February 26, 2021 By H. Nelson Spencer
Cooper Marine & Timberlands Corporation (CMT), a part of the Cooper Group of companies based in Mobile, Ala., recently took delivery of the first of two vessels from Blakeley BoatWorks, a sister company out of Mobile as well. The twin-screw towboat will serve the company’s fleets between Baton Rouge, La., and Head of Passes on the Lower Mississippi River.
Blakeley delivered the new boat, the mv. Mary Lynn Cooper, a few months ago. The other boat, the mv. Gretchen Cooper, is expected to join CMT’s fleet soon. At 110 feet long and with 3,400 hp., it will be larger than the Mary Lynn and is believed will be one of the first inland waterway vessels to be powered by Caterpillar Tier 4 compliant engines.
A historic cold air outbreak brought more than just burst pipes and power outages to Texas, it also brought a significant fish kill to the Gulf Coast.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is asking residents to report areas that they see large fish kills in.
They said because of the extremely low water temperatures, many fish have died and have a chance of resurfacing on the shoreline.
Experts said that water temperatures that plummeted to 40 degrees in Galveston Bay resulted in lasting problems for fish, crabs, turtles, and other marine life.
Fish mortalities were found in six bay systems including Matagorda Bay, San Antonio Bay, Aransas Bay, Corpus Christi Bay, Upper Laguna Madre, and Lower Laguna Madre, according to TPWD.
How to Participate
- Attend in Person: Erie H. Meyer Civic Center, 1930 W 2nd Street, Gulf Shores, AL 36542
- View online: This meeting will be streamed on the City’s Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cityofgulfshoresal for VIEWING ONLY.
- Submit Questions Online: Those who wish to ask questions during the presentation and before, must submit them online at https://www.gulfshoresal.gov/1596/BUILD-Grant.
By Melanie LeCroy
The City of Gulf Shores will host a public involvement meeting for the Waterway Village Multi-Modal Access Project Feb. 25 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center. Due to concerns associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting will also be hosted online by the City of Gulf Shores.
February 19, 2021 By Frank McCormack
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has issued its Marine Accident Report detailing the October 8, 2019, engineroom fire aboard the mv. Susan Lynn near Lafitte, La., along the Barataria Waterway.
On the morning of the fire, the mv. Susan Lynn was moored at Tom’s Marine & Salvage, when a fire started in the engineroom around 6 a.m. No injuries or pollution resulted from the fire, which caused more than $1.3 million in damages to the vessel.
In September 2018, H&K Marine Services LLC purchased the Susan Lynn, which was built in 1963 at Marine Welding & Repair Works and originally named Rock Bluff. According to NTSB, the vessel had been towing barges on the Mississippi River and along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) for Four Rivers Towing since October 2018. The vessel arrived at Tom’s Marine & Salvage on August 2, 2019, for a port propeller replacement job. A
TPWD temporarily closes fishing on Texas Coast
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has issued a temporary closure to saltwater fishing along parts of the Texas coast due to freezing weather conditions.
Credit: kiii staff Author: KIII Staff Updated: 12:36 PM CST February 13, 2021
AUSTIN, Texas The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has issued a temporary closure to saltwater fishing along parts of the Texas coast to protect resources during freezing weather conditions. The closure takes effect at 12:00 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 15 and extends through 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
In addition to killing game fish in shallow bay waters, a hard freeze can also cause surviving fish to congregate in a few deeper areas where they become sluggish and prone to capture. Those are the areas the department has temporarily closed.