More dead baby dolphins found

GULFPORT, Miss. - The number of new born or stillborn baby dolphins washing ashore from the Gulf or the Mississippi Sound continued to rise. The total in Mississippi and Alabama alone is 36 calves and eight adults or young adults, as of mid-day Monday. Researchers in Mississippi and Alabama are concerned about the sharp spike in the number of dead newborns along the coasts of the two states before the birthing season for dolphins gets fully under way. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/28/11)

Contract: Lockheed Martin, $7.5M

Lockheed Martin MS2, Moorestown, N.J., was awarded a $7,500,000 modification to previously awarded contract to exercise an option for engineering services for DDG 51 class and CG 47 class Aegis combat system installation, integration and test, and fleet life cycle engineering support for the program executive officer for Integrated Warfare Systems. Some of the work, 1 percent, will be done in Pascagoula, Miss. Half the work will be done in New Jersey, and the rest in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Ohio, Florida, California, and Maine. Work is expected to be completed by September 2011. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. (Source: DoD, 02/25/11)

Latest destroyer delivered to Navy

PASCAGOULA, Miss. - The Navy welcomed its latest destroyer Wednesday afternoon after accepting ownership of the William P. Lawrence during a ceremony at Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding's Pascagoula shipyard. The ship, which is 510 feet long and carries a 276-person crew, will be capable of simultaneously fighting air, surface and subsurface battles. The ship will leave Pascagoula May 19. (Source: Mississippi Press, 02/24/11)

Austal tax break goes up

MOBILE, Ala. - Austal USA decided to spend more on its latest expansion and will get a bigger tax break. The Mobile City Industrial Development Board voted Wednesday to exempt Austal from some $19.7 million in sales and nonschool property taxes over the next 10 years, up from the $8.9 million in tax breaks that were approved a month ago. The additional work drove up the cost of the work from $75 million to $145 million. (Source: Mobile Press-Register, 02/24/11)

Infant dolphin deaths up

GULFPORT, Miss. - Baby dolphins are washing up along the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines at 10 times the normal rate. The Sun Herald reports that 17 young dolphins, either aborted or dead soon after birth, have been collected along the shorelines. It's the first birthing season for dolphins since the BP oil spill. Moby Solangi, director of the Institute of Marine Mammal Studies, said that typically in January and February one or two baby dolphins per month will be found in Mississippi and Alabama. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/21/11) Over the weekend, Samantha Joye, a scientist from the University of Georgia, told a science conference in Washington that the oil from the BP spill is not degrading as quickly as hoped and has decimated life on parts of the sea floor. (Source: Multiple, including AP, 02/20/11)

Destroyer's mast antenna breaks off

The upper part of the mast on the destroyer USS Gravely broke off Sunday off the northern Florida coast while conducting routine operations, the Navy said. The damage was to the mast mounted antenna. Nobody was injured and the ship safely returned to Mayport, Fla. The Gravely, DDG 107, was build by Northrop Grumman at its Pascagoula shipyard. The ship was commissioned in November. (Source: Navy Times, 02/15/11)

VT Halter gets contract

PASCAGOULA, Miss. – VT Halter Marine has won a $144 million contract to build a second carrier vessel for a Hawaii company, officials said. The company will build a roll-on/roll-off car/truck carrier for Pasha Hawaii by fall of 2013 that will provide weekly service between the West Coast and Hawaii. The company also signed an option agreement for the construction of a third vessel with a base price of $137 million. (Source: Sun Herald, 02/16/11)

Boatman assumes MTS presidency

COLUMBIA, Md. - Jerry Boatman, Ocean Science and Technology Director of QinetiQ North America, has assumed new duties as president of the Marine Technology Society. Boatman, who will serve two years, is a former senior manager of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command at Stennis Space Center, Miss. Drew Michel, owner and principal consultant of ROV Technologies Inc., Houston, TX, is the society’s president-elect. The Marine Technology Society is an international community of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers and educators who provide the ocean community with forums for the exchange of information and ideas through its peer-reviewed MTS Journal, conferences, newsletters and Web site. (Source: Marine Technology Society, January 2011)

Menhaden catch down

Gulf of Mexico menhaden landings fell 17 percent in 2010 as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill curtailed the season. Ben Landry, director of public affairs for Omega Protein, said the 2010 fishing season was rough. The company thinks the season's lower-than-average catch was due to the water closures rather than any problems with the menhaden population. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that the 2010 menhaden season saw 379,727 metric tons landed at four Gulf sites, compared to 457,457 metric tons in 2009. (Source: Mississippi Press, 02/03/11)

Keel laid for new survey ship

MOSS POINT, Miss. - VT Halter Marine laid the keel Tuesday of a multimillion-dollar Navy research vessel named after Matthew Fontaine Maury, the father of modern oceanography. The T-AGS 66 research vessel is 253 feet long and can carry a crew of 67. It will take about 18 months to complete the ship, officials said. VT Halter Marine has about 1,800 employees at its Moss Point, Pascagoula and Escatawpa yards. (Sources: WLOX-TV, 02/01/11, Mississippi Press, 02/02/11)