Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks, Inc.
Activity Report for the Period
February 14 - March 13, 2003

Summary
During this period, there was 1 construction trip and 1 dive monitoring trip made. The Cat Island Reef was completed on February 18 with a barge load of rubble deployed over 2 target reefs. On March 11, a dive trip was made to the Casino Magic Barge in FH-1.

Cat Island Rubble
T&W Marine was contracted to deploy the rubble. Primofish.com was contracted for spotter services. This was the third and final barge load of rubble (30'X110' Barge). It was deployed over 2 target areas as were the first two loads. The coordinates and details are shown below.

030218a Cat Island Rubble #5, 332CI
Position: 30°12.060'N/89°04.868'W 12115.3/47066.4/29333.4
East of Marker. Surrounding depth was 12 feet with a minimum depth of 9 feet recorded. Small Rubble. NE wind at 12 knots. Tide=-0.1, Lo=-0.3@921A, Hi=1.2@12AM. Tracking 7 Sats, Hoop=1.2, 10'Accuracy.



030218B Cat Island Rubble #6, 333CI
Position: 30°12.041'N/89°04.809'W 12115.9/47066.5/29324.3
East of Marker. Surrounding depth was 13 feet with a minimum depth of 11 feet recorded. Small Rubble. NE wind at 12 knots. Tide=-0.1, Lo=-0.3@921A, Hi=1.2@12AM. Tracking 7 Sats, Hoop=1.2, 10'Accuracy.

021119 Casino Magic Barge, 324F1
Position: 30°03.147'N / 88°36.448'W 12408.0/47035.5/29574.9
Bow: 30°03.128'N / 88°36.445'W Stern: 30°03.166'N / 88°36.453'W
On March 11, a trip was made to the Casino Magic Barge to get video and make observations as to the progress of this four month old reef. Conditions were difficult with cold winds and a strong 4 knot surface current. Visibility was only about 6 feet, but good enough to make some observations. A technical problem with the video camera rendered the footage unfocused. Since the visibility and conditions were poor, a repeat dive was deemed unnecessary. This dive took place at the Stern of the Barge so that observations of the 2 APC's could be made as well. Observations revealed the reef to be progressing quite nicely. An abundance (200-250) of juvenille snapper near the legal size limit (1-2lbs.) were seen as were a half dozen or so larger ones (6-10 lbs.). A single 6-8 pound gag grouper was sighted as were a half dozen sheepshead (2-4 lbs.). Barnacle encrustation was quite evident and oysters were also taking hold near the bottom of the barge. The APCs were a good enhancement to the barge as was the wave attenuator structure that runs down the port side of the barge. Red Snapper were readily swimming thru both structures and would follow the diver as he swam thru the APCs. The Gag Grouper sighted made his get away by swimming thru the wave attenuator structure. This may prove a problem to fishermen trying to land these fish.


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EMail Author: Mark@primofish.com