Buying Back the Bay
Texas commercial shrimp license buyback program turns the tide for Texas bays.

By Patrick Murray
CCA Vice President & Director of Conservation
TIDE
Nov/Dec 2007

There are a lot of reasons for Texas’ marine conservationists to be proud. With a legendary gill net ban firmly in place, gamefish status for multiple saltwater species, robust marine conservation research programs throughout the state, and a prolific hatchery system, there is a longstanding grassroots tradition in Texas conservation that has brought many aspects of Texas bays to historic levels of health.

One of the brightest examples of this unique vision for conservation is the creation and continuing evolution of Texas’ commercial shrimp license buyback program.

A History of Vision and Action

 Texas’ marine conservation history is marked with many examples of great vision. One of the most heralded is found in the early work of CCA, key leaders in Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) and the state legislature creating regulatory framework to help support and recover flagging red drum and speckled trout populations in the late 1970s and ‘80s. We have to remember that this was very provocative stuff for a period often void of vision. At the time, much of the fisheries management system blindly let fisheries get harvested to depletion and then simply promoted the capitalization of the next marketable species.          

Names like Fondren, Bass, Kemp and Brister set the mark for resource conservation. They ran against the trends of the time and created a tradition in conservation that is alive and flourishing today.

 Those conservation leaders found that a lasting and truly great conservation program must include grassroots acceptance in concert with vision. A conservation ethic is meaningless if it is not embraced. Although not without turbulent moments, most Texas recreational anglers have embraced the weight of additional regulations, fees and all the other side effects that come with progressive management moves to enhance their fisheries.

Interestingly, now many of them wear their dedication to conservation like a badge. So much so that past efforts to increase recreational bag limits or remove fees that fund commercial buyback programs are met with resistance from recreational anglers. With this level of dedication to the future of marine resources, it is no wonder that one of the better examples of a commercial buyback program across the nation is firmly anchored in the Lone Star State.

Dragged to Death

It is hard to mask the negative impact of bay shrimp trawls. The criss-crossed drags of their nets across the bays create smoky trails that are actually visible in satellite images. The turbidity not only speaks to the bay bottom degradation caused by this process, but also marks the miles of bay bottom that are scraped on a daily basis. It is hard to quantify the complete impact of this commercial fishing method, but imagine how healthy the grass in your front yard would be if you mowed it to its roots every day. Although a rough comparison, it does make you wonder how our bays manage to stay as healthy as they are, or better yet, how healthy they could be.

The other glaring conservation problem in bay shrimping operations is the inefficiency of the gear. Large, boat-dragged nets catch everything that cannot get out of their way. Most anglers have seen the results of post-drag culling sessions where shrimpers literally shovel dead finfish, crabs and other tattered bay species back as refuse. It is estimated by TPWD that bycatch in bay shrimping operations creates 1.5 to 11.8 pounds of bycatch for every one pound of shrimp. With more than 13 million pounds of shrimp taken in Texas bays, that means as much as 19 to more than 155 million pounds of bycatch are potentially created every year.

It is no wonder that a number of bay-bottom-dwelling species, such as golden croaker, blue crabs and southern flounder have decreased steadily through past decades and still face significant conservation challenges.

A Vision for Conservation

It is difficult to say who first conceived of the commercial shrimp license buyback program in Texas, but marine conservationists like the late William Negley and intrepid TPWD leaders like Gene McCarty and Andy Samson clearly shepherded the idea into the management mainstream. Many saw the problem, but few were willing to address it.

The vision became law with SB 750, which was authored by Texas Sen. Jerry Patterson, co-sponsored by Sen. Ken Armbrister and sponsored in the Texas House of Representatives by Rep. Tom Uher. This unique bill created the critical steps for a license buyback system by establishing a limited-entry program with a buyback provision. It would suit no conservation purpose to begin buying licenses without first halting their further issuance.

Additionally, there had to be a source of funding to buy the licenses for retirement. Fortunately for the myriad of Texas bay species impacted by shrimp trawls, the recreational anglers of Texas embraced a $3 surcharge as a part of their saltwater fishing license and stamp and created the cash flow to begin the buyback. This simple license fee not only creates a massive flow of funds for buyback, it allows everyone who buys a saltwater license and stamp to enjoy some of the credit for the success of the program.

The early period in the implementation of this program was fraught with debate over license transferability, oversight, enforcement and every other hurdle that stands in front of a progressive conservation program, but in the end, the implementation has worked smoothly.  

