Wine Island may be wiped off map

Wine island shown after Hurricane Isaac

From Houmatoday

Terrebonne's Wine Island may soon be wiped off the map.

 Wine island shown before Hurricane Isaac

In Terrebonne Parish, there are two excellent, successful examples of how barrier islands can be reconstructed or can be stabilized (for a period of time!) via leveeing techniques.
Wine Island (formerly called Vine Island) was located near the mouth of the Houma Navigation Canal.

The Parish implemented a plan whereby a ring of stones was placed where Wine Island used to be and dredge material was placed inside.

Hurricane Isaac in 2012 took what little remained of the barrier island and swept the sandy shoal that remained outside the ring of rocks built to protect it.

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NOAA chart #11355 new edition 30
Removal of Wine Island and modified oil well platforms in vicinity.
Deconflicted numerous Bridge, OVERHD Cable and pipeline area labels to improve legibility in and around Houma.
Numerous NTM corrections.

Tim Osborn, regional manager of NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, said the agency is moving swiftly to update its nautical charts because what remains is a serious hazard to boaters.

Rocks were put around the island decades ago to stem erosion, but Hurricane Isaac proved to be the island's downfall.
The shoal that remains has migrated outside the rock barrier.
“No one has any buoys or lights marking the area, so if you're moving into the area to do some fishing, that ring of rocks just at the waterline poses a major hazard,” Osborn said.

With no immediate plans by the parish or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to restore the island, Wine Island's name could also be stripped from nautical charts.
“It has ceased to be an island,” Osborn said.
Wine Island's degradation reflects a larger change across the coastal Louisiana landscape, Osborn said, and the loss of important coastal habitats that may not be reclaimed.

Earlier this year, the office remapped Plaquemines Parish's coastline, removing 31 place names, after finding that many of the lakes, bays, bayous and passes that once existed no longer have the defining features required to be included on the map.
The barrier island didn't just provide hurricane protection.
Wine Island was an important nesting habitat for thousands of birds.

“Wine Island is the poster child for the multiple uses of our barrier islands,” Terrebonne Coastal Restoration Director Nic Matherne said.
“The island provides us with storm protection, but before people were here we had wildlife, and the birds that use these islands regularly.”

 Wine Island - Before Gustav
Wine Island, a barrier island off the Terrebonne Parish coast, in 2007.

Wine Island, off the Terrebonne Parish coast, has vanished after Hurricane Gustav.
Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries

During the 2008 season, 11,000 pairs of birds nested on the island.
Nesting birds prefer islands that are small and remote because they can't support larger predators that could disturb the eggs or eat the young, said Kerry St. Pé, director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program.
Nearby Raccoon Island still hosts the largest colony of brown pelicans in Louisiana.

St. Pé said that scientists from the estuary program recently travelled to Wine Island to evaluate it for possible future plantings or restoration projects.
“We were asked to go look at it, and there was just nothing left,” he said.
“We elected not to reestablish any vegetation because the island was too far gone.”
For many years, Terrebonne was committed to restoring the island, St. Pé said.
“Wine Island has a long history of being protected and restored by Terrebonne Parish,” St. Pé said. “In the early years Terrebonne really took an interest in Wine Island, and the island was ringed with rocks.”
Dirt dredged from the Houma Navigation Canal has been used at least four times to bolster the island since 1991.
But recent storms took their toll.
Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008 reduced the island to almost nothing, and its plant life was wiped out. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then opted not to include Wine Island in its plan to restore Terrebonne's barrier islands.
Scientists deemed the island unsustainable.
Hurricane Isaac then washed away the remains.

An aerial view of Wine Island in the Gulf of Mexico, shows it dotted with thousands of seabirds, which mate and nest on the tiny spit of land.

