Budget cuts sink red drum tagging

Recreational program has provided key information

On a cold morning on a Fripp Island marsh creek, John Dunphy caught red drum after red drum. Normally, he would have tagged and released them. This time he just let them go.

He's out of tags.

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Freeman inserts a tag near the dorsal fin of a red drum.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is dropping the recreational angler tag and release program because the agency can't spare the money for tags, much less the staff time to manage it. The tagging, knocked aside in the latest swipe of state budget cuts, is among a number of programs and services dropping like dominos across the DNR's ability to manage marine resources.

The effect could spell big trouble for the Lowcountry's finfish and shellfish, the meaty heart of its outdoor sports and livelihood. The popular, plentiful red drum is one of the species in the most jeopardy.

It's not only the tagging program. The division no longer has money for other sampling and surveying. The hatchery stock of more than 2 million fish in the tanks at the Waddell Mariculture Center are down to one recently repaired salt water intake pump and line; there's no money for maintenance. And there's no money to move the fish from the tanks for stocking in coastal waters.

"I think it's going to be a very significant impact. These are things we really have to keep going," said Mike Denson, red drum research scientist.

Among the red drum brood stock now breeding are fish stocked by Natural Resources, said Al Stokes, Waddell manager.

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South Carolin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist Robin Freeman (left) releases a tagged red drum in Charleston Harbor in 2007. With her are Justin Hart and John Archambault.

"What's recreational fishing going to look like in 25 years (if the state doesn't continue stocking)?" he asked. "The economic value of this industry is tremendous, $600 million per year, plus the recreational value it offers. I mean, it's quality of life for our people."

The marine resources list of program cuts includes oyster bed restoration and artificial reef construction. Added to that is staff attrition which has people working two and three jobs just to keep programs running.

Many anglers think catches from the ocean are declining. Oystermen say the harvest is diminishing as the coast develops

The tagging program loss doesn't sound like much until you realize the state needs that information to keep track of how well the fish are doing.

Last year, Dunphy tagged 414 fish, more than any other angler in the state. The work by him and other volunteers up and down the coast provide information DNR uses to keep tabs on how the fish are doing. What happened to spotted sea trout could happen to the drum, he said.

Eight years ago, spotted sea trout were decimated by a deep winter freeze. DNR pushed for stricter limits on catching the fish. The moves weren't popular, but regulators had survey and sample numbers that showed the need. The species rebounded.

Red drum have been fished so relentlessly that as far back as 1981 DNR began putting limits on the fish.

By 2000, the species was headed for "Hades in a hand basket," in the words of one biologist. The department used tagging, survey and sample numbers to convince legislators to tighten the limits.

The catch improved. An estimated 20 times more red drum are caught today than in 1981, a sign of the success of long term management, but also of the fishing pressure.

A few years back, angling groups pushed legislators to approve putting more red drum in the cooler.

Although some argued it was too much too soon, the catch was upped from two to three per trip.

With that kind of pressure, a double whammy — a cold spell that kills juvenile fish and the loss of hatchery stock if that pump fails — could threaten continuity of red drum stocks. And the information won't be quickly available to guide regulators on what to do about it.

"I don't know (if) we can effectively do our job," said Robert Wiggers, tagging coordinator for Natural Resources. "We have to maintain that critical mass — research, monitoring, management. Each makes the other jobs functional. You lose one component and it's really problematic."

Reach Bo Petersen at 745-5852 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.