NOAA Ship Fairweather surveying ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for shipping safety

From surveying our most northern Alaskan waters last year, to our southern coastal waters this year, NOAA Ship Fairweather has really been making the hydrographic rounds, so to speak. This month, Fairweather’s hydrographic work is reaping benefits for the maritime industry in Los Angeles and Long Beach.
Fairweather is surveying this area in response to requests from the Port of Los Angeles, the Port of Long Beach, and the pilots who maneuver increasing large oil tankers and cargo ships through the area’s crowded shipping lanes. This project will acquire data for comprehensive updates to NOAA nautical charts 18749 and 18751, which provide the depth measurements and aids to navigation that mariners rely on for safe transit. Fairweather last surveyed the area in 1975, and NOAA contracted for a small survey in 2000.

FA survey in LA/LB
This chart shows where NOAA Ship Fairweather is surveying.

This project undertakes surveys encompassing 114 square nautical miles. Of those, NOAA considers 89 SNM as critical to safe navigation and therefore a NOAA priority. The survey areas include San Pedro Bay and its approaches, stretching south to the waters off Huntington Beach and Newport Beach.
Capt. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California San Pedro, presents a certificate of appreciation to Fairweather's commanding officer, Cmdr. James Crocker.
Capt. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California San Pedro, presents a certificate of appreciation to Fairweather‘s commanding officer, Cmdr. James Crocker. Photo courtesy of Capt. Kip Louttit

Retired Coast Guard captain J. Kip Louttit, executive director of the Marine Exchange of Southern California San Pedro, visited the ship last week to thank the “great ship and crew [for] doing an incredibly necessary survey for the ports.”
The Fairweather usually operates in Alaskan coastal waters and, last year, conducted a noteworthy hydrographic reconnaissance along the U.S. coast in Arctic waters to determine the priorities for updating Arctic charts. Fairweather is part of the NOAA fleet of ships and aircraft operated, managed, and maintained by NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, which includes both civilians and the commissioned officers of the NOAA Corps, one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The ship is homeported in Ketchikan, Alaska.

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