Coast Guard observers conduct multiple daily overflights of sensitive sites like these to ensure that booms are correctly placed to protect them from contamination by oil from the BP spill.

photo : Isaac Pacheco

It's not just Wine Island. All of Terrebonne's barrier islands are undergoing severe erosion, including the Isles Dernieres and Timbalier islands, Matherne said.
Terrebonne is building a levee system to provide it with storm protection, but the ecosystem outside that levee protection provides vital support to wildlife as well as protection, he added.
Matherne said that help is coming for Terrebonne's barrier islands.
Earlier this year, a plan was announced to spend $340 million in early restoration dollars from BP oil spill fines on barrier islands in Louisiana, including a $110 million project to restore beaches, dunes and back-barrier marshes on Whiskey Island.
The rest of the parish's islands are also in the state's plans for post-spill restoration, Matherne said.

But St. Pé said that you can't just restore the islands.
You have to also restore land inside the system.
Less land inside the system means the islands are subject to a greater volume of water that must drain past each day, which translates into increased erosive forces.
In addition, barrier island work is more expensive because you have to haul equipment and dredging material from far away.
But St. Pé said rebuilding smaller islands preferred by birds as nesting habitat is just important.
He suggested piggybacking dredging projects to build smaller islands on top of larger projects.
The Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program is aiming to rebuild some of these smaller islands in Plaquemines Parish.

Links :

• HoumaToday : Terrebonne barrier island disappears after Gustav (2008)

Diana Nyad completes Cuba to Florida swim at age 64

CNN's Sanjay Gupta talks with 64-year-old Diana Nyad about her record breaking swim
from Cuba to Florida : an intrepid swimmer and an inspiring can-do spirit !

From Huffington Post

Looking dazed and sunburned, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad walked on to the shore Monday, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

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"In the 70s, I gathered all the nautical charts of the warm waters of the Earth.
Then I remembered the very moment my eyes gazed on Cuba," she said.

Length of real track : about 110 Nm

Nyad swam up to the beach just before 2 p.m. EDT, about 53 hours after she began her journey in Havana on Saturday.

 United States endurance swimmer Diana Nyad is greeted by a crowd as she walks on to the Key West, Fla., shore Monday, Sept. 2, 2013, becoming the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage. Nyad arrived at the beach just before 2 p.m. EDT, about 53 hours after she began her swim in Havana on Saturday.

(AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

As she approached, spectators waded into waist-high water and surrounded her, taking pictures and cheering her on.

"I have three messages. One is, we should never, ever give up. Two is, you're never too old to chase your dream. Three is, it looks like a solitary sport, but it is a team," she said on the beach.

"I have to say, I'm a little bit out of it right now," Nyad said.
She gestured toward her swollen lips, and simply said "seawater."

U.S. swimmer Diana Nyad, 64, adjusts her goggles before jumps into the water and start her swim to Florida from Havana, Cuba, Saturday.

Her team said she had been slurring her words while she was out in the water.
She was on a stretcher on the beach and received an IV before she was taken by ambulance to a hospital.
"I just wanted to get out of the sun," she said.

It was Nyad's fifth try to complete the approximately 110-mile swim.
She tried three times in 2011 and 2012.
Her first attempt was in 1978.

"It's historic, marvelous," said Jose Miguel Diaz Escrich, the Hemingway Marina commodore who helped organize the Cuba side of Nyad's multiple attempts.
"I always thought she could do it given her internal energy, her mental and physical strength, her will of iron," said Diaz Escrich, whom Nyad has described as a longtime friend.
"More than the athletic feat, she wants to send a message of peace, love, friendship and happiness ... between the people of the United States and Cuba," he said.

Her last try was cut short amid boat trouble, storms, unfavorable currents and jellyfish stings that left her face puffy and swollen.
This time, she wore a full bodysuit, gloves, booties and a mask at night, when jellyfish rise to the surface.
The new silicone mask caused bruises inside her mouth, making it difficult for her to talk, she told her team when she was about 2 miles from land.
Doctors traveling with Nyad were worried about her slurred speech and her breathing, but they didn't intervene, according to Nyad's website.

Nyad's journey began Saturday morning when she jumped from the seawall of the Hemingway Marina into the warm waters off Havana.
She stopped from time to time for nourishment, but she never left the water.

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles off Key West, Fla., Monday, Sept. 2, 2013, swims towards the completion of her approximately 110-mile trek from Cuba to the Florida Keys. Nyad, 64, is poised to be the first swimmer to cross the Florida Straits without the security of a shark cage.

(AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Andy Newman)

The support team accompanying her had equipment that generated a faint electrical field around her, which was designed to keep sharks at bay.
A boat also dragged a line in the water to help keep her on course.

Sumaya Haddin, of Miami, had been tracking Nyad's swim before her family's trip to Key West this weekend.
She was surprised to see Nyad's flotilla from a parasail off Smather's Beach on Monday morning.
She thought Nyad wasn't due for another day.
"You couldn't see her, you could just see the boats. It was very exciting," she said.

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, Diana Nyad, positioned about two miles off Key West, Fla., Monday, Sept. 2, 2013, swims towards the completion of her approximately 110-mile trek from Cuba to the Florida Keys.

Nyad, 64, is poised to be the first swimmer to cross the Florida Straits without the security of a shark cage.

(AP Photo/Florida Keys News Bureau, Andy Newman)

Haddin said Nyad still had her fighting spirit when she got to the beach.
"Getting into the ambulance, she had her peace sign up, her fist up. She was still fired up."

Australian Susie Maroney successfully swam the Strait in 1997 with a shark cage, which besides protection from the predators, has a drafting effect that pulls a swimmer along.
In 2012, Australian Penny Palfrey swam 79 miles toward Florida without a cage before strong currents forced her to abandon the attempt.
This June, her countrywoman Chloe McCardel made it 11 hours and 14 miles before jellyfish stings ended her bid.
In 1978, Walter Poenisch, an Ohio baker, claimed to have made the swim using flippers and a snorkel.
Critics say there was insufficient independent documentation to verify his claim.

Nyad first came to national attention in 1975 when she swam the 28 miles around the island of Manhattan in just under eight hours. In 1979 she swam the 102 miles from North Bimini, Bahamas, to Juno Beach, Fla., in 27.5 hours.
Nyad is also an author of three books, a motivational speaker and has been a reporter and commentator for NPR.

Links :

• GeoGarage blog : Swimming from Cuba to Key West without leaving the water

NOAA publishes updated Cobscook Bay area chart

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From NOAA

Northern Maine fishing vessels will be able to navigate more safely around the dangerous Cobscook Bay beginning this month with the publication by NOAA of a new edition of the area’s nautical chart.
The chart includes a new detailed illustration ‒ called a "chart inset" ‒ of the waters around Falls Island, providing safer passage for mariners who transit those waters.

While NOAA cartographers had updated Chart 13394 (“Grand Manan Channel”) over the past several years, using depth measurements and obstruction locations acquired during a major hydrographic survey in 2010, a new inset was needed specifically for Falls Island.

The Falls Island inset on Chart 13394 depicts new depth soundings and updated shoreline

“Larger, more detailed scale coverage depicting updated hydrography helps mitigate the dangers inherent to navigation in dangerous areas,” explains Cmdr. Shep Smith, chief of NOAA Office of Coast Survey’s Marine Chart Division.

“This new inset provides even more detail for these waters west of Cobscook Bay, where fishing vessels contend with one of the earth’s highest tidal ranges, powerful currents, and treacherous conditions.”

The inset hydrographic data was acquired by a NOAA Coast Survey navigation response team who conducted a full bottom survey in the Bay from June to October 2010, at the request of the area fishing community and U.S. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins.

The inset also has updated shoreline depictions, acquired by aerial photography from NOAA National Geodetic Survey’s Remote Sensing Division in 2011.

The new inset, called “Falls Island,” is created on a 1:20,000 scale and shows a significant amount of detail. Chart 13394, Grand Manan Channel (Northern Part), was first published in 1992.

Prior nautical charts of Cobscook Bay go back to the 19th century, when the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, NOAA’s predecessor organization, first began its survey of Maine in 1863 and published the nautical chart Eastport to Moose Cove in 1893.

• The new edition of Chart 13394 became available September 3 as a “Print on Demand” chart and a NOAA Raster Navigational Chart (NOAA RNC®).
• Traditional paper charts will be available for purchase from chart vendors in October.
• The NOAA Electronic Navigational Chart (NOAA ENC®) will be available for download in October as well. The main ENC cell is US5ME55, the inset cell will be US5ME53.

