Passport to Texas

Beautiful but deadly lionfish. Image from Harte Research Institute.

Fighting the Threat of Lionfish in Texas Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

With amazing appetites and reproductive abilities, lionfish are a growing threat to native Texas marine life.

Everybody agreed lionfish was a problem, but we weren’t working together. And that’s always a challenge, because this is not going to be fixed by biologists.

Leslie Hartman, Matagorda Bay Program Leader, said during last year’s Lone Star Lionfish symposium organizations worked together to address this issue.

We brought together engineers, biologists, legal professionals, including enforcement and lawyers. We brought in oil, shrimpers…academicians. We brought in a roboticist expert. All this, because you cannot fix the lionfish issue with a single, non-existent silver bullet.

Participants developed seven parameters of need, including funding, research, and regulation—and assigned each one an approximate cost and pragmatic rating.

Using these approximate costs and the pragmatic rating, things should float to the top. [We can say] this is a really good value, and it’s really practical. So this would be something that we would rate high. All of this is to create a unified state plan. And we’re going to be able to disseminate it to the universities, and the engineers, and the regulators, and say: ‘this is what a whole bunch of experts determined as being the most appropriate way to go about this, so that it can be most effective.’

The Second Annual Lone Star Lionfish Symposium is February 15 & 16.

The Sport fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Pretty but deadly to native aquatic species.

The Problem with Lionfish Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

The lionfish, native to the Pacific Ocean, is a common species in the aquarium trade.

But a couple of them have gotten loose

Leslie Hartman—Matagorda Bay Program Leader—says lionfish wasted no time getting busy making more of their kind.

They get to reproductive age in one year. They breed every four days. They can be found in an inch of water. They can be found in 12-hunderd feet of water. These guys are really super successful. And they’re Americanized. They’re willing to eat past the point when they’re full, until they get fat.

And what they eat are native marine species.

We’re really concerned about how many of our fish, shrimp and crabs their eating. In the Caribbean—and they’ve been there quite a number of years before us—a single Lionfish on a little coral reef, consumed 80% of that season’s young.

Because of their voracious appetites, their reproductive prowess, and the fact that they haven’t any predators…

We’re really concerned long term for the effect it’s going to have on all of our fisheries. Whether it’s the commercial shrimp and blue crab, whether it’s the recreational snapper, redfish, trout—we just know we need to be concerned.

Tomorrow Leslie Hartman tells us about what’s being done to prevent lionfish from becoming a problem in Texas.

The Sport fish restoration program supports our series.

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

Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine collage made from 75 years of covers.

TPW TV -- A Magazine is Born Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Over its 75 year history, a changing dedicated staff of writers, editors, photographers, artists and others, have lovingly crafted each page of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

[Louie Bond] It doesn’t really matter how many people you have when you have really dedicated, really talented people.
[Russell Roe] Our challenge always is to kind of tell the story of conservation in interesting ways.
[Nathan Adams] How are we going to tell this story in a way that resonates?
[Sonja Sommerfeld] Everything is a collaboration. We each bring our own little taste to the table…
[Nathan Adams] Everyone gets to come in and offer suggestions. That’s a nicer than saying argue.
[Russell Roe] That kind of creative tension helps us create a better magazine.
[Louie Bond] The most important thing about magazine planning is the term ‘long range’. A year and a half in advance is completely mapped out.
[Chase Fountain] Time constraints. You know, there’s a deadline.
[Earl Nottingham] We try to push ‘em sometimes.

We heard editor, Louie Bond, managing editor, Russell Roe, Art Director, Nathan Adams, photo editor, Sonja Sommerfeld, and photographers: Chase Fountain and Earl Nottingham.

Go behind the scenes of this award-winning publication on the Texas Parks and Wildlife TV series on PBS, the week of February 5th. Check your local listings.

Funding for our show provided in part by Ram Trucks. Guts. Glory. Ram

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

Derelict crab traps collected from Chocolate Bayou.

2017 Crab Trap Cleanup Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Commercial crab fishermen use baited wire traps to lure their prey. Sometimes traps end up missing due to storms, or they are simply discarded.

These traps continue ghost fishing for months or years—capturing fish and other marine creatures, including endangered species—taking an environmental and economic toll on gulf fisheries.

In February of 2002, Texas Parks and Wildlife conducted the first abandoned crab trap removal program; and 2017 marks the 15th cleanup. During a 10-day period this month, volunteers like you, will join Texas Parks and Wildlife staff and partners, in removing derelict traps.

This year’s cleanup is February 17th through the 26th. The big cleanup “push” is Saturday, February 18 from 10 to noon. This is the only time citizens may remove these traps from gulf waters.

More than 32,000 derelict crab traps have been removed from the gulf since 2002, saving tens of thousands of marine organisms.

Texas Parks and Wildlife and partners facilitate roughly 20 sites coast wide and provide disposal facilities, and supply volunteers with tarps, gloves, crab trap hooks and other items.

To volunteer for this year’s program visit the Abandoned Crab Trap Removal page on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Sport Fish restoration Program supports our series.

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

Hunters attempting to attract deer to a clearing for a good shot.

A New Hunter Gets a Shot at Success Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

Adults with little exposure to hunting are expressing interest in the activity. So, in December, Texas Parks and Wildlife offered a mentored deer hunt for adult novices at Inks Lake State Park. Chris Hall was hunt coordinator.

[We did it] to give a total turn-key experience—start to finish—of ethics, proper care and maintenance. As well as the hunting experience, itself.

Barham Richard, an environmental attorney from Austin, was among the group participating in the mentored hunt. He’d been squirrel hunting as a kid, but that was years ago. He sought guidance for big game, and found it.

From the first day, everybody’s been so helpful, and they’ve taken a lot of time to figure out what they wanted to do here. You can tell they took a lot of pride in putting this all together. So, I can’t tell them how much I appreciate all of it.

Barham and his cohorts spent the first morning of the 3-day mentored hunt in the classroom, and that afternoon at a shooting range. On day two, it was off to the blinds. Preparation paid off for Barham.

Got my first doe. You say this is your first doe. First deer? Yes. First deer ever. We got it late at night. We were about to pack up, and there it was. So, we took it, and I’m really happy. So, how did you feel as you were pulling that trigger? I tried to stay calm. Well, I had a misfire. So, we had to
unload it [the rifle], reload it. By that point it was pretty easy to stay calm. [laughter]

More adult novice mentored hunts are being developed.

The Wildlife Restoration program supports our series.

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