Access to and Usage of Offshore Liberty Ship Reefs in Texas
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Access to and Usage of Offshore Liberty Ship Reefs in Texas ROBERT B. DITTON, ALAN R. GRAEFE, ANTHONY J. FEDLER, and JOHN D. SCHWARTZ Sinking a Liberty Ship offthe Texas coast. Texas Coastal and Marine Council photo. Introduction ing artificial reefs, the ultimate purpose completed in June 1976. Since final being to enhance the productivity of deployment, evaluative studies have Artificial reefs have been used in the marine fisheries. been supported 15y the Texas Coastal United States for more than a century Under the sponsorship of the Texas and Marine Council to assess fisheries to establish cover and habitat for Coastal and Marine Council, the State utilization (Vetter and Roels, 1977) fisheries. Offshore artificial reef con of Texas requested 12 surplus Liberty and biological effects (Vetter and struction began in 1935 with the Ships for reef purposes. The 12 ships Roels, 1978). sinking of four vessels and tons ofother were received and deployed in four Evaluative research is useful to materials off Cape May, N.J. (Stone, areas from 8 to 36 miles offshore (Fig. decision makers because they need to 1974). Initial success here led many I). Three reef sites each consist of three know what programs have worked and other states to become interested in ships sunk parallel about 300-500 feet what have not (Weiss, 1972). Besides deploying offshore artificial reefs. The apart at a depth of 100-110 feet (Texas the biological assessments made by first reef building effort in the Gulf of Coastal and Marine Council, 1976). Vetter and Roels (1977, 1978), there Mexico was initiated in 1954 by the At the fourth reef site, the first two have been no other studies that address Alabama Department of Conservation ships were sunk at the designated the success and benefits actually and cooperating sportsmen's groups. location. The third ship swamped in derived from deploying the Liberty They used automobile bodies to devel rough weather and lies 8 miles off Ships as artificial reefs. This is not sur op a series of artificial snapper banks Freeport at a depth of 40-50 feet. This prising as most of the reef literature in (Stone, 1974). offshore artificial reef program was general deals with the technical aspects The scale of offshore reef efforts of deployment, materials, and related changed drastically with the passage of fish biology (Coastal Plains Center for Public Law 92-402 in 1972. Subse The authors are with the Department of Marine Development Services, 1973). quently, coastal states were allowed to Recreation and Parks. Texas A&M University. However, the basic question of make application to the Secretary of College Station. TX 77843. This research was whether or not to deploy an artificial funded by the Texas Coastal and Marine Commerce for surplus Liberty Ships Council, the Texas Agricultural Experiment Sta reef is a capital investment decision. As and to use these ships for establish- tion, and the Texas A&M Sea Grant Program. with most public investment decisions, ABSTRACT-Allhou[?h arlificial reefs address Ihe two principal means of especially when Ihe exlen! of use is have been deplored 10 increase fish slOcks !?ainin[? access 10 Liherly Ship reefs. One compared wilh other site-specific arli(i in Ihe Uniled Slates for over'a cel7lur\" stud\' focused on Ihe Texas charier and cial or natural offshore al/ractions. few slUdies have heen'done 10 evaluale Ihe parlr boalfleel and Ihe olher on privale Nearlr all use of ihe Liherty Ship reefs "henefils ofsuch reefs. This stud\' seeks 10 boal/ishermen residing in Ihe Houston originated/rom Ihe closesl access poil7l. idel7li!\, Ihe extel7l to which Ihe Texas Galveston melropolilan area. Use ofa parlicular reefsile appears to be Liberty Ship reefs are used hr recreation The Liherly Ship reefs were found /0 related 10 the availahilil\' at" allernalive al fishermen. atlract a subslal7lial number ot" privale fishing grounds and the Cfipability to travel "Two independenl survers Vi'ere used 10 hoal and charler/parly hoat fishermen, great distances offshore. September 1979 25 Parker et at. (1974) mention accessi bility as a critical ingredient to a suc cessful reef. Improved catch and economic impact depend on people being able to reach and use the reefs. If reefs are not generally accessible, these benefits are less likely to occur. As we move toward specific siting criteria that fisheries managers can 9" use in deploying offshore reefs, we Freeport :.~ need to know considerably more + + 101101100% 33 about the extent to which reefs at ~ Freeport Liberty Ship sites various offshore locations are used. ""'-----"L,. This study aims to provide data ~ ~ toward further understanding of reef use and spatial relationships. In addition, findings serve as a baseline against which future evaluations of reef use can be viewed. Objective ~ The objective of this study is to .. Port Aransas Liberty Ship sites identify the extent to which the Texas ~ Liberty Ship reefs are used for recre ational fishing. This information is needed to better understand the nature of the public investment in Liberty Ship reefs in Texas. Methods ~ .. South Padre Island Liberty Ship sites To achieve this objective, two ~ .. independent surveys of fishermen were South Padre & conducted. One focused on charterand 121111 92% 19 party boat operators along the entire +26' Texas coast and their use ofthe Liberty +96' 95' Ship reef sites. The other survey Figure I.