Passport to Texas

Nice looking red snapper.

Angling: Red Snapper Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Seasoned anglers may roll their eyes when I make this confession, but I have been using “redfish” and “red snapper” interchangeably. This—I know now—is wrong.

11— Red snapper is different from what people commonly refer to as redfish or red drum. So, yes. Two different species. Red snapper and red drum… of which red drum is often referred to as redfish.

Thank you, Jeremy Leitz [LEETZ], for clearing that up. Jeremy is with coastal fisheries. These species are easy to tell apart: Red drum is more streamlined and has a black dot on its tail; red snapper is chunkier and…well… redder.

08—Red snapper are typically found in deeper waters along structures such as artificial or natural reefs. While red drum are in the gulf, they’re typically more sought after in our bay systems.

I’m telling you this because Parks and Wildlife’s Coastal Fisheries division requests your help with a voluntary red snapper survey, which makes accurate identification of the species vital.

14— What we’re asking of recreational anglers is that after a fishing trip, they log onto a website to record the number of red snapper that trip harvested. Only one angler needs to report per party, but again, after you’re done with your trip, log into the website and report the number you have caught.

The survey is a pilot program that continues through May 2015. Find it on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our series; it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motorboat fuel.

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

Sea Rim State Park

Parks: A Seaside Park's Rebirth Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Sea Rim State Park in Sabine Pass is unique in the Texas park system.

07— It’s one of the most unique parks in the system, because it is the only park where the marshlands meet the Gulf of Mexico.

Ben Herman is Sea Rim’s superintendent. He says the diversity of ecosystems makes this park a standout – and an interesting place to live.

16— You have such a wide variety of ecosystems – both in the marshlands and on the surfside – that the joining of those two are pretty cool. I always joke on one side of my house I have mosquitoes and alligators and on the other side I have sharks and seaweed.

The natural world is as brutal as it is beautiful. In 2005 Hurricane Rita tore up Sea Rim, but before it could fully recover, Hurricane Ike brought destruction in 2008.

06— Which were pretty devastating blows for the park. We basically lost all of our facilities and all of our utilities.

TPWD closed the site for repairs. As recently as one year ago, when Herman joined the park, things looked bleak.

16— There was very little out here. We had to completely rebuild all of our logistics and all of our infrastructure. So now, being able to roll it back out to the residents, and everybody who wants to come up and enjoy Sea Rim, is a very proud moment for us. It was a long time coming.

The park celebrated its grand reopening June 20. How the park is nearly better than before. That’s tomorrow.

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

Beauty of artificial reef

Angling: Value of Artificial Reefs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

An article by Melissa Gaskill in the June issue of Texas parks and Wildlife magazine, explores the value of artificial reefs. These are retired structures like oil platforms that create much-needed hard substrate in the gulf. She asks whether the reefs increase marine populations, or simply aggregate existing populations.

07— The first thing that happens when you put any kind of structure in the water is that fish species will congregate around it; they’re attracted to that.

Dale Shively is Texas Parks and Wildlife program leader for artificial reefs. He says congregating is just the beginning.

20— There also is production that goes on. Once you get that marine life growing, you’re creating an ecosystem. You’re not only bringing fish species in, but they stay there, live there, they spawn there. You can find the juveniles on there. That doesn’t mean that some of those fish species don’t migrate away at times. But they actually use it for various life stages.

Through a monitoring program, Shively says they’re attempting to quantify various fish species by relative abundance.

21— There is also a debate about how valuable are oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. There are a lot of fishermen who claim that you remove these and you’re destroying the red snapper population. There’s another school of thought that the red snapper were here originally without the oil platforms. But, there’s no doubt that the red snapper population has increased since we have more structure out there.

Read about this debate in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration Program supports our Series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Diving near an artificial reef.

Angling: Artificial Reefs Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

What do concrete, decommissioned ships and retired oil platforms have in common? They’re all materials used to create artificial reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. But if you ask Dale Shively which is best material for creating this marine habitat, he says: it depends.

04— We have all of those materials in our program, and they all serve a different purpose.

Shively is Texas Parks and Wildlife program leader for artificial reefs.

27— Farther off shore, we have mainly petroleum platforms. They’re solid, stable, and durable. They’re massive structures that give a lot of area to invertebrate growth and bring in a lot of fish species. Ships that we put out are good habitat, but they’re also primarily to bring in diving opportunities. And then as you move in closer to shore, in our near shore reefs, we use a lot of concrete – bridge rubble and things like that – that are good for fishing.

The reefs create habitat for marine species, and this leads to better angling and diving opportunities.

12— What we’ve seen with the Texas Clipper project, is that economic returns for angling could be over a million dollars a year back to the local economy. Whereas diving could be several million.

Find an article on the value of artificial reefs in the June issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife magazine.

The Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program supports our Series. For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.

Dead bird being tagged on Pelican Island.

Restoration: Galveston Bay Oil Spill Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

A late March collision between two ships in Galveston Bay caused a leak in one of them, spilling more than168-thousand gallons of fuel oil into the Gulf.

06— This time of year is particularly of concern to us because it’s the spring migration, we’ve got a lot of migratory shore birds moving through.

Andy Tirpak is with the Ecosystem Resources Assessment Team at Texas Parks and Wildlife.

08— So, in essence we’ve got oil on the beach where birds are coming through to rest, to feed, as they continue their migration. So it’s challenging right now.

Shortly after the spill, rescuers discovered oil-slicked and injured birds all along the coastline. Biologist A.J. Vale, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, is among the many wildlife advocates on hand to save them.

10— It’s just tough seeing the birds all oiled and struggling. They’re trying to clean themselves and they ingest the oil and it must make them really sick.

Andy Tirpak says they’re working against the clock to clean up this vital ecosystem.

10— It’s not just that we’re going to try to save the birds. If we try to save the birds – that’s great, that’s good – but we also need to be worried about impacts in the sand and the things that live in the sand that the birds are feeding upon.

Hundreds of shorebirds are dead or oil coated. By early April, oil from the spill in Galveston Bay drifted ashore on Padre Island National Seashore. Check for updates on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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