Texas public artificial reefs — TPWD Gulf program
Texas Parks and Wildlife runs a public Gulf artificial reef program: 3,440 acres, 140+ former petroleum platforms, 13 ships including the 473-foot Texas Clipper off South Padre, and nine sites within nine nautical miles of shore. Coordinates live on TPWD’s interactive map — we are not inventing GPS.
By Sebastian · Published September 14, 2026
Public-source briefing only. We have not surveyed this water. Official source maps are not a substitute for a navigation chart. Confirm coordinates on the cited agency files and a live NOAA chart before you leave the dock.
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What the state published
- Program
- Texas Parks and Wildlife Artificial Reef Program, created 1990 inside Coastal Fisheries
- Acreage
- 3,440 acres of artificial reef sites in state and federal Gulf waters (TPWD program page)
- Nearshore
- Nine reef sites within nine nautical miles of shore
- Rigs-to-Reefs
- More than 140 petroleum platforms, with more planned
- Ships-to-Reefs
- Thirteen ships intentionally sunk; twelve Liberty ships plus other vessels; Texas Clipper 473 ft off South Padre
- Map
- TPWD interactive reef map — source of public coordinates. This page does not invent a Clipper GPS.
Texas is a Gulf electronics market: long runs, snapper/grouper, plotters that actually hold a waypoint. TPWD already published the public reef program. We are not scraping forums for “hot numbers.”
What the state published
From the TPWD Artificial Reef Program home and Ships-to-Reefs pages:
- Program created 1990
- 3,440 acres of sites in state and federal waters
- Nine sites within nine nautical miles of shore
- More than 140 petroleum platforms in Rigs-to-Reefs
- Thirteen ships sunk; largest USTS Texas Clipper, 473 feet, off South Padre Island
- TPWD economic copy: Clipper trips generate more than $1 million from anglers and $1.4–$2 million from divers locally; anglers spend on average $460 per fishing trip, divers upwards of $2,000 per dive
Twelve Liberty ships were mostly sunk 1975–76 by the Texas Coastal and Marine Council, later transferred to TPWD.
GPS
Use the TPWD interactive reef map. This page does not invent a Clipper or Liberty-ship coordinate. If a blog gives you one, check the map.
Fish and rules
TPWD: nearly 200 marine fish species seen on these habitats; red snapper is the headline game fish. Keep seasons are not frozen here — Gulf red snapper rules move. Check current TPWD and NOAA Fisheries before you keep a fish.
License: Texas is not New Jersey. Buy the current TPWD fishing license for the water you are on; do not assume a free registry.
Gear: 9-inch plotter, fixed VHF with DSC, inReach on anything past the nine-mile nearshore set. See Florida Oriskany for how we treat a named public ship reef when the agency prints GPS — we will add Clipper coordinates when TPWD prints them on a page we can cite, not before.
Sources checked
Electronics and comms, not $10 staples
Gulf charts for public TPWD boxes
Garmin ECHOMAP UHD2 73sv
$999.99 when checked on Amazon for the GT54 transducer bundle
Fixed-mount DSC VHF
Icom IC-M330G
$228.12 when checked on Amazon for the black GPS model
Backup on a Gulf run
Garmin inReach Mini 2
$349.99 on Garmin when checked; Amazon listing for the Mini 2 also live