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NEW STATE RECORDS FOR WHITE GRUNT, SHEEPSHEAD-One marine game fish record was recently dismantled, and another record added to the list with recent catches of a sheepshead and a white grunt by two S.C.anglers. Sean Murphy, of Myrtle Beach, caught a 3 pound white grunt on February 2nd off of Murrells Inlet, which adds a record for this species to the marine game fish list. Jimmy Widener, of Hanahan, caught a 16 pound, 6 ounce sheepshead on March 1st in the Wando River to claim the new state record by a mere 10 ounces. For a current listing of S. C.'s State Record Marine Game fish, visit the DNR website at www.dnr.sc.gov/fish/saltrecs/record.html , contact Program Coordinator Amy Dukes with the Office of Fisheries Management, DukesA@dnr.sc.gov , or call at (843) 953-9365.

TWO FEDERAL TAX DEDUCTIONS REMAIN FOR BOATERS

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Jan. 15, 2008 –When Congress adjourned for 2007, they left in place two federal income tax deductions of potential benefit to boat owners.

A boat is treated like a second home for federal tax purposes if it has a galley, a head, and sleeping berth. Mortgage interest paid on the loan is deductible from your federal income taxes. Taxpayers may use the mortgage interest deduction for one primary home and one second home and must itemize deductions on their returns.

Some boaters may be unaware of this potential tax benefit because not all lending institutions send borrowers an Internal Revenue Service form 1098 which reports the interest paid. Not receiving the form does not preclude taking the deduction. If a 1098 is not available, boaters should contact their lender for the amount of interest paid and should enter it on line 11 on Schedule A along with the lender’s tax ID number. If a form 1098 is sent, boaters should simply enter the amount on line 10 of Schedule A.

The other tax benefit is a deduction for state sales taxes. However, this may no longer be available after the 2007 tax year if Congress does not act to extend it. This deduction may be appropriate for boaters who paid substantial sales tax on the purchase of a new or used vessel last year. Boaters must choose either the state sales tax deduction or state income tax deduction on their federal tax return — you cannot take both.

In addition, to take the sales tax deduction, the sales tax on a boat purchase must be applied at the same tax rate as the state’s general sales tax. In order to claim the sales tax deduction, tax returns must be itemized. State sales taxes are entered on Schedule A, line 5b.

For those who fall under the Alternative Minimum Tax, most deductions are unavailable as taxes are calculated differently. Boaters are urged to contact a tax preparer or financial advisor for more information.

For more details on the mortgage deduction, go to http://www.irs.gov and download Publication 936 or the Fact Sheets. For state tax deduction information download Publication 600, which also includes state-by-state tax tables.

BoatU.S. – Boat Owners Association of The United States – is the nation’s leading advocate for recreational boaters providing its 650,000 members with a wide array of consumer services.

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources' marine education program recently expanded efforts
to Winyah Bay, reaching students in Georgetown and Horry counties. The program expansion consisted of relocating the S.C. Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Education Vessel Discovery to the Belle Isle Marina in November to enable educators to better reach students in the northern coastal areas. DNR's Carolina Coastal Discovery Marine Education Program has been conducting programs, both land- and boat-based, out of the Charleston Harbor and further south in the Ashepoo, Combahee and Edisto Basin (ACE) since 2003. The Carolina Coastal Discovery Program has evolved into a multi-faceted opportunity for schools from a marine educational initiative that was first established by DNR in the 1960s. For additional information about the DNR's Carolina Coastal Discovery Marine Education Program, visit the Web site at www.dnr.sc.gov/ccd/. The South Carolina Saltwater Recreational Fishing License Program and the Frances P. Bunnelle Foundation funded the program expansion.

New fisheries laws adding or changing catch limits and retention sizes on a number of recreationally important saltwater finfish species in South Carolina have been passed by the SC General Assembly and are now in place.
The new laws, effective June 15, concern the harvest of black drum, weakfish, hardhead and gafftopsail saltwater catfish, red drum, spotted seatrout, flounder, black seabass, and dolphin. These new state fisheries laws were adopted primarily to support a proactive and precautionary approach in natural resources management to help deal with increasing fishing pressures and environmental stresses placed on South Carolina’s marine finfish resources associated with coastal growth and development.
Details of the new laws are as follows:
Newly Regulated Species:
BLACK DRUM
Bag Limit: 5 per person per day
Size Limit: Must be 14 inches Total Length or greater and equal to or less than 27 inches Total Length
WEAKFISH (summer trout; gray trout)
Bag Limit: 10 per person per day
Size Limit: 12 inch Total Length minimum
HARDHEAD AND GAFFTOPSAIL SALTWATER CATFISH
Possession is prohibited
Previously Regulated Species:
RED DRUM (spot tailed bass; redfish)
Bag Limit: 3 per person per day
Size Limit: Must be 15 inches Total Length or greater, and equal to or less than 23 inches Total Length maximum
SPOTTED SEATROUT (winter trout; speckled trout)
Bag Limit: 10 per person per day
Size Limit: 14 inch Total Length minimum
FLOUNDER (southern flounder; summer flounder; gulf flounder)
Bag Limit: 20 per person per day, not to exceed 40 per BOAT per day
Size Limit: 14 inch Total Length minimum
BLACK SEABASS (blackfish)
Made state regulations mimic federal regulations
Federal regulations are as follows:
Bag Limit: 15 per person per day
Size Limit: 12 inch Total Length minimum
DOLPHIN (mahi)
Made state regulations mimic federal regulations
Federal recreational regulations are as follows:
Bag Limit: 10 per person per day, 60 per boat per day (headboats excluded from boat limit)
Size Limit: No size limit

REGULATIONS ESTABLISHED ON SEABIRD NESTING ISLANDS-

The South Carolina Budget and Control Board entered into agreements last year with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, enabling the state natural resources agency DNR to designate and establish three barrier island bird sanctuaries. Regulations for Bird Key Stono, Crab Bank, and Deveaux Bank Islands will help protect nesting seabirds, which are undergoing population declines in South Carolina. For additional information, contact Felicia Sanders, DNR wildlife biologist, at SandersF@dnr.sc.gov. Also check the DNR Managed Lands Website at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/managed/index.html for more information on the islands.

