NOAA authorizes Texas gillnet research with dolphin safeguards

NOAA Fisheries has put a five-year federal framework in place for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department surveys that use gillnets in coastal bays, allowing the research to proceed while imposing new protections for bottlenose dolphins.

The final rule was published July 20, 2026, and took effect August 1. It runs through July 31, 2031. The authorization permits incidental, not intentional, take of dolphins during fishery-independent research. It does not by itself establish when TPWD crews will return to the water or publish a sampling schedule.

What NOAA authorized

The surveys may operate in 10 Texas bay systems: Sabine Lake, Galveston, Cedar Lakes, East Matagorda, Matagorda, San Antonio, Aransas, Corpus Christi, the upper Laguna Madre and the lower Laguna Madre.

TPWD’s surveys are conducted in spring and fall, with the agency expecting about 780 gillnet sets annually. The work is designed to provide fishery-independent information on the abundance and size of finfish and shellfish. Those long-running population trends help inform management decisions affecting recreational fishing, commercial activity and coastal ecosystems.

Across the five-year authorization, NOAA approved 20 combined dolphin takes across seven identified stocks. The total includes nine non-serious injuries and 11 mortalities or serious injuries. Those figures are authorized maximums for the covered period, not an annual quota, a guarantee that all takes will occur or a finding that 11 dolphins will die.

Safeguards required in the rule

TPWD must eliminate sampling grids where bottlenose dolphins have been taken more than once or where multiple adjacent grids have recorded encounters. In higher-risk areas, crews must use a “last out/first in” strategy that can reduce the time nets remain in the water.

Crews must use new or fully repaired gillnets, minimize slack and gaps, use a short marker buoy on the deep end of the net and respond immediately to disturbances while gear is soaking. The rule also requires a dedicated visual check lasting at least 15 minutes before a net is set. If dolphins are present in or approaching the survey area, the net cannot be deployed until the animals have left.

TPWD personnel and others involved in the work must complete protected-species safe-handling, release and identification training. Every dolphin encounter must be reported to NOAA within 24 hours, including information such as the time and location, conditions, the animal’s condition, the circumstances of the encounter and photographs or video when available.

Why the data matter

TPWD has used standardized fishery-independent monitoring in Texas coastal waters for decades. Its technical documentation describes spring and fall sampling as part of a broader system used to track population trends in finfish and shellfish. TPWD’s Perry R. Bass Marine Fisheries Research Center says its marine research supports management decisions and participates in the agency’s coastal fishery-independent monitoring program.

The monitoring program was interrupted while the state awaited federal authorization after a federal investigation involving protected-species encounters and missing permits. The Houston Chronicle reported that the disruption created a gap in a decades-long data series used to evaluate species such as red drum and spotted seatrout.

What the rule does not settle

NOAA concluded that the anticipated take would have a negligible impact on the affected stocks under its analysis, taking the mitigation and monitoring requirements into account. That finding does not mean the research carries no risk. The final rule discusses uncertainty in stock boundaries, abundance estimates, animal movements and the outcomes of some historical encounters.

NOAA can review TPWD’s annual reports and the effectiveness of the safeguards. The letter of authorization allows the agency to modify, suspend or withdraw the authorization if it determines that the activity may be causing more than a negligible impact on a stock.

The next practical watch point is a separate TPWD announcement identifying whether and when field sampling will resume or be scheduled. NOAA’s rule supplies the legal framework for the work; it is not a field-work calendar.

Key sources

• Federal Register, 91 FR 45207 — Final rule for TPWD fisheries research
• NOAA Fisheries — TPWD incidental-take authorization
• Houston Chronicle — Texas gill-net sampling interruption