Hundreds of ghosted crab traps are picked up and disposed of on the Texas coast every year during the Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program. Courtesy photo by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Crabbing will be closed and wire crab traps anywhere along the Texas coast will be collected and disposed Feb. 18-27 as part of the annual Texas Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program.
Since 2002, volunteers organized by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department have hauled off more than 40,000 ghosted crab traps. Abandoned crab tracks foul shrimper nets, snag fishing lines, and leave an unsightly mess in the water.
To clean it all up, TPWD closes crabbing with wire mesh traps. Under state law, any and all traps in the water at that time will be assumed abandoned and considered “litter.” Even traps tied to docks will be legally removed.
Volunteers and TPWD staff will lead the cleanup. Volunteers may focus their efforts on Feb. 19 or work at their own pace anytime during the closure and drop traps into containers located at the South Conn Brown Harbor Public Ramp and the Ransom Channel Public Ramp.
Traps cannot be removed prior to Feb. 18 or after Feb. 27.
In Corpus Christi Bay, the local TPWD coordinator is Tom Wagner, who can be reached at 361-729-2328 ext. 243. No facilitated volunteer pickup is organized at this time.
The Coastal Conservation Association Texas, Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, Galveston Bay Foundation, San Antonio Bay Partnership, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are providing continued support to the TPWD crab trap removal program. Numerous other organizations and companies also are volunteering their services.
To participate, volunteers may pick up free tarps, gloves, and additional information at their local TPWD Coastal Fisheries field stations. TPWD requests that volunteer trap removers record and submit information about the number of traps they collect as well as document any sightings of diamondback terrapins.
All other legal means of crabbing will not be affected during the closure period for wire crab traps.
Find out more from the Corpus Christi TPWD Coastal Fisheries field station.
