The Sampit River begins in a swampy area of western

Georgetown County Georgetown County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 63,404. Its county seat is Georgetown. The county was founded in 1769. It is named for George III of the United Kingdom. Geor ...

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

, USA. It flows in an easterly direction to

Winyah Bay Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that is the confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River, and the Sampit River in Georgetown County, in eastern South Carolina. Its name comes from the Winyah people, who inhabited th ...

at Georgetown. Only small crafts can navigate the upper parts of the river. The lower river merges into the bay and is deepened by tidal flows, and (to Georgetown harbor) by dredging. During colonial and antebellum years, areas near the river were developed extensively for rice cultivation, on large plantations dependent on labor of African slaves. They created complex earthworks with dams and other elements to irrigate the rice fields using tidewaters. In this and other areas of the Low Country, African Americans developed the

Gullah people The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Their ...

and culture, a distinct creole culture with strong connections through culture, language and cuisine to West African peoples.

Invasive species

In July 2006, a red-bellied pacu fish (''

Piaractus brachypomus ''Piaractus brachypomus'' also known as the red-bellied Pacu or pirapitinga, is a large species of pacu, a close relative of piranhas and silver dollar (fish), silver dollars, in the serrasalmid family.Nico, L.; P. Fuller; and M. Neilson (22 Octo ...

'') was caught in the upper portion of the river.

Pacu Pacu () is a common name used to refer to several species of omnivorous South American freshwater Serrasalmidae, serrasalmid fish related to piranhas. Pacu and piranha do not have similar teeth, the main difference being jaw alignment; piranha ...

s are relatives of

piranha A piranha (, or ; ) is any of a number of freshwater fish species in the subfamily Serrasalminae, of the family Serrasalmidae, in the order Characiformes. These fish inhabit South American rivers, floodplains, lakes and reservoirs. Although ...

s native to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

. South Carolina DNR officials say this find highlights the danger of individuals releasing non-native fish to the wild. Non-native species can sometimes outcompete local species for habitat and food, killing them off, or introduce diseases, with devastating effects on fisheries.

References

Rivers of Georgetown County, South Carolina Rivers of South Carolina Tributaries of the Pee Dee River {{SouthCarolina-river-stub