Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

It took ten years and four million dollars, but the Texas Clipper is finally at the bottom of the gulf as an artificial reef.

Sinking the ship is just the beginning to me.

Dale Shively coordinates the artificial reef program at Parks and Wildlife. The Clipper is part of the Ships to Reefs program.

I think that once we start our biological monitoring, which will start immediately, we will have an underwater environment where we’ll be studying artificial reefs for many years to come.

On November 17, after several delays, contractors towed the ship from Brownsville where it had been cleaned up, 17 nautical miles off the coast of South Padre Island, where it was sunk.

I like to look at it as the ship of four lives. We’ve always talked about the three lives: as the USS Queens, the Excambion, and the Texas Clipper. But now it has the opportunity to live on in its fourth life, as an artificial reef for the state of Texas.

Artificial reefs are oases for marine life in the gulf, and improve fisheries where they exist. Learn more about the sinking of the Texas Clipper at passporttotexas.org.

That’s our show…with support from the Sport Fish and Wildlife restoration program…working to increase hunting, fishing, shooting and boating opportunities in Texas Parks & Wildlife

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

The Texas Clipper: That Sinking Feeling Play Now | Play in Popup | Download