By Dick Stewart
A bight is a wide, shallow, gentle bend or curve in a coastline the creates an open, often large bay. Examples include the Australian Bight, the Southern California Bight, South Atlantic Bight, and the Georgia Bight.
The Carolina Bight is the area that includes the Calibogue Sound, the Port Royal Sound, and the Beaufort, Chechessee, Colleton, May, Pocataligo, Tulifiny and Whale Branch rivers. The ecosystem is unique in ways we are only now coming to understand.
We are part of the “Lowcountry” but that name is too broad to recognize the importance of the Carolina Bight and why different regulations and behavior are essential to protect this ecosystem. The Carolina Bight is not like the freshwater system of the ACE Basin; not like busy Port of Charleston or the rivers that flow through the Port.
The sounds and rivers of the Carolina Bight share the following qualities:
- High salinity levels: Freshwater flowing into the area is quite limited. This allows sea turtles, sharks, large and small sea creatures, and salt marshes to thrive miles inland from the Atlantic. This also means anything we put in the water sloshes around and is not flushed into the ocean.
- High tidal amplitude: Tides of 7 to 10 feet twice daily cover large areas that serve as a nursery for fish species, oysters, crabs, shrimp, and birds.
- Salt marsh: The salt marsh covers 200,000 acres of the Carolina Bight. Salt marsh protects our communities from storms and high waves. South Carolina has more salt marsh than any state on the east coast. Beaufort County has more than 53% of the total in the state
- Bird species: The Carolina Bight salt marshes, waters, and beaches are essential to our bird populations. In one month, more than 70,000,000 birds were in Beaufort County. The Carolina Bight is in the Atlantic Flyway, which is a major migration path for birds traveling between the Arctic and South America. These birds depend on the Carolina Bight salt marsh as a safe place to rest, nest, and feed.
- Carbon absorption: The Carolina Bight salt marsh absorbs 4 million pounds of carbon each year. We must keep the marshes healthy and our waters clean. The salt marsh is in peril and needs protection.
The good guys?
Great work is being done in the Carolina Bight by several groups including the USC Beaufort Marine Sciences and Biology program, the Carolina Bight Birding Center, the Coastal Discovery Museum, Hunting Island State Park, the Lowcountry Institute, Nemours Wildlife Foundation, Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge, the Port Royal Sound Maritime Center, St. Phillips Island, the Waddell Mariculture Center, the Pritchard’s Island Research and Living Shoreline (PIRLS). Several additional communities also have important programs.
Are you and I good guys? What is our responsibility?
You and I each benefit from this special ecosystem that is the Carolina Bight. The more I learn, the more I care. I bet you will as well.
When Jenn of the Carolina Bight Birding Center told me about the 6 million birds in Beaufort County in a single night, I was excited. When she told me about injured birds that rely on volunteers to be driven two hours for care, I was humbled by the commitment of the volunteers and concerned for our birds.
When Craig Reeves of Sea Eagle Market talks about our shrimp and fish populations, I can sense his passion for a world I can’t see but a world that I enjoy for dinner. When the Port Royal Sound Maritime Center hosted a talk on crabs, oysters, and cobia, the attendance was beyond overflowing. Lots of people love this place.
What can we do?
Become an Ambassador for the Carolina Bight. Tell your friends and family about this place. Our home is different and deserves different regulations and management.
Tell the policy makers you appreciate their good work and remind them about why this place is special. Choose to celebrate an identity and a shared love for this place.
I am proud to live in the Carolina Bight. I chose the Carolina Bight to call home. The Carolina Bight matters to me. I hope it matters to you.
Dick Stewart serves on several nonprofit boards, is a former member of Beaufort County Council and has invested in properties in Beaufort including properties along Waterfront Park. You can send your thoughts to Stewartthoughts@gmail.com.