

The pictures presented in this article were taken this morning as our ship passed through the tide line on our way to a new location in the US Gulf of Mexico.

The “tide line” (sometimes called the current line) is the point at which the fresh muddy water of the Mississippi River meets the clear blue saltwater of the Gulf of Mexico. Contrary to what you might think, there is often a very pronounced transition between these two sources of water that is easily visible with the human eye.

In over a decade of observing the tide line from both helicopters and ships, I have never seen the current line more pronounced or extend as far out as it was this morning due primarily (in my opinion) to the increasing flow rates in the Mississippi River.

Although the tide lines may be interesting to look at, I’m worried about the shrimp and oyster industries along the Gulf Coast that could be potentially devastated by sudden influx of an unusual amount of fresh muddy Mississippi River water.

From what I understand, the “shallow” water shrimping fleets may be faced with the decision of traveling further offshore to fish in their smaller boats or simply staying put and loosing out on their source of income.