S.C. Code Ann. § 50-5-555: Trap placement and attention requirements; department inspection, removal, seizure, and disposal.

(A) No trap may be placed within six hundred feet of a public boat ramp or launching area.

(B) No trap may be set so as to leave any portion of the trap dry at any stage of the tide.

(C) No trap may be unattended for more than five days. Without having written permission of the owner, no person may retrieve or remove catch from any trap the buoy of which is marked with a number assigned by the department to another person.

(D) No trap may be set so as to obstruct navigation in any creek or other navigable water course, access point, or mooring point. A trap determined by the department to be in violation of this section may be removed by the department and disposed of as provided in this chapter.

(E) The department may inspect traps for compliance with this section at any time. If the department finds any trap:

(1) set in violation of this section;

(2) containing excessive dead catch or only dead catch; or

(3) with buoy, line, or trap displaying excessive marine growth, the trap is contraband and must be seized and disposed of as provided in this chapter.

(F) No trap may be in the waters of the General Trawling Zone as established by Section 50-5-705 when these waters are open to trawling for shrimp.

(G) The department may impose a civil penalty of up to one hundred dollars for each trap in violation of this section for a first offense, up to three hundred dollars for a second offense, and up to five hundred dollars for a third or subsequent offense.