MURRELLS INLET, SC – The Council for Sustainable Fishing, a regional advocacy group for recreational and commercial fishing interests, Thursday applauded state Rep. Stephen Goldfinch, R-Murrells Inlet, for his letter to the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council opposing additional offshore no-fishing zones.
“We thank Rep. Goldfinch for standing up for fishing interests and the coastal economy and his recognition that there is simply no justification for any additional no-fishing areas in the South Atlantic,” Council for Sustainable Fishing Executive Director Tom Swatzel said. “Rep. Goldfinch understands that fishermen and related businesses have been struggling with difficult catch limits that have produced substantial economic hardships and that the last thing we need right now is to close off productive fishing grounds unnecessarily.”
“As a state House member representing coastal areas of the Georgetown and Charleston counties, I have great concern about the economic impacts of any additional live bottom areas being closed to fishing, particularly an area as vital and productive as the Georgetown Hole,” Goldfinch wrote in the letter. “As an experienced offshore fisherman, I know first hand about fishing in the Georgetown Hole and how important the area is for commercial and recreational fishermen.”
The SAFMC has proposed eight offshore areas from North Carolina to Key West, totaling about 70 sq. miles, be designated as spawning Special Management Zones that would prohibit bottom fishing through Amendment 36 to its snapper-grouper fishery management plan. The largest of the proposed SMZs at 15.2 sq. miles is the famed Georgetown Hole located 55 miles off Georgetown.
The SMZ plan is not part of any fishery rebuilding plan and not required by federal law for fishery sustainability.
"Not only are the live bottom Special Management Zones in the amendment not required, they are duplicative of the eight existing deep-water Marine Protected Areas in the purpose of protecting spawning snapper and