Bill would regulate the amount of blue catfish taken from the lake

A bill has passed through the South Carolina House of Representatives, 103-4, that will prevent fisherman from over fishing the blue catfish.

“The blue catfish are not regulated by the Department of Natural Resources, what we are doing is trying to regulate how many you can take out,” said Rep. Edward Southard of Berkeley County.

The bill will prevent anyone from taking more than ten blue catfish per person from Lake Marion, Lake Moultrie, the upper reach of the Santee River and the Congaree and Wateree rivers.

“Feels like fishing for the blue catfish has been abused by not being regulated, people are taking the fish by the thousands, and I regulating the amount of fish you can take out to ten is very generous,” said Southard.

The bill moved forward in the Senate. From there, it was recently reviewed by the fish, game and forestry sub committee.  The committee passed it 4-0.

The bill will now face major opposition from upstate senators. “Senator’s from the upstate, like Greenville and Pinkney, have already expressed their opposition to the bill,” said Southard.

According to Southard, the reason for the upstate opposition is because the people who are taking out all the blue catfish, are citizens from the upstate.

“The fisherman taking out all the fish come from pay pounds in the upstate, and they want the blue catfish because they are trophy size,” said the local lawmaker.

Southard went on to say that pay ponds do not require any type of license to fish.

“You do not need any type of fishing license to fish in a pay pond, and I do not think that is fair to those who do have the proper licenses,” said Southard.  “This really has become an upstate vs lower state’s bill, and it is all for profit.”