- ANNOUNCER: The Texas Parks and Wildlife Television Series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding provided by the Toyota Tundra.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Adventure: it's what we share.

- NARRATOR: Coming up on Texas Parks and Wildlife... - We're concerned about ecological effects, but we're also concerned about economic effects, things like erosion and bank collapse.

- Caddo Lake is a really special place to visit.

It's a place unlike any other within the state.

- These fish are desperate for habitat because it means life or death for them.

[theme music] ♪ ♪ - NARRATOR: Texas Parks and Wildlife, a television series for all outdoors.

- NICK: Being able to see the wildlife, to see the fish, to see the wild rice dancing with the flow of the current, it's just a very amazing place.

[water trickling] [gentle music] It's all free-diving, just snorkeling.

Very unique experience in clear, spring-fed water like this.

My name is Nick Menchaca.

I'm owner/operator of Atlas Environmental and we're contractors with the Habitat Conservation Plan.

Feel very blessed to be part of the project, we've been doing it for 10 years out here in the San Marcos River.

The armored catfish are an aquarium-released fish.

This is one of the rivers in Texas that has been invaded by suckermouth armored catfish.

They're from South America, they're common in the aquarium trade because they eat algae, they do well in aquaria, but unfortunately that means that they're introduced into ecosystems where humans come in close contact with water.

[splash] And the ecosystems they invade tend to look like aquaria.

And so the San Marcos River is basically a giant aquarium, very clear water, lots of vegetation, lots of algae for these fish to consume.

- I'm Josh Perkin.

I'm an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

We're here for this project to try to understand how many fish are in the river and how we can adapt management of that population to control it to a better extent.

[gentle music] [water trickling] There's no natural predators here for suckermouth armored catfish.

So they go through rapid population growth and can start to overcrowd the river.

[water gurgling] - They grow fast, they spawn young, they reproduce very rapidly.

They have basically overpopulated to the point of outcompeting our native species.

They'll burrow up under the bank, up underneath the concrete and create like an undercut.

- JOSH: We're concerned about their effects on the erosion that's happening and the bank collapse.

This population in the San Marcos River is actively being controlled.

[water roaring] So Atlas Environmental and Nick Menchaca are using spearfishing to suppress the population.

- You can just hook this around your hand, and then stretch out the rubber band and grip the front of the pole spear, and then whenever you release it, it shoots out.

With the very rapid reload, it makes it a very efficient method of removal.

[gentle music] It's the most selective form of fish removal.

Very efficient in terms of removing the armored catfish as well as the tilapia.

[gentle music] Definitely got harder over the years.

They definitely know they're being hunted now.

Woo!

We do two tournaments a year, the bi-annual polespear tournaments.

We do have a free fish fry twice a year which is mainly tilapia, but if we have a big enough armored catfish, we'll serve up those as well.

We give out about 400 to 1,000 free tacos.

Whenever the tournaments aren't going on we have a year-round bounty program which is free to participate.

We have a dive board with a dive flag that we'll send you out with and all the authorities recognize that and that will keep you from getting in any trouble as long as you're just spearing armored catfish and tilapias.

[water gurgling] 14,000 armored catfish removed since 2013.

It's definitely a lot.

- We'll find out from the data where 508 came from.

Our study is designed to enhance that control.

Can we use really focused control, where we spearfish in localized areas?

Or are these fish moving long distances where they might be recolonizing areas where they've been removed?

- I'm going to try and grab a couple of specimens.

- JOSH: Excellent!

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department funded this research.

We work with the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, those are the divers that do a lot of the underwater work, including catching the fish that we put the transmitters in and then monitoring and retrieving our sensors that are listening for those tagged fish.

We use ultrasonic transmitters that emit signals.

- CHRIS: We had some underwater receivers that we pulled up.

- JOSH: Good job!

- Pulled some data off of them from our fish that have tags in them that track their kind of movement and behavior.

- We have 13,936 records.

- CHRIS: We actually pulled out a specimen that was tagged, we were able to check on the recovery from the surgery that was required from that.

