The restored Redfish Island
serves as a bird habitat
and
provides
safe boater anchorage
The Redfish Island Raft-Up
[2005]
Overview
Once a popular boater anchorage, Galveston Bay's Redfish Island has been submerged in recent years due to erosion and subsidence.
The Port of Houston Authority and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers have been able to restore part of the island with help of suggestions from the BUG. After consultation with boating groups, oystermen and the Texas Department of Health, the restoration employed limestone to form a rock and breakwater in the shape of a hook to shelter boats. The island, featuring an oyster reef, functions as a bird and oyster habitat while also maintaining calm water for a safe boater anchorage. The new protected rock shorelines adjacent to deeper bay waters are favorite recreational fishing spots.
2002-2004
Construction of Redfish Island began in June of 2002 and was completed in October 2002 and, once again, it provides boaters an anchorage safe from ship wakes, prevailing winds and from much of the commercial boat activity in the bay. Recreational boaters on the east side of the channel, who would be unsafe converging into commercial traffic in Galveston Bay, are able to anchor at Redfish Island. They are able to avoid crossing the shipping lanes and enjoy the bay more than they could before it was reconstructed.
In addition, Redfish Island is occasionally used by nesting black skimmers and terns, though its low elevation (3.5 MLT) and close proximity to occasional ship-channel waves discourage large populations of nesters. In 2004, 200 pairs of black skimmers, 180 pairs of least terns, and 5 pairs of gull-billed terns nested on the island, which is by far its largest count to date.
2005-present
In September 2005, Hurricane Rita damaged the northern shore of Redfish Island but thanks to the Port of Houston and a hurricane supplemental funding grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the island was repaired. When, in 2008 the island again received minor damage – this time from Hurricane Ike – repairs were funded by the Hurricane Ike Supplemental and ARRA (American Recovery Reinvestment Act). Hurricane repairs were completed in March 2010.
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Overview
