In just about a year, both the CCA and Goode Company are going to celebrate our 50th anniversary, and that couldn’t be more fitting. My dad, Jim Goode, was as passionate as they come about the Gulf Coast, and was closely involved with CCA (then known as the Gulf Coast Conservation Association) and their efforts. I’ve always loved that two entities in two very different industries can have so much in common, and we still work with CCA to this day.

But enough reminiscing. It’s only 2026 and we both have plenty of work to do. Recently I caught up with Pat to talk through CCA, Gulf Coast conservation, and everything in between. As always, I learned all sorts of things, including the fact that oysters are more than just damn fine eating. Here’s my good friend, Pat Murray.

Levi Goode: What’s up, Pat! We have a pretty big milestone coming up, huh?

Pat Murray: We’re both rapidly approaching our 50th anniversary, which I’m going to guess lines up with a great party…

LG: That’s a pretty safe bet [laughs]. To set up this conversation, do you want to give our readers a quick rundown on the CCA?

PM: We were founded in 1977, just like Goode Company. It’s kind of a fabled story: a group of 14 anglers got together because of rampant overfishing of redfish and speckled trout in Texas and decided to make a difference. By 1981, they had a ban on single-strand, monofilament gill nets and went on to help with many, many more things.

They grew and helped fund the creation of two of the world’s largest red drum hatcheries and achieved many of the things on the science side and the conservation side and the advocacy side to make a difference in the future of our resources. That model was founded here in Houston, and we now have offices in 12 states and do business throughout the coastal US on all three coasts. It’s really been a great story of what can happen when we get like-minded people together all pulling in the same direction.

LG: How did you get wrangled into this organization?

PM: I was a full-time fishing guide, primarily in Galveston Bay and the surrounding waters, fishing 200 to 250 days a year targeting trout and redfish. And I was attracted to what was called the Gulf Coast Conservation Association at the time because I believed that the proper conservation of resources is critical, not just for my business as a guide, but as an angler and someone who has loved the ocean since my earliest memories.

When I got the opportunity to go to work for CCA, it was really a dream come true. I’ve been in seven different roles here and currently serve as our National President and CEO of the Coastal Conservation Association as well as our national habitat program, the Building Conservation Trust. I’ve worked on state and federal advocacy, grassroots development, and so many parts of enterprise development that have been transformed because of the amazing people I get to work with.

LG: From a conservation mindset, how important has it been for you to come from a guiding background?

PM: That’s a great question. The thing it gave me was a passion for the resource. It gave me a connection to the resource in a way that I was able to see how incredibly delicate it is. You’d find that things would change rapidly because of either something we couldn’t change, or things we could change. On a day-to-day basis, it showed me how intertwined everything is, which has been critical in understanding the habitat and water quality and inflows, both freshwater and saltwater, and good healthy passes and all these things, along with proper management of fisheries.

Maybe this was most important… I also saw that you can make a difference. And that’s probably the thing that is most important now because it’s very easy for people to think they can’t. CCA literally started with 14 anglers getting together in a tackle shop and saying, “We’re going to make a difference.” It always starts with people who believe they can make things better.

LG: I know a big part of your job is working with legislators and different government agencies. Is it frustrating when our laws and regulations are set in place by folks who spend zero time in the waters they’re regulating?

PM: Yeah, for sure. You see it in hunting all the time, too. We see all types. Some who are downright anti-fishing. Some who think recreational fishing is sort of an out-of-control deal that’s overrunning the resources. In reality, we’re the ones who are advocating for the most conservative measures, historically. They completely missed the fact that the majority of conservation efforts have been driven by anglers—efforts to create game fish status, remove gill nets, build hatcheries that are putting millions of fish back in bays. Those are all recreational anglers. I’m no expert on hunting, but the same thing’s played out in hunting—the end to market hunting and the proper management of North American game species came from sportsmen and women.

