NOAA ENCŪ

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION

US2GC09M - KEY WEST TO MISSISSIPPI RIVER
	
   
INDEX:

NOTE A
AIDS TO NAVIGATION
CAUTION - TEMPORARY CHANGES
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
RADAR REFLECTORS
WARNING - PRUDENT MARINER
MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
OFFSHORE NAVIGATION
AUTHORITIES 
CAUTION - FISH HAVENS
CAUTION - USE OF RADIO SIGNALS (LIMITATIONS)
CAUTION - SUBMARINE PIPELINES AND CABLES
POLLUTION REPORTS
WATER LEVELS, CURRENTS, AND TIDES
HURRICANES AND TROPICAL STORMS
GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
HORIZONTAL DATUM
COMMENTS REQUESTED


NOTES:

NOTE A
Navigation regulations are published in Chapter 2 of each regional U.S. Coast Pilot. Additions or revisions to Chapter 2 are published in the Notice to Mariners. Information concerning he regulations may be obtained at the Office of the Commander. Refer to charted regulation section numbers.


AIDS TO NAVIGATION
Consult U.S. Coast Guard Light List for supplemental information concerning aids to navigation.


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


SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION
Consult U.S. Coast Pilot 4 for important supplemental information.


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.


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.


MINERAL DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURES
Obstruction lights and sound (fog) signals are required for fixed mineral development structures, subject to approval by the District Commander, U.S. Coast Guard (33 CFR 67).


OFFSHORE NAVIGATION
For offshore navigation only. Detail within the 18.2 meter/10 fathom curve is not shown except on off lying shoals.


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


CAUTION - FISH HAVENS
Numerous uncharted fish havens, some marked by privately maintained buoys, exist seaward of the 18.2 meters/10-fathom curve. See larger scale charts for location.


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.


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.


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).


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 .

 
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 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.


GAS AND OIL WELL STRUCTURES
Numerous platforms and gas and oil well structures exist in the water areas from Key West, Florida, to Brazos Santiago, Texas. Some wells are submerged and capped. Only those structures reported submerged of unknown depth and submerged structures covered less than 20.1 meters/11 fathoms are charted outside of the 18.2 meter/10 fathom curve. See charts in the 1:400,000 scale range and 1:80,000 scale series charts for location of surface platform structures, surface wells, and wells submerged 20.1 meters/11 fathoms or more, submarine pipelines and cables, aids to navigation and safety fairways through oil fields.


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


HORIZONTAL DATUM
The NOAA ENC references the World Geodetic System of 1984 (WGS-84). For charting purposes, the horizontal control of the current realization of WGS-84 is functionally equivalent to the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2020 (ITRF2020) at the meter level for charts at scales of 1:5,000 or smaller.


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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