Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana)
The Pearl River is a river in the U. S. states of Louisiana. It forms in Neshoba County, Mississippi from the confluence of Nanih Waiya and Tallahaga creeks. and has a meander length of 444 miles. The lower part of the river forms part of the boundary between Louisiana; the river contains large areas of bottomland hardwood swamp and cypress swamp, providing habitat for many species of wildlife including sturgeon and black bears. As as 2008, endangered Ivory-billed woodpeckers were sighted here; the mouth of the river provides important marsh habitat along salinity gradients. It is considered to be one of the most critical areas of natural habitat remaining in Louisiana; the Mississippi state capital, Jackson, is located on the river. The Yockanookany and Strong rivers are tributaries on the upper section and the Bogue Chitto is a tributary on the lower section. In 1924 the Tuscolameta Creek received a 24-mile channelization and Yockanookany River received a 36-mile canal, completed in 1928; the Bogue Chitto's mean low-water discharge is nearly six times the mean low-water discharge of the Pearl River at Jackson, according to a 1936 government report of the Mississippi Planning Commission.
Northeast of Jackson, the Ross Barnett Reservoir is formed by a 1962 dam. Average annual rainfall is about 52 inches in the upper third of the basin, below Jackson the basin rainfall increases to 64 inches or more; the Yockanookany River along with the Lobutcha and Pelahatchie Creeks are major tributaries to the river north of Jackson. West of Picayune, about 50 miles above the mouth, the river forks; the East Pearl River empties into Lake Borgne, where the dredged Pearl River Channel meets the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The discharge flows eastward past Grand Island into the Mississippi Sound; the West Pearl River flows into The Rigolets, thence into Lake Borgne. Both discharges reach the Gulf of Mexico; the Pearl River serves as the 115-mile boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana in its lower reach near the Gulf of Mexico. Pearl River provides the receiving waters for the Savanna Street Sewage Treatment Plant in Jackson, Mississippi. Which lies about 180 miles from the mouth of the river.
The Pearl passes near or through the following towns: Philadelphia, Mississippi Pearl River, Mississippi - Named after the river. Carthage, Mississippi Jackson, Mississippi Flowood, Mississippi Pearl, Mississippi - Named after the river. Georgetown, Mississippi Rockport, Mississippi Monticello, Mississippi Columbia, Mississippi Bogalusa, Louisiana Picayune, Mississippi Pearlington, Mississippi - named after the river. Pearl River, Louisiana - named after the river. For the year 1827 the enrolled and licensed tonnage for Pearl River shipping was 750 tons; the customhouse at Pearl River, ten miles inland at the small town of Pearlington, Mississippi was changed, but in 1904 the district reported a total of 358 vessels and 19,869 tons. The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has undertaken three significant navigation projects in the Pearl River Basin. In 1880, Congress authorized a 5-foot navigation channel on the West Pearl River from Jackson to the Rigolets; that project was discontinued in 1922. Beginning in 1910, a channel was dredged from the mouth of the East Pearl River into Lake Borgne, a project, maintained on an irregular basis.
In 1935, the West Pearl River Navigation Project was authorized. It provided for a navigation channel from Bogalusa to the mouth of the West Pearl River; the project includes a canal with three locks. The Corps of Engineers placed the project in "caretaker" status in the 1970s because of a decline in commercial traffic. Maintenance dredging resumed in December 1988. In the 1950s, underwater concrete sills were constructed to help maintain water levels in the navigation channel; this has prevented Gulf sturgeon and other migratory species from accessing upstream areas. A rock ramp constructed in 2003 helps fish navigate over one of the sills, but environmental groups propose further work to mitigate the effects of the navigation project. Building dams, canals and water control structures is known to have negative effects on wetlands and the ecological services they provide; these artificial structures are being removed to allow natural river activities to resume. The Pascagoula River is one of the few remaining southern rivers with natural water regimes, is a potential model for restoring the Pearl River floodplain.
