Mark Fisher

Between 1985 and 2007, Texas Parks and Wildlife conducted a trawl survey in the Texas Territorial Sea, extending from the beach out to 16.7 km and within 24.1 km on either side of passes at Sabine Pass, Galveston, Matagorda, Aransas Pass, and Brazos-Santiago Pass, where sampling occurred in an area 48.2 km north from the Texas-Mexico border. All samples were within NMFS statistical zones 17-21. Random sample locations were stratified by Gulf area and 16 month-1 stratum-1 were collected (n = 21,353). Mean total length (TL) of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) was 90 mm (± 0.31 SE, n = 7,...

In May 2006, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department enacted a regulation which prohibits the uprooting of seagrasses by propellers within the Redfish Bay State Scientific Area (RBSSA) located in Aransas and Corpus Christi Bays, Texas. Two complementary studies were implemented to evaluate the efficacy of the new regulation and to quantify the magnitude of propeller scarring. In the first study, 35 randomly-selected 100-m transects were established and the total number of propeller scars on each transect were recorded annually, with qualitative and quantitative information collected on...

To assess the role of oyster reef as finfish habitat in Texas' estuarine systems, species abundance and diversity differences were compared between shoreline habitats and mid-water oyster reefs in East Matagorda Bay, Texas. Texas Parks and Wildlife 183-m gill nets were deployed overnight for a 10-week period during both spring and fall at oyster reef habitat (one net per week) and shoreline habitats (two nets per week). Metrics used to evaluate each habitat type included abundance, diversity, length and gender. Results indicate significant differences in abundance and diversity of sub-...