May 28, 2021 — South Carolina’s shrimping season opened May 27 with some trawlers already stationed over their favorite spots overnight so they could drop their nets right when restrictions lifted at 8 a.m.
Shrimpers have been able to trawl in a narrow “provisional area” between state and federal waters since April, but the real season begins when the S.C. Department of Natural Resources opens all of state waters, which extend about 3 miles offshore.
Mel Bell, director of the Office of Fisheries Management at DNR, said that a mild winter and promising results from the state’s sampling of the shrimp population made it an ideal time to open the season. State regulators want to make sure that female white shrimp have spawned at least once before allowing the catch to start, and late May is a typical time for them to make that call.