Tweet
But they let'em dump spills on our grass.
| TPWD are conducting scoping meetings to hear input from anglers on creating another SSA (State Scientific Area) akin to the Redfish Bay SSA, but this time it will be around the JFK causeway in the Upper Laguna Madre. They had many other areas they were considering to make a SSA, including many in the LLM, but decided to start with this 15,500 acre chunk of the bay. Though they are now claiming this will be a separate issue from the potential formation of LIFA's (low impact fishing areas) championed by Texas Wade Paddle & Pole, or to be more specific, no motor zones, they are being lumped together by many. I truly believe it is only a matter of time if this is passed before there are more and more areas restricted and eventually banned to motorized traffic, including MOST of the LLM fishing spots. Please read the following article: http://www.statesman.com/sports/outd...NnBnZoyU.email Anglers and coastal habitat policy protectors will get the chance soon to tell the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department what they think of a proposed new seagrass protection area near Corpus Christi. TPWD Coastal Fisheries personnel are preparing for a round of public meetings that will help commissioners decide whether to apply new rules to a 15,500-acre area near the John F. Kennedy Causeway. The area includes significant amounts of fragile seagrass beds that are vital to production of gamefish-spawning stocks in that area of the Texas Gulf Coast. Robin Riechers, chief of Coastal Fisheries at TPWD, said this week his staff is preparing a list of meeting sites and dates to solicit public feedback.The proposed scientific area, or protection zone, is about 10 miles south of the Redfish Bay State Scientific Area near Port Aransas, Riechers said. There are 32,000 acres in the Redfish Bay SSA. Created in 2000, Redfish Bay has shown benefits in terms of seagrass protection. TPWD found that during a five-year period from 2005-09, scarring from boat propellers declined significantly in the Redfish Bay SSA and most boaters were aware of the special rules requiring them to raise their engines from the water and to drift or pole through the protected areas of Redfish Bay. In 2010, the TPWD Commission voted to extend indefinitely the rules prohibiting any uprooting of grasses in the scientific area and also directed staff to begin studying other areas that could fall into the protected category. Riechers said there are some bays along the coast with additional fragile habitat areas but the area near the causeway has suffered more in terms of propeller scarring and thus needs more immediate attention. "We're kind of expanding the seagrass protection," Riechers said. "We'll have those same ‘no uprooting' rules in that area." After the public meetings, coastal fisheries staff will refine the plan and present the commission with a recommendation about whether to move forward in 2012. "It has to be a state scientific area designation (for enforcement purposes) and to protect those areas that have been most heavily impacted by boat traffic," Riechers said. "We may take (the concept) to other places at other times but this is the highest priority right now. Most people know those areas are important but they may not know what to do. We'll be trying to (accomplish those education and protection goals) in a reasonable length of time." Riechers also said Coastal Fisheries staff are looking at new areas that could become Low Impact Fishing Areas (LIFA) where paddle craft, wading and drift fishing would be the rule. Boaters would have to run in designated lanes with outboards and avoid conflict with waders and non-motorized craft. "We've been asked to explore low impact fishing areas," Riechers told commissioners. He added that there could be seasonal components to the boating rules that would allow airboat traffic during certain times of the year. "We're looking at the pros and cons," he said. |
||