Collaborative research has led to the installation of real-time water quality equipment and a weather station on Apache Pier in Myrtle Beach. Recent efforts by S.C. Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Cooperative Research Program, Coastal Carolina University and Apache Oceanfront Pier and Family Campground have given rise to a monitoring station that allows anglers to check the water quality and weather conditions around Apache Pier prior to visiting. Bottom-dwelling and surface water sensors transfer information such as temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen levels to an archival Web site every 15 minutes. Additionally, the weather station relays air temperature, wind
speed and direction, barometric pressure, relative humidity and rainfall totals to the same site. To access the real-time data, visit DNR's Cooperative Research Web site: www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/coopresearch/Apache.html . For more information about the Cooperative Research Program, contact Jason Powers, program coordinator, at (843) 953-6608 in Charleston, or powersj@dnr.sc.gov .

Oyster resource update now online—A comprehensive coastal resource report updating and summarizing the status of South Carolina’s oyster resource is now available online. The report provides an update on the 2005 status of oyster resources in South Carolina, and is accessible at: www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/publications.html. The updates are the result of research and on-site resource assessments by the S.C. Department of Natural Resources’ (DNR) Shellfish Management and Research Programs. The DNR manages 255 shellfish growing areas, comprised of State Shellfish Grounds, Culture Permits, Mariculture Permits, Public Shellfish Grounds and grant areas covering over 2,000 oyster resource acres.

Deep-sea research produces reef maps Biologists and researchers with the Marine Resources Research Institute of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources and other marine laboratories teamed up with the federal Office of Ocean Exploration to map areas of the outer continental shelf off of South Carolina using high-resolution sonar beams.

Did you know that manatees have been observed in South Carolina as early as 1850? The public can learn such facts about manatees, and can also report sightings of manatees in South Carolina, at the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Web site http://www.dnr.sc.gov/manatee/. To report an injured manatee in South Carolina during normal business hours, you can also call (843) 953-9015 or (843) 844-2473 in Charleston. After hours, contact the DNR hotline at 1-800-922-5431. You can also use the Manatee Sighting Form at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/manatee/sight.htm.

NEW REGULATIONS FOR SEABIRD NESTING ISLANDS -- The South Carolina Budget & Control Board recently entered into agreements with the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR), enabling the DNR to designate and establish three barrier island bird sanctuaries. The new status for Bird Key Stono, Crab Bank, and Deveaux Bank Islands will help protect nesting seabirds, which are undergoing population declines in South Carolina. Crab Bank, a 16-acre island at the mouth of Shem Creek, and Bird Key Stono, a 35-acre island at the Stono River Inlet, are closed to boat landings and the public from Mar. 15 to Oct. 15. The area on these islands below the high water line is open to the public from Oct. 16 to Mar. 14. Deveaux Bank, a 215-acre island between Seabrook and Edisto Islands, is closed year-round above the high water line. A portion of Deveaux Bank above the high water line is designated for limited recreational use. Dogs are prohibited on all of the islands year-round. For additional information, contact Felicia Sanders, wildlife biologist with the DNR at (843) 520-0961, or SandersF@dnr.sc.gov. Also check the DNR Managed Lands Website at http://www.dnr.sc.gov/managed/index.html for more information on the islands

NEW FISH TAG REPORTING PHONE NUMBER FOR ANGLERS -- Anglers will have an easier time reporting tagged marine fish with the new reporting phone number implemented by S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR). With the click of a few buttons, anglers can dial 1-888-TAGS-4-SC to report information of a tagged marine fish. The new number is part of the Marine Game Fish Tagging Program, which has been a successful operation of the DNR since 1974. When calling the tagged fish hotline, anglers are reminded to provide their name, date, telephone number (and area code), location of catch, name of species caught, tag number, and total length of the fish. In efforts to conserve and protect popular marine species, anglers are encouraged to catch and release the tagged fish. For additional information on the Marine Game Fish Tagging Program, anglers should contact DNR fisheries biologist Robert Wiggers, (843) 953-9363, or wiggersr@dnr.sc.gov, and visit the Program website, www.dnr.sc.gov/marine/pub/seascience/tagfish.html.

PURCHASE HUNTING, FISHING LICENSES BY PHONE, INTERNET Renewing or purchasing a South Carolina fishing and hunting license is now easier than ever, because you can do so over the phone and on the Internet. Licenses are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week by calling 1-888-434-7472 or on the Internet by visiting https://www.greatlodge.com/sc/welcome. (A convenience fee of $3.95 will apply.) Licenses for the 2005-2006 season may also be purchased from about 1,000 retail stores in South Carolina or from most S.C. Department of Natural Resources offices. The S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) sells hunting and fishing licenses at its Columbia headquarters in the Rembert Dennis Building at 1000 Assembly St., DNR field offices in Charleston, Florence and Clemson and through many retail businesses across the state. Licenses for the 2005-2006 season are on sale now.