Initiatives of The Coastal Trust
Atlantic Striped Bass Initiative
The migratory stock of Atlantic striped bass range from North Carolina up through Maine. They are popular sport fish that support a significant recreational economy in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. The precarious status of this fish stock has led to emergency action by state and federal regulators including the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. The juvenile population is dependent for nursery habitat on the tidal wetlands and seagrasses of the Albemarle Sound, Chesapeake Bay, and Delaware Bay. The Atlantic Striped Bass Initiative seeks to develop a fund to support wetlands and seagrasses in these locations, with the beneficiaries of migratory fish populations along the length of the Atlantic Coast investing in critical habitat.
Western Gulf Tarpon Initiative
Tarpon are a prehistoric fish species so popular among Atlantic and Gulf sport fishers that they are referred to as the Silver King. The Eastern migration ranges from the Florida Keys up to the Chesapeake Bay and up to Louisiana. The Western migration runs from the Bay of Campeche up the Mexico, Texas and Louisiana coast to the mouth of the Mississippi River. Tarpon fishing a century ago was one of the main economic drivers of the Texas coast and a favorite pastime. FDR fished for them out of Port Aransas, what was then known as Tarpon, Texas. No longer because the fish are gone after overfishing and migrating offshore to avoid degraded water quality. The Western Gulf Tarpon Initiative seeks to restore water quality in strategic locations to restore native inshore Tarpon populations to Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana.