AUSTIN, Texas — Hoping to add to the pile of more than 18,000
crab traps hauled from Texas bays during the last four years, Texas
Parks and Wildlife Department officials are gearing up for the 5th
annual Texas Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program, running this year
from February 17-26.
Bays will be closed to commercial crabbing during this period, and any traps found will be presumed to be lost or abandoned.
Volunteers are needed to assist in the coast-wide effort to remove
the numerous wire mesh cages used to catch crabs that have been lost or
abandoned since last year’s cleanup and years past.
State game wardens pick up more than 2,500 traps annually, yet there
are many more still in the water to foul shrimpers’ nets, snag
fishermen’s lines and create an unsightly view of Texas shores.
During the past four year’s efforts, traps from Galveston Bay and
San Antonio Bay accounted for more than 12,500 or 70 percent of the
traps collected along the coast.
Before the 77th Legislature authorized the abandoned crab
trap removal program, only the trap’s owner or a TPWD game warden could
legally remove a crab trap.
To facilitate volunteer trap removal efforts this year, TPWD will
place dumpsters at various locations along the coast beginning Friday,
Feb. 17, at 16 locations coast-wide. These dumpsters will be marked
with banners and will sit at the drop off sites for the duration of the
closure.
Volunteers can work at their own pace during the closure as time and
weather permit, but cannot remove traps after Feb. 26. Last year,
volunteers with the aid of numerous sponsors removed more than 2,500
traps.
“This program has gained national reputation over the years for its
conservation stewardship efforts, which would not have occurred had it
not been for the magnificent resource conservation ethics that the
public has about protecting Texas’ bays and estuaries,” said Art
Morris, TPWD program coordinator. “We are working ourselves out of a
job, which is a good thing, so we decided to scale back efforts a
little bit this year. But we still have a high amount of interest in
the program from sponsors and volunteers, and some areas on the coast
could still use a little tidying up, especially in Galveston, Matagorda
and San Antonio Bays.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Coastal Program, Coastal
Conservation Association Texas, Coastal Bend Bays and Estuaries
Program, Best Manufacturing and the Cecil M. Hopper Museum are
providing significant support to the crab trap removal program.
Additional help is coming numerous organizations and companies like
Saltwater Anglers League of Texas and others who are volunteering their
services.
Following is a site list of locations where traps can be dropped off
from February 17-26. Disposal facilities will be maintained at each
site for the duration of the cleanup, but each site will be unmanned.
For those who choose to work on their own, TPWD requests information
about the number of traps that they collect. To participate, volunteers
can pickup free tarps, gloves, trap hooks and additional information at
each of the following TPWD Coastal Fisheries Field Stations.
Crab Trap Cleanup Collection Sites
Aransas Bay – Rockport Marine Lab, 702 Navigation, Rockport, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Karen Meador (361) 729-2328
- Goose Island State Park – Rockport
- Conn Brown Harbor – Aransas Pass
Corpus Christi Bay –Rockport Marine Lab, 702 Navigation, Rockport, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Paul Choucair (361) 729-2328
- Conn Brown Harbor – Aransas Pass
- South Nueces Boat Ramp — Corpus Christi
Galveston Bay –1502 FM 517 East, Dickinson, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Rebecca Hensley (281) 534-0108
- Trinity Bay – Fort Anahuac Park
- Galveston Bay/Jones Lake – Fat Boy’s State Ramp off I-45
- East Bay – Anahuac National Wildlife Refuge
- Chocolate Bayou Ramp FM 2004
Lower Laguna Madre –95 Fish Hatchery Road, Olmito, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Randy Blankinship (956) 350-4490
- Adolfe Thomae County Park-Arroyo City
- Port Mansfield Navigation District Ramp-Port Mansfield.
Matagorda Bay – 2200 Harrison, Palacios, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Bill Balboa (361) 972-6253
- Matagorda Harbor Boat Ramp — Matagorda
- Mitchell’s Cut Public Ramp — Sargent
Sabine Lake – 601 Channel View, Port Arthur, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Jerry Mambretti (409) 983-1104
- Walter Umphrey State Park (Mesquite Point) on Pleasure Island-Port Arthur
San Antonio Bay – 16th and Maple, Port O’Connor, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Norman Boyd (361) 983-4425
- Charlie’s Bait Stand – Seadrift
- Port O’Conner TPWD dock
Upper Laguna Madre – Texas A&M University
Corpus Christi, Natural Resources Center, 6300 Ocean Drive, Suite 2500,
Corpus Christi, TX. Local TPWD coordinator Kyle Spiller (361) 825-3353
- Bluff Landing Marina — Corpus Christi
- Kaufer Park Boat Ramp – Baffin Bay – Riviera Beach
To volunteer, or for more information, contact one of the regional
coordinators: Art Morris in Corpus Christi at (361) 825-3356, or Bobby
Miller in Dickinson at (281) 534-0110.
- Texas Saltwater Fishing Guide
