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Volunteers Pick Up Trash Around Popular Fishing Spot
- Updated: April 19, 2019
Volunteers picking up trash and cutting weeds on northside of the bridge. Photos: Tony Vindell/LFN
by Tony Vindell/LFN
The area around the Joe Gayman Bridge on Texas Highway 48 between Brownsville and Port Isabel is one of the best spots for fishing.
Species such as speckled trout, red fish, snook and flounder are usually caught by fishing enthusiasts on any given day.
That’s because a canal under the bridge that links the Brownsville Ship Channel with the Bahia Grande is a major route for fish going between the two bodies of water.
Dozens of people fish either under or off the side of the bridge.
Unfortunately, some of the same people leave the area all trashed up day in and day out.
But there others who care about the environment.
Carlos Salinas, owner of Brownsville Bait & Tackle, has been organizing a bridge clean-up effort in an attempt to make the place better for everybody.
“I am proud for the community coming together,” he said. “We are doing this for people to enjoy, for families who like to come here and for fishing men and women.”
The clean-up took place Saturday, April 6 and dozens of people showed to pick up litter of all kinds.
Among them were Evelyn Alpert of South Padre Island and Javier Hernandez of Brownsville.
“I probably picked a million flip-flops,” joked the sixty-four-year-old Alpert. “I don’t understand why people lose so many.”
Hernandez, who at eight years of age was probably the youngest of all the volunteers, said he was glad to participate in the clean-up.
The Joe Gayman Bridge area along Texas Highway 48 at sunrise.
The campaign received the support from the Port of Brownsville, from Joe Gayman, who owns Old
Patch catch, and from dozens of others that donated many items for a raffle held at the end of the event.
Ed Campirano, the port director and CEO, said this is the second time they helped in the annual campaign that started in 2017.
“We are here lending support,” he said. “We are providing manpower and will haul away the trash.”
A group of volunteers from an educational center called Brownsville School for Innovation were among a couple of organizations that helped out on that Saturday.