Spotted seatrout is the second most popular gamefish species in South Carolina.</font id=“size1”>
SCDNR urging catch and release to help spotted seatrout recover</font id=“size3”>
Unusually cold weather has gripped South Carolina this January, lowering water temperatures along the coast to levels that can be deadly for many marine animals. As South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) biologists work to understand the severity of this winter weather’s impacts on important fisheries, they’re also asking the public to help – by practicing catch and release of spotted seatrout, one of the fish hardest hit by the low temperatures.
After a rapid and steep decline in December, water temperatures across the coast plummeted in early January. Charleston Harbor experienced a daily average low of 42 degrees Fahrenheit on January 7, while shallow tidal creeks reached even lower. While unusual, these temperatures are not unprecedented – currently the 2017-2018 winter ranks as the coast’s fifth coldest since recordkeeping began in 1950. However, two months of winter remain, and the lower and longer the duration of low temperatures, the greater the potential damage on fisheries.
Sustained water temperatures below 48 degrees can injure or kill many marine animals, and shortly after the first week of January, SCDNR staff and members of the public began reporting dead fish and shrimp along the shores of tidal marshes and saltwater impoundments across the coast. The agency acted quickly to protect surviving white shrimp by closing the shrimp trawl season.
“White shrimp are prolific spawners and can recover relatively quickly,” said David Whitaker, deputy director of the agen