Protected species: Texas seeks protection for world-famous trophy alligator gar

McALLEN — A South Texas snack has become a protected species.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has drafted a new regulation to protect the alligator gar while researchers determine if the fish’s population has declined from over-fishing and diminished habitat.

The new rule will limit fishermen to a single alligator gar per day. No limit existed before the new regulation, which will go into effect Sept. 1.

Many fishermen write off the alligator gar as a trash fish because it lives in brackish water, but South Texans have fried and eaten this fearsome-looking predator, called "catan," for generations.

Most people don’t like to eat alligator gar because the fish are bottom-feeding scavengers like sharks, said Fred Longoria, an angler from Raymondville who regularly eats catan.

Catan tastes a little like chicken and comes from alligator gar 3 to 5 feet long, Longoria said.

That pales in comparison to the trophy-size gar, which can grow upward of 7 feet, weigh more than 250 pounds and live up to 50 years.

They lurk in the Arroyo-Colorado, Delta Lake Park near Monte Alto, Falcon Reservoir near Rio Grande City and Choke Canyon Reservoir outside of Corpus Christi.

"They’re real hard to hook because they have real bony mouths," said Charles Buchen, a fishing guide from Port Mansfield who has caught alligator gar for 25 years.

But alligator gar aren’t biting like they did when Buchen first started fishing.

"There are less of them," Buchen said. "Especially the big ones."

Alligator gar may be dwindling as sport fisherman prowl the state’s rivers and catch multiple trophy-size fish, said Dave Buckmeier, a fisheries research biologist who studies the alligator gar for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Although smaller alligator gar still lurk in the rivers of the Deep South and Midwest, 7-foot behemoths are now found only in Texas, Buckmeier added.

Mark Malfa specializes in behemoths. He has led sport fishermen on the hunt for trophy alligator gar from his base in Houston for seven years. His clients have come from Dubai, Africa, Japan, Russia, England and Ireland.

Malfa attributes the fish’s world renown to its monstrous features.

"They’re so unusual," he said. "They’re enormous, toothy and prehistoric looking."

Malfa believes the new regulation will have one of two consequences, both of which will be good for business.

"I’m not upset with the new regulation," Malfa said. "It’s either going to protect the gar forever or we will see an explosion in gar in 10 years."

Kirk Kirkland, a veteran rod-and-reel angler, tags alligator gar along the Trinity River in Eastern Texas to help Parks and Wildlife with its research.

He hopes the new regulation will prevent sport fishermen from catching and killing multiple alligator gar per day.

"We don’t want to harvest the fish to elimination," Kirkland said. "We want to temper the harvest so everyone can enjoy the fish."

Parks and Wildlife does not want to chase away Malfa’s clients, but instead hopes to preserve them as a source of tourism by protecting the alligator gar, Kirkland said.

And sport fishing is not the only source of danger. Diminished habitat also jeopardizes the alligator gar.

They lay their eggs on plants submerged during floods. Flooding has become less common as rivers are dammed throughout Texas, which has made it harder for the alligator gar to breed, Buckmeier said.

If the alligator gar population declines too much, it could take 50 years for them to recover, Buckmeier added.