Summary of Trips

There were two reef construction trips made during the fiscal month of March. Concrete Rubble was placed at the new Chandeleur Site FH-12.

Construction Efforts

This was continuing work by Dyess Construction who was contracted by Mississippi Power Company to remove rubble from their old cooling tower and deposit it at MGFB's Chandeleur Site FH-12. These constitute the third and fourth successful barge loads of concrete rubble deposited at the FH-12 site. On March 24, 1994, a load was deposited at LORAN Coordinates 12316.3 (.1-.5), 47033.1, and 29481.2 (.1-.5). On April 2, another load was placed at roughly the same location. The LORAN Coordinates were recorded as 12316.0-.2, 47033.2-.1, 29480.7-.9.

While waiting for the first load to arrive (March 24), a dive was made on a piece of the previous loads. It was desired to check the bottom consistency and how well it was supporting the concrete. The bottom appears to be a mixture of sand and mud that is certainly not as hard as the FH-1, FH-2, and FH-3 sites, but somewhat more firm than the FH-4, FH-5, and FH-6 sites where material support has been a problem. Support of the material appears to be satisfactory at this time. The material is showing some small amounts of scouring into the bottom, but future observations will be necessary to determine if this will continue. The divers hand could be pushed down with fingers extended to almost wrist depth, but it is believed that a harder base exists below this level.

Fish observations revealed approximately 75-100 large sheepshead (6-12 pound class) hovering over the structure. This is consistant with past Spring observations made on the other offshore sites. Small barnacles are forming on the concrete but no other marine life was noted. A return trip should be made to this site in about 4-6 months to see if development follows the same course as that recorded this past year on Rubble 8 in FH-2.