- We still don't know how quickly they grow, we don't know how old these fish get in this population, so we can learn a lot through a recapture of a specimen like this.

- 174.

- CHRIS: Outside of the range of our stationary receivers we ran the canoe system that had the hydrophone in it to try to narrow down where some of the fish are.

- We have not recorded a fish moving from where we released them in Sewell up to here.

We want to know how many fish are in the river, where are they spending most of their time, and how much are they moving throughout the river.

[water gurgling] So we capture fish, we internally plant these transmitters and we follow their movements.

It's a hydrophone, we're listening for a fish with a transmitter in it.

And what we're finding is the habitats where they're most abundant are the human-altered habitats, so banks that have been stabilized by concrete that's then eroding and crumbling in, those are the places where we see their highest abundances.

But by also looking in places with lower abundances, we can eventually develop a population size estimate for the entirety of the river.

To count the number of fish in the river, we use a raft.

So we call it our lighted immersible fish enumerator, or L.I.F.E., so our life raft, we float.

You know this is looking down on the bottom, and then these are just underwater lights for at night, and then we put a GPS unit in here that tracks our path.

[gentle music] It's tough to measure these fish 'cause they hide and they're most active at night, and so a big part of our current project is to test for a measurable effect of the spearfishing with data that don't come from the spear-fishers.

So can we run our raft down the river and see a measurable reduction in the number of fish that are present as we go through the spearfishing tournaments?

We would like to keep the ecosystem in a state that's as close as possible to its natural state.

The natural state would be no suckermouth armored catfish.

What we're hoping to achieve with this project is an idea of functional eradication.

- CHRIS: The ultimate goal would be just to minimize their impact as much as possible.

People love the river.

There's a lot of community involvement with the river, kind of community ownership of what they have here.

- JOSH: It sure makes it easier to work with a water body that others are interested in preserving and conserving.

[gentle music] - NICK: I would say do not release any aquarium species into the river.

You know, very bad for the river and, you know, also it's not gonna necessarily survive because we're hunting those fish.

We're really trying to get it restored to its native state where we're not seeing quite as many invasive fish.

They're definitely still out there, but we're fighting the fight to keep the populations down and keep the native populations up.

[gentle music] [blues music] ♪ Well, well ♪ [blues music] - BRANDON LOPES-BACA: You know, Caddo Lake State Park, it's the only area in Texas that you can find this environment, this habitat.

[blues music] There's not a lot of people out here to where it's gonna be crazy!

You can really get out here and just recharge your soul.

♪ ♪ - Caddo Lake State Park is the gateway to Caddo Lake.

We are located four miles upriver on Big Cypress Bayou.

And Caddo Lake is special because it is the largest naturally formed lake here in Texas.

And it was formed around the year 1800 when water from Big Cypress Bayou tried to merge with the Red River, but met a giant log jam called the Great Raft.

[blues music] - BRANDON: We are a Civilian Conservation Corp. park.

July 4th, 1934 is when the park officially opened for public use.

- KELSEY: The first thing you see as you drive into the park are iconic pillars that were built back in the 1930s and are still standing today.

And as you drive through the park, you'll see the cabin area.

Those were the cabins that the CCC lived in when they were building this park, as well as the rec hall, which is where they would have had their meals.

So, there is a little bit of magic from the CCC left all over this park.

[laughter] - BRANDON: There's nothing that's gonna be too hardcore as far as the trails go.

Their pretty standard, a couple uphill here and there.

So, you can come out here with your family and just be out here for a couple hours on the trails and enjoy yourselves!

- KELSEY: Park programs are a really great way to get your kids involved in nature.

And you just want to tap it on the bottom.

[water gurgles] So, nice good one!

- KID: Oh, that's cool!

- KELSEY: The kids are getting to experience it for themselves, really get to explore at their own pace, and just see what's out there.

- KID: Ohhhhh!

- KELSEY: It's called a Cricket frog, and they'll get bigger than this, these are just real little ones.

- KID: Oh, can I hold one of them!

- Yes, critters, and mud and all that stuff-- that is their favorite thing probably ever.

