South Carolina goes through about 300,000 bushels of oysters a year. Only 35,000 to 40,000 of those bushels come back as recycled shell. That's the estimate from Holly Sommers, the shell recycling coordinator for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, in a February 2026 report in The Sun News.
The state covers the shortfall by buying shell from out-of-state shucking houses at $4 to $6 a bushel, and the yearly bill runs to thousands of dollars. That shell gets planted on the public grounds where recreational harvesters go out with their buckets.
So a Murrells Inlet oyster season runs in a loop. It starts in the marsh, moves to a roast table, and has to get back into the water for the next season to have beds to harvest. The 2026–27 season opened a week ago. Every step of that loop, from the license rules to the shell bins, sits within a short drive of the Wachesaw Plantation gate.
The harvest end, one week in
SCDNR opened the 2026–27 recreational season half an hour before sunrise on Oct. 1, 2026. It runs through May 15, 2027, though the agency can change that if conditions call for it. Here are the rules from the SCDNR season announcement, dated Sept. 25, 2026:
| Rule | 2026–27 season |
|---|---|
| License | Saltwater Recreational Fishing License |
| Daily limit | Two bushels of oysters and/or one-half bushel of clams |
| Frequency | No more than two harvest days in any seven |
| Possession | No more than three personal limits per boat or vehicle |
| Clams | One-inch minimum thickness |
The harder question is where you can harvest. Recreational harvest is allowed only on State grounds, marked S, and Public grounds, marked R, and only with a license. The C-coded culture-permit areas are leased for commercial growing. Harvesting there for fun takes written permission from the permit holder, according to SCDNR's shellfish regulations.
Murrells Inlet's state ground is S-358. On SCDNR's September 2026 map it is marked partially closed by SCDES, with commercial culture-permit areas right next to it. SCDNR also publishes a commercial schedule for S-358 that shows oysters closed and clams open from Oct. 1 to Dec. 4. That schedule covers commercial harvest. It doesn't tell a recreational harvester which parts of the ground are open.
Closures can change after storms, heavy rain or spills. SCDNR points harvesters to the SCDES closure map, linked from its shellfish maps page, and to the closure hotline at 1-800-285-1618. Check both the morning you go out.
The eating end, Nov. 7 on the MarshWalk
For most people, the season's biggest oyster event is the 22nd Annual Murrells Inlet Oyster Roast on Saturday, Nov. 7, 2026. It runs from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Wicked Tuna parking lot at 4123 U.S. 17 Business, according to the Georgetown County Chamber's event listing.
The official ticket page lists tickets at $40 a person, or $41.87 online with the fee. A ticket gets you all-you-can-eat oysters, your own oyster bucket and an event koozie, plus live music, drinks, local craft vendors and other food for sale. Organizers say to buy ahead because the event sells out. Online sales close at 12:01 p.m. on Nov. 7. Oysters are first come, first served. The roast happens rain or shine, with no refunds.
All proceeds go to Murrells Inlet 29576, the group formerly called Murrells Inlet 2020. The ticket page describes it as a community revitalization organization focused on conserving the natural environment while supporting local community and business.
Organizers haven't published where this year's oysters come from or what happens to the shells after the last bucket is emptied. For a home roast, the next section matters more.
The return end, on the same stretch of road
Look at the addresses. The roast is at 4123 U.S. 17 Business. Two of SCDNR's official shell recycling trailers are listed at 4079 and 4024 on the same road. Here are the Georgetown County drop-off sites on SCDNR's recycling page that serve Murrells Inlet:
| Drop-off site | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Dead Dog Saloon trailer | Overflow lot across the street from 4079 Highway 17 Business |
| Inlet Affairs trailer | Back right of the parking lot at 4024 Highway 17 Business |
| Garden City Fire Dept. | Trailer behind the station on U.S. 17 Business |
| Clambank Landing | Dirt road marked "Oyster Shell Recycling," about 1.26 miles north of the Brookgreen Gardens entrance on U.S. 17 |
| Murrells Inlet Public Boat Ramp | Parking lot, reported by The Sun News in February 2026 as the newest public drop-off |
The boat ramp site comes from The Sun News, not SCDNR. As of this month, the agency's own list still shows only the other four.
A bin can't use every load it gets. SCDNR's rules for dropping off shell are short:
- Keep shell and trash in separate containers. Shell mixed with trash can't be recycled.
- Dump the shells out of their bags or containers so only shell goes in the bin.
- Never put freshly shucked shell back in the water yourself. SCDNR quarantines recycled shell for six months first to avoid contamination.
- Never put live oysters from outside South Carolina into state waters. It's illegal and can harm local oysters.
- Never take shell out of a recycling bin. Once it's in an SCDNR container, it belongs to the state.
Why the state counts every bushel
A young oyster spends its life wherever it first attaches. After centuries of oyster farming, old oyster shell has proven one of the best surfaces for that attachment. Growers call it cultch. SCDNR says this shell has become harder to find and more expensive every year. Its recycling project is paid for by Saltwater Recreational Fishing License sales. The aim is to have more shell available for planting Public Shellfish Grounds and to improve recreational harvesting for the public.
That closes the loop. The license a harvester buys in October funds the program that collects shell from the November roast. Six months of quarantine later, that shell can become new beds on the public grounds. Shell that goes out with the trash leaves a gap, and SCDNR fills it with shell bought from out of state at $4 to $6 a bushel.
The numbers show how wide that gap is. With roughly 300,000 bushels eaten and 35,000 to 40,000 returned, about one bushel in eight comes back.
Restaurant shell is where the volume is
Home roasts help. Restaurants move far more shell. Only a couple of Murrells Inlet restaurants are known to recycle, according to SCDNR's coordinator in the February report: The Claw House and Inlet Affairs Banquet and Catering. In that same report, The Claw House's owner said each oyster can filter at least a gallon of water an hour. He called the amount of shell MarshWalk restaurants go through each year a significant source of new beds.
That's the gap a new partnership is trying to close. In 2026, SCDNR's South Carolina Oyster Recycling and Enhancement program, known as S.C.O.R.E., teamed up with the Wildlife Society Chapter at Horry-Georgetown Technical College. The partnership launched at an oyster roast at the college's Georgetown campus on Feb. 20, 2026. Students adopt restaurants for recycling and haul their shell to drop-off sites. They also build Manufactured Wire Reefs and set them in areas hurt by erosion and poor water quality. The chapter had 41 students at launch.
The chapter's first-year goal is to grow to as many as 10 participating restaurants on the MarshWalk and nearby, and to increase the number of bushels it can put back in the water. An HGTC forestry professor involved with the partnership told The Sun News it's the first student partnership with SCDNR in the state.
Put the dates together and the season looks like this. Harvest runs Oct. 1 through May 15. The Wicked Tuna roast is Nov. 7. The bins at Dead Dog Saloon, Inlet Affairs, Garden City Fire Dept., Clambank Landing and the public boat ramp take shell all season. Shell from this fall's roasts finishes its six-month quarantine around next spring, when this season's harvest is closing.
If oyster season is part of why the Waccamaw Neck feels like home, we'd love to hear how you spend it. We know these marsh-side routines because we live them too. And when you or someone you know starts thinking about a move along the inlet, Taylor Keenan is glad to be the team you call. Start your Lowcountry search: contact our team today.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
