NEWSLETTER 2003
Thanks to the new volunteers! With sea turtles
nestings on the north Texas Coast, a number of volunteers
have come forward to patrol the beach in the Galveston area. Thanks
to National Marine Fisheries Service, Galveston Laboratory, and
their staff for an excellent training for volunteers on June 13.
Staff from the Clear Lake Office of the U.S.Fish and Wildlife
Service also participated. Volunteers patrolled beaches whenever
they had a chance, and we thank them all! The new nesting season
will arrive sooner than we think and we will need to have volunteers
out again looking for nesting sea turtles.
A BIG THANKS to the Texas General Land Office (GLO) for delaying
a sand renourishment project that had been planned for the summer
on the West Beach of Galveston Island. Last year, two Kemp's ridleys
nested there and this year, on May 16, another ridley dug a nest
and deposited eggs. It was important that no new sand be added
to the beach allowing time for eggs to hatch from any other nests
that may have been sighted. The GLO understood the need to wait
a few months before funding the addition of tons of new sand to
West Beach.
JOIN THE HEART
SHRIMP NET!
HELP US CATCH
THE LAWBREAKERS!
If you live or visit the
Texas coast from the Corpus Christi Fish Pass south to the Mexican
border, you can help law enforcement and the sea turtles, too.
If you can see a shrimp boat from the shore, day or night, it
is very likely this boat is fishing illegally inside the five
mile closure area. Call 1-800-792-4263 (the state's Operation
Game Thief) immediately and report the violation, where you are
located, your name and any other information that is requested.
Also speak up for more law enforcement and
attention to those shrimpers who are lawbreakers!
WRITE, CALL, FAX OR E-MAIL:
Your Texas Senator: Capitol Station,
P.O. Box 12068, Austin, Texas 78711.
Telephone: 512 463-0001
Your Texas Representative: Box 2910 Austin,
Texas 78768
Go to Texas
Legislature Online to check on
House Bill 937, Senate Bill 810, what representatives are voting
on them, etc.
Find your senator
Find
your representative
Texas residents can call Governor Rick
Perry on a free hotline: 1-800-252-9600.
If you're out of state, call 1-512-463-2000 or FAX to 512-463-1849.
NOAA Law Enforcement Team
needed in Texas waters! You can help with an e-mail!
The NOAA Protected
Resources Enforcement Teams (PRET) boats continue to be needed in the Texas coastal waters
which is too shallow for the Coast Guard boats to patrol.
Send e-mails today to ask
for the PRET boats to increase their work. The highly trained
crews of the shallow-water PRET boats will protect the sea turtles,
fish and shrimp stocks within the closed zone. In order to have
sufficient law enforcement in the Gulf of Mexico, Texas Parks
and Wildlife continues to need federal funds to provide state
law enforcement officers. We appreciate what has been received
and hope for future funding to continue.
E-mail Dr. William Hogarth,
Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Southeast
Region and ask for PRET boats in Texas waters.
E-mail: Bill.Hogarth@noaa.gov
Also e-mail Noreen Walsh,
Chief,Division of Endangered Species, U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service
and ask for increased law enforcement and attention to the Kemp's
ridley program in Texas.
E-mail: Noreen_Walsh@fws.gov