New Port Fourchon charts show land loss (Houma Today)

News article by KATINA A. GAUDET South Lafourche Bureau

GALLIANO -- A changing local landscape has led a federal agency to develop new navigational charts for the Port Fourchon area.

Although the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration updates the charts it producers for mariners and others, officials there have created an entirely new chart for the port area, one that recognizes changes brought on by coastal-land loss and development in the area.

It's an effort that has been ongoing for the past year, and officials say it's nearing completion.

Ted Falgout, executive director of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission, said port officials began discussions with the federal agency about a year ago, meeting with a number of NOAA officials before receiving approval for the effort.

A number of changes to the local landscape, from the removal of waterway obstructions and small platforms to the addition of numerous other structures in the vicinity of the port, necessitated the new charting.

"Because of such significant changes in terrain and development in Port Fourchon, that became an obvious need. Thirty years ago, Port Fourchon was just a name with no facilities," said Falgout, who added that the federal agency has been receptive to the idea. "They were very willing and very supportive."

Tim Osborn with NOAA says the agency has been working for the past year to document the changes and that the new chart represents one of the first in the nation.

Osborn updated port officials on the status of the project at their regular meeting Wednesday. He said the changes called for a new chart, rather than an updated one.

The charts being used today, which Osborn noted were 60 to 70 years old, "did not do justice to getting ships in and out."

The new chart itself will include the area north of the Leeville Bridge and down Bayou Lafourche, encompassing parts of Timbalier Bay and East Timbalier and will also reach out into the L.O.O.P. operational area.

ather than mariners having to use more than one chart, the area will be contained on one chart and will include a blowup of the port itself, marking the roads and facilities there.

The new charts, which should be completed next year, will also feature new information collected during surveys of area water bottoms that were conducted this past summer.

A NOAA vessel conducted the surveys, and representatives found that the water depths listed on the agency's charts are no longer accurate.

For many of the waterways in the Port Fourchon area, the water depth has increased significantly, officials note.

"All of these soundings that are on the charts today are being replaced by the new surveys," said Osborn. "Everything is now six to nine feet deeper outside Port Fourchon, not just in certain places."

In areas where water depth was thought to be about 32 feet, agency representatives note, depths are 40 to 41 feet.

NOAA officials are also looking to update their charts with other features, noting an "obvious loss" of landscape features such as bay islands and marsh.

The information NOAA collected is being digitized, with officials working to create accurate shoreline depictions.

Future development in the area, notably the possible construction of a new Leeville overpass and an elevated La. 1, also will be added to the charts once those structures are constructed.

"The changing features out here today is something we're always trying to update," said Osborn, who added that the agency will also undertake other efforts, such as surveying elevations along La. 1 between Raceland to Grand Isle.

That effort should begin early next year.

Brent Yantis, director of NASA's Regional Application Center at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, said his agency, along with the U.S. Geological Survey, will be working to update imagery of the state.

A flyover of the state has been scheduled for December through March to develop a map.

Article - https://www.houmatoday.com/story/news/2003/11/13/new-port-fourchon-chart...