2023 South Carolina Code of Laws › Title 50 - Fish, Game and Watercraft › Chapter 1 - General Provisions › Section 50-1-30. Classifications of birds, animals, and fish.

For the purpose of this title the following classifications are recognized:
(1) Game birds: mourning dove, northern bob white, ruffed grouse, wild turkey, Wilson snipe, woodcock, the Anatidae (commonly known as goose, brant, and duck), and the Rallidae (commonly known as marsh hen, coot, gallinule, and rail).
(2) Unprotected birds: house sparrow (Passer domesticus), rock pigeon (Columba livia), European starling (Sturnus vulgaris), and Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto). These birds are unprotected by state law.
(3) Nongame birds: all native birds not named in items (1) and (2) of this section are nongame birds and must not be destroyed in any manner at any time, except as otherwise provided by law.
(4) Game animals: beaver, black bear, bobcat, white-tailed deer, fox, mink, muskrat, opossum, otter, rabbit, raccoon, skunk, squirrel, and weasel.
(5) Freshwater game fish: Bream: bluegill, flier, green sunfish; pumpkinseed, redbreast, redear (shellcracker), spotted sunfish; warmouth; Black Bass; striped bass or rockfish; white bass; hybrid striped bass-white bass; white crappie, black crappie; Trout: rainbow, brown, brook, and their hybrids, chain pickerel (jackfish), redfin pickerel, sauger, walleye, and yellow perch.
(6) Freshwater nongame fish: any freshwater fish species not classified as a game fish.
(7) Saltwater gamefish: Cobia Rachycentron canadum; spotted seatrout (winter trout) Cynoscion nebulosus; red drum (channel bass) Sciaenops ocellatus; tarpon Megalops atlanticus; and any species of billfish of the Family Istiophoridae.
(8) Migratory waterfowl: members of the family "Anatidae" including brants, ducks, geese, and swans.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 28-4; 1952 Code Section 28-4; 1942 Code Section 1757; 1932 Code Section 1751; Cr. C. '22 Section 733; 1919 (31) 269; 1920 (31) 732; 1921 (32) 224, 233; 1924 (33) 1152; 1927 (35) 372; 1928 (35) 1217; 1930 (36) 1740, 2122; 1952 (47) 2179; 1955 (49) 596; 1956 (49) 2074; 1957 (50) 403; 1961 (52) 475; 1964 (53) 2143, 2154; 1965 (54) 157; 1971 (57) 84; 1978 Act No. 625 Sections 1, 2; 1984 Act No. 282, Section 1; 1985 Act No. 148, Section 2; 1993 Act No. 181, Section 1257; 2007 Act No. 85, Section 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on June 15, 2007); 2008 Act No. 227, Section 1, eff upon approval (became law without the Governor's signature on May 15, 2008); 2010 Act No. 200, Section 2, eff May 28, 2010; 2012 Act No. 249, Section 1, eff June 18, 2012; 2020 Act No. 152 (S.1068), Section 1, eff September 28, 2020; 2022 Act No. 137 (H.4907), Section 1, eff April 11, 2022.
Code Commissioner's Note
At the direction of the Code Commissioner, "mourning dove" was substituted for "morning dove" in item (1) to correct a typographical error.
Effect of Amendment
The 2007 amendment added item (6) relating to saltwater gamefish.
The 2008 amendment, in item (5), removed white perch from the list of game fish.
The 2010 amendment rewrote the section.
The 2012 amendment inserted "Cobia Rachycentron canadum;" in item (7).
2020 Act No. 152, Section 1, added (8), relating to migratory waterfowl.
2022 Act No. 137, Section 1, in (5), deleted "largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass, redeye bass (coosae bass);" following "Black Bass", substituted "brown, brook, and their hybrids" for "brown and brook", and made a nonsubstantive change.