Image by Flickr user Tim Brown Architects Lowcountry oyster beds.

Thanks to good signs in yearly water quality data, the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control will open more than 5,000 additional acres of shellfish beds for harvesting during the upcoming shellfish season.

In Charleston County 883 more will be open acres along the Intracoastal Waterway near McClellanville and 1,412 acres of Captain Sam's Inlet.

"These new shellfish beds will be classified as approved when the recreational harvesting season begins on October 1," said Mike Pearson, manager of DHEC's shellfish sanitation program. "Approved areas are normally open for the harvesting of clams and oysters for human consumption. Approved areas must not exceed an established water quality standard."

Other newly approved harvesting areas include:

Beaufort County: 448 acres along Brickyard Creek
Georgetown County: 1,200 acres between Muddy Bay and North Inlet; 1,200 acres of North Santee Bay
Horry County: 274 acres near Hog Inlet

For information on clam and oyster harvesting in Charleston area, call DHEC's Region 7 EQC office at (843) 953-0160. 

For information on clam and oyster harvesting in Horry and Georgetown counties, call DHEC's Region 6 Environmental Quality Control office at (843) 238-4378, in the Beaufort County area call DHEC's Region 8 EQC office at (843) 846-1030.