At the Bogalusa, Louisiana gauge the river was recorded in 1983 and 1987 as delivering nearly 3.5 million metric tons and 2.5 million metric tons of sediment respectively. Hurricanes are a natural form of disturbance that shapes rivers and watersheds on the Gulf Coast, has done so for thousands of years; as one recent example, Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 caused further natural changes in the Pearl River. Bottom sediments and marsh vegetation—including uprooted cypress and oak trees—blocked the mouth of the West Pearl and other parts of the channel; the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries and other agencies removed 27,000 cubic meters of debris. However, the accumulation of this woody debris is a natural part of floodplain ecosystems in general, wetlands in particular, provides vital habitat for species including fish and turtles. Hence, this use of state funds to remove debris was an expenditure on an activity, known to have negative impacts upon watersheds and wild species. List of rivers of Louisiana List of rivers of Mississippi 1979 Easter flood South Atlantic-Gulf Water Resource Region U.
S. Geological Sur
Gulf Islands National Seashore
Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland parts of seven islands; some islands along the Alabama coast were considered for inclusion, but none is part of the National Seashore. The Florida District of the seashore features offshore barrier islands with sparkling white quartz sand beaches, historic fortifications, nature trails. Mainland features near Pensacola, include the Naval Live Oaks Reservation and military forts. All Florida areas are accessible by automobile; the Mississippi District of the seashore features natural beaches, historic sites, wildlife sanctuaries, islands accessible only by boat, nature trails, picnic areas, campgrounds. The Davis Bayou Area is the only portion of the National Seashore in Mississippi, accessible by automobile. Petit Bois, East Ship, West Ship, Cat islands are accessible only by boat.
The 4,080 acres Gulf Islands Wilderness offers special protection, within the seashore, to parts of Petit Bois Island and Horn Island, Mississippi. Considerable damage to public infrastructure occurred as a result of storms during the 2004 and 2005 Atlantic hurricane seasons. In subsequent years, infrastructure was repaired. All roadways, parking areas and visitor centers have been repaired and are operational. A few trails and associated boardwalks and dune crossovers were still under repair as of late 2010 near the Fort Pickens campground. Principal islands in the seashore: Santa Rosa Island - Florida Perdido Key - Florida Petit Bois Island - Mississippi West Petit Bois Island - Mississippi Horn Island - Mississippi East Ship Island - Mississippi West Ship Island - Mississippi Cat Island - Mississippi The national seashore was authorized on January 8, 1971, is administered by the National Park Service; the wilderness area was designated on November 10, 1978. Four visitor centers, staffed by National Park personnel, are located within Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Three are located in Florida, one is located in Mississippi. Florida Visitor Centers Naval Live Oaks Visitor Center and Park Headquarters Building, Gulf Breeze, Florida Fort Barrancas Visitor Center Fort Pickens Visitor Center, Pensacola Beach, FloridaMississippi Visitor Centers William M. Colmer Visitor Center, Ocean Springs, Mississippi Near Fort Massachusetts Two developed campgrounds are located in the National Seashore. Primitive camping is permitted in designated areas. Campground fees are posted at the "Fees and Reservations" website. In Florida, the Pickens Campground is a developed one and provides water and electrical hookups for recreational vehicles and tents. Roads are paved throughout the campground, as well as each campsite; the environment is characterized by sand scrub oaks, small brackish ponds, a remnant pine forest on a barrier island between Pensacola Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. Central restrooms and showers are available. A campground store reopened in late 2010. There are no sewer hookups at the campsites.
Reservations can be made through the "ReserveAmerica" website from March through October. From November through February, sites are available on a first-served basis; the campground is located 1.5 miles from Fort Pickens itself. In Mississippi, the Davis Bayou Campground is developed, providing water and electrical hookups for recreational vehicles and tents. Roads are paved throughout the campground, as well as each campsite; the environment is characterized by an oak and pine forest adjacent to a brackish bayou connected to Mississippi Sound. Central restrooms and showers are available. There are no sewer hookups at the campsites. Reservations can be made through the "ReserveAmerica" website. Campsites not reserved for the day are available on a first-come, first-served basis; the campground is located at the end of roadway leading through the Davis Bayou Area. Primitive camping is permitted on several of the barrier islands. Boating or hiking in is required; such camping is allowed on Perdido Key, on government-owned properties on Petit Bois, East Ship, Cat islands in Mississippi.
