Coast Guard Station South Padre Island, Texas, is one of the largest smallboat stations in the Coast Guard with 58 active duty and 13 reserve personnel assigned. It is strategically placed approximately six miles north of the U.S./Mexico border.

The unit's primary missions are search and rescue and maritime law enforcement. The crewmembers accomplish these missions through the use of a 47-foot motor life boat, three 27-foot special law enforcement boats and a shallow-water skiff. These tools are used to pursue boatcrews that conduct illegal fishing or the smuggling of migrants or contraband. The area of responsibility runs approximately 30 miles north along the Texas coast and includes parts of the Gulf of Mexico, the Intracoastal Waterway and the Arroyo Colorado River.

Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team South Padre Island, Texas, is responsible for maintaining more than 400 maritime aids to navigation along the South Texas coast. These aids can be found within the Intracoastal Waterway, the Arroyo Colorado River and the Brownsville, Texas, Ship Channel. The crew of ANT South Padre Island are responsible for maintaining and servicing the aids, ensuring the safe navigation of maritime traffic. The nine crewmembers accomplish this mission with the use of a 21-foot aids to navigation boat, a 55-foot aids to navigation boat and a 20-foot utility boat.

All photos are credited: U.S. Coast Guard photographs by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kyle Niemi.

A Station South Padre Island boatcrew departs aboard a 27-foot Guardian smallboat to check off-shore sea conditions. The unit's primary missions are search and rescue and law enforcement.

Fireman John Galviz, 26, of Big Spring, Texas, washes one of the smallboats used by the crew of Aids to Navigation Team South Padre Island.

A boatcrew from Station South Padre Island conducts law enforcement training in Laguna Madre, off the Texas coast.

A Station South Padre Island boarding team boards the fishing vessel Susan Nell.

A Station South Padre Island 47-foot motor life boat patrols the Gulf of Mexico.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan McMurry, 25, of Carthage, Miss., speaks with a Station South Padre Island boatcrew. McMurry, a boatswain's mate at the station, served as crewmember on one of three boats involved in training in Laguna Madre, off the Texas coast.

Personnel from Coast Guard Aids to Navigation Team South Padre Island service a dayboard off the Texas coast.

Petty Officers 3rd Class Jack Dill and Jody Cox practice towing aboard a Station South Padre Island 47-foot motor life boat off the Texas coast.