“The proof is in the pudding,” said Robin Reichers, TPWD director of science and policy. “We have purchased so many licenses and the positive results are clearly evident throughout the bay ecosystem. The reduction in shrimping effort has helped build the forage base, protected bay habitat, conserved gamefish species, and even helped the economics of bay shrimping. All the early work on this program has clearly paid off.”

Let the Buying Begin

The shrimp license buyback program landed its first “keeper” in 1996, marking the beginning of a flood of interested sellers and the high-water mark in Texas shrimp effort. The goal was to try to get shrimp effort back to the approximate level of the 1970s. That would be a lofty goal with more than 3,231 licenses (split through a dual bay and bait licensing system) and almost 1,800 shrimping vessels.

Politicians, conservationists, recreational anglers, and fisheries biologists and managers did not set out to end Texas bay shrimping. They targeted a reduction of licenses and subsequent effort to a sustainable level where local communities could still access bay-caught shrimp, but the bay resources could flourish without the grind of overwhelming shrimping effort.

To date, there have been 20 rounds of license buybacks with more than $11 million dollars spent. TPWD conducts two rounds per year through a “Dutch auction,” which is a reverse-bid system. Commercial shrimp license holders get a letter from TPWD with a range of price offerings for licenses, and shrimpers reply with what they believe their license, and its impact on the bay, is worth.

TPWD staff evaluates the license offers and matches them up with the available dollars to try to create the maximum benefit for the resource. The shrimp license holder then decides if it is worth the bid or not. In some cases, TPWD matches the fee-generated dollars with grants from private foundations and conservation groups like CCA Texas to offer increased bids for known high-impact shrimpers. To date, almost half of the licenses that were active in 1995 have been purchased and retired, and in the most recent draws, there have actually been more willing shrimpers than dollars to retire their licenses.

“In recent years, high fuel costs and increased competition from overseas markets have reduced the profitability of commercial shrimping operations,” said Dr. Larry McKinney, TPWD coastal fisheries director. “This program is the perfect conservation tool. It really is in the right place at the right time. It has and continues to allow shrimpers to get out of an economic bind while helping a significant number of other components of the bay ecosystem.”

It is believed that less than 700 shrimping vessels are still eligible for shrimping activity, but during this past spring “flyover,” where TPWD officials utilize a low-altitude observation plane to count the number of active shrimpers on the opening day of bay shrimp season, there were a mere 138 shrimpers in action. This flyover is only a snapshot count, but gives an interesting insight into the current state of the shrimp industry.

“Not every license we retire has had an impact on the health of the bay,” said Reichers. “But the first step in this program was to get through the less-utilized licenses to begin to cut into the high-impact ones. With the current trend in commercial shrimp effort, clearly we are making a significant impact in that number.”

Where from here?

As the shrimp buyback program enters its 13^th year of activity, the fundraising has reached a fevered pitch. The Board of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation (TPWF) voted to accept the shrimp license buyback program into its fundraising agenda to supplement and even accelerate current license retirement efforts. The William Negley Conservation Fund was established at the Foundation when Joseph Fitzsimons, then Chairman of the TPW Commission, recruited a number of friends to commit the seed money for fund.  The TPWF has set out to raise matching dollars that will create an additional wave of license retirement.

“We have an opportunity to secure the victory that the pioneers of this program envisioned,” said Dick Davis, TPWF executive director. “The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commissioners launched this additional fundraising effort and TPWF Board members joined forces under the leadership of Karen Hixon and Mimi Zoch to rally a diverse group of supporters including foundations, corporations and private donors.”

The TPWF has received donations and pledges of nearly $1 million to date, but with willing license sellers available, additional fundraising success will continue to accelerate the buyback. 

“We have had substantial support from the Kelburg Foundation and National Fish and Wildlife Foundation among a host of other foundations and individuals in this fundraising effort, but what has been so inspiring are the donations from anglers across the state in support of this final push for buyback,”said Mimi Zoch, TPWF Board member. “This program continues to be a huge success, but we still need more supporters to complete this landmark achievement.” 

So many times, conservationists are faced with challenges that have no viable or even tangible solution to fix resource problems. The architects and builders of the Texas shrimp license buyback program crafted a unique union for a conservation problem with a funded and publicly accepted solution, and the results are telling.

“With the funds from the ongoing surcharge and the work of the TPW Foundation, within the next year or two, we will be able to declare that the Texas bay shrimp fishery is sustainable at a level that has minimal impacts on other fisheries in our bay system,” said McKinney.

Now that is a true conservation victory.

 If you would like to contribute to this important conservation program and purchase all or part of a bay shrimp license, contact Dick Davis at the Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation, call 214.720.1478 or email ddavis@tpwf.org.