Passport to Texas

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This is Passport to Texas

Redfin Bay is a popular destination for anglers.

In fact, this area is number one for guided fishing trips, and second highest along the Texas coast for private boat anglers. Visitors outnumber locals two to one.

Popularity comes with a price, says Faye Grubbs, a coastal fisheries biologist based in Corpus Christi. Seagrass provides essential food and habitat for marine life. Yet, submerged propellers severly trench the area uprooting the aquatic plants. There is a regulation to protects these plants.

And the basics of that regulation are, there’s no uprooting of Seagrass allowed inside this scientific area – that includes 32-thousand acres. Now, boaters are allowed throughout the area – no area’s shut down. Trolling motors and anchors are exempted from the regulations. So if you do uproot any seagrass by using one of those devices, you’re exempted from the law.

Trolling motors and anchors are exempt because any damage they might inflict is minimal.

[seagull call] Overall, what we’re trying to do is really get boaters to think about what they’re doing out in the water. The onus, the responsibility, is on the boater to know the area he’s fishing in, and also protect and preserve some of the habitat that supports the fish that he’s fishing for.

Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program supports our series. Through your purchases of hunting and fishing equipment and motorboat fuels, over 40 million dollars in conservation efforts are funded in Texas each year.

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