Coastal Conservation Association Texas has revised the 2021 STAR Tournament in light of the recent fish kills caused by the February freeze. The organization announced the changes Monday.
The speckled trout, flounder, sheepshead and gafftop divisions have been canceled from this year's tournament. The popular tagged redfish division will be catch-and-release only. It is scheduled to run May 29 through Sept. 6.
The CCA mantra has always been to put the fish first, and this decision is a direct reflection.
“We had to do what was right for the fish, whether that hurts the tournament or not," said Dylan Sassman, CCA Texas STAR Tournament's assistant director.
“We just felt like this was the right thing to do to take the pressure off the resource and let it build back to healthy, sustainable levels.”
The cancellation of specific species divisions is designed to alleviate the impacts of the recent freeze and subsequent fish kills. Offshore divisions will proceed normally and a yet-to-be-announced category will be added to this year's tournament. The tagged redfish portion of the tournament will have three divisions and will be mandatory catch-and-release, a practice CCA Texas is encouraging after fish kills hit the entire Texas coast.
Although the full extent of the damage done to coastal fisheries is still being assessed, and will continue to be in the months ahead, CCA Texas acted preemptively to protect these fisheries and assist with the restoration.
“There’s certainly some parallels to (the freezes of 1983 and 1989), and in light of that it warrants some sort of action on our end to help the fisheries recover. And so this is one thing that we have within our ability as an organization to do," said Shane Bonnot, advocacy director for CCA Texas.
“We’ll continue to push the message of conservation, raise awareness for inshore habitat restoration projects and if Texas Parks and Wildlife deems it necessary to do some sort of management change we will certainly look at that and support whatever is necessary to preserve and conserve the fishery.”
Bonnot had some simple advice for those who want to help Texas' bays recover.
“Keep fishing," he said.
"I think it’s important that we continue to remain active as anglers. And while we’re remaining active, take personal accountability and practice conservation on the water. Catch and release. If you need some fish to eat that night, only keep what you can eat and return the rest.
“Support conservation groups, like CCA. Go to those fundraising events and help CCA help the fishery, because we’ll put that money back into the hatcheries. We’ll put that money back into inshore habitat restoration projects, such as oyster restoration, marsh grass plantings, shoreline stabilization, things of that nature. And spread the word, to your friends, to your neighbors, those that write this event off as a non-event or think that everything is fine and we can continue to behave as we have in the past. I don’t think that’s the case.”
This year is the 32nd iteration of the tourney that serves as CCA Texas’ membership drive and provides unique opportunities for scholarships and prizes such as trucks and boats for recreational anglers. As a main source of recruitment for the organization, it is no small sacrifice to modify this tournament. But it is a sacrifice CCA Texas is more than willing to make.
“From the tournament standpoint, we’ve always tried to minimize any of the impacts the tournament has on the resource. This is just giving us another opportunity to take that mission even further," Sassman said.
March 02, 2021 at 02:01AM
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CCA Texas revises STAR Tournament due to fish kills in bay systems - Houston Chronicle
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