Mile 29.0 - RBD Empire Locks
29 RBD Empire Locks
Access to Adam’s Bay, Barataria Bay, and beaches along West Bay of the Gulf of Mexico. Heavily trafficked by fishermen. The Empire Lock and Waterway connect the Lower Mississippi with the Gulf of Mexico via Adams Bay. The lock, built by the Corps of Engineers, was opened to navigation in 1948. It is 200 feet long, 40 feet wide, and has a depth of 10 feet. The waterway channel was completed in 1950, at a cost of more than one million dollars. Commercial vessels logged almost 1.7 million ton miles through the lock and waterway in 1974. Vessels carrying seafood, shells, and off-shore oil drilling equipment and personnel use the waterway.
Increasing Fisherman Traffic
Towboat and barge traffic has been steadily declining as you travel down to the end of the river, as the freighter and tugboat traffic increases. The few tows you do encounter below New Orleans are all either work tows pushing one or two barges, or supply tows pushing 2-6 barges. Many are also without barge and performing the various duties necessary with industry at the end of the river. But now below the Empire Locks you will find another river mariner element growing in size and number, and that is fishermen. From here on down to the Gulf of Mexico you will find a steady increase of fisherman traffic, from crawfishermen to shrimpers, from sports fishermen and hard-working commercial fishermen. Sports fishermen and hunters sometime use airboats, which are the antithesis of a canoe: loud, boxy and ungainly. (Your sleep might be interrupted by these loud machines, the roar of which carries far across the waters). Some fishermen live along the river, but most live inland and board vessels within the harbors or at the few landings along the way, and follow the river to one of the many passes to travel to the secret fishing grounds. Some of these favorite fishing grounds are hidden behind the marshes, or in the many bayous and bays found down the passes, but many are within plain sight along the main channel or at the opening of one of the passes. As you paddle along you will be witness to the flourishing fishing industry, which is dependent upon a healthy river and a healthy Louisiana coastland.