The CCA Texas State Board of Directors and the CCA Texas Management Committee recently approved $4,458,928 in funding for conservation efforts along the Texas coast. This funding will support a range of initiatives, including oyster license buyback, fish tagging research, habitat restoration, and coastal educational outreach programs.
As part of an initiative to right-size the overcapitalized public reef oyster fishery, $1 million was allocated to support oyster license buyback efforts, which will be facilitated by Texas Parks and Wildlife. This substantial funding will help launch an innovative license buyback approach, expected to roll out in spring 2025.
Additionally, the CCA Texas Board approved $588,000 to support tarpon tagging efforts led by the Gulf Research Institute for Highly Migratory Species (GRIHMS) at Texas A&M University – Galveston. This funding will enable a five-year expansion of GRIHMS’ ongoing research into the life history and migration ecology of tarpon, filling critical data gaps to better understand migratory pathways, stock structure, and the environmental conditions that define prime tarpon habitats—essential information for developing effective conservation strategies.
The Board also approved $101,152 to further support the citizen tagging partnership between CCA Texas and the Center for Sportfish Science and Conservation at the Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Harte Research Institute. These funds will be used for sportfish tagging, satellite tagging, and shore-based shark tagging efforts at the Sharkathon catch-photo-release tournament. In addition, CCA Texas has committed $50,000 to the Harte Research Institute to help quantify illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico.
Other approved allocations by the State Board of Directors include:
- $125,000 for an oyster education program at the Texas Surf Conservancy,
- $24,776 for three educational seagrass billboards along busy coastal highways, and
- $20,000 to sponsor four sporting clay fundraising events in partnership with Operation Game Thief, Texas’s Wildlife Crime-Stoppers Program.
To cap off a strong start to the year, the CCA Texas Management Committee also approved $2 million for two major oyster restoration projects in Carancahua Bay and Ayers Bay. This funding includes $159,978 total secured from donations made possible by H-E-B, the Puenta De Maravillas Foundation, and Bay Flats Lodge for the Ayers Bay project. The Committee also approved $550,000 in shoreline restoration projects in Nueces Bay, East Galveston Bay, and West Galveston Bay.
“Big applause to all CCA Texas members for their dedication to conserving and enhancing Texas fisheries and coastal habitats,” said Mike Prasek, Jr., President of CCA Texas. “The funds raised at our chapter banquets are directly benefiting our coastal resources. We sincerely thank our members for their hard work in making these projects a reality, and we look forward to another productive year of fundraising to keep this momentum going.”