South Carolina’s favorite seafood will soon be more widely available at docks and markets along the coast as commercial shrimp trawling opened in all legal South Carolina waters on June 1.
In an average year, shrimp season opens in full by mid- to late-May, typically after the opening of eight smaller provisional areas in the state’s outer waters. This year those provisional areas opened on April 27, allowing shrimpers to begin harvesting some larger white shrimp from farther offshore while still protecting most of the spawning population closer to shore.
SCDNR officials set the opening date for shrimp season each year based on the conditions of the shrimp themselves. Aboard both commercial and agency vessels, biologists sample and study white shrimp frequently in late spring. One of the things they’re looking for is evidence that a majority of female white shrimp have already spawned at least once.
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