Passport to Texas

 

This is Passport to Texas

Texas Game Wardens cover a lot of ground; and sometimes that “ground” is water.

07— Basically what we are looking for is anything out of the ordinary that you could find out in the water; it could be a coke bottle floating.

Those bottles may look like trash, says Captain James Dunks, Game Warden in the Brownsville District in the Lower Rio Grande Valley—but they’re not.

09— Sometimes you’ll have a line tied to the coke bottle, and it will go all the way to the bottom; it could be a two mile section of long line that is on the bottom, and it’s just marked by a coke bottle.

Texas waters extend nine nautical miles offshore, and game wardens patrol all of it. When they find long lines, which are illegal in Texas and US waters, they pull them up.

25— Basically what it is, it’s a bottom line. And they’re usually set a mile long, and they have a series of hooks that are baited. And, it sits right down on the bottom, and whatever comes by and eats that bait is going to get hooked. And typically what they’re after is sharks, reef fish such as snapper; occasionally you’ll find a tarpon hooked on them. I’ve seen sea turtles; I’ve even seen blue marlin hooked on these long lines within our nine mile jurisdiction.

By thwarting illegal gulf fishing, Game Wardens help preserve Texas’ ecosystems and resources. But long lines aren’t the only threat to marine species; details tomorrow.

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