If you’re doing it recreationally, you not only want the resource to be there tomorrow with your kids and grandkids… you want it to actually be better. That is the power of conservation because you’re saying, “We want to manage it, but what can we do to build a habitat to make this even better and more resilient under increasing human pressure and urbanization and industrialization.” All those things are coming.

LG: I’d love to get a quick “state of the union” on Texas’s coast. Over the past year or so, what have been some notable wins for CCA?

PM: There have been some things in recent years that are really exciting, particularly in Texas, and a lot of those center around oyster conservation. Oysters, to me, are the workhorses of marine habitats. They’re filtering water as well as providing coastal resiliency and marsh protection. They stimulate benthic growth. They serve as habitat for forage species and game species. They’re everything for the ecosystem… and you can eat them. I always say the cool kids are coral and sea grass, but they’re really not very good to eat. Oysters are an amazing part of our ecology, and an amazing part of our culture, too.

There have been some things that have emerged in recent years that give me great hope for the future, and one of those is prioritizing the conservation of oysters. And that’s not just CCA. We’re working with large numbers of groups. We’re putting millions and millions of dollars into oyster conservation. We pledged $5 million fairly recently for restoration. We work closely with Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi’s Harte Research Institute to make sure we’re leveraging the best possible science to try to get habitat not only back where it used to be, but also possibly pioneering new areas through some of the management measures put in place by Texas Parks and Wildlife. Our goal is to create even more conservation leases and things that will create better water conditions, create more habitat, and create more fishing opportunities.

I’m really excited about where we are in Texas with oysters. Another piece of that puzzle is mariculture, and how the role of farm-raised oysters is a key part of our future. Restaurateurs like yourself, among others, who are serving these mariculture-raised oysters do a great service to show people that that resource is super renewable, particularly when done in that way.

Also, programs like Sink Your Shucks and the Oyster Recycling Program that Goode Company works closely with are making huge impacts for oysters. Those oyster shells are getting appropriately cleaned and put back into the bays. That’s great for rebuilding reefs, but the intangible part of that is the amount of people who are educated when they walk into Goode Company Seafood and get some oysters on the half shell, only to realize that those shells are going to go back in the water. They might never have thought about where the oyster came from and why that shell matters. There’s a lot of excitement going on in terms of public awareness.

LG: Education’s great when beer and oysters are involved.

PM: [laughs] Exactly.

LG: What about CCA’s work with flounder?

PM: Our state’s hatchery production of southern flounder has a lot of upside to it. Flounder are an unusual species and have this cult-like following among anglers. Maybe it’s just the nature of the species itself and the physiology of it, but everyone has a certain adoration for flounder. I have very early memories of my dad fishing for flounder. He was one of those guys who would fish around a piling for half an hour trying to catch a flounder off of it. It’s a beloved species, and there are a lot of people who really like to eat it. They’ve faced some challenges due to that, and also due to environmental reasons.

They haven’t had great spawns naturally recently. This is where things like a hatchery come in. CCA helped fund the construction of the Southern Flounder Hatchery at Sea Center Texas in Lake Jackson. They’re raising juvenile flounder that can be put in our bays. They’re very difficult to hatch and raise, but they’re working on it and the technology is improving quickly. It holds great promise for southern flounder stocks, but it also begins to raise your eyebrows about what else could we affect? What other species could we help? I don't have a particular list in my head, but the fact that hatchery technology could come in and support a stock that is facing increasing fishing pressure—and also has some significant environmental challenges—is an amazing way for us to step in and help.

LG: On the other side of that coin, what are some challenges on the horizon that CCA is going to be facing?

PM: I’d have to say oyster conservation is our greatest win and our greatest challenge. It’s clearly going to be a challenge because the oyster is so sensitive to so many things. There was a great scientist, Dr. Sammy Ray, who said that the oyster’s biggest problem is they live so darn close to us. They’re subject to everything from pollution to siltation to consumption to anything else you can imagine. There are a lot of things that naturally affect them, as well as man-made aspects. We’re going to have to keep them really high on the priority lists, particularly in Texas. It’s a large challenge and it’s not one you can fix overnight. We’ve made some tremendous strides working with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, but there’s almost limitless work to do there.

