Mississippi Gulf Fishing Banks, Inc.
Activity Report for the Period
November 10, 2016 thru January 12, 2017
Activity Summary
During this period there were three dive trips conducted. On November 13, a trip was made to retrieve USM Recorders from the St. Elmo in FH-2, the Ole Faithful in FH-1, the FH-6 North Reef Balls, Frank Taylor Reef in FH-12, and the Chevron Boat in FH-3. On November 17, a trip was made to retrieve the final recorders from the My Wife II in FH-14, the Ship Island Barge in FH-4, the CableOne Antennae Debris in FH-10, and Cat Island Reef. The USM Recorder project was headed up by Dr. Scott Milroy and records dissolved oxygen, temperature, and salinity every 15 minutes. His completion presentation can be found on the MGFB website. Waldemar Larsen assited with the Recorder Retrievals on both trips. On December 24, an additional monitoring dive was conducted on FAD1 in FH-13.
Video (F2-1): https://youtu.be/eLiW8-hhu1g
2016Nov13 Recorder Retrievals Video (F6-12-3): https://youtu.be/MqSZcnbrs9A
The St. Elmo FH-2 Recorder was initially deployed on June 22, 2016 and exchanged on August 7. Observations showed a nice population of fish including Mangroves (Many under the Stern), Red Snapper, Tom Tates, Trigger Fish, Sheepshead, Cocoa Damsels, and Soapfish (local pets). The Ole Faithful FH-1 Recorder was initially deployed on June 22, 2016 and exchanged on September 4. Fish observations were much less and consisted of mostly Tom Tates and small Red Snapper. There also seemed to be a heavier silt layer on the wreck. The North Reef Balls FH-6 Recorder was initially deployed on June 22, 2016 and exchanged on September 4. The visibility was better than usual on the bottom and revealed a good population of Red and Mangrove Snapper along with some Spadefish. The Balls were covered with significant amounts of silt and very little encrustation but that did not seem to hamper the Red Snapper population. The Frank Taylor FH-12 Recorder was deployed on June 22, 2016 and exchanged on September 4. The visibility was better than usual, as was the population of Red Snapper and Mangroves. A Gag Grouper nearing legal size was also seen. Most of the fish averaged smaller in size when compared to the previous reefs on this day and there was a noticeable population of juvenile Red Snapper. A good sized loggerhead Sea Turtle was also observed. The Chevron Boat FH-3 Recorder was initially deployed on June 15 and exchanged on August 7. This reef was very silty and void of most fish life, however a few small Red Snapper were seen. An additional dive was made on an unknown barge (KT-Barge) found between FH-1 and FH-6 that is on public GPS Charts. This gave some good comparisons with a reef that does not experience as much fishing pressure.
2016Nov17 Recorders Video (F14-4-Cat-10): https://youtu.be/DaRaXKkwXTQ
The My Wife II FH-14 Recorder was initially deployed on June 15 and exchanged on August 7. Only a single lone Sheepshead was observed. The Ship Island Barge FH-4 Recorder was initially deployed on June 22. It was failed to be located on September 4 but a return trip was made on October 1 and it was retrieved. So there were two recorders on this reef between Sept 4 & Oct 1. Only a few very small juvenile Red Snapper were seen on this reef. The Cat Island Recorder was initially deployed on June 22 and exchanged on October 1. Only a single sheepshead was observed. The CableOne Antennae Scrap FH-10 Recorder was deployed on June 12 and exchanged on August 6. Again, only a single Sheepshead was observed on this dive.
140810 FAD1 Visit Gallery FAD1 Video: https://youtu.be/B0KAU4nc9Tk
This was a visit to FAD1 in FH-13. It was deployed on August 10, 2014 attaching it to a Limestone Pyramid near the Southern Star Wreck. It has enhanced the reef significantly adding height, biomass, and game fish for Mississippi Anglers. The cold waters this time of year showed significantly less game fish and the red snapper kept their distance. See the 2015July23 visit for a comparison.
http://mgfb.org/ Email Author: MarkPrimo@primofish.com