NOAA ENCŪ

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US5HOUDG - UPPER GALVESTON BAY - HOUSTON SHIP CHANNEL - BAYPORT TO HOG ISLAND


INDEX:

NOTE A
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
POLLUTION REPORTS
RADAR REFLECTORS
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
ADMINISTRATION AREA
AUTHORITIES
BROADCASTS OF MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS BY MARINE RADIOTELEPHONE STATIONS
CAUTION - GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
CAUTION - DREDGED AREAS
CAUTION - USACE HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS
CAUTION - SMALL CRAFT
CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
CAUTION - SURVEY
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
CAUTION - QUALITY OF BATHYMETRIC DATA
HORIZONTAL DATUM
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE 
MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS
RACING BUOYS
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
COMMENTS REQUESTED


NOTES:

NOTE A
Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2, U.S. Coast Pilot 5. Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning the regulations may be obtained at the Office of the Commander, 8th Coast Guard District in New Orleans, LA, or at the Office of the District Engineer, Corps of Engineers in Galveston, TX. 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.


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.


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.


ADMINISTRATION AREA
This area covers land, internal waters, and territorial sea. The territorial sea is a maritime zone over which the United States exercises sovereignty extending to the airspace as well as to its bed and subsoil. For more information, please refer to the Coast Pilot.


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


BROADCASTS OF MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS BY MARINE RADIOTELEPHONE STATIONS
CITY                  STATION      FREQ. (kHz)      DAILY BROADCAST-CST     SPECIAL WARNING
Galveston, TX         NOY          2670             4:45 6:45 10:45 A.M.    *On receipt
                                   157.1 MHz        4:45 P.M.
Corpus Christi, TX    NOY-8        2670             4:40 6:40 10:40 A.M.    *On receipt
                                                    4:40 P.M.
Freeport, TX          NOY          157.1 MHz        4:45 6:45 10:45 A.M.    *On receipt
                                                    4:45 P.M.
*Preceded by announcement on 2182 kHz and 156.8 MHz

Distress calls for small craft are made on 2182 kHz or channel 16 (156.80 MHz) VHF.


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 - DREDGED AREAS
Improved channels are subject to shoaling, particularly along the edges.


CAUTION - USACE HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS
USACE conducts hydrographic surveys to monitor navigation conditions. These surveys are not intended to detect underwater features. Undetected features hazardous to surface navigation may exist in federal channels, as might shoaling, particularly along the edges of channels. For more information visit https://navigation.usace.army.mil/Survey/Hydro/.


CAUTION - SMALL CRAFT
Small craft should stay clear of large commercial and government vessels even if small craft have the right-of-way. All craft should avoid areas where the skin divers flag, a red square with a diagonal white stripe, is displayed.


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 - SURVEY
Stakes, piles and platforms, some submerged, may exist between charted piling and platforms along the maintained channels. Piles and platforms are not shown where they interfere with a light symbol.


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.


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. 


HORIZONTAL DATUM
The NOAA ENC references the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS-84). For charting purposes, the horizontal control of the current realization of WGS-84 is functionally equivalent to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2020 (ITRF2020) at the meter level for charts at scales of 1:5,000 or smaller.


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. 


MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE      
CITY                         TELEPHONE NUMBERS       OFFICE HOURS
Galveston, TX                *(281) 337-5074         
Corpus Christi, TX            (361) 289-0959         8.00AM-5.00PM(Mon.-Fri.)
	                     *(361) 289-0753        
*Recording (24 hours daily)


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).


NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS 
The NOAA Weather Radio stations listed below provide continuous weather broadcasts. The reception range is typically 20 to 40 nautical miles from the antenna site, but can be as much as 100 nautical miles for stations at high elevations. 
           
Galveston, TX      KHB-40         162.55 MHz      


RACING BUOYS
Racing buoys within the limits of this chart are not shown hereon. Information may be obtained from the U.S. Coast Guard District Offices as racing and other private buoys are not all listed in the U.S. Coast Guard Light List.


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


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.


VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
The U.S. Coast Guard operates a mandatory Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) system in the Houston, Galveston, and Texas City waterways. Vessel operating procedures and designated radiotelephone frequencies are published in 33 CFR 161;  Chapter 2 U.S. Coast Pilot; and/or the VTS User's Manual. Mariners should consult these sources for applicable rules and reporting requirements. "Houston Traffic" is a full service VTS, providing a continuous information Service; Traffic Organization Services as requisite; and Navigation Assistance Service upon request.


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/. 


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