Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

Lake Fork is the site of the first annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic, scheduled April 13 through 15. The organizers of this one million dollar tournament had to figure out how to work with the agency’s restrictive management policy.

We manage that lake with a 16 to 24 inch slot limit. Which means fish between 16 and 24 inches must be released immediately. They can’t be held in a live well or carried to a weigh-in.

Phil Durocher is Director if Inland Fisheries at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

We’ve been working with them and they’ve developed a format where they’re going to actually weigh the fish on the boats as they catch them and release them on the spot. So, it will be the first time anywhere in the country that we’ve had a top-notch professional bass tournament on a lake with really restrictive length limits.

In addition, the professional anglers will work as four-man teams.

Two of the anglers by draw are going to go out and fish the morning session. And then, they’re going t get together with the other two anglers on that team, where they have a strategy session about what they need to do in the afternoon. And in the afternoon the other two anglers are going to go out, and fish based on the information and the patterns they discussed with the anglers that fished in the morning. You know, these anglers are not used to fishing in teams. So it’s going to be interesting to see what happens. They’re going to have to work together to win this event. It’s reality fishing.

Get tournament details on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… supported by the Sort Fish Restoration program. ..funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish Restoration Program

I met with Phil Durocher, Director of Inland Fisheries, on a day when a noisy construction crew was working outside his window. But the racket didn’t distract him from the topic of our interview – fishing in Texas.

Fishing is big business in Texas. And on the freshwater side alone, it’s estimated to be somewhere in the neighborhood of about a four billion dollar a year industry.

One fish that draws anglers to Texas from across the country is the large-mouthed bass.

The bass are the number one fish in fresh water. It’s estimated that over half of all the fishermen in Texas fish solely for bass. It’s a big part of our business, and it’s the most popular fish in the united states.

And Durocher isn’t shy when it comes to sharing what he’d like to see for bass angling in Texas.

It is big business, and we’d like to get all of it in Texas if we could.

He may get his wish after the first annual Toyota Texas Bass Classic takes place at Lake Fork next month.

It’s going to be a one million dollar tournament. I don’t know what they purse is going to be for individuals, but the total package is one million dollars.

We’ll learn about the tournament on tomorrow’s show.

We’ve been working with them and have developed a format where they’re going to actually weigh the fish on the boats as they catch them, and release them on the spot.

That’s our show…sponsored by the Sport Fish Restoration Program… funded by your purchase of fishing equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

Like the US, Japan has seen a decrease in what their young people understand about nature.

Nature education is really foundational to an understanding of any of the sciences.

A better understanding of science can help us to protect nature. Cappy Manly coordinates Project Wild for Texas Park and Wildlife. Last year she was invited by the Japanese government to share her knowledge of Project Wild with them.

They understand that the health of a society is directly attributed to the health of your natural resources.

Becoming a better planetary steward, no matter where in the world you live, is one goal of Project Wild. And that concept translates into any language.

What’s very interesting is that we’re all looking for solutions. And the exciting part is that we are all willing to share what we’re finding out, and to share the accomplishments, and also to look at the things that aren’t really working for us, but to work together more in looking at solutions for all of us. And it truly is a global society. That’s what impressed upon me is that – we’re not alone.

Learn more about Project Wild when you visit the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program

We share a common problem with Japan.

They, too, are seeing a decrease in the understanding of nature – and consequently – in the understanding of science.

Cappy Manly coordinates Project Wild for Texas Park and Wildlife…it’s a K-through-12 program that trains teachers how to incorporate the natural world into their curricula. Japan has had Project Wild for several years and sought Manly’s expertise to enhancement their understanding.

I was quite honored to be invited by the Japanese government, their parks foundation, to come in and do a speech for some of their academics and some of their practitioners, but then do two days of workshops with a lot of their educators and staff people that deliver Project Wild programs in Japan.

Children in Japan, as in the US, are becoming estranged from nature.

For example…the Ministry of Education did a presentation at the same symposium that I was asked to speak at. They had seen a decrease in the last ten years of the number of children who had climbed a tree higher than their head. Who had witnessed a sunrise or a sunset. Who had never gone fishing….

These are basic experiences that a generation ago were “a given” for the Japanese and for us. We’ll have more with Cappy Manly tomorrow.

That’s our show… made possible by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

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Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration Program

Edited by Dr. Leonard Brennan, Endowed Chair for Quail Research at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute, the book Texas Quails: Ecology and Management is for anyone who wants to understand and manage this prized game bird.

And he approached myself, and about twenty-three others, to contribute to this book, which is pretty much everything that’s ever been studied, and ever been worked on — on quail in Texas.

Robert Perez is Texas Parks and Wildlife’s state quail biologist. Quail once ranged across thirty-six states, but are now only common in few states, including Texas.

The quail is a species that’s been surrounded by myth. Everyone’s got a reason why they’ve declined, or an old an wives’ tale about why they’re gone – because turkey are eating them, or because of fire ants, or because of some other reason. We as biologists understand that most any species, when it disappears, or gets drastically reduced on the landscape, it’s because of habitat.

Perez says, habitat loss is the main thrust of this volume.

Every chapter, fundamentally, is referring to habitat. And that’s something that we can’t repeat enough to folks. It’s human nature just to find an easy way, or a silver bullet, or a one-shot way to fix a problem. Put them out of a box – pen reared quail. There is no easy solution; we’ve got to work on repairing the habitat. And that’s, I think, a message throughout the text.

Find the book on Amazon.com.

That’s our show… made possible by the Wildlife Restoration Program… helping to fund the operations and management of more than 50 wildlife management areas.

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

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