Midlands Striper Club donates $6000 to SCDNR

By S.C. Dept. of Natural Resources

Published: April 16, 2010

Midlands Striper Club formally donated nearly $6000 on April 16 to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources. The $5,890.42 will fund an oxygenation system for the striped bass fingerling stocking transport truck to help ensure fingerling survivability. Midlands Striper Club’s President, Cam Littlejohn of Columbia, presented a mock check during the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (DNR) monthly board meeting in Columbia.
Midlands Striper Club, founded in 1979, is celebrating its 31st year and is one of the oldest striped bass fishing organizations in the country. Since 2001, the club’s nearly 200 members have donated over $32,000 to DNR for striped bass research and stock enhancements in the Palmetto State. For more information, visit the http://www.midlandsstriperclub.org or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Some of the funds donated to DNR over the years by Midlands Striper Club include:
* 2003: $5000 for a recirculation pump at DNR’s Bayless Striped Bass Hatchery.
* 2004: $5000 for striped bass release tubes for a study on catch and release success on Lake Murray.
* 2005: $5800 for telemetry tag transmitters and receivers for a study on the Lower Saluda River Basin’s striped bass population.
* 2006: Earmarked $6000 for electroshock equipment for the DNR striped bass brood stock hatchery program. The $6000 was added to $4500 in funds donated in 2007 to complete the project.
Striped bass fingerlings require excellent water quality and their health will quickly deteriorate under stress or degradation of water quality. DNR’s 1000 gallon hauling tank routinely moves from 200,000 to 300,000 fish per trip. A dip in oxygen resulting in mortality on the hauling truck is costly both in terms of the production loss and the loss to the resource when fewer fish are stocked.  An automatic active oxygen monitoring and regulating system will help prevent situations of excess mortality.
South Carolina’s natural resources are essential for economic development and contribute nearly $30 billion and 230,000 jobs to the state’s economy overall. Find out more at: http://www.dnr.sc.gov/green/index.html.