ARTIFICIAL REEFING

The Recreational Fishing Alliance
Texas State Chapter

Artificial Reefing

We at RFA / Texas believe that more needs to be done to provide suitable habitat for many of the species of fish found offshore of Texas. The natural bottom topography here is a predominately flat, featureless sand / mud bottom that would benefit greatly from a properly designed and deployed artificial reefing program. Several thousand oil and gas platforms are scheduled to be removed from the Gulf in the next 10 years. That could devastate the fish communities depending on those structures for survival. We have been taking from the resource for years without replenishing - the time is NOW to plant the seeds for the future.

RFA has initiated a science driven program intended to complement existing TPWD artificial reefing efforts and mitigate the loss of this critical habitat.

Our goal is to help raise the money needed to carry out a program of research and reef development here, off of the Texas coast. This will be accomplished through public funding sources as well as private donations. The research and reef deployments will be done in phases.

Phase One:

This phase is now underway beginning with the initial deployment of the Jack Cowan Reef on August 28, 2009 in a TPWD permitted reefing corridor near Freeport.

We are raising additional funds to establish and initiate a plan for further research and reef development within other proposed reefing corridors, in addition to the areas already permitted by TPWD. This will be accomplished through support of our sister organization, the non-profit group Texas Gulf Coast Stewards ® (TGCS).

Part of that process will entail detailed analysis of the boundaries of the actual reefing areas, habitat types, species occurring in the area, and any potential impacts of the project on the environment. This plan will identify suitable bottom types for placement of appropriate reef material. TGCS will then use this information to obtain the required permits from the USCOE and the GLO for the actual reefing areas and to begin reef construction.

The exact coordinates of all reef locations will be publicized so these areas can be avoided by shrimp trawlers, and can be easily located by recreational anglers. All reefing areas will be located a suitable distance from shipping lanes, pipelines, and energy production areas, and will be at a depth sufficient to avoid being a potential navigation hazard. These reefs will be comprised of environmentally compatible materials, and will be designed to remain in place under even the most adverse conditions.

Phase Two:

Continue pre-construction research and then reef development using information from our scientific team, exclusionary mapping process, and from our Advisory Committee. This will allow us to deploy future artificial reefing projects in state waters along the entire Texas coast.

Some of the benefits of this project include:

Creating new breeding and protective habitat needed to increase the overall population of such important Texas sport fish as red snapper, ling, king mackerel, redfish, sea trout and others.

Replacing habitat that is being lost as more oil and gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico are being removed.

Providing fishable areas closer to shore, enabling the "mosquito fleet" of Texas fishermen in smaller boats safer access to important sport and game fish previously unavailable to them, effectively bringing the offshore fishery inshore. This will result in increased angler participation in the sport, thus energizing coastal community economies along the entire Texas Coast (currently a $8 billion / year industry).

Protecting and enhancing the multi-billion dollar coastal tourism and game fishing industry and thousands of related jobs including: hotel/motel, marina, bait camps, boat and motor sales and repair shops, guides, charter boats, restaurants and other fishing, marine, and tourism related businesses.

Restoring the winter offshore fishing season will be a huge benefit of this project. Due to the fact the reef will be in State of Texas waters, regulated by Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept., coastal communities will once again have vital winter tourism along the Texas Coast.

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The Alabama Success Story

Alabama has been very successful with their artificial reef program and now accounts for 40% of all recreationally caught Red Snapper in the ENTIRE Gulf of Mexico, even though their coastline is 1/9th the length of the Texas coastline view graphic. This success equates into countless millions of dollars to THEIR Coastal Communities. This was accomplished through the development of permitted reefing areas on a scale that cannot be over-exploited by recreational or commercial fishermen (1,260 sq. miles of reefing areas) and is key to this success story.

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RFA is an IRS 501 (c) (4) not -for -profit organization. Contributions, gifts or membership dues paid to the RFA or its chapters are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.