Randy sent this article from the Caller Times.
CORPUS CHRISTI — Baffin Bay’s black drum are starving to death.
Years of unabated population growth in the Upper Laguna Madre may have finally taken a toll on the fish’s food source, which no longer can sustain the voracious bottom grazers. Or perhaps declining food sources is to blame. Either way, or for some other reason, the drum of Baffin have exceeded their habitat capacity.
While there is little historical evidence of this kind of collapse occurring on this scale, biologists say die-offs are one way nature keeps a population in check and maintains the delicate balance within ecosystems. Baffin Bay’s various populations tend to rise and fall in five-year cycles.
But in this case the balance is way out of whack.
Black drum at the south end of the Upper Laguna Madre are reproducing at a rate that outpaces predation, natural attrition and angler harvest, which includes commercial efforts. For years, Texas Parks & Wildlife gillnet surveys have indicated the drum population down south is five times greater than speckled trout stocks.
Part of the reason may be the lack of recreational effort on drum compared with the harvest pressure on trout. Part of this can be explained by a lingering cultural stigma that unfairly labels drum a trash fish or as undesirable table fare. This was unfounded and untrue when the fish were healthy.
But don’t expect any harvest relief from anglers or from commercial fishermen. The word is out that about half the drum caught are not worth cleaning. The fish are underweight, and the fillets are thin with a gelatinous texture. Bellies are empty, causing the fish to digest fat and now muscle tissue. For these reasons, the commercial harvest and sale of Baffin Bay drum has virtually ceased.
TPW testing has verified the emaciated state of drum in and near Baffin Bay. Drum elsewhere appear healthy
