Trip Summary
During this period, there was one Dive Monitoring Trip conducted. A trip was made on August 22 to visit 3 reefs of diverse ages, namely the 13 year old Box Car Barge, the 1 year old Callon Skimmer Barge, and the month and a half old rubble 990709.
860731 FH-1 Box Car Barge "C" (ID=40F1) Horn Island Barge SITE
This is 280' X 50' Jumbo Hopper barge was sunk on July 31, 1986. It was loaded with four railroad box cars donated by Mississippi Export Railroad, two cement mixers, and various concrete culverts and rubble. The contents spilled out to the east and slightly south of the barge. The barge lays upside down with the bow heading mostly due west. Observations revealed some deterioration of the east end flooring, yielding access to the hopper area. The Box Car ceilings have deteriorated leaving the walls leaning over. Growth was evident but much more pronounced on the top of the barge center with some soft finger corals growing there. Fish observations were slim and yielded only a half dozen Red Snapper, 8 or 9 Mangrove Snapper and 1 Gag Grouper. Fouled anchors and shrimp nets were also evident. The limited fish observations would enforce the conclusion that artificial reefs do have a limited life span. Replenishment of them may help determine if they can be revived or if they just get over-fished with time.
980813 FH-1 Callon Skimmer Barge (ID=212F1) Horn Island Barge Site
LAT: 30°03.756' N LONG: 88°36.799' W
LORAN: 12404.3 47037.7-8
This 50'X50'X12' Concrete Oil Skimmer Barge was donated and sunk onsite by Callon Petroleum on August 13, 1998. Observations revealed about 20-25 red snapper, 3-5 Gag Grouper, 2 Sheepshead, 3 Mangrove Snapper, and 50-75 Spade Fish. Barnacles and other fouling was evident but no signs of Soft Corals yet. The barge appears to be developing into a well rounded reef site. The size of the game fish were mostly of legal sizes and larger than those observed on the new rubble site.
990709 FH-2 Rubble (ID=223F2) Bill Walker Site
Lat 30°05.251' Long 88°34.474'
TD's 12427.7 47044.1 29603.4
This rubble consists of relatively large concrete columns and "T"'s. Since this site was visited only a week after deployment, it was desired to see how much development has occurred over the 3 weeks since. Observations revealed approximately 75-90 red snapper in the 10-12 inch size, 6-8 Trigger Fish, and even a small school of 8-12 Amberjack in the 15-18 inch size range. Initially it was believed these fish had displaced the earlier observations of small juvenile red snapper and sea bass, but closer inspection revealed many were still present underneath much of the rubble. The fish were understandably staying out of sight. Not many of the game fish were of legal size but the reef is showing promise for this time next year.Get copies of this and other reports from http://rsca.org/mgfb/Reports/
Email Author: Mark@primofish.com