The area drained by the Edisto River is 

 one of the most productive agricultural areas in 

 the Southeastern States, and it supports a wide 

 variety of crops, as well as beef and dairy 

 cattle. There is relatively little industry ad- 

 jacent to the river, most of it being confined to 

 the area around Orangeburg. Aside from minor 

 sources of sewage at the headwaters of both 

 branches and at Orangeburg, the Edisto River 

 is free from pollution (South Carolina, 1953). 



Commercial fishing for shad is permit- 

 ted during the hours from Tuesday noon until 

 Friday noon, February 1 to March 24, in the 

 lower 40 miles of the river (from the river 

 mouth to Fishburn Landing), and is permitted, 

 during the same hours, from February 1 to 

 April 20 in the rest of the river. Fishing gear 

 is limited to set gill nets, drift gill nets, haul 

 seines, and bow nets . Nets are not permitted 

 to extend more than halfway across a stream 

 and are not permitted to be used within 200 

 yards of a net that has previously been set. 

 Minimum mesh size for gill nets is limited to 

 5-1/2 inches stretch measure. Because all 

 commercial fishing is done at night, activity is 

 limited to three nights per week For purposes 

 of this report, the commercial fishing area in 

 the lower 40 miles of stream is termed the 

 lower fishery, and the rest of the river is 

 termed the upper fishery. 



In the lower fishery, set gill nets are 

 fished from shore to midstream at right angles 

 to the current. The net is fished by fastening 

 the inshore end to a stake while the offshore 

 end is held in position by a heavy anchor. This 

 gear is set after dark at low tide and is lifted 

 at the next low tide . The lengths of the lower 

 fishery set gill nets range from 30 to 85 yards. 

 Set gill nets are the only commercial gear 

 fished in this area, except for three drift gill 

 nets that are used immediately below Fishburn 

 Landing. A drift gill net, as the name implies, 

 is placed in the water and allowed to drift with 

 the current. This gear can be drifted for a half- 

 mile or more if the stream is free of obstruc 

 tions. When the fishing season closes in the 

 lower fishery, the operators of the three drift 

 nets move upstream and fish above Fishburn 

 Landing in the upriver area. In the analysis of 

 data these three net?- are included with the up- 



river drift net fishery. 



In the upriver fishery from Fishburn 

 Landing to the vicinity of Canadys, set gill nets, 

 drift gill nets, and seines are fished. Set nets 

 range in length from 5 to 25 yards, and they are 

 fished in eddies and held in position with stakes. 

 Because the river is narrow in this area, set 

 nets are shorter and are fished differently than 

 in the lower river. The drift nets and haul 

 seines fished in the upriver area range in length 

 from 20 to 50 and 50 to 100 yards respectively. 

 Bow nets are fished from Highway 39 to Orange- 

 burg on the North Edisto and to Norway on the 

 Soutn Edisto. This type 6f net is cone-shaped 

 with a 6 -foot oval opening and a bag length of 

 approximately 7 feet . The wooden frame to 

 which the net is attached is made from a long 

 pole about 1 inch in diameter. The bow is 

 formed by bringing the ends of the pole together 

 so that they cross approximately 18 inches 

 from each end. A short stick is lashed across 

 these two extensions to form a handle. The net 

 is fished from a stationary platform which is 

 located adjacent to the river bank. The fisher- 

 man holds the net down into the water at right 

 angles to the current and when a fish enters the 

 opening, the net is raised and the fish is re- 

 moved. 



In addition to the commercial shad fish- 

 ery on the Edisto River it provides important 

 sport fishing. Sport fishing extends from West 

 Bank to Canadys; however, most fish taken in 

 this manner are caught between West Bank and 

 Harts Bluff. 



Catch-and-effort statistics 



Commercial fishery 



The South Carolina Division of Commer- 

 cial Fisheries supplied a list of all licensed net 

 fishermen (set gill net, drift gill net, and seine) 

 who fished for shad in the Edisto River. Each 

 man was contacted and given a logbook in which 

 he was requested to enter his catch and the 

 amount of gear fished each fishing day. These 

 records were checked several times during the 

 season to ensure that they were being Kept as 

 requested. After the close of the shad season, 

 the catch made by each type of gear was tabula- 



