NOAA ENCŪ

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US3LA1CD - APPROACHES TO MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND GULF OF AMERICA
   

INDEX:

NOTE A
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
AUTHORITIES
CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
CAUTION - QUALITY OF BATHYMETRIC DATA
CAUTION - STRONG CURRENTS
CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
COMMENTS REQUESTED
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY AIDS
MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
POLLUTION REPORTS
RADAR REFLECTORS
RULES OF THE ROAD (ABRIDGED)
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES


NOTES:

NOTE A
Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2 of each regional U.S. Coast Pilot. Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning the regulations may be obtained from the Coast Guard District Commander. Refer to charted regulation section numbers.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Additional information can be obtained at www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov.


AIDS TO NAVIGATION
Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation.


AUTHORITIES
Hydrography and topography by the National Ocean Service, Coast Survey, with additional data from the Corps of Engineers, Geological Survey, and U.S. Coast Guard.


CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
Uncharted platforms, gas and oil well structures, pipes, piles and stakes can exist within the limits of this chart.


CAUTION - QUALITY OF BATHYMETRIC DATA
The areas represented by the object M_QUAL (Quality of Data) are approximate due to generalizing for clarity. Caution is advised, particularly for nearshore navigation or voyage planning. M_QUAL represents areas of uniform quality of bathymetric data. The CATZOC (Category of Zone of Confidence in Data) attribute of M_QUAL provides an assessment of the overall zone of confidence.


CAUTION - STRONG CURRENTS
Strong, variable direction currents due to Mississippi River run-off may be encountered within the limits of the chart.


CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES 
Additional uncharted submarine pipelines and submarine cables may exist within the area of this chart. Not all submarine pipelines and submarine cables are required to be buried, and those that were originally buried may have become exposed. Mariners should use extreme caution when operating vessels in depths of water comparable to their draft in areas where pipelines and cables may exist, and when anchoring, dragging, or trawling. Covered wells may be marked by lighted or unlighted buoys.


CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
Temporary changes or defects in aids to navigation are not indicated. See Local Notice to Mariners.


CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
Limitations on the use of radio signals as aids to marine navigation can be found in the U.S. Coast Guard Light Lists and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency Publication 117.  Radio direction-finder bearings to commercial broadcasting stations are subject to error and should be used with caution.


COMMENTS REQUESTED
NOAA encourages users to submit inquiries, discrepancies, or comments about this chart via NOAA's ASSIST tool at https://www.nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/customer-service/assist/ .


HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
Hurricanes, tropical storms, and other major storms may cause considerable damage to marine structures, aids to navigation and moored vessels, resulting in submerged debris in unknown locations. Charted soundings, channel depths, and shoreline may not reflect actual conditions following these storms. Fixed aids to navigation may have been damaged or destroyed. Buoys may have been moved from their charted positions, damaged, sunk extinguished, or otherwise made inoperative. Mariners should not rely upon the position or operation of an aid to navigation.  Wrecks and submerged obstructions may have been displaced from charted locations. Pipelines may have become uncovered or moved. Mariners are urged to exercise extreme caution and are requested to report aids to navigation discrepancies and hazards to navigation to the nearest United States Coast Guard unit.


INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY AIDS
The U.S. Aids to Navigation System is designed for use with nautical charts, and the exact meaning of an aid to navigation may not be clear unless the appropriate chart is consulted. Aids to navigation marking the Intracoastal Waterway exhibit unique yellow symbols to distinguish them from aids marking other waterways. When following the Intracoastal Waterway westward from Carrabelle, FL to Brownsville, TX, aids with yellow triangles should be kept on the starboard side of the vessel and aids with yellow squares should be kept on the port side of the vessel. A horizontal yellow band provides no lateral information, but simply identifies aids to navigation as marking the Intracoastal Waterway.


MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
Obstruction lights and sound (fog) signals are required for fixed mineral development structures shown, subject to approval by the District Commander, U.S. Coast Guard (33 CFR 67).


POLLUTION REPORTS
Report all spills of oil and hazardous substances to the National Response Center via 1-800-424-8802 (toll free), or to the nearest U.S. Coast Guard facility if telephone communication is impossible (33 CFR 153).


RADAR REFLECTORS
Radar reflectors have been placed on many floating aids to navigation. Individual radar reflector identification on these aids has been omitted from this chart.


RULES OF THE ROAD (ABRIDGED)
Motorless craft have the right-of-way in almost all cases. Sailing vessels and motorboats less than 19.8 meters/sixty-five feet in length shall not hamper, in a narrow channel, the safe passage of a vessel which can navigate only inside that channel. A motorboat being overtaken has the right-of-way. Motorboats approaching head-to-head or nearly so should pass port to port. When motorboats approach each other at right angles or obliquely, the boat on the right has the right-of-way in most cases. Motorboats must keep to the right in narrow channels when safe and practicable. Mariners are urged to become familiar with the complete text of the Rules of the Road in U.S. Coast Guard publication "Amalgamated International & U.S. Inland Navigation Rules".


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 5 for important supplemental information.


VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
The U.S. Coast Guard operates a mandatory Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) system in Houston, Galveston and Texas City waterways. Vessel operating procedures and designated radiotelephone frequencies are published in 33 CFR 161, the U.S. Coast Pilot, and/or the VTS User's Manual. Mariners should consult these sources for applicable rules and reporting requirements. Although mandatory VTS participation is limited to the navigable waters of the United States, certain vessels are encouraged or may be required, as a condition of port entry, to report beyond this area to facilitate advance vessel traffic management within the VTS area.


WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
The prudent mariner will not rely solely on any single aid to navigation, particularly on floating aids. See U.S. Coast Guard Light List and U.S. Coast Pilot for details.


WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
Real-time water levels, tide predictions, and tidal current predictions are available on the internet from NOAA's Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services (CO-OPS) at https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/water_level_info.html and https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/currents_info.html


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