Last summer, state law changed, establishing an aggregate limit on the three species of saltwater panfish. It is now unlawful to take by hook-and-line or possess in any one day more than 50 fish, in combination, from these species: spot, whiting and Atlantic croaker.
Lawmakers and conservation groups felt that with the boom in saltwater fishing and the popularity of these fish. A move was in order, and that’s how the creel limits were born.
Scott Whitaker of the Coastal Conservation Association of South Carolina said that CCA-SC was instrumental in crafting this legislation along with support from SCDNR and state legislators.
“Most of the time you see a limit imposed when a fishery is in decline,” said Whitaker. “The South Carolina coast has a great fishery of these fish, and they’re not hard to catch. We just felt being pro-active in establishing a limit would be a great way to preserve this fishery.”
Mel Ball, director of SCDNR’s Marine Office of Fisheries Management, said, “This is a small, pro-active step towards maintaining these fish populations as our fishing public continues to grow at a rate of about 30 percent per decade.”
Charter captains who rely on this fishery see no problem implementing this step.
“There are days when you might be able to catch a 3-person limit at this new limit, but 150 fish are a lot of whiting,” said Jimmy Skinner of Edisto’s Fontaine Charters. “You’re probably not going to want to keep that many. We also tend to throw back the smaller ones, even though there’s not a size limit, just to keep the population strong for the future.”
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