The beauty of Christmas Bay has inspired photographers from the amateur to the professional for decades to capture its tranquil atmosphere, pristine allure, and the variety of its wildlife. Nature photography has displayed the environmental importance of the Bay, environmentalists have documented threats to it, and sportsmen have chronicled the pleasures of the Bay from fishing, to kayaking, to birding. Pursuing the mission of the CBF to increase public awareness of Christmas Bay, we are holding an Instagram photo contest to encourage the public to show their best work – and best catches! – to help spread the word about this wonderful, valuable, but vulnerable treasure of the Texas coast.
Christmas Bay Foundation Instagram Contest
Dates: Ongoing – Monthly, Seasonal, and Annual Winners. A winner will be announced each month. Each season a winner from the monthly winners during that season will be named Seasonal Winner, and from the Seasonal Winners, and Annual Winner will be chosen. The winning image will be featured with a credit for the photographer on the Christmas Bay Foundation Home Page during the winning period, and featured in a slideshow on the Photos Page.
Requirements
- Eligible locations: All images must be taken at a location anywhere from San Luis Pass (northern boundary) to Surfside beach (southern boundary). Geotagging is preferred..
- Subjects: Images should focus on one of the following themes, reflecting the beauty and importance of Christmas Bay:
- Environment
- Dramatic Lighting
- Recreation.
- Hashtag: Photo must be uploaded to Instagram and hashtagged with #christmasbaycontest as well as the category in which it is being entered
- Following: Participants must “follow” the ChristmasBayFoundation instragram account, and “like” the Christmas Bay Foundation Facebook page: facebook.com/christmasbayfoundation
- Sharing: Photos must be shared on participants’ Facebook and other social media pages, and on the Christmas Bay Foundation Facebook page.
Judging: Winners will be chosen monthly, seasonally, and annually, based on the number of “likes” the image receives.
The CBF will sponsor an Earth Day activity at CB. We will have a kayaking nature tour of CB and surrounding estuaries led by renowned Naturalist, Bruce Bodson, President of CBF. This tour will touch on the benefits of estuaries and their importance to the environment and marine ecosystem. How the moon affects the tides and the movement of fish. Identify the various critters that live in the bay and shoreline and how they depend upon each other for survival in a challenging environment.
Bruce is an experienced birder and will point out the numerous birds that frequent the area including the extraordinary Roseate Spoonbill, the threatened Reddish Egret, Oystercatchers, Black Skimmers, and a host of other birds that inhabit the coastal estuary.
The tour will begin Sunday morning April 23 at 8 am until noon, where participants will meet at the Kayak Launch4 miles west of Seidler’s Boat Ramp off the Bluewater Hwy near Surfside Texas in Brazoria County. Directions will be included. Kayaks are provided with paddles, lifejacket, and a seat. A whistle will also be included and will be a memento of the trip. We recommend that paddlers bring the following items;
– sunscreen
– wide brimmed hat
– sunglasses
– binoculars
– long sleeved shirt
– water (we provide 1 bottle)
– masks are optional yet encouraged
– mosquito repellent
– booties or hard rubber soled wading shoes
– snacks/sandwiches in a ziplock bag
The reservations are made on a first come, first served basis and we have room for up to 20 paddlers.
Sign up at the CBF website, www.christmasbayfoundation.org, with Eric Boatman who will assist you and give you the opportunity to join the CBF.
This trip will fill up quickly and we recommend that you sign up quickly.
MEETING PLACE – TIME 8:00 AM , ON 2/17/2024 AT SAN LUIS PASS COUNTY PARK
FOR MORE INFO CLICK HERE https://www.brazoriacountytx.gov/departments/parks-department/san-luis-pass
The Christmas Bay Foundation encourages responsible recreational use of Texas waters and coastal resources, including fishing, crabbing, and boating. Unfortunately, some users neglect to leave areas “as they found them,” not only with trash but with abandoned methods of long-term fishing, such as mesh crab traps and trotlines. These are hazards to marine life as well as recreational users of the bay and can remain for months or years – doing continued damage out of sight and out of mind. The unattended fishing by crab traps is often referred to as “ghost fishing.” Abandoned traps can also damage sensitive habitats, injuring wade fishers, and damaging boats, motors, and tackle.
The Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program (ACTRP) was created by Senate Bill 1410 during the 77th (2001) Legislative session. This bill granted the TPWD Commission authority to create a ten-day crab trap closure that begins the third Friday of each February. Crab traps left in the water during this time are considered litter and may be disposed of appropriately. Before this law, only law enforcement officials could legally remove abandoned crab traps from Texas’ marine waters. Since 2002, volunteers have removed over 40,000 abandoned traps from Texas waters. Click here to view a short YOUTUBE clip.
Laws allow you to remove crab traps for the ten-day period starting on the third Friday in February. The closure will be from February 16 2024 to February 25, 2024, with our volunteer event taking place on February 17, 2024.
The CBF organized the first mesh crab trap removal program in Christmas Bay in February 2002. Biologists estimated that over 11,000 organisms were saved just during the week of the cleanup in 2002. Twenty-one species of organisms, many commercially or recreationally important, were observed in these traps with blue crab and stone crab representing 76% of the organisms observed.
The CBF secured a dumpster from TP&WD, volunteers wading, kayaking & Jon boats were used to bring the traps back to the Brazoria County boat ramp at CB. The dumpster was nearly filled to capacity with the traps. Crab trap removal continued for the next six years. When you consider how the numbers of fish and crabs saved grow with each trap that is removed and is no longer a menace into the future, the importance of this work to the health of the ecosystem cannot be overstated.
In 2015, CBF relaunched the Abandoned Crab Trap Removal Program, in partnership with the TP&WD and increased the effectiveness of the project by securing the Brazoria County Search & Rescue team to provide airboats & pilots to take volunteers recruited by CBF on a search of Christmas Bay for the traps. The crab trap removal program was featured on the front page of the Galveston County Daily Newspaper.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION AT THE TEXAS PARKS & WILDLIFE