Texas Parks & Wildlife Department officials are currently scoping for potential regulation changes for speckled trout and flounder on the Texas coast. What is the status of these fisheries?
Here is some interesting data on the trout fishery.
Recruitment of spotted seatrout from each of these areas has remained relatively stable. The declines in relative abundance observed on the middle coast in 2009 were corrected with the high recruitment levels observed in 2010 and 2011. Recruitment levels in 2012 are consistent with levels from previous years, with the exceptions noted above for 2010 and 2011.
In 2007, special rules were adopted for the lower Laguna Madre (LLM) of which size limits were the same as the rest of the coast, but the bag limit was reduced to 5 fish. Since implementation of these regulations in the LLM, gill net surveys show that relative abundance has remained relatively stable though considerable year-to-year fluctuations occur. For example, the fall 2013 gill net catch rates are one of the lowest observed following one of the highest catch rates recorded from the spring 2013 sampling.
Source: Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
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