Activity Report for the Period
August 10 - September 13, 2001
Trip Summary
During this period, there were 2 dive monitoring trips made to FH-2 and FH-13 to evaluate the progress of the hypoxic conditions reported over the last 3 months. bble at the Horn Island Middle Ground Site FH-10 followed by a dive on the Bill Walker wreck in FH-2.
Dive and Video Surveys
On August 26 a Trip was made to 167F13/960830 Rubble located at 30°00.00'N/88°30.89'W and to 225F2/990728 located at 30°04.976'N/88°32.901'W. It was desired to assess the progress of the hypoxic conditions seen for the past several months. The Rubble in FH-13 was still pretty much void of life, but the Rubble in FH-2 was showing some significant fish, however, they seemed to prefer staying up in the middle water column. Visibility was poor at the bottom, but perhaps 30 feet or better in the mid-water. Fish observations at 225F2 included Spade Fish (100-150), Mangrove Snapper (30-40@2-5 lbs.), Red Snapper (60-70@1-3lbs., 15-20@6-15 lbs.), Grouper (8-10, 2-6lbs.), Sheepshead (4-6, 1-3 lbs.), and Blue Runner (100-150, 1-2 lbs.).
On September 3 a return trip was planned, but upon approaching Rubble 225F2, there was tremendous surface activity of hard tails noticed at the nearby Barge "E" OR-3808 located at 30°05.38'N/88°33.23'W so a dive was made to assess this structure and compare with the rubble. For a change, visibility was around 30 feet at the bottom. Fish observations included Spade Fish (100-150), Mangrove Snapper (25-35@4-9 lbs.), Red Snapper (20-30@1-3lbs.), Sheepshead (4-6, 1-3 lbs.), and Blue Runner (400-600, 1-2 lbs.), Grouper (3, 2-5 lbs.), and a Scamp (4 lbs.).
Following this dive a dive was made on Rubble 225F2/990728. Fish observations were similar, but noticeably more red snapper (80-100@1-3 lbs., 10-15@6-15lbs.) and grouper (20-25@2-9lbs.). Another interesting comparison was that the barge held some rather large mangrove snapper (4-9lbs.) that quickly retreated inside of the barge upon a diver's approach. Mangrove snapper on the rubble were significantly smaller and freely swam in the mid-water. Lack of snapper and grouper on the barge may be due to heavier fishing pressure. Many more sinkers, lines, and anchors were noticed entangled on this reef when compared to the rubble reef. Even though the fish populations seem to be returning after the hypoxic summer, small fish and animals like damsels, hitops, arrow crabs, urchins, sea cucumbers and the like are still void in the area. Future trips are planned to see if these other animals return to the reefs.
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Email Author: Mark@primofish.com