Title 50, Fish, Game and Watercraft

(A) A person or entity licensed or permitted by the department engaged in the take, distribution, or propagation of any saltwater fishery product for a commercial or scientific purpose must keep accurate records and may be required to provide accurate information and reports to t…

Licenses authorized under this article expire on June 30th following their effective date. Permits expire under the terms of the individual permit.

The department may deny issuance of any license or permit for commercial fishing equipment or activities to residents of any coastal state which denies the same privilege to South Carolina residents. The department may limit the type of fishing equipment used, seasons, and areas …

Unless authorized by the department, no person may tag or mark and release saltwater fish or promote such activity. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than twenty-five dollars nor more than two hundred dollar…

(A) For the privilege of taking blue crabs by trap for a commercial purpose in the waters of this State, an individual must obtain a limited commercial blue crab license, a commercial saltwater fishing license, and a commercial equipment license for traps. (B) The cost of a limit…

(A) The department shall maintain and publish a list of any species, varieties, or strains of nonindigenous organisms known or suspected to present an adverse impact to fish or marine resources of this State. The list shall include the common and scientific name and the actual or…

The department may prosecute for violations of this chapter for the collection of revenues due this State from the fishing industries and permitting of bottoms and waters and may employ counsel having special knowledge of the fisheries laws, fisheries, and coastal conditions to c…

(A) No net may be used in inshore salt waters except: (1) trawl nets; (2) gill nets for shad; (3) gill and dip nets for herring; (4) channel nets; (5) shrimp seines; (6) cast nets; (7) drop nets; (8) dip nets for landing or boating fish; (9) elver nets; and (10) gill nets not mor…

(A) A gill net used in the salt waters of this State must have at least one end buoy, international orange in color, which shows the name and license number of the owner. The operator of a gill net must be within five hundred feet of the net and have visual contact with the net a…

(A) The season for using channel nets shall be no longer than ninety days, and the department annually may set the channel net season between September 1 of any year and December 15 of the same year, inclusive. (B) A person licensed to use a channel net must allow designated depa…

(A) It is unlawful to use channel nets in the salt waters of this State, except in areas designated by the department. (B) The following apply to use of channel nets: (1) A functional soft or hard Turtle Excluder Device (TED) must be correctly installed in any channel net used in…

In addition to any other penalty, a person who violates channel net laws forfeits the privilege to hold a channel net license for the next thirty open season days. Any boat, motor, boat trailer, and equipment used in aid of a violation related to channel nets or during the period…

(A) It is unlawful to use or deploy any net or similar device or any part thereof including line and attached devices so that any part thereof extends more than one-half the width of any saltwater creek, stream, channel, slough, or other salt water regardless of the stage of the …

(A) It is unlawful to set any stationary nets except channel nets, within six hundred feet of any other net or device for taking fish except traps. It is unlawful to set any channel net within two hundred feet of any other channel net. No channel net may be set within four hundre…

It is unlawful to set any fishing equipment within six hundred feet of a public fishing pier or man-made jetty equipped with a fishing walkway in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. The provisions of this section apply only to a fishing pier open to the public or man-made jetty equ…

It is unlawful to use a seine or gill net in a lagoon, impoundment, or lake within the boundaries of a state park, except that lawful shrimp seines and cast nets for the taking of shrimp are allowed.

(A) Except as provided in this section, a trap used for taking blue crab for commercial purposes from June 1 through March 14, or for recreational purposes year round, must have at least two unobstructed, circular escape vents (rings) which must be two and three-eighths inches or…

(A) Any suspension of privileges under this chapter shall run concurrent with any other suspension then in effect. Except as provided in Section 50-5-2510, suspensions of privileges resulting from violations of this chapter begin thirty calendar days from date of conviction. (B) …

(A) Other than minnow traps not used for a commercial purpose, and traps with lines attached to a shore based structure and not used for a commercial purpose, each trap set in the waters of this State must have attached to it a buoy made of solid, buoyant material which does not …

(A) No trap may be placed within six hundred feet of a public boat ramp or launching area. (B) No trap may be set so as to leave any portion of the trap dry at any stage of the tide. (C) No trap may be unattended for more than five days. Without having written permission of the o…

Notwithstanding the provisions of Chapter 13 of this title, traps used for taking blue crabs may be fished on Cooper River upstream to the confluence of the east and west branches of Cooper River; provided that all requirements of this chapter are complied with.

