This is a critical matter for the entire seafood industry, recreational fishermen, and private land owners. 

Recently, a private entity, Sustainable Texas Oyster Resource Management, LLC (S.T.O.R.M.) has alleged that it control the rights to 23,000 acres of water bottoms along the Texas Coast.  S.T.O.R.M. alleges to have obtained those rights from the Chambers Liberty County Navigation District by way of a lease issued earlier this year. After obtaining its purported lease, S.T.O.R.M. has aggressively tried to assert its alleged rights over those in the seafood industry who have been lawfully operating in those waters for generations.  

S.T.O.R.M. has gone so far as to tell oyster leaseholders that it  will ban them from harvesting or bedding on their own leases.  S.T.O.R.M. also has expressed plans to prevent the fishing industry from operating on Texas waters without S.T.O.R.M.’s permission.  S.T.O.R.M. has even stated that it will arrest and prosecute for trespassing anyone caught fishing in these 23,000 acres. 

To date, the TPWD and the Texas General Land Office have refused to acknowledge S.T.O.R.M.’s position citing the laws of the State of Texas and the powers and authorities granted to both the TPWD and the GLO to govern such matters.  Having failed to convince anyone that their actions were legally valid in the State of Texas, we anticipate that S.T.O.R.M. will now go to our law makers to try to change the law. 

We simply cannot allow such efforts to succeed. These water bottoms and these natural resources belong to the State of Texas and its citizens.  No private entity should have the right to strip Texas citizens of such longstanding rights.

To succeed in our stance, we must act together!  If S.T.O.R.M is successful the public will no longer have commercial or recreational access to this part of the Texas Coast. This will put in jeopardy the entire Seafood Industryfrom fisherman, harvesters, and leaseholders to processors, brokers, and restaurant owners. 

This petition is intended to urge our state officials at TPWD and GLO to continue their defense of our position and to take whatever legal steps necessary to ensure that the laws in place remain in place so as to protect our resources, our seafood industry and our State’s rights. 

 Please sign below and demand that the TPWD and the GLO protect your rights to the water bottoms of Galveston Bay.  Do your part before it is too late!  

Concerned Citizens of Texas Gulf Coast