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NOAA Magazine || NOAA Home Page PORT OF IBERIA AND NOAA WORK ON RANGE OF SERVICES AND RESOURCES
NOAA's mission is to "describe and predict changes in the Earth's environment, and conserve and wisely manage the nation's coastal and marine resources." "We saw a good opportunity to work in a real collaboration with the Port of Iberia in meeting its growth programs and to also provide the information that would help protect the state's coastal resources from ship or barge groundings and reduce the threat of spills or other maritime accidents," said Tim Osborn of NOAA in the Lafayette office. "The Port of Iberia is a major part of the state's economy and also committed to environmental protection," said Osborn.
Personnel from NOAA's Office of Coast Survey, National Geodetic Survey, and Center for Operational Oceanographic Products and Services worked at the Port of Iberia in a number of field efforts to establish two tide and water level stations, set new benchmarks, and to support a NOAA hydrographic survey field party in performing a highly detailed hydrographic survey of the port and its entrance channel. "Working to support the port, NOAA needed to work as team of experts from a number of program offices to provide the information and data for the port," said Todd Schattgen of NOAA's Office of Coast Survey. "All the pieces came together and this all happed in a three month period. Usually, operations like this take at least one or two years to get on the schedule and then months of planning prior to the hydrographic survey operations."
In addition to the port staff, private sector companies also assisted in surveying the port. For example, NOAA worked with both Wayne Labiche of Engineering, Inc. of New Iberia and the port to submit the application to Washington, D.C., to formally name the entrance channel across Weeks Bay the "Acadiana Navigational Channel." Formal approval of this channel name came to the port in October. "With future charts having the true channel depths, a chart inset showing the port and the Acadiana Navigation Channel clearly depicted, we feel we have a great relationship with NOAA starting this year," said Pontiff.
Use of this updated hydrographic information and water level information is also important for other planning purposes. Deepening of the entrance channel and the port to 20 feet of depth is being studied today, as well as pursuing the opportunity of a small cruise ship dock at the port. Oneil Malbrough, president of Coastal Engineering and Environmental Consultants, Inc.,—who also assisted with the project—stated that, "Working for the port on the channel deepening feasibility study and on the cruise ship dock, we certainly value and welcome all the work that NOAA has done for us."
NOAA will provide additional assistance for Iberia Parish and the Port of Iberia in the near future. A total of $430,000 of federal grant funding from NOAA's Coastal Impact Assistance Program will assist the Parish in re-paving Lewis Street and Port Road, major roadways to the port. "This program is really needed to deal with the impacts we see with the booming oil and gas industry along our coast and offshore," said Will Langlinais, Iberia Parish president. "We see the future as one in which our ports, parish, state and federal agencies all need to work closely in supporting our state's growing economy. Our experience with NOAA this year is a good example we hope to see as part of the future," said Langlinais.
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