{"id":243758,"date":"2026-07-15T08:01:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243758\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T08:01:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T08:01:11","slug":"folly-beach-defers-vote-on-proposed-drone-fishing-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/243758\/","title":{"rendered":"Folly Beach defers vote on proposed drone fishing ban"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text | article-text\">FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 Folly Beach city leaders have deferred a first reading of a proposed ordinance that would ban drone fishing on the city\u2019s beaches and piers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The proposed rule would prohibit the use of drones and other mechanical devices to deliver bait and fishing lines. Leaders said the language is intentionally broad so it could apply to future fishing technology beyond drones.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The technique has grown in use as the technology has become cheaper and more accessible, allowing fishermen to carry bait hundreds of yards offshore.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">PRIOR COVERAGE: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.live5news.com\/2026\/07\/14\/folly-beach-considers-ban-drone-fishing-over-safety-concerns\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.live5news.com\/2026\/07\/14\/folly-beach-considers-ban-drone-fishing-over-safety-concerns\/\">Folly Beach considers ban on drone fishing over safety concerns<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Mayor Chris Bizzell said interactions between fishermen, swimmers and surfers have become harder to ignore as summer crowds grow and drone fishing activity increases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cIt\u2019s just becoming more prevalent on the beach,\u201d Bizzell said. \u201cYou see the drone fishing activities starting to ramp up as the technology becomes more accessible. There\u2019s so many interactions between the fishermen, the swimmers, the surfers, we just need to make sure we keep everybody safe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">Bizzell said the concern also extends to the environment. Folly Beach is home to endangered birds and sea turtles, and leaders say tangled monofilament fishing line poses a threat to those animals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">\u201cWe\u2019ve got people surfing, wind surfing, that type of thing, swimming,\u201d Bizzell said. \u201cIt becomes more of a chance for those two to interact and have issues. The other side of it is the environmental side. Folly\u2019s home to endangered species of birds, sea turtles. We don\u2019t want any of this monofilament entangling animals and causing issues on that side as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"text | article-text\">The ordinance is expected to be brought up again at a future city council meeting. No final vote has been taken.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2026 WCSC. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) \u2014 Folly Beach city leaders have deferred a first reading of a proposed ordinance&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84911,104439,104438,104441,104440,128,130,129],"class_list":["post-243758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-beaches","tag-drone-fishing-ban","tag-folly-beach","tag-mayor-chris-bizzell","tag-piers","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}