‘Loaded’ pond becomes a graveyard: St. Helena Island neighbors demand action from SCDOT

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Two St. Helena Island residents are calling on the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) to clear out a clogged tidal ditch, warning that a beloved local pond has become a graveyard for hundreds of fish.

James Cotter and Frank Stirewald, who live off Horse Island Road, say a nearby ditch and several culverts are so severely blocked with brush, silt, and debris that fresh saltwater can no longer flow in and out of the pond with the tides.

“This is a tidal ditch,” Stirewald said. “It’s supposed to come in with high tide and go out with low tide, and that’s what feeds the pond behind us.”

Without that natural tidal flow to replenish oxygen and regulate salinity, the pond’s fish population is rapidly dying off. Cotter, who owns the pond, estimated it was recently home to between 600 and 700 fish.

Now, more than half of them are dead.

“It was loaded,” Stirewald said of the pond’s former fish population. “We’re lucky if we have anything left now.”

Cotter said the rotting fish create both an eyesore and a health hazard for the neighborhood.

“Birds come down, and they pick the fish to death, and still it’s just not good health-wise,” Cotter said.

A frustrating runaround

The two neighbors say they have spent months trying to get local or state government officials to take responsibility for digging up the ditch and clearing the culverts, only to find themselves caught in a cycle of bureaucratic runarounds.

Initially, they reached out to Beaufort County for help.

“The guys were really nice, and they wanted to pump out the ditch and all, but their bosses won’t let them because it’s SCDOT,” Stirewald explained.

While the county maintains Horse Island Road where the men live, the ditch itself is under state jurisdiction, leaving county workers powerless to intervene.

Cotter says he calls SCDOT weekly to report the issue, but has received little more than empty promises.

“He says, ‘I’ll get out there next week.’ Well, next week comes and goes. He may stop in or he might not,” Cotter said. “He doesn’t knock on the door to let you know that he’s here.”

SCDOT crews did eventually come out to clear away some nearby brush to make room for heavy equipment. However, the neighbors say workers stopped just short of the critical section of the ditch that feeds the pond.

In addition to the clogged water flow, Stirewald wants SCDOT to remove a large tree growing in the ditch, which he fears could damage his nearby home and camper.

“I said, ‘I got a camper; I got a house.’ He said, ‘He don’t care. They won’t let me take it down unless it’s subject to falling in the road,’” Stirewald said.

SCDOT responds: Outfall on private property

WTOC reached out to SCDOT regarding the blocked drainage system and the mounting fish kill.

In a statement, the department asserted that it has maintained its portion of the drainage system but that a key part of the problem lies on private land:

“The portions of the ditch on the state-maintained roadway have been cleaned as recently as March of this year, and we will send crews out to inspect those areas again and perform additional maintenance if necessary. There is a drainage outfall on private property in this area – that outfall does not fall within SCDOT’s jurisdiction to maintain. We encourage anyone with an issue on a state-maintained roadway to be in touch with us directly at 855-467-2368.”

Hoping to restore the pond

Despite the jurisdictional dispute, Cotter and Stirewald are holding onto hope that the state and local agencies can coordinate to resolve the blockage before the remaining fish are lost.

They say that if the ditch is fully cleared, the natural tidal flow will not only save the pond’s surviving marine life, but eventually bring in new fish to restore the local ecosystem.