CASTING OFF: maritime news

The Post and Courier

The Post and Courier

Fishermen across South Carolina’s coastal plain have long heard of the “fish advisories,” issued by state health and environmental officials, warning people not to eat some fish caught in the state’s rivers, streams and estuaries.

But no one ever checked to see if people who ate these fish were being harmed.

Now, The Post and Courier has discovered the answer. Tests conducted for the newspaper show that some people who eat these fish have potentially dangerous levels of mercury in their bodies.

Some of the most frequent fish eaters tested rank among the most mercury-tainted people in the nation.

Mercury is a potent neurotoxin that’s linked to birth defects, nerve disorders, heart failure and many other health problems. Levels of mercury have been rising worldwide since the Industrial Revolution, building up in the tissues of ocean and freshwater fish.

The situation is especially bad in South Carolina, which according to studies has one of the worst mercury hot spot problems in the nation. Fish are contaminated with mercury in 1,747 miles of the state’s rivers and lakes, mostly along the coastal plain.

While mercury also taints saltwater fish, especially large predators such as swordfish, shark and tuna, many fish caught in South Carolina’s rivers and lakes contain two to five times the mercury level. They are so contaminated that if they were sold in grocery stores, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration could order a national recall.

One of the main man-made sources of mercury pollution is burning coal, particularly in coal-fired power plants.

The Post and Courier conducted its tests only on people who ate freshwater fish caught in the state’s rivers. Of the 41 people tested, 17 had hair samples with mercury levels higher than what the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers safe. Twenty-four had samples higher than what’s typically found nationally in people who frequently eat fish. Six of those tested had mercury levels that would place them in the top one percent of those tested in a recent nationwide study.

Leading scientists and doctors contacted by the newspaper urged those with the highest levels to consider medical attention.

Source: The Post and Courier

Survey highlights need for action on boat ramps

Public boat ramps along South Carolina’s coast, particularly in Charleston County, are under stress because their number is not growing nearly as fast as the number of boaters who want to use them.

That’s one major conclusion by consultant Guerry Taylor, a Mount Pleasant engineer who surveyed about 1,800 boaters on behalf of the state and five coastal counties.

Of those surveyed, 70 percent said they would be willing to pay a new fee if the money went to adding or improving boat ramps.

Taylor presented the findings to a group of coastal lawmakers in October. He said the survey looked at more than 100 ramps run by state or county governments but no private ones.

It also found that congestion isn’t necessarily the worst problem.

Mic Smith
The Post and Courier

Richard Middleton (bottom left) of Mount Pleasant works on getting his boat loose from its trailer at the Charleston County boat ramp on Shem Creek.

“Dredging is developing as the No. 1 crisis,” he said, adding that, because it has silted, the Broad River ramp — the most used boat ramp in Beaufort County — has been closed to boats larger than 21 feet for two years. Berkeley County’s most popular ramp, Bushy Park, also needs dredging.

The most popular ramp in Charleston County was Remley’s Point in Mount Pleasant, followed closely by the Wappoo Cut.

More than half of those responding said they used ramps in Charleston County, but the county has had trouble adding new ramps. The county’s Parks and Recreation Commission hoped to add a new ramp with its half-cent sales tax money, but of the 20 parcels submitted to it, none was suitable for that use.

Taylor said the Lowcountry’s large new developments seldom include a new boat ramp, though many of their residents will own boats.

He told coastal lawmakers that a regional coalition could provide guidance on adding ramps, coordinating grants, setting parking and security standards and getting information about ramps to the public.

“We think the legislative interest should be stimulated regionally,” he said. “What we need is to get everybody around the table.”

Source: The Post and Courier

Changes ahead?

Coastal lawmakers are trying to get to the bottom of things lurking in Lowcountry waters, from alligators to drunken boaters and sunken vessels.

The Coastal Legislative Caucus met at the state Department of Natural Resources’ Marine Resource Research Institute in October to consider potential priorities for the upcoming state legislative session.

The Caucus took recommendations from a handful of state agencies and a few advocacy groups. Many of the issues that took center stage directly affect boating, fishing and other aspects of life on the coast. Here are some of the highlights.

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Want to tangle with this big fella?

Mike McShane, chairman of the state DNR commission, said the agency supports the Legislature establishing an alligator hunting season but cautioned lawmakers about the problems with potential public misconception.

An alligator season would have to be much more limited than deer season, for example, because of the unique safety and environmental concerns involved. Alligators must be secured before they are killed, because once hunted, their body sinks and can end up causing problems downstream.

When lawmakers return in January, the House is expected to take up a bill that passed the Senate in April that sets an alligator hunting season.

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A license for all anglers?

The state will need to require shore-based anglers, including folks who fish in saltwater from the area’s bridges and piers, to purchase licenses, said Robert Boyles, deputy director of Marine Resources for DNR.

Congress is requiring by 2011 a database of recreational fishermen, and to avoid a more costly federal license, the state can charge a smaller fee and keep the revenues in South Carolina.

