Tom Stehn Reports from Aransas: March 12, 2002 Dear Journey North, Tom Stehn and Survey Plane I recently took part in a unique way to help whooping cranes. I wish all of you could have been here to help. Throughout the waters along the Texas coast, commercial fisherman put out traps and catch blue crabs and stone crabs which they sell to restaurants and food processing companies. Each fisherman is allowed to have 200 crab traps. When the traps get old, some fisherman have failed to pick up the traps, and others have been washed to shore. These traps become litter. Unfortunately, the traps continue to catch crabs, fish, and even a rare turtle called the diamondback terrapin. When a critter gets caught in the trap, it can't escape and dies. Then other organisms come to feed on it and also get trapped, so the cycle continues. We call these GHOST traps since no fisherman is actually using these traps. These traps also are a hazard to sports fisherman that could hit them with their boats as they cross the shallows waters that are often less than 2 feet deep. Fisherman also can get their lures hung up in these traps. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department recently passed a new rule that all crab traps had to be removed from the bays during a 9-day period in February. During this period, it became legal for anyone to pick up any trap that they found. Before Parks and Wildlife passed this rule, it was NOT legal to pick up a trap, presumably because it belonged to someone, even if it was clearly abandoned and acting as a ghost trap. On February 23, Texas Parks and Wildlife organized a huge volunteer effort to pick up abandoned traps. That day, over 7,000 traps were picked up along the Texas Coast. Near whooping crane areas, 2,271 traps were picked up from San Antonio bay by 95 volunteers in 38 boats. In Aransas and Corpus Christi bays, 1,360 traps were picked up by 122 volunteers in 52 boats. Specifically in the crane area, over 640 abandoned traps were removed. I personally picked up 40 traps, carefully releasing all the crabs and fish that were alive inside. Although this was a tremendous effort by all involved, the problem has been greatly alleviated but is not completely gone. On an aerial survey conducted after the pickup, 327 abandoned traps were still noted in whooping crane marshes. So we're gonna have to figure out a way to get some more of these traps picked up, probably after the cranes leave in April. Try This! Journaling Question What are your suggestions for picking up the abandoned traps that are still in whooping crane marshes? Copyright 2002 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Please send all questions, comments, and suggestions to our feedback form