Early next year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) will sink Texas A&M University's Texas Clipper sailing and research ship in the waters off South Padre Island. The ship has a long and storied history, having participated (as the USS Queens) in the Iwo Jima campaign during WWII and serving as Texas A&M University at Galveston’s sailing vessel. The ship is now destined to provide a home for hundreds of thousands of marine creatures and much-needed fishing and diving opportunities for millions of people. The ship will be a significant addition to the TPWD’s artificial reef program and will have a great effect on South Padre Island’s economy.

 

Texas A&M University is conducting an economic analysis of the South Padre Island area fishing and SCUBA diving industry in order to evaluate the importance of this new artificial reef to South Padre Island’s economy. Captains of both SCUBA and fishing boats will be interviewed in order to obtain important data and any feedback they may wish to offer.

 

Captains of charter fishing and diving boats will be asked to provide basic data on the frequency of their trips to offshore artificial reefs and the number of passengers they generally carry on these trips. Participants will not be expected to divulge any financial data, such as tax information or expenditures.

 

The project’s objectives include the establishment of an up-to-date listing of offshore charter and party boats and related businesses in the South Padre Island area and identifying the extent of use of current offshore artificial reefs. This data will be used to calculate the benefits of the Texas Clipper artificial reef to the local economy.

 

Data obtained from this study will be summarized by Texas A&M University personnel and transmitted to the TPWD. The goal of this project is to better understand the benefits of artificial reefs to local economies and to increase the effectiveness of TPWD’s artificial reef program. The final report will be available online and survey participants will be provided with a copy of the final report upon request.