Also, I think it would be naive to say the growing population of anglers isn’t a challenge. I’m always quick to take the other side when people say there are too many fishermen. I regularly heard that when I was a fishing guide 30 years ago, so evidently, there are always going to be too many fishermen in our collective opinion.

LG: Every fisherman thinks there’s too many fishermen, right?

PM: Yep, that’s just part of it. But I always go back to something that my mentor, the late Captain David Wright, told me when I was a young fishing guide in my twenties. All of my fishing spots were covered up that day, and I was complaining like a little school kid about all my stuff being covered up again. David shook his crusty old finger at me—trust me, it was crusty—and said, “You’d better hope these people are always out here because if they’re not, then we’re out of business.”

He wasn’t just talking about our business income. His broader point was the same as CCA’s founder, Walter Fondren, when he said, “The biggest threat to our resources is anglers not being there to protect them.” They’re both spot-on. When you go back to unregulated market fishing, it’s game over. Just like anybody else, I know we’ve got a lot of anglers, but I’m also very sensitive to the fact that more anglers mean more potential conservationists.

LG: Beyond market fishing, as soon as people stop using a place, every industry in the world is going to come in and develop it.

PM: Exactly. When the stewards of the resource aren’t there, that’s when the mischief happens. It’s either going to get industrialized or over-harvested or whatever it may be. If there aren’t people who believe that the resource is more valuable when it’s intact and growing, then someone’s going to harvest the last of it.

LG: Speaking of regulations, do you think anglers can rely on our regulations to know they’re doing the right thing? We’re not biologists or conservationists, so at some point we need to rely on someone else for direction.

PM: I think that’s a great question, and I don’t have a definitive answer. But I can use Texas as an example. As an Texas angler, you can know Texas Parks and Wildlife is using their best possible science to drive their management decisions. I know that for a fact. Remember that science changes sometimes. We as humans are wrong sometimes. I remind people all the time that the weatherman doesn’t want to be wrong. Sometimes it just happens. Sometimes the science that we’re managing off of isn’t right, so it’s vital that they’re always attentive to it and correcting and improving management. TPWD is a great example of that model of always striving for proper management.

Now, I will say this—what we see on the federal side is far more challenging. Definitely. If you think about some of the best success stories—redfish, speckled trout, flounder, and snook—all of them are state-managed. Usually, that’s where you find the best management. There are plenty of exceptions in any kind of management, but I would say in general, in those well-managed states like Texas, the science and management are as good as there is.

LG: Believe it or not, that helps me sleep a little bit better at night.

PM: Particularly in the state of Texas, I know those folks. I know how hard they work. I know how much they care. Many of them are anglers, too. They care about the resource, and they care about the health and future of it, and they do their best to manage it.

LG: What are some day-to-day things that anglers can do to help support the Texas Gulf Coast? Obviously, we can follow the regulations, but what else is there?

PM: You can do a lot. One thing is to figure out a path, be it through social media, online resources, or whatever, to stay attuned to what’s going on. Then find a place where you can make a difference, where you can make your voice heard, and make sure you’re following what Texas Parks and Wildlife is doing regarding hearings. When they have a hearing or a public comment, you’re going to have to do your part to make sure you are a part of it. That’s one answer.

The other answer is to go fishing.

LG: Sir yes sir.

PM: It’s really easy to prioritize things other than fishing, because fishing takes a little bit of work. Unless you happen to live right on the coast with a boat dock and a lift, it takes some effort. But when you’re regularly fishing, you’re keeping that passion lit. And when that passion stays lit, you’re going to stay attentive to what the resources need. It’s maybe the most important thing any of us can do as conservationists and anglers: Just go fish.