Assessing the resistance and resilience of recreationally important fish species to extreme events in coastal Texas

Objective Extreme events, such as hurricanes and winter storms, are known to disrupt coastal ecosystems in diverse ways, often requiring specific management and conservation actions to counter their negative effects. However, little is known about how the impacts of extreme events vary by species and over space. We used the vast Texas coastline as a case study, given the area’s importance for recreational fisheries and its vulnerability to several types of extreme events, to evaluate species responses across bays. Methods We used long-term fisheries-independent bag-seine data (2007–2016 and 2010–2019) to analyze changes in abundance after Hurricane Harvey and the 2021 Texas freeze brought on by Winter Storm Uri. We selected data for the top recreational saltwater fish species, including the juvenile Red Drum Sciaenops ocellatus, Spotted Seatrout Cynoscion nebulosus, Black Drum Pogonias cromis, and Southern Flounder Paralichthys lethostigma. We analyzed the percent change of catch per unit effort in each major bay from a 10-year baseline period preceding each event to the first year after the event (resistance) and the second year after the event (resilience) to ascertain a storm effect. Additionally, we ran a generalized linear mixed model with a negative binomial distribution to further understand how species’ counts compared in nonstorm, storm, and poststorm periods. Results Resistance and resilience to each event were variable among species and individual bay systems along the coast. Spotted Seatrout experienced the greatest declines in southern bays after the 2021 freeze but were resilient to both Hurricane Harvey and the freeze. Red Drum were resistant to the effects of both Hurricane Harvey and the 2021 freeze but lacked resilience following the freeze, particularly in the northern bays. In contrast, Black Drum were resistant and resilient after the 2021 freeze but lacked both resistance and resilience after Hurricane Harvey. Southern Flounder was resistant and resilient following both events. Conclusion Our results demonstrate the importance of evaluating storm responses spatially across major bays, as information can be used to create specific placed-based management plans. Our results provide additional evidence of freeze events negatively affecting some estuarine fish, especially those with limited movement behaviors like the Spotted Seatrout. Identifying species-specific responses to extreme events can support and inform fishery management strategies—such as place-based and temporal harvest restrictions—especially as global climate change threatens to increase the frequency and severity of extreme events.