Everybody’s favorite seafood is back in season in South Carolina. Commercial shrimp trawling opens in all approved South Carolina waters at 8am on Wednesday, May 27th, and a good 2020 shrimping season has been predicted by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources staff biologists.
SCDNR believes that white shrimp abundance this year should be about average or slightly better in comparison to previous similar years and officials set the opening date for shrimp season based on the conditions of the shrimp themselves.
Aboard both commercial and agency vessels, biologists sample and study white shrimp frequently in late spring. One of the things they’re looking for is evidence that a majority of female white shrimp have already spawned at least once, because opening the season too soon could reduce the size of the fall white shrimp crop, which are the offspring of the spring white shrimp.
Shrimping season in South Carolina typically starts in spring with the opening of provisional areas that allow shrimpers to take advantage of the harvest offshore while still protecting the majority of shrimp that have yet to spawn.
This year following a mild winter, South Carolina’s provisional trawling areas opened unusually early, on April 15, 2020.
A local way of life
Shrimping vessels have trawled South Carolina waters since the 1920s but of late they have faced growing challenges. Making ends meet grows harder every year, but today’s shrimpers, like their predecessors on the water, seem to have it in their hearts. Though they talk freely of the obstacles, they find enough benefits to stay in it.
Each new season brings hope for a bountiful catch.
South Carolina’s commercial shrimp calendar typically has 3 seasons. In the spring, there’s an influx of larger roe white shrimp. The summer months are typically defined by a peak in brown shrimp, which are similar to white shrimp in size and taste. Then, in the fall and winter, shrimpers bring in a second crop of white shrimp; which are the offspring of the spring roe shrimp.
Shrimping has been around in South Carolina since long before anyone can remember. In fact it’s been a labor of love for fishermen since before the Civil War and is still alive and kicking today with a thriving market served by a force of dedicated commercial fishermen in the Palmetto State.
Please buy local shrimp and support our local Beaufort SC fishermen.
