2016 CRAB TRAP CLEANUP: Removing crab traps to end 
ghost fishing [05 " ... traps to date."] ... on Passport to Texas.

This is Passport to Texas

Lost and abandoned crab traps become hazards to marine 
life in Texas bays.

06 -- We are particularly concerned because of the ghost fishing 
effects; they continue fishing unmaintained.

When something gets in the trap and dies, it acts as bait, 
attracting more marine life, which in turn suffers the 
same fate. Art Morris coordinated the annual cleanup of 
derelict traps during his time with TPW. 

12 -- And what we do once a year in February, is get volunteers 
together up and down the coast, and we try to remove all those 
traps that have been lost, or vandalized or whatever that are 
potentially ghost fishing.

Volunteers have removed more than 31-thousand traps in 
the cleanup's 15 year history. The cleanup traditionally 
starts on the third Friday of February and continues for 
10 days.

14 -- We don't have any kind of salvage laws in Texas, and once 
you put out a trap -- it's your property and nobody is supposed 
to touch that. So, in order to get to these derelict traps, we have 
a legislative, mandated closure.

This mandate gives citizens permission to remove 
derelict traps from their favorite fishing holes during that 
10-day period. Find details volunteering for this year's 
cleanup on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our series.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife ... I'm Cecilia Nasti. 

http://tpwd.texas.gov/regulations/outdoor-annual/fishing/shellfish-regulations/crab-
and-ghost-shrimp-legal-devices-and-restrictions 



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