• BY JJ VELASQUEZ - JVELASQUEZ@VICAD.COM
• Originally published February 20, 2010 at 10:57 p.m., updated February 20, 2010 at 11:10 p.m.

• Trap capturing numbers.pdf

SEADRIFT - In the San Antonio Bay, a melange of marine animals intermingle. A dolphin splashes as a pelican glides above it; three whooping cranes idle on a sliver of an island.

Friday marked the start of the annual closure of the bay and other Texas marine waters to crabbing. Every year during this time, a fleet of volunteers sets out to remove abandoned crab traps that cage some of the bay systems' most precious animals, many of which are the endangered cranes' top prey: blue crabs.

"Crabs are an important part of the ecosystem," Norman Boyd, the bay's ecosystem leader, said. "And to have them lost needlessly is a bad thing."

Since 2002, volunteers have removed more than 25,000 traps across the Texas Gulf Coast. With each year, they have removed fewer traps, mostly in part to the success of the program, said Ronnie Luster, who spearheaded the project more than 10 years ago.

"It's been successful because it's a real feel-good project," Luster, a member of the Coastal Conservation Association, said. "It's been something a lot of people can identify with."

CREATING A TEMPLATE

The idea came to Luster suddenly one day as he noticed the amount of traps cluttered in the water.

"I was fishing with my wife in the airboat, and I started counting them," he said. "I went from one end of it to the other end of it. There were 1,800 traps there. I just said, 'We have got to do something.'"

So, 10 years ago, he teamed up with game wardens to create the Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program. But before they could begin removing the pervasive traps, a hurdle had to be jumped.

Legally, the traps could not be removed because they were considered private property.

In 2001, the state Senate approved a bill that made the crab trap removal program possible. The legislation established a period for the closure, which typically occurs in February or March. The abandoned traps are legally regarded as litter during the closure.

The program was the first of its kind, said John Blaha, a volunteer who hooked traps out of knee-deep water as Luster drove the airboat. After it was established, Louisiana and Alabama followed suit with programs of their own, he said.

"This project is a template for it," Blaha said.

Blaha, assistant director of the CCA, volunteers every year, missing the roundup only a couple of times in the past nine years.

IMPACT ON CRABBERS?

Working in the fishing industry can be strenuous. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, fishers work long hours, are often employed seasonally and face daily hazards many in the workforce do not.

So does the crab trap removal program hurt crabbers?

Boyd, the San Antonio Bay ecosystem leader, said no. In fact, the crabbers picked this time of year to hold the closure, he said. The otherwise year-round crabbing season undergoes a downtime during February and March.

The abandoned traps buoy in the water, making it easy for Luster and Blaha to spot them in their airboat. Pulling them out is like observing a Petri dish that has cultivated all sorts of life.

Boyd lifted a hatch to release small fish: crabs of all sizes, shrimp and barnacles.

"It's like in National Geographic when that guy went went out documenting what lives in a one-foot cube," Boyd said. "Well, this is our two-foot cube."

The retrieved traps are crushed and then placed in a Dumpster, designated especially for the crab trap program. From there, the traps are taken to the landfill.

For Blaha, volunteering in the program is a rewarding experience. No one gets paid, but protecting the ecosystem gratifies him, he said.

"The beauty of this project is that people don't have to do this," he said. "They do this because they love to see the marine resource thrive."

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