Gulf of Mexico

This survey covers an area of approximately 163 square nautical miles (SNM) of Trinity Bay, Galveston Bay, Houston Ship Channel, and Buffalo Bayou.

The Port of Houston and the Houston Ship Channel accommodate more than 250 million total tons of cargo each year ranking it second largest by tonnage in the nation.* In 2018, the Port of Houston brought in an estimated $339 billion in economic value to the State of Texas making it a critical corridor to the region and nation.† The channel itself is maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, however, many of the surrounding waterways including Buffalo Bayou, Galveston, and Trinity Bays, which are used by numerous barges, oil services vessels, fishing and pleasure boaters have not been surveyed in over fifty years. Modern high-resolution surveys of these areas are important for navigational safety and as a tool to help planners and researchers model and manage issues as diverse as floodwater movement and oyster reef restoration.

* Bureau of Transportation Statistics, USDOT .

†2018 Economic Impact of Marine Cargo Activity at the Port of Houston: Executive Summary, Conducted by Martin Associates for the Port of Houston Authority of Harris County, April, 2019.

The purpose of this project is to provide contemporary surveys to update National Ocean Service nautical charts and products in an area critical to the nation's economy. In 2015, the Port of Houston supported $137 billion in trade, ranking first in the nation for foreign tonnage. It is the nation's largest importer/exporter of petroleum products and supported 509,000 jobs directly or indirectly.* This survey covers approximately 610 SNM between the Galveston Bay and Sabine Bank Channels in an area which has not been surveyed since 1963. The current nautical charts of the region show numerous reported wrecks and obstructions, with their positions reported to be approximate; these pose a risk to marine traffic navigation. This survey will identify changes to the bathymetry since previous mapping efforts and resolve position uncertainty in known hazards.

* Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts .

This project will support the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) in their efforts to effectively protect ecologically sensitive and important areas within the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico.

Over the past seventeen years, FGBNMS has successfully acquired multibeam (MBES) data over numerous BOEM-defined topographic features. These topographic features are geologic formations that extend from the seafloor into the water column, often supporting diverse communities of high aesthetic, scientific, and economic values.* No Activity Zones (NAZ), declared by BOEM, are designed to protect the most ecologically sensitive areas of the named topographic features.† However, the NAZ boundaries have not been updated since the original implementation in the1970s/80s, and BOEM will use the newly acquired bathymetric data to evaluate, and possibly update the NAZ boundary configurations in order to continue to effectively protect these crucial ecosystems.

This project will generate high-resolution data that will provide the basis for habitat characterization and ground-truthing activities for years to come. Past MBES surveys completed for the same purpose have directly fed into the expansion of the sanctuary boundary.

None of the nine banks to be surveyed in this project have been surveyed to modern standards. Four out of the nine banks overlap with the highly trafficked safety fairway connecting the Mississippi River to other high commerce ports to the west, such as Galveston and Corpus Christi.‡ Therefore, not only will this survey aid in the protection of ecologically significant communities, it will also enhance navigational safety via this fairway.

*United States Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Notice to Lessees and Operations of Federal Oil, Gas, and Sulphur Leases and Pipeline Right-of-Way Holders Outer Continental Shelf, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, NTL No. 2009-G39.

†US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Western and Central Gulf of Mexico Topographic Features Stipulation Map Package for Oil and Gas Leases in the Gulf of Mexico, March 2018.

‡US Department of the Interior Bureau of Ocean Energy Management Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, Biologically Sensitive Areas (<300m), December 2012.