I9:DH ;:K97J?ED7B FHE=H7CI By Brad McDonald
W
e were fortunate enough to be invited by SCDNR to join one of their student educational programs recently held at the Waddell Mariculture Center in Bluffton. The first part of the day, we jumped on board SCDNR’s “DISCOVERY”, Educational Vessel at the H. E. Trask Sr. Boat Landing at the end of Road 744/Sawmill Creek road. We were greeted by SCDNR’s Captain Tom Salisbury and his mate, Kattie McMillan, Public Information Specialist. The Discovery is set up perfectly to have a few dozen students on board for a very informative “hands on” educational program on the water. Once we had a boat full of inquisitive young middle school students we begin our cruise up the Colleton River towards Oldfield. Kattie interacted with the students by picking their brains and asking them questions about the valuable estuaries that surround us here in beautiful Beaufort county. DUDE we learned many things we did not know and we’d like to share some of it with you. The spartina grass that you see growing in the marsh areas is very important in regards to erosion from spring tides and storm run off mainly because of its extensive root system. For every inch of spartina grass there is a foot of roots below buried in the pluff mud. At low tide you will see many exposed oyster beds here in the Lowcountry. We actually have 70% of the original amount of oysters in our area today, unlike many over harvested areas in the United States and abroad. Each little oyster you see actually filters an amazing 50 gallons of water per day, doing its part in keeping our waterways healthy. Loggerhead sea turtles love to call Beaufort County home. A record number of 236 nests were documented this year on Hilton Head Island, all the way from South Beach to around the corner at Port Royal. Did you know that the Loggerhead is our South Carolina state reptile? We also learned that the actual sand temperature of the turtle nests determines whether the turtles are male or female. How do you know what temperatures make a particular gender???? COOL DUDES & HOT CHICKS! The boat went crazy as a pod of bottle-nose dolphins swam by and blew their air holes. When you see a pod of bottle-nose dolphin they are all females, as the males tend to be rogues and more individuals. Bottle-nose dolphin strand feed exclusively in our area. It is a learned behavior taught by the mother. Pushing small fish onshore and then beaching themselves as they snatch them up. SCDNR can identify many dolphin which are the strand feeders, as they have one side of them roughed up as well as one side of their teeth ground down. We were fortunate enough to see a Bald Eagle fly over and Kattie informed us that a Bald Eagle could actually read a copy of DUDE from a mile off! Talking about Eagle Eyes DUDE! The Atlantic Tern is the champion bird when it comes to migration. They fly an amazing 22,000 miles from the north pole to the south
6
pole. Our ubiquitous Brown Pelican wasn’t alway so ubiquitous, as it was on the endangered species list a few decades ago. The DDT from mosquito spraying was affecting them tremendously. The DDT was causing their egg shells to not be thick enough for the babies to survive. Once again our SCDNR to the rescue and now you can see them flying up and down the beaches of Hilton Head Island on a daily basis hunting fish. Our waterways are teaming with Blue Crabs and the majority of our crabs are actually shipped to ......? Maryland. Seems Maryland has over harvested their crabs and their populations are down tremendously, so they have to get them from some where else where they are more plentiful. So the next time you hear someone rave about the Maryland Crab Cakes, just take pride in the fact that most likely they are made with South Carolina Blue Crabs. Kattie and her helper Amber Kuehn put out a trawling net and brought in some specimens for the children to enjoy viewing and asking questions. It was actually cool to see a squid shoot its ink off in the tank. Look downs, spots, shrimp, coral and a variety of others specimens were caught, shown, talked about and released. A great hands on educational experience. After we docked the Discovery, we walked the nature trail up to the Mariculture Center where our good friend, Al Stokes took the students on a tour of the Mariculture facilities. Al told us about the importance of the future of farm raised seafood as demand is about to over take supply and it is projected that by the year 2030, 75% of all the seafood we consume will be farm raised. The holding tanks were full of some big bull redfish and Al informed us of the importance of this fish to our area. SCDNR estimates that just Red-fishing alone accounts for about $160 million dollars worth of commerce to our state a year, so its well being and healthy population are vital to our area. Fishing is close to a $1 billion dollar a year business in our state. Al and the Waddell Mariculture Center have done a lot to preserve the valuable Cobia in our area through monitoring, tracking and restocking. 85% of all the Cobia in South Carolina can be found in or just outside of Port Royal Sound and it is the largest Cobia breeding grounds on the East Coast. Patterns are changing with this much sought after, over harvested fish and SCDNR will have us some interesting information at the beginning of next year to document some of these changes. We would not be surprised if new limits are put on this fish in the future. We would like to thank our friends at SCDNR, Al Stokes, Tom Salisbury, Kattie McMillan and their fine helpers Amber Kuehn and Dave Harter for showing us such a great day and helping us learn more about this great place we like to call home, THE LOWCOUNTRY OF SOUTH CAROLINA. Feel free to contact Al Stokes at the Mariculture Center if your group would like to come out a see what good work these guys and gals are up to. Who knows you might be like us and learn something new DUDE!
Fall/Winter 2010-2011