Polish captain ran his ship aground as he tried to sail from Scotland to Belgium - because he FORGOT that England was in the way

Inside Out looks at how a modern cargo ship ploughed into the Farne Islands right next to an operational lighthouse.
The MV Danio got caught on rocks on the Farne Islands off the Northumberland coast on 16 March, 2013.
Investigators looking into what caused the cargo ship to run aground have discovered a member of crew on watch "fell asleep".
Owner of the vessel, Frank Dahl, said the incident was down to "human" error.

From DailyMail

• MV Danio cargo ship hit Farne Island, off the Northumberland coast
• Farne Island nature reserve is home to 80,000 pairs of seabirds and a large grey seal colony
• Captain had been sailing from Perth, Scotland, to Antwerp, Belgium
• Coastguard claims captain forgot land juts out into the sea and was using unapproved navigation system similar to a car's Sat Nav
• Lookout on ship was asleep when the vessel hit land, documentary claims

A polish captain ran his massive ship aground off the British coast after plotting a straight line from Scotland to Belgium - forgetting that England was in the way, it is claimed.

 

Prat Nav: The ship's captain headed in a straight line from Perth, Scotland, to Antwerp, Belgium, forgetting England was in his way

“Well, OK, we’re sailing from Perth and we’re going to Antwerp and we’ll draw a line and we’ll go the quickest way possible”.’

Blundering Tadeusz Dudek had been using an unapproved GPS device to navigate - similar to a car's Sat Nav, an investigation revealed.

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Danio grounded on the north side of Blue Caps

And the lookout on board the 80 metre-long MV Danio cargo ship was asleep when time the enormous vessel crashed into Farne Islands, off the North-East coast, last March.
The disaster at the Farne Island nature reserve, in Northumberland, sparked fears at the time it would break up and its 27 tonnes of diesel fuel and 1,500 tonnes of timber would decimate the wildlife for decades.

Coastguard surveyor Alan Thompson told a BBC Inside Out documentary: 'They basically said "well OK we're sailing from Perth and we're going to Antwerp and we'll draw a line and we'll go the quickest way possible", without really thinking.'
Following the accident coastguard surveyor, Alan Thompson, detained the vessel at Blyth port.
He said from the evidence they looked at there was a serious failing of the ship's safety management system.
He says: 'He was using an unapproved electronic chart plotter, which is basically a bit like your GPS for the car.'
Mr Thompson says from the time the Danio left Perth to the time it went to ground, there were two positions on the chart.
He said: 'They basically said 'well OK we're sailing from Perth and we're going to Antwerp and we'll draw a line and we'll go the quickest way possible,' without really thinking.'

 Disaster: The stricken MV Danio sitting on a mud bank on Farne Island after its captain did not realise he was approaching land

Usually a bridge look-out should still have spotted the Farne Islands and its flashing lighthouse.
Mr Thompson added: 'If he's fallen asleep it will alarm in the captain's cabin and if the captain doesn't acknowledge it, it will ring everywhere.
'Now the Danio did have a very basic bridge watch alarm, but it was switched off.'

Danio on Farne Islands (Photo Seahouses RNLI)

But the German owner of the Danio, Frank Dahl, tells the BBC in Poland - where the vessel is being repaired - stresses it was his company policy to use it and he blames the Captain and the First Mate for the accident.
He tells the programme: 'The technique is perfect, it's the humans that make mistakes'.
He subsequently fired Captain Tadeusz Dudek, and the first mate.

Captain Dudek via telephone then tells the BBC in broken English about whether the first mate did fall asleep and Captain Dudek replies: 'It is what he told in his statement and it looks like it is true.'
And he admits that if he had used the alarm system the accident could have been prevented, adding: 'Yes but I forgot. For sure this would not happen (if the alarm had been used).'