It is unlawful to set, move, fish, retrieve, or remove catch from traps during the following times: (1) from 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. the following day, local time, from April 1 through September 15; and (2) from 7:00 p.m. until 6:00 a.m the following day, local time, from Septe…

It is unlawful to use live bait in the salt waters of this State on lines having more than three hooks.

(A) A person who violates a provision of this article for which no penalty is specified is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than fifty dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days. (B) Any unlawful fish…

It is unlawful in Georgetown County for a person to gig for fish in saltwaters from the northern tip of North Island to the northern tip of Magnolia Beach during the daylight hours. Any person violating the provisions of this section, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than…

It is unlawful for a person to gig for flounder in the salt waters of this State during daylight hours. For the purposes of this section, "daylight hours" means that period of time between official sunrise and official sunset. Any person violating the provisions of this section, …

A person who conspires to violate a provision of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be punished as if he had violated that provision.

(A) Any fish or fishery product taken or possessed in violation of any provision of this chapter is contraband and may be seized along with its container and disposed of according to law. (B) Any perishable item seized, the sale of which is illegal per se, may be donated by the d…

The department shall sell any confiscated device not used or destroyed by the department at public auction for cash to the highest bidder in the county where it was seized, after having given ten days' public notice of the sale. When the device is of greater value than one thousa…

It is unlawful to trawl in the waters of this State except as allowed in this chapter.

The following General Trawling Zone is established: Based on National Ocean Service (NOS) chart 11513 (22nd edition, July 12, 1997), that area seaward of a line, termed the inshore trawl boundary, beginning at the point of intersection of the north jetty (Oyster Bed Island Traini…

(A) Except as otherwise provided by law, it is lawful to trawl for shrimp or prawn in the General Trawling Zone only during those times and seasons set by the department. It is unlawful for a person to trawl inside the General Trawling Zone: (1) one-quarter nautical mile or less …

(A) In the following areas trawling is restricted in the General Trawling Zone. (1) Based on National Ocean Service (NOS) chart 11513 (22nd edition, July 12, 1997), all that area bounded by a closed line beginning at the point on the shoreline on the southwestern end of Hilton He…

(A) It is unlawful to dispose of trawl bycatch or waste fisheries products at any time into state waters within one-half nautical mile of any Atlantic Ocean beach for which trawling restrictions are provided. (B) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, …

The description of trawling waters in this article refers to the National Oceanic Service Nautical Charts prepared by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and future revisions of these charts by the federal government. References to points of latitude and lo…

It is unlawful to trawl within one-half nautical mile of any public fishing pier in the salt waters. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars or imprisone…

(A) Except as provided in this section it is unlawful to trawl at night. Night as used in this section means: (1) from April 1 through August 31 inclusive: 9:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. the following day, local time; and (2) from September 1 through October 31 inclusive: 8:00 p.m to 6:0…

(A) The department annually may set the season for taking blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus) by trawling between December 1 of one year through March 31 of the following year, inclusive. It is unlawful to trawl for crabs during the closed season. (B) Any person who violates this se…

The operator of a shrimp trawler may take, retain, and market lawful size blue crabs taken in the normal lawful process of trawling for shrimp during the seasons set for taking shrimp.

The waters and bottoms of the bays, rivers, creeks, and marshes within this State or within the territorial sea as shown on applicable NOAA Charts, not heretofore conveyed by grant from the General Assembly or royal grant are and remain as a common for the people of this State fo…

It is unlawful to trawl for crabs with equipment with a mesh of less than four inches stretched, and chafing gear of any sort must not be more than one-half the circumference of the tailbag. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must …

(A) The department may grant permits to licensed commercial saltwater fishermen to trawl or dredge for finfish, blue crabs, whelks (conchs), or other marine resources in any portion of the General Trawling Zone and for horseshoe crabs in the salt waters of this State. A captain e…

The operator of any vessel operating in an area or during a time when trawling is restricted or prohibited and which vessel does not have its trawl doors completely out of the water is illegally trawling.

(A) Except as provided in this section, a turtle excluder device must be used in trawl nets in the salt waters of this State under the same conditions required by federal regulations. (B) Until the federal regulations are amended to require turtle excluder device escape openings …

(A) A shrimp trawl made in part or in whole of any webbing less than two and one-half inches stretched mesh and exceeding a head rope length of sixteen feet used in the waters of this State must contain one or more department-approved, properly installed bycatch reduction devices…

The dividing line between salt water and freshwater on the rivers listed is defined in this section, and all waters of the rivers and their tributaries, streams, and estuaries lying seaward of the dividing lines are considered salt waters, and all waters lying landward or upstrea…