The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department now holds both federal authorizations it needed to put its long-running gillnet survey back into Texas bays. NOAA Fisheries announced in the Federal Register on Sept. 2 that it had issued Incidental Take Permit No. 29887, which allows a limited number of accidental captures of four federally protected sea turtle species during the surveys.

The permit took effect Sept. 1 and runs through Aug. 31, 2036. It follows a separate NOAA rule covering bottlenose dolphins, effective Aug. 1, that allows a small number of accidental dolphin takes under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Together, the two approvals address the protected-species problem that led the state to halt the survey in May 2024.

The timing matters for coastal anglers from Galveston Bay to the lower Laguna Madre. TPWD's fall sampling season begins the second full week of September, according to the dolphin rule, and survey data help managers track red drum, spotted seatrout, and southern flounder. The department had not publicly confirmed a restart date in any material Nature World News reviewed.

Limits Written Into the Permit

The permit covers two endangered species, Kemp's ridley and hawksbill sea turtles, and two threatened populations, the North Atlantic green turtle and the Northwest Atlantic loggerhead. Over the full 10 years, NOAA authorized up to 13 live and 3 dead Kemp's ridleys, 3 live and 1 dead loggerhead, and 1 live and 1 dead hawksbill.

Green turtles, which account for the largest share of the authorized take, are handled differently. Captures are capped at 43 live and 31 dead turtles over any rolling three-year period, with a ceiling of 247 green turtles across the permit's decade. NOAA said the limits were based on TPWD's historical survey data.

The state's conservation plan narrows when and where nets go in. Sampling is limited to two 10-week seasons, in spring and fall, and a sampling grid is dropped from future surveys after a single entanglement of an endangered species there. In designated hot spot grids, nets are set last and pulled first to shorten soak times, and crews watch the water for a total of 30 minutes before and during deployment.

NOAA said the plan is designed to "monitor, minimize, and mitigate" the effects of turtle entanglements to the maximum extent practicable. TPWD also gave the agency assurances that funding exists for offsetting measures, including cold-stun turtle recovery, shrimp fishery management and enforcement, habitat protection, and a debris removal program, according to the notice. NOAA received 14 public comments on the application, most of them supportive. The application and conservation plan are posted on NOAA's permit page.

A Survey Paused Since 2024

TPWD began its standardized gill net sampling in 1975 to monitor sub-adult and adult fish, according to a department program overview. Crews set about 780 nets a year across 10 major bay systems, from Sabine Lake on the Louisiana line to the lower Laguna Madre, according to NOAA.

On May 23, 2024, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement and Office of Protected Resources opened an investigation into alleged Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act violations tied to turtles and dolphins caught in the nets, and TPWD stopped sampling. The department had applied for incidental take permits repeatedly since 2013 without receiving them and ran the survey without permits until the investigation began, the Houston Chronicle reported in April.

Dakus Geeslin, TPWD's deputy director of coastal fisheries, told the Chronicle that the department had set 31,386 gill nets over 41 years and intercepted 301 turtles, about half of which died. He noted that department staff rescue that many cold-stunned turtles during even a light freeze, and TPWD staff recovered 3,260 sea turtles between 2017 and 2025, according to the same report.

The pause cost the program roughly two years of spring and fall sampling. That leaves a gap in a standardized record that managers have used for five decades to follow fish populations in the bays.

Anglers, Turtles, and a Small Dolphin Group

For Texas saltwater anglers, the survey underpins many management decisions. The same TPWD overview puts the state's recreational angler base at roughly 900,000 people.

The Coastal Conservation Association Texas, a recreational fishing advocacy group, pushed hard for the permits. Its advocacy director, Shane Bonnot, told the Chronicle the impression was that NOAA had "basically held this program hostage over this permit issue." NOAA did not respond to the paper's request for comment, though internal communications obtained by the Chronicle indicated that a senior NOAA official did not plan to pursue enforcement action against TPWD.

For wildlife, the permit sets a hard ceiling. Kemp's ridley is widely described as the world's most endangered sea turtle, and the National Park Service says more of the species nest at Padre Island National Seashore than anywhere else in the United States. Every authorized Kemp's ridley take, live or dead, counts against a 10-year total of 16.

Dolphins drew sharper scrutiny during public comment. The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Coastal Carolina University raised concerns about the West Bay dolphin stock near Galveston, which NOAA estimates at 37 animals. NOAA acknowledged in its final rule that a single dolphin death or serious injury in West Bay would push that stock past its annual removal limit, but it concluded the survey would still have a negligible impact. If a second West Bay take occurs during the rule's five years, NOAA said it would be appropriate to reevaluate survey work in that bay.

Data Gaps and What Comes Next

Several questions remain open. It is not clear whether the 2024 NOAA investigation has been formally closed, and TPWD has not publicly detailed how it will handle the missing seasons in its long-term trend analyses. The survey's value comes from its standardized design, so the effect of the gap on stock assessments is still unknown.

The permit does not change anything for recreational anglers directly. Bag limits, size limits, and license rules stay as they are until the state acts through its normal rulemaking process, and any future changes informed by new survey data would go through public comment first.

Coastal residents and beachgoers can help in a concrete way. Anyone who finds a stranded, injured, or nesting sea turtle on the Texas coast should keep a distance and call the state's sea turtle hotline at 1-866-TURTLE-5 (1-866-887-8535). Anglers who accidentally hook or tangle a turtle should call the same number for instructions.

Under the dolphin rule, TPWD must report any marine mammal interaction to NOAA within 24 hours and file an annual report within 90 days after each fall season ends. Those reports will offer the first public test of whether the new safeguards are working.

The state's flagship bay survey is now legally cleared to resume under strict limits. The next concrete sign that nets are back in the water will be TPWD's confirmation of its fall sampling schedule.

What Readers Want to Know

What did NOAA approve?

NOAA Fisheries issued Incidental Take Permit No. 29887 to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. It allows a limited number of accidental sea turtle captures during TPWD's gill net surveys in Texas bays from Sept. 1, 2026, through Aug. 31, 2036.

Which sea turtles are covered?

Kemp's ridley and hawksbill sea turtles, which are endangered, plus the threatened North Atlantic green turtle and Northwest Atlantic loggerhead populations.

Why did the survey stop in 2024?

TPWD halted sampling after NOAA opened an investigation on May 23, 2024, into alleged violations of federal wildlife laws tied to turtles and dolphins caught in survey nets. The department had been running the survey without the required incidental take permits.

Does the permit change fishing rules for anglers?

No. Recreational bag limits, size limits, and license rules are unchanged. The survey data inform future state management decisions, which go through their own public process.

Has TPWD restarted the survey?

TPWD had not publicly confirmed a restart date in material Nature World News reviewed. The fall season begins the second full week of September, according to NOAA's dolphin rule.

What should I do if I find a stranded or hooked sea turtle in Texas?

Keep your distance and call the Texas sea turtle hotline at 1-866-TURTLE-5 (1-866-887-8535) for instructions.