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Marine biologist professor at TAMUCC says Hurricane Harvey may have helped local fishing

Posted at 8:50 PM, Jun 08, 2018
and last updated 2018-06-08 21:50:27-04

It’s one of the biggest economic driving forces in the Coastal Bend, fishing. So what effect did Hurricane Harvey have on our fishing?

Harvey left its trail of damage, bringing 6 months worth of rainfall, in 2 days time to our area. 

Dr. Greg Stunz, Marine Biology professor at Texas A&M Corpus Christi said "Obviously with Hurricane Harvey you had a lot of rainfall and when you have a lot of rainfall you get a lot of productivity and that kicks off fishing so for the next 3-4 years. We should see really good fishing because of those changes in condition."

And we have. Fish like the 650-pound blue fin tuna caught a little more than 60 miles off the coast of Port Aransas and some unofficial state records like a cubera snapper and big eye tuna. 

Dr. Stunz added, "Who knows, maybe that has something to do with Harvey because we’re seeing all of these records and maybe the change of conditions or food supply. We don’t know for sure but it’s been a good year all around for all types of species."

Dr. Stunz says although he doesn’t have the science to prove Hurricane Harvey is the direct cause for the recent boom in larger fish, he says Harvey significantly decreased fishing pressure and not just offshore, inshore as well.