Crab traps to be removed by TPWD

Boaters still have a few days to be part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s crab trap removal program.

The program closes Texas bays to crabbing each spring to allow for removal of derelict traps – traps that aren’t being worked, and which, the department says, often catch sport fish.

This year, the bays are closed to crabbing through Sunday, Feb. 26. Any crab traps found in the water during the program will be assumed to be abandoned and “litter” under state law.

Game wardens remove more than 2,500 illegal traps annually, but can’t get them all, a TPWD statement said.

Boaters who come up with derelict crab traps can drop them at the pick-up point in Dennis Dreyer Municipal Harbor in Port Aransas through Sunday. After Sunday, bays are open to crabbing once again.