Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks, Inc.

Activity Report for the Period

September 8 thru October 13, 2016

Activity Summary

During this period there was one dive trip to service 3 USM Sensor locations. On October 1, a trip was made to retrieve the FH-4 recorder that could not be found on September 4. This activity was followed by exchanging the Cat Island Recorder and then attempting the same at FH-8. However, the marker buoy was missing and the FH-8 Recorder was not located. Another attempt will be made when all the recorders are retrieved next month.

USM/GCRL Data Recorders Exchanged Video: https://youtu.be/n1dKTUrCK7o

On October 1, a trip was made to retrieve the FH-4 recorder that could not be found on September 4. This was successful as the visibility was much better. The recorder was found about 20 feet away from where the newer one was placed on September 4. The older one was retrieved and the newer one was moved to the older one’s mounting spot as it appeared to be a better location. Water visibility was surprisingly good at around 25 feet. Very little life was observed with only a few spadefish and a lone red snapper in the upper mid-water seen. A good bit of silt covered the barge and the recorders. This activity was followed by exchanging the Cat Island Recorder. Visibility was around 15 feet and water conditions were better with barnacle encrustation evident on the recorder. Also baitfish and spade fish populations were significant. Following that work, a futile attempt was made to exchange the FH-8 recorder. The marker buoy was missing and the FH-8 Recorder was not located. It is doubtful that this recorder will be found due to the poor visibility, the similarity of the reef material, and the amount of effort already expended to locate it. For this reason, the new recorder was not deployed. Another attempt will be made to locate it when all the recorders are retrieved next month. One option for next year may be to relocate this recorder at the base of a nearby pipe or channel marker. Another option may be to drape some line across the bottom that leads to the recorder.

http://mgfb.org/                                                          Email Author: MarkPrimo@primofish.com