I want my kids to actually come and physically put their hands into the water, to see the creatures up close.

[woodpecker knocking] It's not just something they know about in their head but something they feel in their heart.

What did you think, is it fun!

- KID: Yeah!

[blues music] - VELMA COWLING: I love it here!

Oooh!

This is my home!

- Mmmmmm, hmmm.

I hope I catch em, cause he's pretty good size.

- Oh honey, I just enjoy being here.

Yeah, have some me time, for sure.

- Oh, I got something!

Oh!

Oh, I can fish a little bit!

[laughing] - VELMA: When I'm sitting here fishing like this!

Oh, come here baby!

I don't have a care in this world.

Oh, I got a gargalli.

Hey baby daddy!

[laughing] Ooooooh baby, I love it!

[paddles splash] - EASLEY SMITH: Paddling, it's nice cause you don't have the buzz of the motor from a boat.

So, you get to hear the movement of the water, and you get to kind of feel like you're supposed to be there, instead of in a big clunky boat where you're just kind of rocking.

And you get to get really close to the trees and see the detail of the wood, and the hanging of the moss.

And it's just nice to see the little intricate details of nature.

[blues music] - KELSEY: Caddo Lake is a really special place to visit.

It's a place unlike any other within the state.

- EASLEY: This is pretty cool!

- BRANDON: You really have the opportunity to come out here and really recharge and be a part of nature.

[blues music] - KELSEY: Here is a mysterious, quiet, wild getaway that you just don't find anywhere else.

[blues music] [upbeat music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [dramatic music] ♪ ♪ - I just never could get away from the water.

Starting back when I was 10 or 12 years old, I did a lot of dock work.

I used to wash my grandfather and my great uncle's boat for 50 cents.

So, I've been through it all.

You gotta wanna do it, you gotta wanna be in this business.

I've been going out there so long, it's just part of me now.

- I've been fishing in the Gulf of Mexico since 1962.

When we were growing up, my cousins and I spent thousands of hours in the Gulf of Mexico.

It was a place of freedom for us.

It was a place where we could go where we wanted to go, do what we wanted to do.

We challenged the elements and figured out how to catch the fish.

- I'm a Charter Boat Captain.

There can be a really big difference from one day to the next.

When the fish are plentiful, the clients really think you know what you're doing, okay?

But when there's no fish, they think you're not even trying or anything, there's just no fish.

It's a really tough business to be in.

- The situation for fishing in state waters was just terrible.

The Gulf's bottom is flat mud plain that doesn't provide food or habitat for little fishes.

We decided we were gonna do something about it.

[water bubbling] [dramatic music] - Certain fish, especially the ones that we like to eat, use hard structure as their habitat.

But we've been trolling the sea floor now for many decades and with that comes a disturbance to the sea floor and any hard structure that's brittle can also be destroyed.

And so all we're left with are soft corals that only get a foot or so high at most.

If we're left with that option, you're not going to have a reef in anyone's lifetime around here.

And if you are it's gonna be very small.

Another option is to put hard substrate down on the bottom and build an artificial reef.

And these have been quite successful throughout the Gulf of Mexico using concrete and steel.

[water rushing] [water rushing] [dramatic music] - RGV Reef is located about 13 nautical miles north of the South Padre Island Jetties.

To create an artificial reef, first, you have to gather up material.

The first material that we put in RGV Reef was the shrimp boat in the tug.

We put down 64,000 cinder blocks to make nursery reef.

And about another 3,000 tons of other concrete material.

We have stacked up here, 15,000 concrete railroad ties donated by BNSF.

We're going to drop these like tangled pick-up sticks in the reef, and we're gonna make all those graduated stepping stones of habitat that will carry these fish through their life stages.

These fish are desperate for habitat because it means life or death for them.

If you deploy that material, it lasts for decades and nobody ever has to cut the grass or pick up the trash.

- We surveyed the RGV Reef before any material was put down and there were very few fish down there.

And so in terms of fish numbers, the RGV Reef has been a success.

There are a lot of red snapper juveniles, and most importantly, there are post-settlement recruit red snapper showing up right after they settle out of the water column.

