Annual Texas Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Dates Set for 2025
AUSTIN —For the past 23 years in February, countless volunteers band together to search the Texas coastline for abandoned crab traps. The abandoned traps foul shrimpers’ nets, snag anglers’ lines, ghost fish (when lost or abandoned fishing gear, such as nets, traps and pots continue to catch and kill marine life) and create unsightly views. To date, volunteers and Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) staff have hauled off nearly 44,000 of these derelict traps, saving an estimated 720,000 blue crabs.