With several islands in Mississippi designated as "wilderness areas", an unusual opportunity exists along the northern Gulf Coast for a wilderness experience. The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, beginning 20 April 2010, released masses of oil and tar which began washing ashore, in varying amounts, along the Gulf Islands National Seashore on 1 June 2010. On 23 June 2010, wave after wave of oil pools and globs began covering the beaches on Santa Rosa Island, resulting in a fishing and swimming ban; the oil-spill disaster affected every large island in the group. A variety of fees apply to various activities at the National Seashore. Current fees can be viewed at the National Seashore's "Fees and Reservations" website. Entrance fees are charged at the entrance to the Fort Pickens area at Pensacola Beach, as well as the Johnson Beach Area at Perdido Key in Florida; the typical automobile entrance fee is good for seven days. Annual passes can be purchased for US$30; the various forms of the "America the Beautiful - National Parks and Federal Recreational Lands Pass" are accepted.
There are no entrance fees charged in any other areas
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a U. S. federal agency under the Department of Defense and a major Army command made up of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it one of the world's largest public engineering and construction management agencies. Although associated with dams and flood protection in the United States, USACE is involved in a wide range of public works throughout the world; the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps' mission is to "Deliver vital military engineering services. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment, dredging for waterway navigation. Design and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. Environmental regulation and ecosystem restoration.
The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, when the Continental Congress organized an army with a chief engineer and two assistants. Colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washington's first chief engineer. One of his first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill; the Continental Congress recognized the need for engineers trained in military fortifications and asked the government of King Louis XVI of France for assistance. Many of the early engineers in the Continental Army were former French officers. Louis Lebègue Duportail, a lieutenant colonel in the French Royal Corps of Engineers, was secretly sent to America in March 1777 to serve in Washington's Continental Army. In July 1777 he was appointed colonel and commander of all engineers in the Continental Army, in November 17, 1777, he was promoted to brigadier general; when the Continental Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers in May 1779 Duportail was designated as its commander.
In late 1781 he directed the construction of the allied U. S.-French siege works at the Battle of Yorktown. From 1794 to 1802 the engineers were combined with the artillery as the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers; the Corps of Engineers, as it is known today, came into existence on 16 March 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson signed the Military Peace Establishment Act whose aim was to "organize and establish a Corps of Engineers... that the said Corps... shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a military academy." Until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. The General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey canal routes; that same year, Congress passed an "Act to Improve the Navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" and to remove sand bars on the Ohio and "planters, sawyers, or snags" on the Mississippi, for which the Corps of Engineers was the responsible agency.
Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers consisted only of officers and was used for mapping and the design and construction of federal civil works and other coastal fortifications and navigational routes, it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey; the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids. The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852. In the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers' officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers; the Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War. Many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War.
Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard; the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges and batteries, the destruction of enemy supply lines, the construction of roads; the Union forces were not the only ones to employ the use of engineers throughout the war, on 6 March 1861, once the South had seceded from the Union, among the different acts passed at the time, a provision was included that called for the creation of a Confederate Corps of Engineers. The progression of the war demonstrated the South's disadvantage in engineering expertise. To overcome this obstacle, the Confederate Congress passed legislation that gave a company of engineers to every division in the field. One of the main projects for the Army Corps of Engineers was constructing railroads and bridges, which Union forces took advantage of because railroads and bridges provided access to resources and industry.
One area where the Confederate engineers were able to outperform the Union Army was in the ability to build fortification
Barge
A barge is a flat-bottomed ship, built for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and must be towed or pushed by towboats, canal barges or towed by draft animals on an adjacent towpath. Barges contended with the railway in the early Industrial Revolution, but were outcompeted in the carriage of high-value items due to the higher speed, falling costs and route flexibility of railways. Barge is attested from Old French barge, from Vulgar Latin barga; the word could refer to any small boat. Bark, "small ship", is attested from Old French barque, from Vulgar Latin barca; the more precise meaning "three-masted ship" arose in the 17th century, takes the French spelling for disambiguation. Both are derived from the Latin barica, from Ancient Greek: βάρις, translit. Báris, lit.'Egyptian boat', from Coptic: ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ bāri "small boat", hieroglyphic Egyptian and similar ba-y-r for "basket-shaped boat". By extension, the term "embark" means to board the kind of boat called a "barque".
