reproduce and not breeding with larger fish offshore.

A depleted population in local waters would take a long time to replenish, scientists concluded.

“The science was clear, suggesting that South Carolina’s cobia population is in jeopardy of collapsing due to long-term overharvesting,” a DNR news release said.

Many charter captains had already recognized the threat to the fishery in the Port Royal Sound and backed off.

Frank Gibson, head of the Beaufort Sportfishing and Diving Club and a charter captain, said only a handful of cobia catches were reported in the Broad River last year because many fishermen were going offshore.

“It’s a welcome sign for the cobia,” Gibson said. “The inshore (population) would have disappeared and not been back for decades and decades and decades. You and I would not be here.”

Beaufort resident Jim Goller, an avid fisherman and director of the Harry Hampton Memorial Wildlife Fund, said he hasn’t fished the Broad River for cobia the past three years. He likened the fish’s plight to herding pregnant does into an area the width of the bridge and having deer hunters blast away.

“That’s what were facing here in the river during the month of of May when they’re spawning,” Goller said. “It’s got to help.”

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 10:09 AM with the headline "New cobia rules limit fish taken from Beaufort County waters."