The earliest license is likely to be required is July 2008, Boyles said.

Source: The Post and Courier, photographs by The Post and Courier

The Post and Courier

Abandon your boat — that’s a fine

DNR is drafting a bill for the Legislature to consider next year that would set penalties for the owner of an abandoned boat, McShane said.

Currently, if the boats can be traced, the state can charge the owner only with littering.

About 50 abandoned boats, including 17 in Charleston County, have been removed from the water in recent years. Dozens have sunk or been left to rot in Lowcountry marshes over the last decade.

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Booze, boaters and bad accidents

Although the number of boating fatalities has dropped in recent years (15 had been reported by November, down from 33 in 2003), DNR officials want the Legislature to address safety issues.

The agency is investigating such measures as enacting speed limits on the water, requiring licenses or making volunteer training courses mandatory, and finding ways to crack down on alcohol use on waterways.

Charleston kayakmaker paddles on

A Charleston manufacturer of folding kayaks is embarking on the next leg of a curious excursion that took it from a base camp in Western Europe to its longtime adopted home in North Charleston’s Stark Industrial Park.

Over the past 74 years, Folbot has built a loyal international following with its line of portable folding kayaks. Based in Charleston since the 1950s, Folbot came under new ownership in September when David R. AvRutick, now president, and Tony Mark, chairman, purchased it from Phil Cotton, chief designer at the company.

Grace Beahm
The Post and Courier

Folbot employee Herb Jordan works on the fabric hull of a kayak.

The new owners are testing the waters as they work to promote the privately held Folbot brand to a broader base of prospective new customers. Their short-term goal, at a minimum, is to double sales.

The Pace Street business is a lean operation, not to mention a throwback in an age of automated machines and mass production. With a staff of about 15, it still produces each aluminum-frame kayak by hand, including most of the parts, as individual orders come in through the Web or over the telephone. Folbot bills itself as the longest continually operating maker of folding, or collapsible, kayaks in the world.

Despite its longevity, Folbot remains a little-known entity in Charleston.

The industry’s pioneer was Hans Klepper, a Bavarian widely credited with introducing portable, collapsible kayaks to the public in 1902. Previously, the vessels were used mostly by hard-core hunters and navigators.

Folbot founder Jakob Kissner, another German, took his folding-kayak business to London in 1931. Two years later, seeking to tap into the burgeoning U.S. market, he moved it to Long Island City, N.Y. Some 20 years later, Charleston economic development officials persuaded Kissner to move south to what is now Stark Industrial Park, where the company still is based.

Kissner died in 1982, and his family sold Folbot the following year to Cotton, a former textile plant manager who majored in product design at North Carolina State University.

In an industry dominated by so-called hard-shell boats, Folbot’s custom-order folding “skin-and-bone” variety is a distinctly niche product, making it tougher to sell to a mass audience.

The new owners said a key strategy is to roll out a new model, probably in time for the company’s 75th anniversary, that will be priced at less than $1,000. The idea is to lure a new generation of first-time buyers who otherwise would buy a conventional kayak.

Folbot also hopes to snare more business from overseas customers, who now make up about a quarter of its sales, to keep its production line humming year-round. Specifically, it is looking to make deeper inroads into key kayaking markets including Australia, Chile and New Zealand, where the seasons are reversed compared with countries north of the equator.

Source: The Post and Courier

Grace Beahm
The Post and Courier

Yorktown lands F-18 Hornet

For decades, the F/A-18 Hornet sliced through the skies.

Pilots flew the supersonic jet while patrolling our borders and recently took it on missions to Iraq as part of Atlanta’s “Flying Gators” squadron.

But on this clear fall morning, the stripped-down fighter hung helplessly more than 80 feet above Charleston Harbor while workers at Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum moved the jet to the flight deck atop the aircraft carrier Yorktown.

Museum officials announced in August that after a 10-year wait, they were finally able to add the plane to their exhibit of 25 aircraft.

While most of the planes and helicopters on display are no longer used in military operations, the Hornet is one of three models at the museum still on active duty.

The Hornet is the second aircraft to join the museum’s collection within the past year. The state-owned tourist attraction took delivery of an S-3 Viking naval plane at the Yorktown in 2006.

Source: The Post and Courier

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Fishing pier closed until spring

The sheepshead have the pilings all to themselves for a while out at the Folly Beach Edwin S. Taylor Fishing Pier.

The 12-year-old fishing landmark is closed for a face-lift.

The $600,000 project was divided into two phases. The first phase, which was completed in early 2007 while the pier remained open, included a new roof for the ocean-front structure that houses the gift shop and restaurant. Workers also installed new new hurricane straps and sprinkler heads.

The project’s second phase, which forced its closure, will involve installing wood-composite siding and new windows on the main building.

According to Charleston County officials, the pier and its diamond structure are in pretty good shape.

However, some upgrades and repairs will be made during the closure. The pier is expected to reopen in March, though it could reopen sooner if construction proceeds ahead of schedule.

Source: Charleston County Parks and Recreation Commission