Blunder: Captain Tadeusz Dudek's ship hit Farne Island, which is home to 80,000 pairs of seabirds and a large grey seal colony

Eventually the ship was floated away but new research shows the captain was trying to sail a straight line from Scotland to Anterp, in Belgium - and forgot about England's jutting-out coastline in the middle.
Built in 2001, the ship was sailing six months ago with a cargo of timber but just six crew.

When it ran aground, a lifeboat was scrambled to the scene from Seahouses and as the weather worsened and the drama unfolded, wildlife wardens on the Farnes feared an environmental disaster.
The islands are home to about 80,000 pairs of seabirds and a large grey seal colony.

Warning: A lighthouse on Farne Island warns approaching ship of the dangers in the seas nearby

National Trust Ranger, David Steel, says: 'To have a boat like that run aground and obviously if it had started breaking up with fuel oil and the likes spilling into the sea, it would have been devastating.'
Inside Out also reveals that 95 per cent of Britain's freight is shifted by sea and last year a third of all ships detained for serious breaches were found in the North East.
However British authorities have still to decide whether to bring criminal charges in the case of the Danio.

Links :

• BBC : Farne Islands stranded ship: MV Danio's crew 'fell asleep' 
• BBC : Danio's officer was asleep on duty as ship ran aground

US NOAA update in the Marine GeoGarage

11447 Key West Harbor

34 charts have been updated in the Marine GeoGarage

(NOAA update June-July-August 2013)

• 11355 ed28 Intracoastal Waterway Catahoula Bay to Wax Lake Outlet including the Houma Navigation canal
• 11409 ed43 Anclote Keys to Crystal River
• 12251 ed32 James River Jamestown Island to Jordan Point
• 12346 ed13 Hudson River Yonkers to Piermont
• 12372 ed11 FOLIO SMALL-CRAFT CHART Long Island Sound-Watch Hill to New Haven Harbor
• 13217 ed68 Block Island
• 13278 ed3 Portsmouth to Cape Ann; Hampton Harbor
• 13394 ed30 Grand Manan Channel Northern Part (Metric);North Head and Flagg Cove
• 11434 ed39 Florida Keys Sombrero Key to Dry Tortugas
• 11447 ed40 Key West Harbor
• 12208 ed77 Approaches to Chesapeake Bay
• 12210 ed22 Chincoteague Inlet to Great Machipongo Inlet;Chincoteague Inlet
• 13213 ed19 New London Harbor and vicinity;Bailey Point to Smith Cove
• 13218 ed10 Martha's Vineyard to Block Island
• 13325 ed12 Quaddy Narrows to Petit Manan lsland
• 18720 ed39 Point Dume to Purisma Point
• 18740 ed65 San Diego to Santa Rosa Island
• 25677 ed45 South Coast of Puerto Rico Guanica Light to Punta Tuna Light;Las Mareas
• 11324 ed68 Galveston Bay Entrance Galveston and Texas City Harbors
• 11356 ed32 Isles Dernieres to Point au Fer
• 11412 ed11 Tampa Bay and St. Joseph Sound
• 11428 ed24 Okeechobee Waterway St. Lucie Inlet to Fort Myers; Lake Okeechobee
• 11542 ed14 New River;Jacksonville
• 12326 ed42 Approaches to New York Fire lsland Light to Sea Girt
• 12332 ed12 Raritan River Raritan Bay to New Brunswick
• 12368 ed23 North Shore of Long Island Sound Sherwood Point to Stamford Harbor
• 13223 ed1 Narragansett Bay. Including Newport Harbor
• 13229 ed6 FOLIO SMALL-CRAFT CHART South Coast of Cape Cod and Buzzards Bay
• 13287 ed51 Saco Bay and Vicinity
• 13298 ed24 Kennebec River Bath to Courthouse Point
• 18649 ed26 Entrance to San Francisco Bay
• 18724 ed28 Port Hueneme And Approaches;Port Hueneme
• 18725 ed32 Port Hueneme to Santa Barbara;Santa Barbara;Channel Islands Harbor and Port Hueneme;Ventura
• 18746 ed77 San Pedro Channel;Dana Point Harbor

Today 1024 NOAA raster charts (2166 including sub-charts) are included in the Marine GeoGarage viewer.


