Corpusfishing.com

[liv4today55]

Not as bad as previous fish kills! What can you do to help? As fish stocks recover from this freeze event, anglers are encouraged to practice conservation by choosing to catch and release fish or to harvest only those fish they feel they need to take home to eat. Conserving fish now can only aid in a quicker recovery.

At least 3.8 Million Fish Killed by Winter Weather on Texas Coast
March 10, 2021
Media Contact: TPWD News, Business Hours, 512-389-8030
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AUSTIN- Winter weather the week of Feb. 14, 2021 led to fish kill events on the entire Texas coast. 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. After the first fish kill was reported in the Lower Laguna Madre, Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) biologists began the process of assessing kills across multiple bay systems on the coast.

Impacts to Fish from Feb. 2021 Event

An estimated minimum of 3.8 million fish were killed on the Texas coast during the Feb. 2021 freeze event. This fish kill consisted of at least 61 species. Non-recreational species contributed to 91% of the total mortality in numbers of fish. This includes species like Silver Perch, Hardhead Catfish, Pinfish, Bay Anchovy and Striped Mullet. While not sought after by most anglers, non-game fish are ecologically important, providing food for larger game fish as well as adding to the overall diversity of Texas Bays. Recreationally important game species accounted for the other 9% of the total. Of that 9%, the dominant species included Spotted Seatrout (48%), Black Drum (31%), Sheepshead (8%), Sand Seatrout (7%), Red Drum (3%), Gray Snapper (2%), and Red Snapper (<1%).

Both the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre bay systems were hit particularly hard by this event. The Lower Laguna Madre had the highest mortality of Spotted Seatrout with an

estimated 104,000 fish killed. That comprised 65% of the total estimated Spotted Seatrout killed and when combined with the Upper Laguna Madre, it comprised 89% of the total estimated Spotted Seatrout mortality along the Texas coast. Similarly, the Upper Laguna Madre had experienced Black Drum mortality at an estimated 82,600 fish and comprised 78% of the coastwide Black Drum killed.

Historical Comparison

This is not the first freeze to occur in Texas coastal waters. Multiple freeze events during the 1980s killed almost 32 million fish, with the most severe impacts being on the lower coast.

While the February 2021 event impacted a large area of the Texas coast, the overall number of fish killed in this event appears to be lower than any of the three freeze events in the 1980s.

[Donnie]

[roberino]

mixed bag, the affect on Trout in the ULM and LLM was as bad as the 80's freezes. But it was good to hear its not quite as bad in other areas. i am worried about food for the gamefish we have left.

I'm hopping on a temporary bag reduction and voluntary C&R to boost the recovery. Never kept much trout to begin with so it will be easy to continue that, will also continue to just keep what i can eat that week without freezing (unless its PINS pomp and whiting runs). Never understood the "box of trout" mentality, or the photo with an absurd stringer over your shoulder and your but stuck-out thing. Hopefully guides get on board with changing public opinions on conservation. We will have another million people in this state by the time the trout population recovers, this could be a jumpstart to better conservation and public perception.

[bulldog1935]

There's nothing good about a fish kill, but I agree if this was a devastating event, TPWD would address the problem in moratorium and altered bag limits.
The freeze-kill is also a natural event and has happened before - this is the first time with internet.

If you guys really want to document something devastating, drive by Labonte Park every day and document the dry weirs in the Nueces River discharge.
Since 2003, Nueces River discharge has been below the minimum for environmental health of the bay system, established in EPA 1994, and adopted by TCEQ.
Corpus' only source for public water supply is draining the Nueces dry from Lake Corpus Christi, and is contracted to continue this way through 2040.
This is something we created and have control over.
For 20 years, we have needed desalination for public water supply, and the groundwater use and population of Texas has doubled over this time.

Ziacatcher has already seen the effects on ULM, when he complains about the brown tides every summer.

[BayFly]

^^^^One has to believe the powers that be in Corpus Christi are waiting for it to become a problem. Kind of like the public streets other then state highways?

[bulldog1935]

CC Water and TCEQ have been out front with Harbor Island, now held up in court by CCA protest, which I believe is misguided by Sierra Club's intent to prevent refurbishment of Fina tanker docks.

[Donnie]

I live not far from labonte park, pretty much grew up fishing the spillway there , what is the "dry weirs in the Nueces River discharge"

Don

[bulldog1935]

Donnie, the weirs are shallow dams in the Nueces channel to aerate the water by dropping it over the dam. It's very rare to see any water flow there - normally, day to day, the Nueces River discharge is Zero.

[Donnie]

[bulldog1935]

We did the same on the highland lakes dams when I was a kid - Homeland Security now has them all fenced from access.
All that showed up between the first and second times I gave talks on white bass to Alamo Fly Fishers.
That's a different issue, except that the Guadalupe and Colorado will be next to run dry from San Antonio and Austin growth and water use.
Those two water systems should combine to build a desal plant at Indianola discharging through Cavallo Pass.

[Central Scrutinizer]

[TexasJim]

CS: Reverse Osmosis is not an efficient way to take salt out of seawater. The Israelis are the world leaders in desal, and they use a hard vacuum on seawater, to make it boil at 160 F. Much more energy friendly. Look up Israeli Desal Engineering on the Internet. They're the pros, but have some pretty sharp competitors these days. TexasJim
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TexasJim
"Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time"

[bulldog1935]

CS, of course across the bay, Point Comfort is loaded with chemical plants. While I don't know of any specifically, I can't imagine a plant today with significant steam use that doesn't have cogeneration selling electricity back to the grid. If wind farms aren't sprouting around Lavaca Bay, that would make it unusual on the TX coast. Any entity that could fund a desalination water plant can also build a combined cycle power plant meeting their needs and selling back to the grid.
Grid is the key. One day we're going to see a water grid working something like the electric grid, balancing acceptable groundwater use with coastal desal supply - we need to get off our butts and lay some pipe.
And STP Nuclear plant is on the west bank of the Colorado - that's just up the river a bit. .

[Central Scrutinizer]

[Rebecca of Sunnybrookfarm]

look! squirrel!!!!
becky
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