Summary of Trips
Two trips were made during the fiscal month of August. A trip was made to sink two hopper barges (OR 3208 & 3808) at FH-2 off of Horn Island on August 31. Another trip was on September 5 to visit the new Rubble #6 site.
During the past month, 86 new fish were reported tagged and released by Mark Miller. Seven new recaptures were reported.
FH-2 Vessels "D" & "E" -- Ohio River Barges 3208 & 3808
These two 190' X 35' X 12' hopper barges were donated by the Ohio River Company to the organization for use as fishing reefs. Their designations were OR 3208 & OR 3808. They are the fourth and fifth vessels sunk in the FH-2 site (Bill Walker Site) and are designated as Vessels "D" (3208) and "E" (3808). They are target ID numbers 62 & 63 for the FH-2 site. Concrete rubble accounts for most of the target ID numbers in the site.
On Wednesday, September 2, 1992 the project was carried out very smoothly, placing Barge OR-3208 on the Northeast end of FH-2 and Barge OR-3808 on the Northwest end.
FH-2 Barge "D" (OR 3208) was sunk at 12440.5-.6, 47044.7, and 29616.6. The water depth was 54 feet with a least depth over this barge of 40 feet. The Bow of the barge was facing generally south-southeast.
FH-2 Barge "E" (OR 3808) was sunk at 12425.5-.6, 47044.2-.3, 29601.4-.5. The water depth was 54 feet with a least depth reading of 40 feet. The Bow of the barge was facing generally south-southeast.
Rubble #6 -- FH-2
This site was recently constructed on June 24, 1992 while this visit occurred on September 5, 1992. The material consists of rubble from the King Williams Hotel and the old Pascagoula Coast Guard Station. It was deposited over a drift area bordered by LORAN LOP's 12426.0-.9, 47044.4-.8, and 29602.0-3.1. The purpose of this early visit was to inspect the productive maturity of the reef.
Surprisingly the visit showed the reef to be already holding an abundance of red snapper, mostly in the 10-15 inch size class (150-200 Count), but also present were a number of larger 18-25 inch fish (30-40 Count). In addition there were a number of trigger fish present (25-30 Count). There was little evidence of fouling growth on the concrete yet as one would expect. Of interest was the recapture of a tagged red snapper that showed he moved in from a nearby concrete module. This is the first verified account of a red snapper moving to another reef target even though the distance is relatively short (1,000 feet). Other fishing reports have indicated fish showing up on Rubble #7 as well. A trip is planned next month to examine that site as well as the new barges. The new reef material may be providing needed havens for some of the over-populated reefs. There were no other sightings of fish other than red snapper and trigger fish.
Fish Tagging Update
During the past month, 86 new fish were reported tagged and released by Mark Miller. Seven new recaptures were reported. Three of these were actually made last month but were inadvertently left off that report. Also, information on the tagged Amberjack mentioned last month has been received.
The Amberjack had a mostly unreadable tag which was tracked back to NMFS with the help of Jim Franks at the GCRL. Mark Miller of Gautier speared the fish while diving on a rig near the salt dome area. It reportedly was originally tagged by Ben Fairey of Orange Beach who described the location as 65 miles south-southwest of Orange Beach which could very well be the same area. He reported a 23 inch total length on May 6, 1991. Mark reports a 40" fork length, 38.5 lbs, on July 17, 1992. Assuming the 23 inches was actually a fork length, the fish showed a remarkable growth rate of 1.16 inches per month during its 438 days at liberty.
Ken Dropco of Ocean Springs reported capturing tag number 1937 which he originally released last December and then recaptured and re-released in mid-January showing no growth during that three week period. It now showed a 3 inch growth. Randy Wells of Biloxi reported the capture of tag number 3210 originally tagged by Mark Miller. Bill Epperson of Ocean Springs reported capturing tag number 1958 which Ken Dropco originally tagged at the same location last December. Mark Miller of Gautier reported recapturing four fish he previously tagged himself, namely tags 3335, 3266, 2697, and 3435. The growth and growth rates are summarized below in Table One.
Tagged Fish Recaptures
(for past month of August, 1992)
Tag Num Date-1 Date-2 Size-1 Size-2 Growth Rate/Mo.
1937 12/26/91 7/25/92 11.4" 14.4" 3.0" 0.42"
3210 5/22/92 7/11/92 13.3" 14.0" 0.7" 0.42"
R218565 5/06/91 7/17/92 23.0" 40.0" 17.0" 1.16"
1958 12/07/91 7/18/92 11.5" 14.0" 2.5" 0.33"
3335 7/25/92 8/23/92 13.7" 14.1" 0.4" 0.41"
3266 8/09/92 9/05/92 14.7" 15.4" 0.7" 0.78"
2697 1/25/92 9/05/92 10.3" 14.3" 4.0" 0.54"
3435 7/10/92 9/02/92 12.2" 13.4" 1.2" 0.67"
TABLE ONE