Passport to Texas

Red Drum

50th Anniversary: Redfish Wars, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After years of monitoring, data collection and analysis, the TPW Commission upheld a Legislative directive, and in 1981 banned commercial fishing of red drum/redfish in Texas waters; something known today as The Redfish Wars.

15- You think of the term ‘wars.’ This was really a conflict between what we were finding in our bays regarding the red drum populations, and what the commercial fishermen traditionally did. It was their livelihood.

Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, says commercial fishermen criticized the agency’s method of random sampling, saying it set nets where redfish were sparse.

19-If we sampled in areas where there always were found fish, it would take us a longer time to detect a change – either positive or negative — when you’re always able to catch fish. When you do it randomly around a bay system, you have a much better way of detecting a change.

Although Texas Parks and Wildlife was sued over redfish regulations, the strength of the science won the case. In the thirty years since the ban, redfish populations have rebounded, and are more robust than ever. The ban, stocking programs, size and bag limits placed on sport anglers, have helped. Since then, the relationship with commercial anglers has also improved.

04- We do have a much better relationship than during the wartime.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series…and funds the operations and management of fish hatcheries in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Red Drum

50th Anniversary: Redfish Wars, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s illegal to commercially fish red drum, or redfish, in Texas. In the 1970s, during routine monitoring of bays, biologists discovered a serious decline in the number of the species caught by commercial fishermen.

06- So, we started looking into it very carefully, and started implementing bag and size limits on these animals.

Paul Hammerschmidt, with coastal fisheries, says the new restrictions were just the beginning of a lengthy and involved process to help increase populations of the species.

12-The legislature actually required us to establish quotas on commercial fishing. And we were allowed to modify those quotas depending on the amount of fish that were being caught on a day-by-day basis.

Most commercial anglers cooperated with Texas Parks and Wildlife by reporting the redfish caught in their nets….

26-Annecdotally, we had heard that red drum being landed and sold to fish wholesalers were actually reported as another species. What that did, is that showed fewer and fewer redfish were being caught in a particular bay. And that impacted the formula that we used to establish the quotas. So, the fewer and fewer fish that they got, the next year the fewer and fewer fish they were allowed to catch.

This marked the beginning of what would become known as The Redfish Wars; we’ll have more tomorrow.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series…and funds the operations and management of fish hatcheries in Texas. For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Bolivar Peninsula after Ike 2008, Image from http://www.srh.noaa.gov

Conservation: Ike's Hidden Damage, 2 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Texas lost 8-thousand acres of submerged oyster habitat when Hurricane Ike blew into the gulf in 2008. Some reefs will restore naturally; other will receive some help.

24- We are trying to accelerate that that recovery effort by putting some the materials down to allow new oysters to settle on. We also worked closely with the commercial industry and got them involved in pulling their dredges up with bags off of them across some of these reefs that were marginally covered up, and to pull the shell back to the surface to provide that substrate for young oysters to attach to and start growing.

Lance Robinson from coastal fisheries wrote the story. Ike pushed saltwater and debris 15-20 miles inland, which decimated saltmarsh habitat – habitat that’s a marine nursery for sport and commercial species. Restoration work is ongoing.

12—And it took several weeks just for heavy equipment to get into the marshes to remove the mountains of debris before we could get in and assess what the other impacts were. And at that point it was just gut-wrenching.

As bad as the damage after Ike, Robinsons says it could have been worse.

13—…both from a human impact and a natural resource impact had the storm tracked a little bit farther to the north. It would have brought the eye farther into the bay, and we would have seen a much more devastating impact.

Lance Robinson’s story about the “Hidden Damage of Ike” appears in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration project supports our series.

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

Image from National Weather Service

Conservation: Ike's Hidden Damage, 1 Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Few will forget the images from 2008 of the devastation to Galveston Island by Hurricane Ike. An article in the June 20-13 issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine details the damage from Ike we did not see.

06- The article focuses on the losses of some of the invaluable habitat associated with Galveston Bay.

Including submerged oyster habitat. Lance Robinson from coastal fisheries wrote the piece. The hurricane deposited sediment on top of 8-thousand acres of oyster reefs in Galveston Bay. That’s nearly half of the consolidated oyster habitat within the system.

24—That is a huge loss of a valuable resource. Not only from the commercial fishing aspect to it, but for the ecosystem services that they provide that a lot of people don’t really recognize or really see. Such as: water filtration, providing habitat for other fish and crabs and other organisms that are associated with structures. Sort of like an oasis in a desert.

A single adult oyster filters water at a rate of about 50 gallons a day, improving ecosystem water quality.

10—The wastewater treatment plants within Houston filter the same amount of water as a hundred and thirty acres of oyster reef; we lost 8-thousand acres of those reefs.

Restoring the reefs; that’s tomorrow.

Support provided by Ram Trucks. Doing what’s right and good regardless of the degree of difficulty — takes guts. Those are the people who build Ram trucks. RAM.

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

National Trails Day in Texas State Parks © Texas Parks and Wildlife Department

State Parks: National Trails Day Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Clear your schedule on Saturday, June 1, because it’s National Trails Day, and our state park guide, Bryan Frazier, says guided hikes await you at your state parks.

51 – We’ll have dozens of parks that are offering a hike on national Trails Day – it’s a Saturday. And you can get a hike that’s led by a park ranger, or a trained volunteer, or a Master Naturalist. And you can find out the story that that park has to tell. The history, the wildlife, the wildflowers and other plants and all the things that make that park unique and interesting. You’ll get the whole story. And you can take a leisurely hike: there will be hikes on boardwalks, hikes into the mountains, hikes on Hill Country trails and near rives; there will be all kinds of places to go in Texas on National Trails Day. So, check our website: texasstateparks.org; there’s a Trails Day link right there. You can find out all about it. So we want to encourage people….we always want to encourage people…to get outside and see that. And this is an even better reason.

Thanks, Bryan.

Find outdoor adventures at texasstateparks.org.

That’s our show for today…with funding provided by Chevrolet, supporting outdoor recreation in Texas; because there’s life to be done.

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