ROLLOVER PASS. Rollover Pass, also known as Rollover Fish Pass, is a strait 200 feet wide, five feet deep, and more than 1,600 feet long across Bolivar Peninsula; it links Rollover Bay and East Bay with the Gulf of Mexico in extreme southeastern Galveston County (at 29°00' N, 94°30' W). The pass was opened in 1955 by the Texas Game and Fish Commission to perpetuate state fish and wildlife resources and improve local fishing conditions; it introduces sufficient quantities of seawater into East Bay to increase bay water salinity, promote growth of submerged vegetation, and help marine fish to and from spawning and feeding areas in the bay. The pass is named for the practice of ship captains from the days of Spanish rule through prohibition, who, to avoid the Galveston customs station, rolled barrels of import or export merchandise over that part of the peninsula.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.