Pushing into the Last Quarter of 2024

2024 has been a year of change, growth, and new vision for anglers on the Texas coast. It has also been a very busy year for the CCA Texas Advocacy Team and the Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow committee. In other activities, our organization has been involved in supporting the law enforcement and research activities of Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, along with various academic institutions here in Texas.

Advocacy Update

The CCA Texas Advocacy Team has been active on many fronts. Spotted seatrout management was at the fore of many conversations and decisions by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission in early 2024. The commission approved new recreational bag limits of three fish at 15- to 20-inches with one fish over 30 inches as part of the daily bag at their January 2024 meeting. These new regulations went into effect in late March 2024. Then, in their March 2024 commission meeting, the commissioners approved a new speckled trout “trophy tag” for a fish greater than 28 inches. This new regulation went into effect in the new licensing period on September 1, 2024, and allows for the purchase of an additional bonus tag for license holders, essentially doing away with the earlier provision that allowed retaining one trophy fish of 30 inches or greater length.

The Advocacy team has been very busy with the recent filing of numerous applications for project permits that could have great impact on the environment and ecosystems up and down the Texas coast. Hot topics include desalination plants in the Corpus Christi and Port Aransas areas. CCA has asked and pushed for sound environmental impact reviews, construction practices that place the intake and discharge of these plants offshore and in areas that will have the very least environmental impact.

The Lavaca-Navidad River Authority (LNRA/Applicant) has applied for a water use permit (Permit) to construct and maintain a reservoir impounding 240 acre-feet of water on the Lavaca River; diverting an additional 96,022 acre-feet within the Lavaca River Basin per year from a diversion reach on the Lavaca River for municipal, industrial, and mining purposes in Calhoun, Jackson, Matagorda, Wharton, and Victoria counties in the Lavaca River Basin, and the Colorado-Lavaca and Lavaca-Guadalupe Coastal Basins, authorize use of the bed and banks of the Navidad River (Lake Texana) to convey the diverted water and/or store the diverted water in an off-channel reservoir, overdraft Lake Texana under specified conditions, authorize reuse of the water diverted and used under the permit and temporarily use 1,500 acre-feet of the authorized water for industrial purposes. CCA Texas and the general public asked for a public hearing during the public comment period, and the TCEQ Executive Director has granted that request. This hearing regarding Water Use Permit Application No. 13728 will be held Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 7:00 PM at the Edna High School Auditorium. CCA Texas representatives will be on hand for this important meeting. As an added note to this, “96,022 acre-feet of water per year” converted to gallons is over 31 billion gallons of water. The proposed 50,000-acre feet (16 million gallons) off-channel reservoir would be located on Keller Creek between two points identified as Latitude 28.887744°N, Longitude 96.618490°W and Latitude 28.876220°N, Longitude 96.611804°W in Jackson County.

Habitat Update

The Habitat Today for Fish Tomorrow (HTFT) Committee remains busy with ongoing and new projects. Oysters are still at the forefront of CCA Texas habitat efforts, and the committee is watching closely as different projects evolve through the engineering and permitting phases. CCA Texas continues to be committed to the restoration of oyster reefs up and down the coast and continues to play an active role in discussions ranging from restoration and creation to the management of the resource and the harvesting practices. Multiple projects are in process including Ayers Reef (Mesquite Bay Complex), Carancahua Bay and Galveston Bay.

In the nearshore reefing arena, CCA Texas, Friends of Sabine Reefs, and TPWD completed the first phase deployment of materials into the new HI-54 Shallow site located roughly 9 miles south of the Sabine Pass Jetties and 1.9 miles offshore of Sea Rim State Park. The next phase of deployments will take place later this fall and the partners will be deploying 8,000 tons of riprap materials donated by Port Arthur LNG. A major part of the success enjoyed by Friends of Sabine Pass Reefs has been their ability to gather support in their local communities. Friends of Sabine Pass Reefs and CCA Texas are extremely thankful for the support of local industry which includes Cheniere Energy, Port Arthur LNG (Sempra), Valero, Motiva, and Golden Pass LNG. Other partners and supporting organizations from the past and present include Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Artificial Reef Program, CCA Texas, Building Conservation Trust, Sabine Pass Port Authority and Eldridge Construction. The Sabine Pass Reefs initiative has exemplified success based on strong grassroots efforts and community support.

After a long and delayed effort to have the US Army Corps of Engineers permit renewed for the RGV Reef site, the permit is finally in hand. Friends of RGV Reef have worked tirelessly to build this iconic reefing site off South Padre Island. The next deployment may or may not happen before this issue hits the newsstands, but a 110-foot retired/decommissioned tugboat will be sunk into the site and is scheduled to occur in September. An additional deployment of concrete railroad ties will take place in January of 2025. CCA Texas and recreational anglers across the state applaud the efforts of Friends of RGV Reefs and their success. To see the result of some of these efforts, be sure to scan the accompanying QR code and view the recent video released by Friends of RGV Reef. CCA Texas is proud to support this project and to date has donated $1,061,000 to the reefing efforts at this site

2024 has been a busy and successful year. CCA Texas’s success is the direct result of dedicated support from volunteers, sponsors and supporters in local communities. CCA Texas is committed to making our Texas coastal resources more sustainable and available to present and future generations, and this success and vision is not possible without every member. For more information about CCA Texas, be sure to visit www.ccatexas.org.