Popular Rollover Pass passing quickly into history

GILCHRIST, Texas — The last fish are leaving Rollover Pass.

Four months after the Texas General Land Office began filling in the popular fishing site with sand and dirt, the pass’ last residents are being targeted for removal.

Crews from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department used nets to gather fish, crabs and other marine life from shallow pools of muddy water in the newly filled north side of the pass.

The removal work is among the more unusual aspects of the sometimes controversial project, which has been the target of lawsuits and protesters who argue the popular fishing spot should have been left open. Despite those objections, work has continued steadily and without any major interruptions for nearly four months.

One of the things that could slow the work is the presence of animals in the construction site. The land office is required to safely remove marine life found in the construction site and place them in a safe location, officials said.

The fish and crabs were left there after construction crews closed off the end of the pass opening up to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and pumped out what water had remained in the area, according to the land office.

Since construction began, crews have removed 927 animals from the site and to them other waters, Karina Erickson, a spokeswoman for the land office. The department has documented 28 different species during its removal efforts, Erickson told The Galveston County Daily News.

The variety of animals found at the site is no surprise. In a plan assessing the environmental effects of closing the pass, the land office listed some of the animals it expected to encounter in the construction, including mullets and black drums, Atlantic croakers and blue crabs, oysters and sheepshead shrimp.

Construction of a park at Rollover Pass began in October. The $7.4 million project has, so far, gone according to plan, said David Green, deputy director of coastal resources for the Texas General Land Office.

“Everything is on schedule,” Green said.

Both sides of the pass have now been closed, and construction crews will begin using sand to fill in the middle portions. The filling part of the project is expected to be completed by May 1, after which the land office will begin construction of amenities and a fishing pier at the pass.

“The park construction will begin over the summer and that will take six to eight months to complete that,” Green said.

After the first day of construction was interrupted by a protester refusing to leave the closed-off area of the pass, there have been no other incidents of people trying to interrupt or protest the construction work, Green said.

“It’s been a relatively smooth process throughout the entire closure of the pass, which is something that we’re really excited about,” Erickson said.

The man-made channel between the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Water Way was dredged in 1954. The pass was a popular fishing destination for many people in the Galveston and Houston areas because of its accessibility and its reliability as a fishing hole.

In 2009, the Texas General Land Office proposed closing the pass and argued that it contributed to erosion on Bolivar Peninsula beaches and to silting in the shipping channel.

Progress on closing the pass was tied up in courts for years, but finally began moving forward last year. The new park and fishing pier on top of the filled-in pass will be a public park managed by Galveston County.