How do you know if you need a new nautical chart?
NOAA chart dates of recent Print on Demand editions
 
See the changes in new chart editions

11355 ed30 Removal of Wine Island and modified oil well platforms in vicinity. Deconflicted numerous Bridge, OVERHD Cable and pipeline area labels to improve legibility in and around Houma. Numerous NTM corrections.

11409 ed30 Numerous NM corrections and new shoreline and age. Updates to the Channel limits and shoreline in the approach to Hernando Beach.

12251 ed24 New channel framework for James River.

12346 ed12 New hydrography near Yonkers. New No Dishcarge Zone. New Regulated Navigation Area. Anchorage Area limits revised near Yonkers, Hastings-on-Hudson and Greystone Station.

12372 ed36 New shoreline for Faulkner and Goose Islands and Port of New London. New hydrography south of Fishers Island and Watch Hill. No Discharge Zone limits revised.

13217 ed17 New shoreline for Block Island.

13278 ed28 New hydrography offshore of Seal Head Point. New shoreline for Portsmouth Harbor and Isle of Shoals. New channel framework for Newburyport Harbor. Revised No Dishcarge Zone limits.

13394 ed5 New inset for Falls Island. New shoreline in the vicinity of Falls Island.

11434 ed29 Numerous new hydro surveys affecting Keys reflected in this edition.

11447 ed38 New hydro in Key West

12208 ed16 New hydrography offshore of Sandbridge Beach and Cape Henry

12210 ed39 New extension at Chincoteague Bridge. New Hydrography offshore of Parramore Island north to Assateague Island.

13213 ed43 New hydrography in Thames River north of Bailey Point to Smith Cove. New shoreline for Port of New London. Revised No Dishcage Zone limits.

13218 ed42 New hydrography added along east coast of Block Island and offshore of Newport Neck. New shoreline for Block Island. Traffic Separation Scheme Precaution Area slightly modified. No Discharge Zone limits revised. Ferry route added between Point Judith and Block Island.

13325 ed16 Revised Maritime Boundary Limits

18720 ed34 Includes new positions for Traffic Separation Scheme. Also includes numerous NTM corrections.

18740 ed44 Includes new positions for Traffic Separation Scheme. Also includes numerous NTM corrections.

25677 ed22 New hydrographic data, new shoreline on 70% of the chart. New pilot boarding area.

11324 ed38 New shoreline including changes to the Port Bolivar Ferry Terminal and slips, New hydrography

11356 ed40 Numerous changes to the hydrography throughout the chart.

11412 ed46 Significant shoreline changes and new hydrography

11428 ed36 Numerous NTM corrections.

11542 ed18

12326 ed52

12332 ed24 New channel framework for Ward Point Bend reach. Numerous Notice To Mariner corrections.

12368 ed28

13223 ed43 New hydrography for Rhode Island Sound and East Passage.

13229 ed32 New hydrography in Chatham Harbor and the North Channel in the vicinity of Bishop and Clerks rocks. Revised Maritime Boundary Limits. Numerous Notice To Mariner corrections.

13287 ed13 New shoreline for Cape Elizabeth and Richmond Island.

13298 ed11 New Restricted Area around Bath Iron Works.

18649 ed68 Includes complete hydrographic update for charted area of Pacific Ocean, and significant portions within San Francisco Bay. Also includes numerous NTM corrections.

18724 ed3 Includes new positions for Traffic Separation Scheme. Also includes numerous NTM corrections.

18725 ed30

18746 ed39 Includes new positions for Traffic Separation Scheme. Also includes numerous NTM corrections.

Note : NOAA updates their nautical charts with corrections published in:

• U.S. Coast Guard Local Notices to Mariners (LNMs),
• National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Notices to Mariners (NMs), and
• Canadian Coast Guard Notices to Mariners (CNMs)

While information provided by this Web site is intended to provide updated nautical charts, it must not be used as a substitute for the United States Coast Guard, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or Canadian Coast Guard Notice to Mariner publications

Please visit the NOAA's chart update service for more info.