The long pole used to maneuver or propel a barge has given rise to the saying "I wouldn't touch that with a barge pole." On the British canal system, the term'barge' is used to describe a boat wider than a narrowboat, the people who move barges are known as lightermen. On the UK canal system, boats wider than seven feet are referred to as widebeam. In the United States, deckhands are supervised by a leadman or the mate; the captain and pilot steer the towboat, which pushes one or more barges held together with rigging, collectively called'the tow'. The crew live aboard the towboat as it travels along the inland river system or the intracoastal waterways; these towboats travel between ports and are called line-haul boats. Poles are used on barges to fend off the barge as it nears a wharf; these are called'pike poles'. Barges are used today for low-value bulk items, as the cost of hauling goods by barge is low. Barges are used for heavy or bulky items; the most common European barge can carry up to about 2,450 tonnes.
As an example, on June 26, 2006, a 565-short-ton catalytic cracking unit reactor was shipped by barge from the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma to a refinery in Pascagoula, Mississippi. Large objects are shipped in sections and assembled onsite, but shipping an assembled unit reduced costs and avoided reliance on construction labor at the delivery site. Of the reactor's 700-mile journey, only about 40 miles were traveled overland, from the final port to the refinery. Self-propelled barges may be used as such when traveling upstream in placid waters. Canal barges are made for the particular canal in which they will operate. Many barges Dutch barges, which were designed for carrying cargo along the canals of Europe, are no longer large enough to compete in this industry with larger newer vessels. Many of these barges have been renovated and are now used as luxury hotel barges carrying holidaymakers along the same canals on which they once carried grain or coal. In primitive regions today and in all pre-development regions worldwide in times before industrial development and highways, barges were the predominant and most efficient means of inland transportation in many regions.
This holds true today, for many areas of the world. In such pre-industrialized, or poorly developed infrastructure regions, many barges are purpose-designed to be powered on waterways by long slender poles – thereby becoming known on American waterways as poleboats as the extensive west of North America was settled using the vast tributary river systems of the Mississippi drainage basin. Poleboats use muscle power of "walkers" along the sides of the craft pushing a pole against the streambed, canal or lake bottom to move the vessel where desired. In settling the American west it was faster to navigate downriver from Brownsville, Pennsylvania, to the Ohio River confluence with the Mississippi and pole upriver against the current to St. Louis than to travel overland on the rare primitive dirt roads for many decades after the American Revolution. Once the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroads reached Chicago, that time dynamic changed, American poleboats became less common, relegated to smaller rivers and more remote streams.
On the Mississippi riverine system today, including that of other sheltered waterways, industrial barge trafficking in bulk raw materials such as coal, timber, iron ore and other minerals is common. Such barges need to be pushed by towboats. Canal barges, towed by draft animals on a waterway adjacent towpath were of fundamental importance in the early Industrial Revolution, whose major early engineering projects were efforts to build viaducts and canals to fuel and feed raw materials to nascent factories in the early industrial takeoff and take their goods to ports and cities for distribution; the barge and ca
Sound (geography)
In geography, a sound is a large sea or ocean inlet, deeper than a bight and wider than a fjord. There is little consistency in the use of "sound" in English-language place names. A sound is formed by the seas flooding a river valley; this produces a long inlet where the sloping valley hillsides descend to sea-level and continue beneath the water to form a sloping sea floor. The Marlborough Sounds. Sometimes a sound is produced by a glacier carving out a valley on a coast receding, or the sea invading a glacier valley; the glacier produces a sound that has steep, near vertical sides that extend deep under water. The sea floor is flat and deeper at the landward end than the seaward end, due to glacial moraine deposits; this type of sound is more properly termed a fjord. The sounds in Fiordland, New Zealand, have been formed this way. A sound connotes a protected anchorage, they can be part of most large islands. In the more general northern European usage, a sound is a strait or the most narrow part of a strait.
