Pull Quote (page 2): Our community gave me the ability to get up and functioning properly without the stress of having to build it all back on my own.
After 47 years of commercial fishing, owner of Abundant Seafood, Captain Mark Marhefka had never been hit by lightning. However, that changed one summer day in 2025 when intense storms surrounded the waters where his boat was off the coast of Charleston. “Lightning bolts were coming down all around us like bombs exploding out of the sky,” Marhefka said. “One struck our VHF antenna and blew out all of the electronics as well as the transducer. We were lucky the fuel tank didn’t explode–our saving grace was that the boat is an old diesel and the motor doesn’t need electricity to run once it's cranked up.”
Thankfully, none of the three people on board, Marhefka, his mate Charles Knight and apprentice Dellene Lizama, were seriously injured. While Marhefka did feel a jolt on the steering wheel and some of the buttons popped out and hit him on the head, of greater concern was the compass that was 40 degrees off in every direction. “The boat was heading on a course far away from land and we ended up off of Georgetown,” he said. “We had plenty of fuel but no cell service. Fortunately, I found an Iridium satellite phone in a box downstairs and was able to install it so we could get satellite communication every hour or two.”
Using that technology, Marhefka guided the boat to turn west, heading in close enough to land where he could pick up a signal.
Once the clouds had cleared and Marhefka had a chance to evaluate his losses, he realized that all of the 3,000 fishing spots he’d saved on his GPS had gone missing from a Furuno computer, which didn’t have a hard drive.
As word got out about this devastating blow to Marhefka’s business, his retail customers tried talking him into setting up a GoFundMe account to help him fix the boat and replace the equipment. Too stubborn to accept help, Marhefka refused time and again until a friend insisted on getting his bank details. Marhefka acquiesced and the campaign raised $75,000 in one week.
“Our community gave me the ability to get up and functioning properly without the stress of having to build it all back on my own,” Marhefka said.
With a new start and the help of a tech rep from Furuno who was able to recover Marhefka’s missing data onto a flash drive, the captain was able to recover all 3,000 locations he thought he’d lost.
Now that he’s back out to sea, Marhefka said he will keep going. “It’s my drive. What else would I do?”
Since the beginning of his career as a fisherman, Marhefka’s passion has been feeding people with the fish he catches as a “public resource” that he believes should belong to everyone. Now, after the outpouring of support he’s seen from the community, he’s eager to give back even more. When he has an abundance of seafood, he shares it with the waitstaff who sell his fish in their restaurants. He is also looking for more outreach to help distribute the bounty. “This has been an ongoing challenge as seafood is a raw product that has to be cooked properly,” he said. “So, I’m trying to figure out where else I can contribute.”
When it comes to day-to-day operations, Marhefka acknowledged the rising costs of doing business. “Because the price of bait, fuel and ice are almost the same as fish, high-end seafood is a luxury item these days. That’s frustrating because everybody deserves the opportunity to have fresh-caught fish for its good protein and nutrients.”
To learn more about Marhefka’s daily catch, visitabundantseafood.com, follow abundantseafood on Instagram or pop into the shop, located at 102 Haddrell Street, Mount Pleasant 29464.