Marine - Shrimp Baiting
Can't Wait To Bait - article from September - October 1997 edition of
South Carolina Wildlife magazine
by Pete Laurie
South Carolina's newest saltwater recreational fishery combines a unique outdoor experience with a simple way to fill your freezer with fresh seafood.
On a warm September afternoon, a flurry of pickup trucks pulling boat trailers descends upon remote Buck Hall Landing on the fringe of the Francis Marion National Forest. One by one the boats put in and head for the shallow coastal waters of Bulls Bay between Mt. Pleasant and McClellanville. Of various sizes and makes and manned by two or more individuals, the boats all contain several curious items: exactly ten long poles of varying material, several buckets of mud balls, one or more cast nets and a 48-quart cooler.
These folks and thousands of others taking to the water at about the same time at boat ramps up and down the coast have discovered one of South Carolina’s most popular saltwater recreational fisheries: shrimp baiting.
South Carolinians have been catching shrimp over bait with cast nets for decades, but the practice did not become really popular until the early 1980s. At that time, a small group of Florida residents began to catch huge quantities of shrimp over bait near Beaufort, trucking their catch back to Florida for sale. Their success received such notoriety that many local people saw the potential. While an energetic individual with a cast net and a knowledge of local waters and shrimp behavior could always catch a mess of shrimp for fish bait or for home consumption, the concept of using bait to catch a lot of shrimp in a short time with relatively few casts of the net had instant appeal. By 1987, this new fishery, totally unregulated, began to cause conflicts among competing baiters.
The Marine Resources and Law Enforcement divisions of the state Department of Natural Resources subsequently recommended shrimp baiting rules and regulations eventually enacted into law in 1988 by the South Carolina General Assembly. Since then, shrimp baiting has required a $25 permit and can be conducted only during a sixty-day season beginning each year on the last Friday before (or on) September 15. Baiters can use only ten marker poles and can legally catch only four dozen quarts of whole shrimp per boat per day. To prevent the commercialization of this designated recreational fishery, the legislation specifically prohibits the sale of shrimp caught over bait.
Shrimp baiters typically mix dried menhaden meal with mud or clay to form bait balls or patties. These they drop at each of the marker poles. The mud balls allow for a slow, steady release of bait that attracts and concentrates shrimp. Then, with one person running the boat and the other casting the net, baiters work up and down the line of poles until they fill their cooler with shrimp. Most of this activity occurs at night when shrimp move into shallow water, probably to avoid predators. Experienced baiters on a good night often can get a limit in less than an hour of casting. A "limit" consists of what will fit into a 48-quart cooler, with or without ice.
The ease of catching this much fresh seafood so quickly now lures an estimated 21,258 baiters to coastal waters each fall, 2006 DNR data show, and in 1998 a record 17,497 baiting permits were sold with more than 50,000 participants. (Only one person in the boat needs the permit, assuming all helpers are South Carolina residents.) According to DNR surveys, from 1988 to 2006 shrimp baiters annually have averaged 1.26 million pounds of shrimp (heads-off) with a high catch of 2.36 million pounds in 1997, a particularly good shrimp year.
Since the vast majority of shrimp baiters seek shrimp only for home consumption, fishermen average about 4.2 trips per season with an average catch of twenty-one quarts of shrimp per trip. An estimated one percent or less of permit holders make more than twenty baiting trips per season. Survey results show that about 80 percent of baiters typically catch half the total harvest each year, while the other 20 percent take the other half. In recent years the catch per trip for most baiters appears to be stable or slightly increasing, probably because of the decreasing competition. License sales have been steadily trending downwards since 1998, perhaps related to dropping prices for commercial shrimp and an aging population.
Despite its popularity, shrimp baiting has drawn a number of vocal critics. Commercial shrimpers, with thousands of dollars invested in large vessels, nets and other gear, complain that baiters rob them of their livelihood and that the bait fishery threatens to put them out of business. But while commercial shrimpers in some local areas, such as just offshore from Charleston Harbor, an area used heavily by baiters, have experienced short-term reductions in catches when the baiting season opens, long-term impacts on the trawl fishery have not been recorded. Comparing the average commercial catch of shrimp during the fifteen years prior to shrimp baiting with catches during the twelve years of shrimp baiting, DNR marine biologists noticed no annual decline in the commercial harvest of shrimp. Although they cannot directly document it, biologists also know that some of the shrimp caught over bait ends up in "commercial" landings.
Environmentalists worry about the impact of thousands of shrimp baiters on migratory birds, litter and the adding of large amounts of nutrients to coastal waters in the form of bait balls. While the many baiters on the water at night can cause some minor disturbances to local residents, preliminary studies have detected no impacts on waterfowl, shorebirds, wading birds or other species. And although baiters annually add an estimated 597,200 pounds of fish meal to the state’s estuaries, biologists consider this minute compared to the natural nutrients present in coastal waters. Also, unlike the commercial shrimp trawl fishery, baiting results in very little bycatch of fish, does not threaten loggerhead turtles, and requires small amounts of fuel per pound of shrimp harvested.
Despite fishing pressure from baiters and commercial trawlers, shrimp populations remain stable. Because shrimp live short lives and produce many offspring, they can withstand heavy fishing pressure as well as high natural mortality. Shrimp caught during the baiting season are the progeny of small white shrimp that have overwintered in coastal waters the previous year and spawned the past spring. The relative abundance of white shrimp present in the fall can be directly correlated to the severity of the previous winter. Very cold winter weather can kill most overwintering shrimp resulting in a greatly reduced population the following autumn. The large shrimp caught by baiters and commercial fishermen in September and October would not contribute to the following year's shrimp population, whether harvested or not.
Shrimp baiters seem to fall into three categories. The majority of permit holders shrimp only a couple of times per season, generally catch less than a limit each trip, and get home quickly, quite satisfied with their efforts. A second group has turned shrimp baiting into a cult. These shrimpers spend hours debating the best bait, the best mud, the most effective poles, what tide to fish, etc. Most make many more trips per season than the average baiter, and a few become obsessed with the sport. They go to great lengths to squeeze the last few shrimp into their 48-quart cooler but seldom break the law.
Unfortunately, a small number of shrimpers view the fishery as a way to make money, albeit illegally. These individuals shrimp every night during the season, often using friends in elaborate schemes of exchanging full coolers for empty ones to catch multiple limits without (they hope) getting caught. These baiters regularly sell their catch, in some cases taking, and then filling for a price, orders from co-workers, neighbors or even restaurants.
So while shrimp baiting has its detractors and certainly attracts a handful of violators, the sport’s tremendous popularity suggests it will continue for years to come. With shrimp well adapted to withstand the considerable fishing pressure, baiting provides the average South Carolinian a simple, inexpensive way to harvest an abundance of fresh seafood without harming the resource.
Pete Laurie is a freelance writer for South Carolina Wildlife magazine.