Coahoma native Larry McKinney, director of coastal fisheries and senior director of aquatic resources for the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, enjoys fishing in Aransas Pass. McKinney recently announced he would be leaving TP&W after nearly 25 years to take over as director of the Harte Research Institute at Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. (Courtesy photo)
 

Having earned the nickname thanks to his candid, outspoken nature as TP&W director of coastal fisheries and senior director of aquatic resources, where he championed endangered and threatened species and served as a proponent for water resource conservation, McKinney will be taking over the studies of the Gulf of Mexico for the Harte Research Institute.

“When we started in 1985, environmental review of water permits and consideration for fish and wildlife did not exist,” said McKinney. “Today every water permit includes such consideration and the passage of SB-1, SB-2 — and especially SB-3 — will put into place the policy framework that if adopted by the legislature will assure water for fish and wildlife on a statewide basis.”

As director of TP&W's coastal fishery division, McKinney — the son of Howard County's own Don McKinney — led the development of programs to address aquatic vegetation management, invasive species, shrimp aquaculture and disease management, vehicle traffic in river beds, paddling trails and offshore aquaculture.

According to officials with TP&W, McKinney also oversaw the development of the State Wetlands Plan and the Seagrass Conservation Plan and was able to accelerate and will soon bring a conclusion to the shrimp license buyback program, which has been hailed as the fundamental conservation tool in maintaining the health and productivity of the state's recreational fisheries.

“Texas is the only state with a significant salt water angler population that has seen positive increases in numbers during the last five years, showing a 25 percent gain,” said McKinney. “Florida and California saw an 18 percent drop over that time and all other Gulf states declined sharply.

“Not only that, our anglers are fishing twice as much and the economic benefits to Texas include the creation of more than 5,000 jobs during that time. The action we have taken — including regional regulations and the continued emphasis on ecosystem management — has put our fisheries in their best conditionin the last 30 years.”

Carter Smith, TP&W executive director, said McKinney will be greatly missed by the state agency.

“All of us at Texas Parks and Wildlife will miss Dr. McKinney's extraordinary leadership, scientific acumen, vision and conservation ethic while serving as director of coastal fisheries,” said Smith. “During his nearly 25-year tenure with the agency, he has been at the forefront of innovative conservation efforts to protect our seagrass meadows, to insure adequate freshwater inflows into our bays and estuaries, to enhance our sport fisheries and to conserve our unique fish and wildlife resources along the Texas coast.

“Larry has been a friend, a mentor and a trusted advisor to many of us in the conservation field, and we wish him all the best as he assumes this critically important leadership role at the Harte Institute.”

McKinney earned his doctorate from Texas A&M University in 1976 and is a recognized authority on the habitats of amphipod crustaceans in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. In 1976, McKinney was a Smithsonian Fellow and from 1977 until 1980 he was a research associate and instructor at Texas A&M University in Galveston.

Created in 2000, the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies is an endowed and developing research institute that supports and advances the long-term sustainable use and conservation of the Gulf through support from the United States, Mexico and Cuba. The institute was endowed by Edward H. Harte, philanthropist and former publisher of the Corpus Christi Caller-Times.

“One of the big issues we're going to have to deal with in the Gulf is climate change,” said McKinney on taking the new position. “It has social impact, as well as economic impact. That's one area I'm certain we'll be looking at.”

Contact Staff Writer Thomas Jenkins at 263-7331 ext. 232 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it