Charleston shrimper faces a new challenge: mysterious seagrass

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) – June 2 marked the opening day for shrimp trawling season in the Lowcountry, and for one fisherman, it was one of his most challenging days in his lifelong career.

Rocky Magwood, a fourth-generation shrimper on Shem Creek, reported that he could only drag his shrimp nets for ten minutes before they were clogged with a mysterious sea grass. Magwood only caught 15 shrimp that day.

“I always say in the fishing industry, if it isn’t one thing, it’s two things; it is always a fight, but we have never seen a fight like this in Charleston,” said Magwood.

With the seagrass in his regular working grounds, Magwoood will have to relocate as far as the south side of Folly Beach.

“We’ve been here our whole lives here in Charleston. This is a big money shrimp that we are trying to catch, and now that we can’t work here, we are going to have to work other places because of the grass, because it is so bad,” said Magwood.

Where can fishermen or trawlers find this seagrass?

“It’s on the north side of Charleston off of Mars Island, off the north side of Isle of Palms and Sullivans Island, and it’s on the south side of the Charleston jetties. Once you get down to the south side of Folly Beach or down to Kiawah, we don’t have it. There are no signs of it up around Bulls Bay,” said Magwood.

Traveling that distance will present a new set of challenges for Magwood, such as the amount of fuel he will burn to reach areas without the grass and delivering fresh shrimp to his customers promptly.

According to Magwood, biologists are sampling the grass because they have never seen it so far offshore. “Nobody has seen this before,” said Magwood.

Magwood states that he noticed the grass about two weeks ago, but other fishermen reported it around a month and a half ago.