New fishing regulations could be in store for anglers as Texas wildlife officials work to help the Gulf of Mexico recover from the February ice storms. Thousands of fish were killed and washed ashore in the Coastal Bend following below-freezing weather that struck the entire state Feb. 14-20. An estimated 3.8 million saltwater fish were killed along the Gulf Coast, according to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department experts. 
“If fish do not make it to a refuge in deeper, more temperature stable water during cold weather, they may die when water temperatures reach a certain threshold,” TPWD said in a statement. “After the first fish kill was reported in the Lower Laguna Madre, Texas Parks and Wildlife biologists began the process of assessing kills across multiple bay systems on the coast.” 
The Upper Laguna Madre was hardest hit with an estimated loss of 82,600 fish in the worst freeze to have hit the area since the 1980s. 
TPWD is urging anglers to practice catch-and-release for the time being to give the area’s fish population a chance to replenish. 
Port Aransas city crews and Corpus Christi island homeowners have been scooping up fish by the netful to clear beaches and coves. Swimmers and beach walkers are warned to watch where they step as dead fish with sharp fins could be just under the surface of the sand.
Some 61 species were affected by the freeze, 91 percent of which were non-recreational fish such as silver perch, pinfish, bay anchovy, striped mullet, and hardhead and gafftop catfish. TPWD is conducting an assessment of the cold snap's damage to the state’s wildlife. Non-recreational fish are important to the ecology along the coast as they provide food for the recreational species. 
Recreational fish such as spotted sea trout, redfish, sheepshead, gray snapper, red snapper, snook, black drum, and tarpon also have been affected. How badly these populations suffered from the freeze won’t be known until spring counts get underway. TPWD officials will be conducting surveys at boat docks and ramps throughout the spring.