A new hub facility of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources opened Monday in Florence offering a variety of services to residents in the Grand Strand and Pee Dee regions.
The new 8,800 square-foot facility, one of four DNR hub locations statewide, is home to offices of three DNR divisions, including Law Enforcement, Land, Water and Conservation and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. The public can take care of boating, hunting and fishing related details at the facility, including recreational hunting and fishing licenses, permits and tag sales along with watercraft registration renewals, duplicate watercraft decals, duplicate registration cards and duplicate outboard motor decals. The other hub offices are in Columbia, Charleston and Clemson.
"The old facility was a very small building, an old district office from the 1970s," said Capt. William Poole of DNR's Region II Law Enforcement. "There was no room for [DNR staff] and certainly no room for the customers. In the summer months when everyone was coming for boat renewal, hunting and fishing licenses [etc.] customers would have to stand in line outside in the weather. Now we've got an air-conditioned lobby.
"It's just a huge improvement over what we have had - just a huge improvement for our customers. It's just a win, win, win all the way around."
The facility is part of a consolidation effort that began in 2003, condensing 17 small field offices into the regional hub offices. The consolidation savesmoney in facilities management and utility bills, improved internal agency communications and improved user friendly service operations for the public.
The Florence facility is earmarked for DNR Region II, which covers York, Chester, Fairfield, Lancaster, Kershaw, Lee, Chesterfield, Marlboro, Darlington, Dillon, Florence, Marion and Williamsburg counties, but Poole has already seen customers from Horry County.
"A lot of our customers come from Conway, Aynor and Horry County," Poole said on Tuesday. "We had some people [from Horry County] in here today talking how nice [the facility] is and we get [customers] from Georgetown all the time."
The previous Florence office was near the Florence-Darlington county line, meaning the new digs - adjacent to Francis Marion University on the east side of Florence - are more convenient for Horry and Georgetown county residents.
"It's a lot closer to them, 20 miles closer than the old building," Poole said.
One huge amenity the new facility offers is a 1,250-square-foot auditorium with state-of-the-art video equipment that will be available for a variety of uses, including hunter and boater education classes. Sgt. Andre Thompson of Dillon County is serving as DNR's hunter and boater education coordinator for the facility.
DNR has also entered into an agreement with Francis Marion University so staff from both institutions will have access to labs and libraries and other facilities. The South Carolina Natural Resources Board is expected to formally dedicate the facility in a ceremony Aug. 12.
Governor's Cup Billfish
The 22nd annual South Carolina Governor's Cup Billfishing Series wraps up this weekend with the series' 5th and final tournament - the Edisto Marina Billfish Tournament.
A pair of boats have separated from the pack and are only 200 points apart heading into the finale. Caramba, out of Toler's Cove in Mt. Pleasant, leads the standings with 3,275 points closely followed by Daymaker, which calls Georgetown Landing Marina home, with 3,075.
"Both of these boats have real good captains and mates and they fish hard," said S.C. DNR's Wallace Jenkins, who coordinates the Governor's Cup tournaments along with Amy Dukes. "The interesting thing is winning the Governor's Cup, it doesn't win you any money, it just gets you a trophy, but winning it is prestigious to these guys."
Caramba won both the Carolina Billfish Classic on June 26 and the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament on May 29 with Daymaker taking second in both events. At the Carolina Billfish Classic, Caramba nipped Daymaker at the wire by hooking up with a blue marlin 24 minutes before fishing ended at 3 p.m. on June 26 and subsequently releasing the fish for the winning 600 points.
The darkhorse is Mt .Pleasant entry Game On, which is in third place with 2,475 points. Game On finished third behind Caramba and Daymaker in both the Carolina Billfish Classic and the Georgetown Blue Marlin Tournament.
Fishing opened Thursday and concludes Saturday with boats allowedto fish two of three days.
Wahoo tourney
The third annual Belle Isle Marina Wahoo Tournament is taking place out of Belle Isle Yacht Club & Marina in Georgetown through Aug. 7.
The tournament, which began Thursday and has an entry fee of $500 per boat, features a $5,000 first prize for top aggregate weight of two wahoo. The two fishing days next weekend are Aug. 6 and 7, with the mandatory captains meeting and dinner set for Thursday. A silent auction will take place after the first day of fishing and an awards banquet will follow the final day of fishing. Registration deadline is Thursday at 5 p.m. The tournament is limited to the first 25 boats.
For more information, contact Mary Torgersen at momatorg@aol.com or Cam Kreps at 803-530-6541.
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