In Scandinavia and around the Baltic Sea, there are more than a hundred straits named Sund named for the island they separate from the continent or a larger island. In contrast, the Sound is the internationally recognized, short name for the Øresund, the narrow stretch of water that separates Denmark and Sweden, is the main waterway between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea, it is a colloquial short name, among others, for Plymouth Sound, England. In areas explored by the British in the late 18th Century the northwest coast of North America, the term "sound" was applied to inlets containing large islands, such as Howe Sound in Vancouver and Puget Sound in Washington State, it was applied to bodies of open water not open to the ocean, such as Caamaño Sound or Queen Charlotte Sound in Canada, or broadenings or mergings at the openings of inlets, like Cross Sound in Alaska and Fitz Hugh Sound in British Columbia. In the United States, Long Island Sound separates Long Island from the eastern shores of the Bronx, Westchester County, southern Connecticut, but on the Atlantic Ocean side of Long Island, the body of water between Long Island and its barrier beaches is termed the Great South Bay.
Pamlico Sound is a similar lagoon that lies between North Carolina and its barrier beaches, the Outer Banks, in a similar situation. The Mississippi Sound separates the Gulf of Mexico from the mainland, along much of the gulf coasts of Alabama and Mississippi. On the West Coast, Puget Sound, by contrast, is a deep arm of the ocean; the term sound is derived from the Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse word sund, which means "swimming". The word sund is documented in Old Norse and Old English as meaning "gap"; this suggests a relation to verbs meaning "to separate", such as absondern and aussondern, söndra, sondre, as well as the English noun sin, German Sünde, Swedish synd. English has the adjective "asunder" and the noun "sundry', Swedish has the adjective sönder. In Swedish and in both Norwegian languages, "sund" is the general term for any strait. In Swedish and Nynorsk, it is part of names worldwide, such as in Swedish "Berings sund" and "Gibraltar sund", in Nynorsk "Beringsundet" and "Gibraltarsundet".
Broad Sound near Clairview, Queensland Camden Sound at Kuri Bay, Western Australia Cockburn Sound, Western Australia Denham Sound, part of Shark Bay in Western Australia King George Sound at Albany, Western Australia King Sound at Derby, Western Australia Montague Sound, near Bigge Island, Western Australia Noosa Sound, Queensland York Sound, Western Australia Exuma Sound, bordered by Eleuthera, Cat Island and Great Exuma, among others Millars Sound, New Providence North Sound, Bimini Rock Sound, Eleuthera Great Sound, towards the island's northwest end Harrington Sound, towards the northeast end Little Sound, part of Great Sound North Sound, Virgin Gorda South Sound, Virgin Gorda Amet Sound on the northern coast of Nova Scotia on the Northumberland Strait Barkley Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia Baynes Sound between Denman Island and Vancouver Island, British Columbia Chatham Sound, off the North Coast of British Columbia Clayoquot Sound in Vancouver Island, British Columbia Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island's east coast Desolation Sound between the Discovery Islands and the coast of British Columbia Eclipse Sound between Baffin Island and Bylot Island in Nunavut Eureka Sound between Ellesmere Island and Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut Fitz Hugh Sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia Hamilton Sound between Fogo Island and the Island of Newfoundland Howe Sound, an inlet northwest of Vancouver, British Columbia Jones Sound between Devon Island and Ellesmere Island in Nunavut Kyuquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia Lancaster Sound between Devon Island and Baffin Island in Nunavut Massey Sound between Amund Ringnes Island and Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut Nansen Sound between Ellesmere Island and Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut Newman Sound in Terra Nova National Park and Labrador Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia Northumberland Sound between Maclean Strait and Norwegian Bay, Nunavut Owen Sound in Ontario Parry Sound in Ontario Peel Sound between Prince of Wales Island and Somerset Island in Nunavut Quatsino Sound on northern Vancouver Island Queen Charlotte Sound off British Columbia Random Sound near Clarenville in Newfoundland and Labrador Roes Welcome Sound between Southampton Island and Hudson Bay's west shore in Nunavut Severn Sound in O
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is the coastal defense and maritime law enforcement branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's seven uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, multi-mission service unique among the U. S. military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency mission as part of its mission set. It operates under the U. S. Department of Homeland Security during peacetime, can be transferred to the U. S. Department of the Navy by the U. S. President at any time, or by the U. S. Congress during times of war; this has happened twice: in 1917, during World War I, in 1941, during World War II. Created by Congress on 4 August 1790 at the request of Alexander Hamilton as the Revenue-Marine, it is the oldest continuous seagoing service of the United States; as Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton headed the Revenue-Marine, whose original purpose was collecting customs duties in the nation's seaports. By the 1860s, the service was known as the U.
