Waddell Mariculture Center, Bluffton

• Run by: S.C. Department of Natural Resources
• Built: 1983 to 1984
• Ponds: 25 research ponds
• Tours: On request, and guided dates in fall

The Waddell Mariculture Center is a field research station of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR), on the Colleton River at 211 Sawmill Creek Road in Bluffton. Mariculture is farming the sea: raising marine and brackish-water fish, shellfish and shrimp. The center was built in 1983 and 1984 to work out how to breed and grow those species, and SCDNR calls it one of the country’s largest and most sophisticated mariculture research facilities. It is a working research lab.

What Happens at Waddell

The grounds hold 25 ponds from a quarter acre to an acre and a quarter, a 10,000-square-foot research building and a 2,600-square-foot building where fish and shrimp are brought to spawning condition. Over three decades its scientists have worked with red drum, black drum, cobia, black sea bass, flounder, spotted sea trout, striped bass, sturgeon, several shrimp species, hard clams, bay scallops and oysters. The staff include doctorate-level scientists, and the center works with Clemson University, the University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston and the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. It also advises commercial aquaculture operations.

Tours of the Waddell Center

SCDNR says the center schedules tours on request when staff have time, and that it speaks to more than 3,000 visitors, club members and students a year. Its tour page gives no set public hours, fee or booking phone number, so do not just drive out. To ask for a group tour, use the contact details on SCDNR’s tour page.

The simplest way to get in as an individual is the Coastal Discovery Museum’s guided tour of the grounds, laboratory, hatchery and ponds. It is listed for 10:30 a.m. to noon on Sept. 15, Oct. 6 and Nov. 3 in 2026, at $25 per person for ages 13 and older. Closed-toe shoes are required for the hatchery, and about half of the tour is outdoors, so bring a hat, sunscreen and bug spray. Book with the museum on 843-689-6767 or through its excursions page.

Getting There

Waddell is off Sawmill Creek Road in Bluffton, on the Colleton River side of town and a different waterway from the May River that Old Town sits on. It is in Bluffton, not on Hilton Head Island. For more to do nearby, see the parks and nature preserves in the Bluffton guide.