CURRENTS OCT NOV 2011 - CCA Texas

A champion of coastalenforcement passesWardenFrankDickersonBy Jack KingFrank Dickerson was successfuland happy as a TexasParks & Wildlife Regional Supervisorin the Texas Hill Country.But in 1975, enforcement problemson the Texas coast were escalating,and Law Enforcement DirectorHenry Burkett wanted a strongleader for newly created Region 10.Frank and wife Faye were reluctantto move, but he accepted the challenge,and was an enforcementleader on the coast until he retiredin 1993.Frank Dickerson’s tenure sawexceptional changes, especially in coastal conservation.The illegal harvest of trout and redfishhad become a serious issue. Frank was among theleaders who began a three-sided solution. Theyrecognized the problem, devised a plan to defeatthe problemand successfullyimplementedtheplan to removevirtually all illegalnettingfrom Texaswaters by1985.The three sides were private fishermen (afterGCCA was formed in 1977); TPWD biologists (developingmanagement plans to restore fish populationsand reduce overfishing); and law enforcement(catching violators and picking up miles ofillegal monofilament nets and trotlines.)The three sides worked together to writenew regulations and statutes, get them passed,and implemented stiffer penalties for illegal fishingand stricter bag limits. Illegal netting becamemostly a thing of the past by 1985.Austin CCA Laguna Madre Trip,hosted by Scott Sanderson:A speckled trout went for this weirdOrvis fly, cast by Sam Caldwell on aHexagraph fly rod, in The Hole, nearthe Land Cut. Great Photo ByStephen Boriskie.~2~Frank Dickerson leaves a legacy ofintegrity and service to the TexasOutdoors. He passed away September22, 2011. Painting by Sam Caldwell.and redfish illegally,and to prevent thepurchase and sale ofTexas-caught troutand redfish....such an exceptional 10-year period forconservation, where you see all parties allparties come together, work together,identify the problem, eliminate theproblem and see the resource recover.During his tenure,he wasrecognized andhonored by GCCAfor his leadership indealing with illegalnetting and harvestof redfish andspeckled trout onthe lower TexasCoast. Frank wasDuring Frank’s tenure, he designed, wrote andimplemented the Coast Watchers Programwhich provided training and information toGCCA members in chapters all along the Texascoast. The goal—be more effective in workingwith Texas Game Wardens on observing, recognizingand reporting illegal fishing activity. Thisprogram was so successful it was implemented inother Gulf states by GCCA. Frank also workedwith GCCA on innovative new enforcement techniques.His goalssound like a littanyof coastal needs andfinally, all were successful.Dickersen workedfor regulations andstatutes to ban netsfrom coastal waters,make monofilamentnets illegal, maketop-water trotlinesillegal, make artificialbait on trotlinesillegal, to establishcivil restitution andstatutes to allow forthe seizure offisherman’s boats,motors and vehicleswhen caught takingtroutIn the 1975-1985 period,GCCA, TPWD Law Enforcementand TPWD Biologistsworked togetherto solve illegal nettingproblems. A turning pointcame when “The Church”was burned, apparentlyby illegal netters. Paintingby Herb Booth.Later, a large collectionof confiscatedmonofilament nets wasburned. Warden Jack King,now retired, is on right. Photoby Larry Bozka.At Frank Dickerson’s retirement,Paul Wimberly presentedDickerson with a whitecommercial fisherman’s boot,named Game Warden of the Year, Game Wardenof the Decade and then after he had retired,Game Warden of the Century.Frank was also honored by Sportsmen Conservationistof Texas (SCOT) as Law EnforcementOfficer of the year for his leadership in the fightagainst illegal commercial fishing and illegal harvestof redfish and trout.There are anecdotes about that crucialstretch of Texas coastal history, and Franktook part in many of them. One day, severalwardens had confiscated a large series ofmono nets. We were removing a huge pile oftrout from the nets in our coastal building, priorto donating the fillets to charitable organizations.A car pulled up outside, with netters yelling obscenities.One of my favorite memories of serviceon the coast was watching as Frank Dickersonreached into the back window of that car andgrabbed a netter. It was probably good for bothFrank and the netter that the car pulled away,the netter still inside.On the cover of an early Tide magazine is aphoto by Larry Bozka of a huge pile of burningnets, Dickerson in the foreground. The photocaused problems, but Frank shrugged it off.Frank succeeded in bringing a lot of technicalmuscle to the program. Just a few notableitems: Two radar trucks in 1977 to observe illegalfisherman at night from the shores of the LagunaMadre. Use of Pumpkin Air helicopters topatrol the Texas lower coast. It was like pickingup Easter eggs when we saw bundles of netshidden in the water and on the King Ranchshoreline from the helicopter. Pumpkin Air helicopterswere painted bright orange and illegalfishermen started to call it the “Orange Crush.”We would leave an empty can of Orange Crushwhen we picked up stashed illegal net, so thenetters would know we had been there.Frank managed to bring 65' patrol boats tothe lower Texas coast so that,besides patrolling theGulf for illegalshrimping, they couldbe used as bases of operationin the bays toallow for long-term operations.For a time, PaulWimberly’s LagunaMadre cabin, “TheChurch” was usedas a base of operationsby wardens.The locale of thecabin was right inthe middle of illegalnetting operations.One night,the cabin wasmysteriouslyburned to the waterline.Wimberly said it was a turning point, theworst mistake the illegal netters could havemade. After that, Wimberly said, the glovescame off. Dickerson worked with the GCCA torebuild “The Church,” which continued to providean important base of operations for coastalwardens.It is the good fortune of coastal resources andTexas conservationists, as well as Texas GameWardens that Frank got the message from Mr.Burkett in 1975 and moved to Corpus Christi. Thiswas such an exceptional 10-year period for conservation,where we saw all the parties come together,work together, identify the problem, eliminate theproblem and then, see the resource recover. —JackM. King Director of Operations, The DiamondGroup