Every February, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department closes the bays to commercial and recreational crabbing for a 10-day period. This temporary closure enables removal of derelict traps which continue to entrap and kill crabs, fish, and turtles.

This year, 900 traps were removed from the three Mid-Coast Bays (Matagorda, San Antonio, and Aransas). Additionally, 543 loose Styrofoam floats were removed too. Crabbers use the floats to mark the traps, but they can get cut off due to storms or boat props.

“It’s very important to remove these old traps because they not only kill crabs and fish, they’re also navigation hazards and unsightly litter.” said Allan Berger. Berger, Chair of San Antonio Bay Partnership has been organizing efforts in the Mid-Coast bays for the past 8 years. “Removal of derelict traps involved 64 boats and 204 participants over the ten-day closure.”

Other organizations leading the search efforts in their respective bays were Mission-Aransas National Estuarine Research Reserve, Lavaca Bay Foundation, and Matagorda Bay Foundation. Volunteers and organizations included USFWS Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, TPWD Coastal Fisheries and Game Wardens, local chapters of the Coastal Conservation Association, Guadalupe Blanco River Authority, Guadalupe Blanco River Trust, San Antonio River Authority, International Crane Foundation, Mid-Coast Texas Master Naturalists, Dallas Zoo, Lavaca-Navidad River Authority, and Texas Conservation Alliance.

This is the fourth year that a cellphone-based app was used to collect data on each removed trap. “The data reveals that most of the derelict traps are on the shoreline, likely the result of weather events. However, a significant number appear to be in place and not picked up by crabbers. It is anticipated that an analysis of the data can reveal root-causes and result in fewer lost traps in the future” according to Berger.

“Participation was up from last year.” continued Berger. “While technology helps, it’s still about boats and volunteer’s eyes on the water. We utilized more airboats this year, improving our ability to see traps in the vegetation, many of which may have been lost in previous years. Last year we removed 977 traps. We did a more comprehensive search this year, so the decline in traps is welcome news.”

The derelict crab clean-up effort was supported with funds obtained by TPWD from the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, and from a grant obtained by SABP from Restore America’s Estuaries. Local funding was also provided by the GBRA and the SARA. If you want to be included in the early planning for next year, contact Allan Berger at AllanRBerger@outlook.com. -Brigid Berger

“Service is what prayer looks like when it gets up off its knees and walks around in the world.” Michael J. Graham

Pastors Tim and Beverly Smith celebrated thirty years of service at the Seadrift Assembly of God Church March 10th. For the first time they team-tagged their Sunday morning message. It was entitled “Characteristics of a Healthy Church.” Pastor Tim in part of the message made this comment, “There has never been the need for the Church to be healthy as it does today.”

Pastors Tim and Beverly Smith outlined the message with four points: Commitment to Doctrine, Commitment to Fellowship, Commitment to Worship, and Commitment to Evangelism and Prayer. In the message Pastor Beverly commented that she was thankful for the unity among the congregation at the church. As a token of their appreciation for the pastors’ years of faithful service the church presented them with a check for $1,500!

Before coming to pastor at the church Pastor Tim had prayed this prayer, “Lord, send me somewhere where people love us as much as we love them.” Reflecting on their thirty years of service Pastor Tim said, “It’s just been an honor for us to serve for so many years in the same place and we’re looking forward to what God has for us in the future.” Pastor Beverly had this to say, “It has been a joy to be pastors of such a loving, caring church. We love them and we know they love us.”

Are you curious about what goes on behind the gates of the Powderhorn Wildlife Management Area?
Join the Friends of the Port O’Connor Library in welcoming Tori Haynes, Biologist for the Powderhorn Wildlife Management Area, and learn all about the unique ecosystem here along the Texas Coastline.

There will be a presentation and questions taken from the attendees.

Attendees will have an opportunity to go behind the gates of Powderhorn and explore for themselves with Tori Haynes as your guide.

The Behind the Gates experience will have two sessions being held Saturday, April 20th and Sunday, April 21st.

Participants must attend the information session on March 25, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in order to participate in April’s program. There will be a sign up sheet for the April guide dates after the presentation. Space is limited and this event is for adults only.

Did you know that the Passover Meal is one of the longest continuous celebrations since 1450 B.C.? It is celebrated by Jews and non-Jews alike all over the world. Part of the Passover Meal is celebrated as Holy Communion in the Christian Church in the celebration of the wine and the bread. The wine representing the blood of Christ shed for the sin of mankind. The bread representing the broken body of Christ to make us whole.

On March 8 Seadrift’s Baptist Church hosted a Passover Meal with Mitch Forman from Chosen People Ministries out of Amesbury, Massachusetts. Mitch is a Messianic Jew whose grandparents descended from Eastern Europe having escaped to America because of the pogroms. The pogroms (or massacring) in Eastern Europe and elsewhere had been aimed particularly at the Jewish people forcing them to leave their homes. Mitch has been involved in Christian ministry for thirty-five years. His heart has been to especially reach his own people with the love of Christ and His salvation. When Mitch does the Passover Meal at churches, he does the entire ceremony that is conducted in Jewish households and synagogues. It really is a very moving experience to take part in the Passover Meal and it gives one a sense of why the Passover Meal has been such a long-standing tradition.

From the lighting of the candles to the meanings behind the wine, the bread, the herbs, and the vegetables the story is told of how God’s people were delivered after 400 years of being in slavery.

Chosen People Ministries is in nineteen countries. In America it has ninety missionaries and eighty volunteers in thirty cities. It has a website called isaiah53.com. Mitch said, “Isaiah 53 is very special because it’s the most vivid picture of Jesus in the Old Testament.” And picturing Jesus for Jews and non-Jews is what Chosen People Ministries is all about.