S. Revenue Cutter Service and the term Revenue-Marine fell into disuse; the modern Coast Guard was formed by a merger of the Revenue Cutter Service and the U. S. Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915, under the U. S. Department of the Treasury; as one of the country's five armed services, the Coast Guard has been involved in every U. S. war from 1790 to the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan. The Coast Guard has 40,992 men and women on active duty, 7,000 reservists, 31,000 auxiliarists, 8,577 full-time civilian employees, for a total workforce of 87,569; the Coast Guard maintains an extensive fleet of 243 coastal and ocean-going patrol ships, tenders and icebreakers called "cutters", 1650 smaller boats, as well as an extensive aviation division consisting of 201 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. While the U. S. Coast Guard is the smallest of the U. S. military service branches in terms of membership, the U. S. Coast Guard by itself is the world's 12th largest naval force; the Coast Guard carries out three basic roles, which are further subdivided into eleven statutory missions.
The three roles are: Maritime safety Maritime security Maritime stewardshipWith a decentralized organization and much responsibility placed on the most junior personnel, the Coast Guard is lauded for its quick responsiveness and adaptability in a broad range of emergencies. In a 2005 article in Time magazine following Hurricane Katrina, the author wrote, "the Coast Guard's most valuable contribution to may be as a model of flexibility, most of all, spirit." Wil Milam, a rescue swimmer from Alaska told the magazine, "In the Navy, it was all about the mission. Practicing for war, training for war. In the Coast Guard, it was, take care of our people and the mission will take care of itself." The eleven statutory missions as defined by law are divided into homeland security missions and non-homeland security missions: Ice operations, including the International Ice Patrol Living marine resources Marine environmental protection Marine safety Aids to navigation Search and rescue Defense readiness Maritime law enforcement Migrant interdiction Ports and coastal security Drug interdiction See National Search and Rescue Committee See Joint Rescue Coordination CentersWhile the U.
S. Coast Guard Search and Rescue is not the oldest search and rescue organization in the world, it is one of the Coast Guard's best-known operations; the National Search and Rescue Plan designates the Coast Guard as the federal agency responsible for maritime SAR operations, the United States Air Force as the federal agency responsible for inland SAR. Both agencies maintain rescue coordination centers to coordinate this effort, have responsibility for both military and civilian search and rescue; the two services jointly provide instructor staff for the National Search and Rescue School that trains SAR mission planners and coordinators. Located on Governors Island, New York, the school is now located at Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown at Yorktown, Virginia. Operated by the Coast Guard, the National Response Center is the sole U. S. Government point of contact for reporting all oil, radiological and etiological spills and discharges into the environment, anywhere in the United States and its territories.
In addition to gathering and distributing spill/incident information for Federal On Scene Coordinators and serving as the communications and operations center for the National Response Team, the NRC maintains agreements with a variety of federal entities to make additional notifications regarding incidents meeting established trigger criteria. The NRC takes Maritime Suspicious Activity and Security Breach Reports. Details on the NRC organization and specific responsibilities can be found in the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; the Marine Information for Safety and Law Enforcement database system is managed and used by the Coast Guard for tracking pollution and safety incidents in the nation's ports. The National Maritime Center is the merchant mariner credentialing authority for the USCG under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security. To ensure a safe and environmentally sound marine transportation system, the mission of the NMC is to issue credentials to qualified mariners in the United States maritime jurisdiction.
The five uniformed services that make up the U. S. Armed Forces are defined in Title 10 of the U. S. Code: The term "armed forces" means the Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard; the Coast Guard is further defined by Title 14 of the United States Code: The Coast Guar
