Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks, Inc.
Activity Report for the period
November 13 - December 10, 1998
Trip Summary
During this period, one trip was made on November 29, 1998 to FH-12 off the chandeleur islands to evaluate whether or not reef material was moved off location by hurricane Georges. The findings were that the material has not moved, but the barge and shrimp boat have suffered severe damage. A visit was also made to the recently placed Callon Petroleum Skimmer Barge in FH-1, which was determined to have moved about 200 feet.
940324 Cat island barge (ID=145F12)
LAT: 30°02.100' N LONG: 88°45.550' W LORAN:12316.1-0 47030.8-7 29478.6-5
940221 FH-12 Rubble #2 (ID=136F12)
LAT: 30°02.707' N LONG: 88°46.070' W LORAN:12310.6-7 47033.2-3 29475.9
950325 FH-12 shrimp boat (ID=146F12)
LAT: 30°01.950' N LONG: 88°45.498' W LORAN: 12316.6 47030.2-3 29478.4
Some reports had been received that material at FH-12 could not be located. It was therefore desired to determine if the material had indeed been moved by hurricane Georges. Since DGPS coordinates had been recorded pre-hurricane Georges for the Cat Island Barge, the Shrimp Boat, and Rubble #2, it was planned to revisit the material for verification of its position. The material proved to still be at the same coordinates. Because there had been no pre-storm survey visits to these sites, it would be difficult to quantify visual damage to the material or quantify height measurements. Even though pre-storm measurements were not documented, it was apparent from the depth soundings that both the shrimp boat and barge had lost considerable height and possibly some material. There was less than 2 feet of height above the surrounding bottom on both vessels. The shrimp boat was remembered to have a height of around 6-9 feet and the barge was in the 4-6 foot range. The barge soundings indicated it had experienced similar "rocking and wallowing" into the bottom as was seen last month on the Ladnier Barge. The rubble, however, appeared to not have changed as drastically. It was interesting to also note that game fish were quite abundant on the rubble, but not so much on the vessels. It is not known if this is due to fishing pressure being higher on the vessels or due to the storm damage.
980813 Callon Skimmer Barge (ID=212F1)
LAT: 30°03.756' N LONG: 88°36.799' W LORAN: 12404.3 47037.7-8 This target was placed offshore just 6 weeks prior to the arrival of hurricane Georges. Upon arrival, the barge was not found. After searching it was found at the above coordinates. The original coordinates were LAT: 30°03.765' N LONG:88°36.757' W LORAN: 12404.7 47037.9 29574.2. Mathematically, this computes the new position to be 199 feet at 255° from the old position. This material is unique in that it is a concrete barge measuring 50 X 50 feet square and 12 feet tall. The concrete gives it much less density than a traditional steel barge and therefore it has more buoyancy. This combined with more surface area when compared to a traditional steel barge makes it more movable. These same attributes also seem to help keep it from "rocking and wallowing" into the bottom as observed of the traditional steel barges. The surrounding depth read was 64 feet and the minimum depth was 52 feet. This compares with measurements of 61 feet and 48 feet taken during it's sinking.
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