It’s that time again, time to spend a beautiful Texas winter day on the bay collecting abandoned crab traps. The crabbing closure will be February 17th – 26th with the main event day on Saturday, February 18th from 8 Am to 12 PM, weather permitting. Only the POC TPWD docks will be facilitated by TPWD staff, however, Charlies and the Austwell boat ramp will also have the big blue dumpsters for trap disposal. We will have gloves, tarps, hooks, and bottled water available at the TPWD-POC facility Friday, February 17th. If anyone has any big plans for Charlies or the Austwell boat ramp (food, music, dance, tractor pull, etc) you can just Reply All to this email and let everyone know. And this year Allan Berger will be coordinating a larger effort out of Port O’Connor, so he will be looking for volunteers.

Last year there were approximately 258 traps removed from the San Antonio Bay system and 912 coast wide. To date we have removed 10,174 abandoned traps from the San Antonio system, and 32,676 coastwide since the program began in 2002. San Antonio Bay system has accounted for 32% of the traps removed coastwide and Galveston Bay system 40%.

Norman Boyd, San Antonio Bay Ecosystem Leader
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, Coastal Fisheries Division