This means for future generations to come, there'll be more red snapper showing up on this reef.

- The thing about building a reef like this is that it's damned difficult.

Where we need money is in the marine transport.

That's the piece that I have been unable to get donated.

That's the expensive piece.

That's what's stopping us is the boat that takes the material off shore.

We gotta pay for it.

- I tell you what, when they first said, we're gonna spend $10 million in 10 years building a reef, I'm going, "Oh my God, these guys are crazy."

But we're booked up.

The bay fishing boats are booked up.

They're doing it.

- GARY: There's 750,000 saltwater anglers in the state of Texas.

Forty-four thousand of them live in the Rio Grande Valley.

If there's no fish, there's not gonna be a fishing industry.

There's not gonna be tourism.

We use that to sell the reef, but what really counts is the next generation to be able to go offshore and catch a fish.

- CAPTAIN RAY: If there's more fish, my clients are gonna have more memories.

They're gonna have more conversation with their friends.

They're gonna send more people to us.

They'll come back.

Everybody can fish.

Everybody.

- All of us are looking to make the Gulf of Mexico better.

All of us received tremendous joy from the Gulf of Mexico when we were younger and had no way to give back.

That's what pushes us.

I personally think about a little boy or a little girl that's gonna go fishing and catch a fish.

That's what I care about.

[dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [water dripping] [gentle music] - ERIN: Just like people, every park has its own unique identity.

Every place has its own story, its own history, its culture, the nature that's unique to it, to the animals that you can find there.

[gentle music] It's just amazing diversity of landscapes, and places, and things to do.

- NARRATOR: Nestled around the Lone Star State, Texas parks are a treasure trove of natural wonders and captivating tales.

But these stories don't tell themselves.

- Oh, you can see the gold now.

- NARRATOR: They need a voice, a passionate advocate who can share their magic with the world.

[keys clacking] [twangy music] That's where Erin Freiboth comes in.

As a marketing maven for Texas Parks and Wildlife, she's on a mission to inspire people to fall in love with the great outdoors.

- What I do is I basically tell people that the great outdoors of Texas is amazing and awesome, and you should go enjoy it.

- Thank you.

- Have a good day.

- ERIN: I handle our promotional literature for state parks.

I do large scale promotional outreach.

I do events sometimes with 5,000, 10,000 people.

My job as a storyteller is to tell the story of the park so that way people wanna come out here and make their own stories.

I love my job because I get to be close to nature, and I get to work with people who are passionate and care about nature, and I get to inspire that passion in others.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: But Erin's passion for parks isn't just professional, it's personal.

She has made it her mission to experience the unique story of every single Texas state park, and she has done just that, all 89 of them.

♪ ♪ - I have spent the last five and a half years working on visiting every single one of the Texas state parks.

So that is all 89.

It was quite the journey, and it was a very fun one.

At first, it started off as just sort of like, oh, we just need to know a handful.

But then I sort of turned into a completionist where I was just like, "I must check everything."

[Erin laughs] So eventually it just became into a personal quest and I got it all finished in October of last year.

No one's supposed to have a favorite child.

No one's supposed to have a favorite park.

At least that's what they told me.

My favorite wildlife, one might have guessed already, Brazos Bend.

I love the alligator, love all the birding there.

Favorite history park, Dinosaur Valley, 'cause dinosaur tracks on the river bed.

How could you not love that?

My favorite unique experience park is Kickapoo Caverns.

My favorite hiking park, Caprock Canyon.

My favorite overnight is gotta be Lake Brownwood State Park.

[kids yelling] So when people have their own stories, they care, and that makes them take care.

[hikers cheering] I want people to care about these places.

I want these places to stay, and I want these places to be there in the future, for both people and nature.

[upbeat music] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [wind blowing] [birds singing] This series is supported in part by Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation -- conserving the wild things and wild places of Texas, thanks to members across the state.

Additional funding provided by the Toyota Tundra.

Your local Toyota dealers are proud to support outdoor recreation and conservation in Texas.

Adventure: it's what we share.