By Capt. Justin Ravenel, Contributing Writer
By some miracle we made it through this hurricane season without a scuff and now we can focus on more fishing!
One thing that we didn’t get lucky with however was the recent changes to the way we manage our fishery. More specifically the red fishery; this year a motion was passed to change the way we measure how healthy the red fish population is in South Carolina. In short, since the 80’s we have been using a very specific math equation to see how the reds where spawning and living throughout the Lowcountry. According to this research, since the mid 90’s the red fish population has been consistently dropping. It got to be such a problem that the state and federal level could no longer live in denial of this fact. This has been no secret to those that refuse to bury their heads in the sand and pretend everything is fine and dandy. Now, thanks to trammel net surveys and monthly reporting by all the local charter captains; nobody can argue with the numbers.
So, how do the State and Federal authorities respond to the disheartening numbers? Change the math of course! Since the current method for measuring the red fishery doesn’t look good; they (in their infinite wisdom…) decided to simply change the math to make the numbers look better! I’m not joking, that’s what happened.
For years, I and many other stewards of the water have been collectively discussing this issue and what to do about it. Aside from the personal and individual efforts made by local anglers; all we could do was personally show up to the meeting and voice our concerns. As per usual with government motions being passed, they did a great job of meeting in secret. No mention on the TV or radio, no big social media movement.
The meeting was held at DNR headquarters on James Island. When my good friend Scotty Davis of (Lowcountry Fly Shop) and I showed up we were shocked at the lack of attendance. Out of the entire state of South Carolina only about 40 people showed up. There were quite a few more online attendees but that may have brought the total up to about 100.
We all spoke on record and did our best at voicing the concerns of lowering the bar but it was to no avail. We recently discovered that despite the obvious problem with the red fish population, the motion was passed and the math will be adjusted to look as though the redfish population is completely fine in South Carolina.
Can you still catch redfish in South Carolina? Of course you can; could there be an even healthier population? Also yes.
Conservation has always been about looking out for the future of all things wild. Perhaps we are unable to notice the slothful degradation of our fishery but it’s a slow burn and the tangible effects will be felt by the fishery and future anglers to come.
Captain Justin Ravenel • 843-864-5056
RavenelFishingCharters.com • EdistoDolphinTours.com
Facebook: “Ravenel Fishing Charters” • Instagram: @justin_ravenel
