Fish Trap Investigation

For a number of years a clamor has been raised along the Texas coast that the lack of natural passes from the Gulf of Mexico to the bay areas is the limiting factor of the population of these bays. It has been believed by many that more passes should be cut through Mustang Island, Padre Island, St. Joseph's Island and Matagorda Island. Little heed has been given the fact that all attempts to dredge such channels have been dismal failures unless expensive jettying has accompanied the dredging operation. Silting and hurricane action inevitably nullify the effort. Nevertheless the theory still holds that the various species of marine life utilize the existing passes to repopulate the bays. It was primarily to test this theory that a fish trap was installed in Cedar Bayou. There were several other reasons for the installing of this trap, reason which may be summarized briefly.