The Texas red drum, commonly known as redfish or simply “red,” has a storied history unique within the annals of fisheries management and coastal advocacy. Today’s anglers enjoy a vibrant and sustainable fishery made possible by conservation pioneers who set into motion a series of events to save the bison of the bays. The forecast for sustainability of the Texas Red drum population has not always been a positive one.
The story of red drum conservation in Texas begins in the late 1970s, when the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and members of the newly formed Gulf Coast Conservation Association (now CCA) took notice of declining red drum abundance and began pursuing aggressive legislative and management actions aimed at recovery of red drum stocks. The first daily bag limits were set for sport and commercial fishermen in Texas in 1977. Then, in 1981, Texas House Bill 1000 (aka the Redfish Bill) was passed, which permanently prohibited the sale of red drum caught in state waters. This measure alone effectively ended the commercial harvest of red drum in Texas. Three other Gulf states (Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana) have since passed similar measures.
The fishery was closed permanently in the federal exclusive economic zone in the Gulf in 1987 (the “EEZ” are the federal waters just outside state jurisdiction and extending 200 nautical miles from shore). Notably, former Texas Gov. George W. Bush consolidated federal protection of the species across its natural range (including the Atlantic coast) with a 2007 Presidential executive order (EO 13449) that permanently prohibited the sale of any red drum caught in the EEZ.
Along with these forward-thinking fisheries management measures, TPWD and conservation leaders began working on a vision for stock enhancement that could pair with fisheries management to accelerate recovery. The first marine stock enhancement facility was opened in 1982 through a public-private partnership between TPWD, CCA, and the Central Power and Light Company, which provided land for a hatchery in Corpus Christi. Stocking began in 1983 when 7 million red drum fingerlings were released coastwide in Texas. Presently, TPWD operates stock enhancement facilities in Corpus Christi, Palacios and Lake Jackson, which are heavily supported by CCA. The agency releases anywhere between 10 to 20 million red drum annually, depending upon management needs and natural recruitment estimates based on TPWD field samples from the previous year. Since the inception of the enhancement program, more than 820 million red drum fingerlings have been released along the Texas Coast.
Perhaps as a result of this monumental investment of time, energy and capital into its management and recovery, catch rates for red drum increased throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s based on data from TPWD’s long-running gill net surveys. Over the most recent 10 years, anglers that reported that they targeted red drum specifically have also reported an average trip satisfaction grade of 8 on a scale of 1 to 10, based on data from TPWD’s angler intercept program (also known as the Texas “creel” survey).
It would be tempting to look at the current state of red drum angling in Texas and declare victory. But scientific rigor requires a systematic assessment of what recovery looks like from a biological standpoint. To that end, TPWD biologists started investigating whether there was a way to retrospectively examine changes in size and age of the population during the recovery.
In the late 1990s, researchers at the Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Station within TPWD initiated collection of tissue structures called “otoliths” from red drum caught coastwide. Otoliths are hard sensory structures near the brain of a fish that perform functions that are similar to the inner ear bones in mammals. In some species (including red drum) otoliths lay down perennial rings, or “annuli,” similar to tree rings. If properly treated and examined microscopically, these annuli give an accounting of the exact age of a fish. Perhaps more importantly, these structures allow scientists to link the average size of a fish to a given age range.