COASTAL OBSERVER

A change to the beach regulations that would limit surf fishing won’t come up for a vote when Georgetown County Council meets next week, according to the council chairman.

Clint Elliott said he and other council members have been meeting with fishing groups and state officials about their goal of preventing commercial operations that catch large sharks beyond the surf and land them on the beach.

“We agreed a 6-foot shark rolling up on the beach was not a good idea,” Elliott said.

The council last month gave the second of three readings to an amended beach ordinance that would have banned shark fishing and limited surf fishing to 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. from May through September.

That drew a backlash from anglers and others who said the limit on surf fishing wasn’t needed and would put a traditional pastime at risk.

“We’ll either defer or table it,” Elliott said, when the council meets next week. “We’re probably not going to bring it back in the form it’s in.”

Elliott said he proposed the change after receiving complaints about a company in Myrtle Beach offering trips to Garden City to fish for sharks by dropping bait and hooks beyond the surf with a drone.

The current beach regulations prohibit fishing that creates an “unsafe condition.” Elliott said that would probably apply to the shark operation, but something more definitive was needed.

“It was taken out of context,” he said.

This week, he met with the Coastal Conservation Association, an advocacy group for anglers, to explain the ordinance. 

“Everybody’s actually been pretty cool about it,” Elliott said. “They agree we don’t need to be pulling big sharks up on the beach.”

He expects the council will take its time crafting an alternative since that can’t be done before the end of the summer.

“Everybody’s kind of floating ideas,” he said.