RFA / TEXAS Board Meets With TPWD Officials
September 10, 2009
On Wednesday, September 9, 2009 Members of the RFA / Texas Board of Directors met with Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) officials at TPWD headquarters in Austin.
This meeting was held at the request of TPWD for the purpose of establishing a cooperative working relationship between our organizations, and to explore solutions for a variety of problems regarding near - shore, Texas fisheries issues.
The issues focused on included but were not limited to, the red snapper fishery and its current problems created by differences between state and federal regulations. These differences are due in great part to questions regarding the federal agencies methods of stock assessment, and what can be done to more effectively take into account the true red snapper population, and the actual fishing pressure on the species in Texas state waters.
We discussed a variety of potential methods to increase the quantity and reliability of data used to model the current state of the fishery, and to explore the most effective plan to rebuild the stock as necessary, while taking into account the effect on the recreational fishing industry, and the tremendous economic impact to our Texas coastal communities.
We discussed specifics of various potential methods to collect more and better data, to accurately measure the state and health of the Texas state waters fishery, and how RFA can assist in making those measures acceptable to the recreational angler.
We also discussed our RFA artificial reefing program, and how we can expand and enhance it through mutual cooperation. We mentioned the grant applications RFA has in play for reefing, and stated we want to see more of a push from TPWD to support this. We asked TPWD to help pave the way for additional public reefing sites, not just new sites via a reefing permit holder, but sites that anyone can put TPWD approved materials in. This would allow the multiple user groups and localities to contribute in whatever ways they see fit to a common goal … creating additional habitat.
We at RFA / Texas anticipate further meetings and interaction with TPWD on these and a variety of additional issues in the near future. We feel that this meeting was extremely productive and will prove to be the beginning of a new and powerful alliance between TPWD, RFA, and the recreational angling community which we represent.
We also applaud TPWD for appointing Ross W. Melinchuk as Deputy Director of Natural Resources. Ross, previously with Ducks Unlimited, is a new face at TPWD, and represents a fresh view for the sporting community. We believe his selection to oversee Coastal Fisheries will prove to be a wise and important decision.
At The Meeting:
Pictured - Left to Right
Jim Smarr Chairman - RFA Texas
Ross W. Melinchuk - Deputy Director, Natural Resources TPWD
Robin K. Riechers - Science and Policy Director TPWD
Randy Davis - RFA Texas Board
Chuck Tylka - RFA Texas Board
Dan Bulla - RFA Texas Board
Steve Morris - RFA Texas Board
Michael Myers - RFA Texas Board
Bobby Grumbles - RFA Texas Board
Michael S. Ray - Deputy Director, Coastal Fisheries TPWD
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