A dominant feature of the Texas bay system is the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW), a 3000-mile-long passage for commercial barge traffic than runs from Boston, Massachusetts to Brownsville, Texas.  Construction of the ICW commenced in the 1920s, but the last section  -- connecting Corpus Christi to Brownsville through the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre --  was only completed in the late 1940s. Today, the ICW effectively links otherwise isolated ports on the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines,  creating a seamless exchange between supply and demand. 

The sound of laughing gulls roused me from a fitful sleep aboard the unforgiving deck of the Curlew. The blinding brightness of the April full moon had given way to a fog that enveloped the boat. I reached for the thermos, and sat up in my sleeping bag to sip my lukewarm coffee.
    “They’re here,” I thought, as I listened to the sound of the gulls through the gray mist. The erratic, competitive cries told me that the birds were feeding over redfish that were gathering somewhere between the Curlew and the mangrove-covered shoreline.