The winter cold might have taken a bite out of Lowcountry fish.
Sea trout appear to have been lost when water temperatures in December and January dropped low enough to kill, suggest the trammel net surveys by S.C. Natural Resource Department biologists. The finding is from early season spot sampling, so it's too soon to be conclusive.
But the catch was "comparatively low." That doesn't bode well for the popular inshore finfish or other catches like red drum or shrimp.
In the winter of 2000-01, prolonged water temperatures at about 46 degrees destroyed an estimated 97 percent to 99 percent of the shrimp population, and caused a massive die-off of sea trout. It took two seasons for the shrimp to recover fully, and five seasons for sea trout.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Post And Courier (Charleston, SC).