NOAA ENC

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US4LA1GM - MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND GULF INTRACOASTAL WATERWAY


INDEX:

NOTE A
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
POLLUTION REPORTS
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
AUTHORITIES
ADMINISTRATION AREA
BROADCASTS OF MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS BY MARINE RADIOTELEPHONE STATIONS
CAUTION - QUALITY OF BATHYMETRIC DATA
CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
CAUTION - USACE HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS
COLREGS
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
NOAA WEATHER RADIO BROADCASTS
RACING BUOYS
RADAR REFLECTORS
TIDES
TRAFFIC CONTROL LIGHTS
VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
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 New Orleans, LA. Refer to charted regulation section numbers.


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).


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.


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


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


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.


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


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


ADMINISTRATION AREA
The entire extent of this ENC cell falls within the limits of an 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.


BROADCASTS OF MARINE WEATHER FORECASTS AND WARNINGS BY MARINE RADIOTELEPHONE STATIONS
CITY				STATION		FREQ.		DAILY BROADCAST-CST				SPECIAL WARNING

New Orleans, LA		NMG			2670 KHz	4:35, 6:35, 10:35, 11:50AM		*On receipt
											4:35 & 11:50 PM
								157.1 MHz	4:50, 10:50 AM, 4:50, 10:50 PM	*On receipt
Berwick, LA			NMG-37		157.1 MHz	4:00, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM		 	On receipt
Grand Isle, LA		NMG-15		157.1 MHz	4:35, 10:35 AM, 4:35 PM		 	On receipt

*Broadcasts are announced on VHF Ch. 16 (156.8 MHz)


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 - 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 - 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/.


COLREGS
International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972. The entire area of this chart falls landward of the COLREGS Demarcation Line.


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 NUMBER         OFFICE HOURS
New Orleans, LA                  (504) 522-7330          8:00 AM-4:00 PM (Mon.-Fri.)
                                *(504) 465-9215
*Recording (24 hours daily)
Distress calls for small craft are made on 2182 KHz or channel 16 (156.80 MHz) VHF.


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.

New Orleans, LA		KHB-43		162.550 MHz
Buras, LA  			WXL-41		162.475 MHz


RACING BUOYS
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.


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.


TIDES
At New Orleans, the diurnal range of the tide during low river stages averages 0.24 meters/0.8 feet. There is no periodic tide at high river stages.


TRAFFIC CONTROL LIGHTS
For details of operation of U.S. Coast Guard Marine Safety Office, New Orleans maintained Traffic Control Lights in the Mississippi River, consult the Coast Pilot and U.S. Coast Guard List of Lights Volume IV. Governor Nicholls Traffic Light shows Fl R or G 5s, Gretna Traffic Light shows Fl R or G 5s, and Westwego Traffic Light shows QR or G only when Traffic Control Lights are in operation. Traffic Lights operate when the gauge reads 2.4 meters/8 feet on the rise and cease to operate when the gauge reads 2.7 meters/9 feet on the fall of the river.


VESSEL TRAFFIC SERVICES
The U.S. Coast Guard operates a mandatory Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) system in the Lower Mississippi River. 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 traffic management within the VTS area.


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.


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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