--Location of Texas Liberty Ship reefs and location of Texas charter/ focused on private boat fishermen party businesses operating in 1977: population, (sample size). response ra teo and residing in an eight county study area, number of vessels. encompassing the Houston/Galveston metropolitan area, and their use of the Freeport Liberty Ship reef sites. The Daniel and Seward (1974) suggested studies have established the extent to private boat survey has a regional focus benefit-cost analysis. Determining the which artificial reefs are used for to allow a detailed description of costs of reefs is far less complex from a fishing, by whom. the fishing success, fishing patterns relative to Liberty theoretical and empirical viewpoint and the economic impact (Buchanan, Ships. The Houston/Galveston region than determining benefits. Daniel and 1972, 1973; Liao ). of the Texas coast provides a particu ' Seward (1974) identified three benefits Although most studies have gener larly interesting case study because which can result from the creation of ally shown that man-made habitats usage patterns for two Liberty Ship artificial reefs: I) Increased productivi improved catch rates and had a bene reef sites can be compared and implica ty of the waters surrounding the reef in ficial impact on the local economy, tions of their respective locations can terms ofamount ofaquatic and marine few systematically address the topics be drawn. The two surveys address the life which can be supported, 2) greater of access and spatial relationships. only two means of accessing the fishing success for those fishermen who Liberty Ship reefs for fishing purposes. fish in the waters surrounding the reef, A 1975 Texas Parks and Wildlife and 3) because of 1and 2, the attraction I Liao. D. S. 197R. Economic im pact of offshorc Department survey of finfish harvest in sport fishing over artificial recl's and natural of fishermen to the area. These are habitats in South Carolina. Un pub!. manuscr.. Galveston Bay indicated that over 90 what can occur. Only a few evaluative 54 p. Mar. Resour. Res. Inst.. (,harbton. S.C percent of all Bay anglers came from 26 Marine Fisheries Rel'ieH' Harris, Galveston, Chambers, and Brazoria counties, all of which border on Galveston Bay (Heffernan et a!., 1975). A second group of counties, including Fort Bend, Liberty, Mont gomery, and Waller, was added to the previous four counties adjacent to Galveston Bay to form the study area for the survey of boat fishermen (Fig. 2). Therefore, it is probable that nearly all private boat fishing use of Galves tOI} Bay and adjacent offshore waters is done by residents of the study area. It is important to recognize that the focus of the private boat survey is on fishing participation by people residing within the eight county area, not on total fishing use of Galveston Bay and adjacent offshore waters. Some addi tional fishing use is contributed by Figure 2.-Map of the eight county private boat study private boat fishermen entering from area. outside the study area, but as indicated above, this is probably a small portion of total use. coastal port and the respective percent age of response. Charter/Party Boat Operator Survey Houston/Galveston Boat Fishermen Survey Since we were interested in Liberty Ship reef use only, all charter/party We recognized that not all boat boat operators who fished exclusively owners fish and of those that do, not all in the bays were systematically exclud fish Liberty Ship reefs. Some boaters ed. Charter and party boats were fish in freshwater only while others fish aggregated since there was often no freshwater and saltwater. Some salt clear distinction between them. Many water fishermen fish in bays only or 10 operations used boats for both charter offshore only with others fishing in J FMAM JJ A SON 0 and party trips. Also, some operations both locations. Therefore, it was MONTHS ran regularly scheduled trips on a per necessary to select a sample of suffi Figure 3.--Seasonality of charterl person basis during the peak season cient size to be statistically meaningful party operators. and operated on a charter basis for the with regard to subsample findings, for rest of the year. Some operations acted example those who fished Liberty Ship as agents for other captains. These reefs. were considered multiple boat opera There were 113,397 registered pleas registration file the specified number of tions and usage figures were calculated ure boats in the eight county study entries from each county using sys accordingly for each operation.