Fishermen, rescue crews not happy about closure of boat ramp on Broad River

Closing the boat ramp at the Broad River Landing for six months will make water rescues more difficult and hurt the commercial fishermen who need easy access to the river, some ramp users say.

Others say they're pleased the county is enhancing a ramp that hasn't been improved in more than 20 years.

Beaufort County is spending $1.23 million to revamp the boat landing, doubling the size of the ramp to two lanes, adding a floating dock and dredging a 50-foot-by-500-foot entrance channel. Construction is set to begin Monday . The fishing pier will remain open.

It took several years for the county to secure permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the state Ocean and Coastal Resource Management to work in the channel near wetlands, said county engineer Bob Klink. He said the marsh will not be affected, and construction is not expected to harm marine life.

"There's a lot of work involved," he said. "The hard part is we're going to be dredging about 8,000 cubic yards."

"Six months is actually a pretty good time frame," he added in reference to the time needed to perform the work.

But Richard Jennings, skipper of Beaufort Water Search and Rescue, isn't pleased.

The rescue team primarily uses The Sands at Port Royal to launch, but the Broad River ramp is an important secondary point, Jennings said. Without it, the team has two options: come out of The Sands and go through Archers Creek, or launch at the Chechessee boat ramp and travel through the Rose Island Cut.

The Rose Island route can be tricky at low tide or at night, he said.

"It's going to handicap us," Jennings said of the six-month closure. "Anyone who is in real danger is usually in the Broad River."

For a trio of oystermen launching their boat at the Broad River ramp Wednesday afternoon, the river is a source of income -- as much as $300 per day during oyster season. They said they use the landing at least six days a week.

"This is our livelihood," said Tim Fontecchio, a commercial fisherman who brings his haul to Sea Eagle Market in Beaufort. "This is the season we wait on."

Closing the ramp for six months jeopardizes his ability to make money, Fontecchio said. Finding another launch spot will "take more fuel, take more overhead, take more time, take more everything."

The County Council awarded the design and construction contract for the project in July to R.L. Morrison and Sons of McClellanville. Part of the funding comes from a 1998 voter-approved sales-tax increase for S.C. 170 improvements.

The boat ramp was built in the 1950s and hasn't been updated in more than 20 years. Officials tried to schedule this latest round of construction at the end of shrimping season, Klink said.

"It's pretty common knowledge among boaters that the ramp is not very good, especially at low tide," he said. "It's going to be a very superior facility to what's there now. I think the inconvenience will be more than offset by the new facility that we'll be getting."

Columbia resident Tina Rish said she supported the improvements, while she backed her boat down the Broad River ramp Wednesday and into the water.

Rish travels to Beaufort five or six times a year to vacation and for some casual shrimping and fishing. She usually launches from Parris Island because the Broad River ramp is covered with cumbersome oyster shells.

"It would be great if there was a dock," Rish said. "The repairs sound good to me."

Money for the boat landing project is coming from four funds.

Two sources use excess revenue from the 1 percent sales tax voters approved in 1998 for S.C. 170 improvements:

• $274,009 from the Broad River Landing improvement fund

• $250,000 from the Broad River fishing pier and restroom improvement fund (Restrooms should be completed this month.)

The other funds:

• $600,000 from Port Royal Landing parking lot improvement fund (Project completed.)

• $110,000 from fiscal-year 2007 Capital Improvement Project fund

Total cost: $1,227,143