How does DNR decide the land and water boundaries of a seawall.
My mom and sister were told by a Fripp Island security officer today that they could not fish from in front of the rocks that comprise the ocean side of the sea wall. They used a crossover provided by the property owners association and were standing in the sand in front of the rocks at dead low tide but were asked to cease their fishing activities and leave.
Who would be able to give us more information on these policies since the security officer insisted he was following SCDNR policies and not the islands.
I have a tab bit of experience with FI Security…since 1982. Basically just quote something that sounds official and they will leave…
Any beach (beyond the mean high tide line) in SC is public property…you have every right in the world to fish from the sand in front of the seawall/rocks.
Now if you want some real action try fishing from the beach on one of TT’s islands. His security guards get a little over the top from time to time…I would beach my boat and throw the castnet for bait in a little tidal pool and usually no less then 3 or 4 BillyBobs would show up on ATV’s, usually before I could get out of the boat.
As was stated, Fripp Island security was using SCDNR as the reason for their policy. We just want to know where the law is that states it. My family (79 year old mother and her daughter) were using a public access provided by the Fripp Island Property Owners Assoc that we also pay dues. They really felt like they had been bullied by someone with a badge. we just want to determine the law here.
Not sure this will help define a particular law but it spells out what a land owner has the rights to in a tidal zone.
B. Common Law Littoral Rights
The courts in South Carolina have recognized that littoral owners hold many common
law rights in common with the public, including the rights of navigation and fishing upon
otherwise private property.36 Holding these rights in common with the public means that once
these owners are in the water, the law treats them as the public. As a result, the upland owners
right to navigate or fish is not protected anymore than the publics right to do so. A littoral
owner does not have the right to the exclusive use of the waters that border his property; he only
has the right not to be totally deprived of his rights to use. http://www.law.sc.edu/environmental/papers/200511/ccs/smoot.pdf
I read this to mean that the property owners rights stop at the mean high tide line! As for any rocks that the owner of the land above the high tide line may have placed below the tide line, they become the property of the state and can be used by the public!
state had in the beds of these tidal channels not only title as property, the jus privatum, but
something more, the jus publicum, consisting of the rights, powers, and privileges derived from
the British crown, and belonging to the governing head, which she held in a fiduciary capacity
for the general and public use; in trust for the benefit of all the citizens of the state, and in respect
to which she had trust duties to perform.167 The court also suggested that a special act by the
legislature would be required to transfer jus publicum tidelands and stream beds.168 In 1995, the
Supreme Court of South Carolina, in an opinion by Justice Toal, succinctly stated its view of the
public trust doctrine in South Carolina. In South Carolina, the state owns the property below the
high water mark of a navigable stream. This property is part of the Public Trust. The legislation
creating the Coastal Council and defining
I have a tab bit of experience with FI Security…since 1982. Basically just quote something that sounds official and they will leave…
Any beach (beyond the mean high tide line) in SC is public property…you have every right in the world to fish from the sand in front of the seawall/rocks.
Now if you want some real action try fishing from the beach on one of TT’s islands. His security guards get a little over the top from time to time…I would beach my boat and throw the castnet for bait in a little tidal pool and usually no less then 3 or 4 BillyBobs would show up on ATV’s, usually before I could get out of the boat.
By TT island you mean St. Phillips? Wife and I were were told we had to leave this summer from the southern point. At that time the Skiff was out of the water and I just said when the tide comes in we’ll leave. Pretty well ruined it for us, the wife was a nervous wreck that we were “trespassing”.
Call DNR !!! I had an nutjob dock owner flip out on me a few years ago while commercially oystering along SC-194 behind Kiawah. He kept talking smack about me trespassing on his oysterbank. I called DNR and they put him in his place. Security guards are normally clueless and I normally tell them to get bent.
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NMFS = No More Fishing Season
“Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him”
Fred…That would be it. It is my understanding that it is a Kings Grant Island and TT owns it to the waterline, where ever that line may be, regardless of the tide. In other words, you can’t go there. I really have no clue if this is correct or not.
Those guys used to try to make us leave the area when we were in our boat…There was a cut in the bank that dropped straight off about 3 feet…about half way through the falling tide we would cast a minnow onto the bank, let it drop off the cliff and whamo…that spot was always good for at least 3 or 4 flounder and sometimes a dozen or more…the entire time the Billy Bobs would be telling us to leave that we were trespassing…but they would not call DNR or the Sheriff, so I always assumed the were just BSing.
Fred…That would be it. It is my understanding that it is a Kings Grant Island and TT owns it to the waterline, where ever that line may be, regardless of the tide. In other words, you can’t go there. I really have no clue if this is correct or not.
Those guys used to try to make us leave the area when we were in our boat…There was a cut in the bank that dropped straight off about 3 feet…about half way through the falling tide we would cast a minnow onto the bank, let it drop off the cliff and whamo…that spot was always good for at least 3 or 4 flounder and sometimes a dozen or more…the entire time the Billy Bobs would be telling us to leave that we were trespassing…but they would not call DNR or the Sheriff, so I always assumed the were just BSing.
Fred…That would be it. It is my understanding that it is a Kings Grant Island and TT owns it to the waterline, where ever that line may be, regardless of the tide. In other words, you can’t go there. I really have no clue if this is correct or not.</font id=“size2”>
Those guys used to try to make us leave the area when we were in our boat…There was a cut in the bank that dropped straight off about 3 feet…about half way through the falling tide we would cast a minnow onto the bank, let it drop off the cliff and whamo…that spot was always good for at least 3 or 4 flounder and sometimes a dozen or more…the entire time the Billy Bobs would be telling us to leave that we were trespassing…but they would not call DNR or the Sheriff, so I always assumed the were just BSing.
Its all a bluff - has no legal standing. The last time they threatened to have me arrested I offered them my cell phone to call either DNR or BCSD so they could arrange for me to turn myself in. They shut up and left.
We are loaded for bear now. Dont take that the wrong way pc crowd.
Apologies for 3x posts but we see this private property issue affecting a lot of good folks just wanting to go and enjoy our limited natural resources.
