Port Royal fish fight flares over commercial sword fishing off Beaufort
Port Royal fish fight flares over commercial sword fishing
The Town of Port Royal is renting dock space to large out-of-state commercial sword fishing boats, and local sports fishermen are not happy. One of the local sports fishermen, Frank Gibson, has taken up the call to alert the public to what he asserts is a threat to the viability of sword and other billfish in the Atlantic waters off Beaufort county’s shores. He asserts that the Town of Port Royal is on the verge of signing an agreement with foreign “longliners” who use factory boats to string fishing lines 40-50 miles long with thousands of hooks, decimating the billfish ecology according to Gibson.
Gibson sent out an email yesterday to local news media outlets, asking for publicity about the issue. A call by The Beaufort Tribune to Van Willis, town manager of Port Royal, elicited the following response:
The Town of Port Royal is already renting dockage to an out-of-state commercial sword fishing company owned by a man named Malcolm McLean. Two boats in McLean’s fleet, under the supervision of a Beaufort resident, Captain Jim Buddy, operate out of Port Royal, the “Eagle Eye I” and “Eagle Eye II”. They are in excess of 100 feet in length, have a crew of five persons, and use Port Royal as their port for unloading, refuelling and provisioning for about two months in late fall and early winter. The boats were in port yesterday.
Willis stated that Port Royal receives $300 per month in rental fees from each of the boats plus a portion of the revenues from the sale of the diesel fuel that powers the engines. The town has a licensing agreement with the SC Ports Authority, owner of the dock, that enables the town to host the sword fishing boats, as well as local and out-of-state commercial shrimp boats. Altogether, the town’s dock can accommodate as many as 20 boats, some tied to the piers and others in tandem alongside the dockside boats.
Town revenues from the dock bring in about $2500 a month, “just about enough for us to break even, taking into account employee and liability insurance costs,” Willis said. “The town charges $300 a month for boats in excess of 100 feet in length and $200 a month for boats up to 100 feet. The shorter boats are the shrimp boats and the longer ones the sword fishing boats.”
“The sword fish boats will be here from early December until sometime in January. They follow the fish as they migrate from north to south in winter,” Willis continued. “And if these boats don’t use Port Royal, they will still be out there fishing in nearby waters because they can also come up here from Puerto Rico.”
Willis did not state whether sword fishing boats such as the two currently using Port Royal for dockage also can use Georgia and Florida ports or must use Puerto Rican ports if they did not use Port Royal. He also did not state whether he was discussing the possibility of renting dockage to more sword fishing boats such as the “longliners” reported by Frank Gibson. He did state that under the town-manager style of municipal government in the Town of Port Royal, he had the authority without approval of town council to enter into the dock rental arrangements.
“I need your assistance to inform them [Port Royal town council members] of the devastation that these longliners can impose on our fisheries for our future generations. I requested that Port Royal have a public hearing before they sign a contract with foreign longliners to fully understand the total consequences and public relations”, Gibson stated. Gibson is president emeritus of the Beaufort Sportfishing and Diving Club.
The members of Port Royal town council are Vernon Deloach, Mary Beth Heyward, Joe Lee, Henry Robinson and Sam Murray, the mayor.
According to Wikipedia, longline fishing is a commercial fishing technique. It uses a long line, called the main line, with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called “snoods”. A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end. Longlines are classified mainly by where they are set in the water column. This can be at the surface (pelagic), or at the bottom (demersal). Lines can also be set by means of an anchor, or left drifting. Hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks can hang from a single line. Swordfish, tuna, halibut, sablefish and many other species are commonly targeted by longliners.
Port Royal Town Council
What do you think? Send us a letter to the editor.
Related posts:
- Port Royal voters go to polls today
- Port Royal named 2009 South Carolina traffic safe community
- Deloach and Heyward win re-election to Port Royal town council
- Port Royal named one of “America’s Coolest Small Towns”
- Burton Fire District threatens to turn off fire protection services to annexed Beaufort & Port Royal areas, municipalities sue
