Oceanographer Tony Amos began walking a seven-mile stretch of Mustang Island beach in Texas every other day in 1978. He recorded birds, sea turtles, weather, water conditions and trash, building a long-running record of how the coast changed. The routine continued for nearly four decades, through increasing development and thousands of encounters with stranded wildlife. Amos died in 2017 at age 80, but the rehabilitation center he helped establish continues to rescue and release injured turtles and birds along the Texas coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's oral history of Amos confirms that the Mustang Island survey began in 1978. The project became known as “Beachops” and covered a seven-mile section of Gulf beach near Port Aransas.
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