Page 40: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2005)

40 Gulf Coast Resources Guide Maritime Reporter & Engineering News people. There were more than 900 navi- gational devices in the Gulf Intracoastal alone, Master Chief Coffman said, but the day before they'd worked 208. They were getting there. "The thing we always try to impress upon folks," said Roger Parsons,

Director, Office of Coast Survey, "is that our assets are deployed during non- emergencies, teams are pre-staged. We had 22 NOAA vessels ready to go, with fathometers and sidescan sonar to deter- mine what's sunk in the water, or where it's silted-in." Said Howard Danley,

Chief of the Navigation Services

Division, "In Alexandria, we had two phone conversations daily, conducted with the Captain of the Port of New

Orleans and all Federal players, to keep positive on what assets were available, what their capabilities were, what results of previous days results. I thought the coordination was outstanding."

It was the Industrial Canal, toward the east end of New Orleans, connecting the

Intracoastal, the Mississippi, and Lake

Pontchartrain, where immediate atten- tion had been required. Katrina's storm surge had tossed massive structures around — towboats, barges, drydocks — like bathtub toys. Before bargeloads of rocks could be brought to the lake to patch-up the levee, the way had to be cleared. Bisso Marine was near at hand.

With commercial navigation on the verge of recovery, attention in that third week was turning to local conditions -- things off the national highway, but requiring prompt attention. "We have two heavy lifters," said the Navy's Capt.

Wilkins, "Donjon Marine, and they've subcontracted T&T.

Other ASA members have contracted privately for removing large barges from levees, raising the larger vessels and the like, and the smaller commercial and recreational vessels can be assisted by local sources."

The costs would be charged to the insurers, or to the otherwise responsible parties " the salvage operation will not come out of the taxpayer's pocket."

Season's Greetings "We have been contracted to the U.S.

Navy for salvage and related services in the southern Atlantic zone; which includes the Gulf," said John Witte Jr. of Donjon Marine, "a contract we've won every five years since 1979. But in an event as all-encompassing as this, nobody's ever had the training."

Witte describes a triad set-up by

FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, and the

Coast Guard, to identify and fund wreck removal. The Navy was brought in to work as a conduit for technical expert- ise. "We joined the effort on the

Saturday after the storm," said Witte, "to support the Navy with salvage assis- tance and our employees. We also sup- plied a commercial mechanism to pro- vide all the services that are needed," which by the third week of October included subcontracting to local opera- tors.

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Gulf of Mexico Resources Guidebook

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