Step up to the plate for Waddell Mariculture Center and save our SC waterways

Lord knows I try and stay out of politics, but right this moment I have no choice but to get involved.

Being more or less an independent, I do know this. When it comes to election time in these parts I hear way too much that straight-ticket voting is sadly the norm. With elections around the corner, now is the time to prove your worth by getting involved and voting for whomever is committed to preserving our unique way of life, party be damned.

Before I tell you what has me so all fired up, let me ask each of you these questions.

Do you own one of those big, beautiful homes that I see all along the May River, Colleton River or any of our local waterways?

Do you own a boat, like to fish, shrimp, crab or go out and pick a bushel or two of oysters or clams?

If not a boat, maybe you simply like to kayak through our pristine marshes, crab off a dock or take your sailboat out for an afternoon on the water.

If you said “yes” to any of these questions then your water-oriented lifestyle is at stake with the ever-growing population along this fragile coastline.

Wondering what I am getting at? Here’s the lowdown.

Still underfunded

After years of trying, long overdue funding was finally approved by the state so that the Waddell Mariculture Center’s multitude of problems, most structural, could be fixed. Being one of many of Waddell’s biggest supporters, I have seen it take more than two years, but the upgraded facility is inches from completion.

The building is all but new.

The wet lab where all the tanks that hold cobia, trout, redfish, hogfish and tripletail are also new, with state of the art filtration and water temperature units that hopefully keep the water at the optimal temperature to entice year-round brood stock to mate. The can triple the amount of young ‘uns released to restock depleted stocks in waters from here to Charleston.

Even with the funding to revamp the facility, it is still woefully underfunded and, if my sources are accurate, they received another 10% cut to this year’s budget.

Looking back, the funding approval made it through the House but, unbelievably, when it reached the Senate, that funding was shelved, illustrating how backward and ill-informed many of our state senators are.

A number of them had never even heard of the Waddell Center, and just as many thought it was a horticultural center and had no idea whatsoever what a mariculture center does.

If you are in that group that has no idea what the Waddell Mariculture Center does, let me give you a primer on what this dedicated and underfunded establishment does for each and every one of us who lives here in the Lowcountry and, for that matter, every resident in the state of South Carolina who utilizes our coastal waters.

Welcome to Waddell

Located on Sawmill Creek Road right here in Bluffton, the Waddell Mariculture Center is state run and its primary mission is to develop new means of raising seafood, such as shrimp, fish and shellfish, through mariculture.

I know that description probably doesn’t tug at your heartstrings. But what if you knew that its beautiful location on the Colleton River was once destined to be a huge BASF petrochemical plant.

Unless you have actually toured this amazing place, then you probably have no idea what it has done to impact an area of our coast that stretches from here to Myrtle Beach.

Director Erin Levesque is at the helm, but due to further state funding cuts, she oversees a skeleton staff of dedicated marine biologists: Jake Morgenstern and Jason Broach. This meager crew steps up to the plate to save our waters each and every day.

They advise on issues such as stormwater runoff.

They re-seed oyster beds up and down our coast.

They attempt to raise Port Royal cobia stocks that were decimated back in the 1990s.

And whenever asked to advise on issues that will adversely affect our waters, they are there without hesitation.

For you who fish, how about these statistics: over the past two to three years they have raised and released into our waters over 2 million redfish, 700,000 sea trout, 300,000 striped bass, over 4,000 cobia — and the list goes on and on.

And education. One girl from Hilton Head Island High School had Waddell help with her science fair project and she went on to the international competition where she came in 3rd place, plus she received two awards from NOAA. And she isn’t the only one as Waddell has worked with students from schools all over the state.

Pitch in

So here is where I plead for your help.

I know for a fact that between Hilton Head and Bluffton, we have some heavy hitters that have the ability to make the funding that is so desperately needed at Waddell a reality.

Contributions can be used as a tax write-off as they are managed through the Community Foundation of the Lowcountry.

Or maybe you are like me, just an average Joe, but one phone call to a state representative encouraging him or her to propose raising the price of our woefully underpriced saltwater fishing licenses to match license fees of most all other coastal states would free up funds for Waddell, our reef program and additional staff to monitor the state of our heavily used waters.

In addition, I have recently joined a group led by Larry Hughes to possibly partner with washing machine manufacturers in an attempt to provide cost-efficient filters that filter out microplastics.

Synthetic clothing materials all have plastics in them and, sadly, water treatment plants cannot remove these particles that are making it into our seafood, especially filter feeders like oysters and clams.

Republican, Democrat or independent, take five lousy minutes of your time and call or e-mail our state representatives and voice your opinion on these issues.

If you know senators from inland counties, call them.

The following are among those who have heeded the call in the past, but more needs to be done, especially regarding saltwater license fees:

State Sen. Tom Davis, 843-252-8583; tomdavis@scsenate.gov.

State Rep. Bill Herkersman, 843-255-2260; BillHerbkersman@schouse.gov.

State Rep. Weston Newton, 843-255-2260; WestonNewton@schouse.gov.