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Local fish stocking program fears loss of revenue

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Less money from the state could endanger research and fish stocking programs in the Lowcountry, according to Al Stokes, the manager of Bluffton's Waddell Mariculture Center.

Stokes and others say the local economy also will suffer because the center helps bring in recreational fishermen.

"It's the resources and beauty of South Carolina that attracts people here," Stokes said. "We are bringing in dollars and managing a lot of the economy for the state, but we get short-changed."

Waddell is part of the Marine Resources Division of the state Department of Natural Resources. The department is facing across-the-board cuts from the legislature. Waddell is expected to get nearly $50,000 less than it received last year. One of Waddell's main programs is stocking cobia and redfish, prime targets for recreational anglers.

Last year, the center received about $250,000 in state funding to operate and a special appropriation of $400,000 for renovations, Stokes said. That renovation money has been recurring for the past several years and has been used to update Waddell's building, fish-raising ponds and equipment, which are constantly exposed to salt air and saltwater.

Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton, proposed a $1 million operating budget for Waddell this year. That proposal was denied due to a "record low revenue budget year," he said.

If state dollars are short, the money Stokes would use to pay general operating costs might have to be supplemented with grants, which he normally uses to pay for research and fish stocking programs.

David Harter of the Hilton Head Island Sportfishing Club said recreational fishermen contribute to the state and local economy when they come here to catch cobia. There are only four major cobia spawning grounds on the East Coast, and one is in Beaufort County.

The American Sportfishing Association released a report in January saying that South Carolina is among the top 10 states for recreational fishing, with an estimated 810,000 anglers who spend $1.5 billion a year.

Compared to other states like Georgia and Florida that don't have centers like Waddell, South Carolina is ahead of the curve, Harter said.

"They (the other states) are running into the same problems -- too many fisherman and not enough fish," he said. "When so much is benefiting our local fisheries, it seems silly (not to fund it)."

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