COASTAL OBSERVER

Georgetown County is revising a proposed change to its beach regulations that would restrict surf fishing in order to prevent businesses from conducting shark fishing trips to its beaches.

The measure received the second of three required readings by County Council last week, passing 5-0 and touching off a frenzy of opposition.

“I think it’s over-reach,” said Alan Walters, a North Litchfield resident as well as a former magistrate and Municipal Court judge for the town of Pawleys Island. “They left out key stakeholders in trying to craft this ordinance.”

While he said he usually doesn’t comment on county business – he is chief operations officer for the school district – the proposal to limit surf fishing to 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. from May through September prompted him to pledge to organize opposition to any council member who supported it, even if that means running himself.

Council Member Stella Mercado, whose district includes North Litchfield, was one of two members absent at last week’s meeting. She was on vacation. She said on her return that she would oppose the surf fishing limit.

“Everything always starts with a few bad actors that force something like this,” she said. “I think we can find something that’s good for everybody.”

Council Chairman Clint Elliott said last week that the revision to the ordinance was prompted by complaints about a company from Myrtle Beach organizing shark fishing trips to Garden City where, unlike Horry County beaches, there are no restrictions on shark fishing. It uses drones to drop bait in deeper water to attract sharks so that they can be landed on the beach.

After the backlash to the surf fishing restriction, Elliott said he expected the final version of the amended ordinance would be changed.

The county’s current regulations currently prohibit fishing that “creates an unsafe condition or hazard” for other beach-goers. The revision would restrict surf fishing and prohibit “commercial fishing, or fishing for shark” at any time.

Council Member Bob Anderson voted for the revision last week.

“I was certainly blind-sided by the whole thing,” he said, adding that he was focused on a change to the zoning ordinance to limit future development on the Litchfield Country Club and Founders Club golf courses, which received final approval last week.

Anderson said he received a revised beach ordinance this week, but hadn’t read it yet. 

He still favors the ban on shark fishing, but not the restriction on surf fishing.

“A lot of people are out there with their families,” he said. “You can’t put those kinds of restrictions on those people.”

Walters said he and his two sons went surf fishing over Memorial Day weekend. They were on the beach around 6 p.m. “There was no one swimming,” he said.

In his time as a judge, he never saw a case brought over shark fishing, Walters said.

The town of Pawleys Island prohibits fishing for sharks within a mile of the beach. It also has a restriction on unsafe or hazardous fishing.

Police Chief Mike Fanning said officers get complaints about fishing too close to swimmers.

“We just try to determine do they need to have three fishing poles?” he said, adding that those encounters are resolved through negotiation.

Police received a complaint about a shark fishing operation that involved a drone in late spring. It was gone before an officer arrived around 10:30 a.m., Fanning said.

He said it would have likely violated the town ordinance.

Mayor Brian Henry said he received calls after County Council passed the surf fishing restrictions, particularly from mainland residents.

“Our ordinance supersedes the county’s,” Henry said. “We would never tell people you can’t fish.”

County Council is due to take up the issue when it meets July 22.