The South Carolina Department of natural Resources has decided to open the smaller offshore Provisional Trawling Areas in state waters to commercial shrimp trawling. The press release of the authority states that the Provisional Trawling Areas allow the state’s commercial trawler fleet to begin limited harvesting of some this year’s white shrimp that had already moved into these offshore waters.
The decision was taken after consultation with the scientists who observed that coastal water temperatures which influence the timing of shrimp spawning. The shrimp trawl fishery is the state’s single most economically significant commercial fishery, with reported landings exceeding $7 million (at the dock) in the 2011/2012 season.
Mel Bell, DNR’s Director of Office of Fisheries Management, said that this year water temperature is much warmer than average which resulted in good survival of over wintering white shrimp and an accelerated timetable for their likely spawning.
