Louisiana River Discharge

This project provides Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River discharge data for use by departmental biologists in determining commercial and recreational finfish and shellfish harvesting seasons.

Mississippi River at Tarbert Landing

Atchafalaya River at Simmesport

Station locations are determined by the U. S. Corps of Engineers. LDWF maintains its river discharge database based upon data obtained through this agency. It is suggested that interested parties obtain source river discharge data directly from the parent agency through this contact:

John Miller

Department of the Army

New Orleans District, Corps of Engineers

Coastal Engineering Section

Hydraulics and Hydrologic Branch

P. O. Box 60267

New Orleans, LA 70160-0267

Data available upon written request to Division Administrator. See supplemental information on "Item ID" page for important details regarding source access.

Contact Information:

Division Administrator

La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries

Marine Fisheries Division

P. O. Box 98000

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70898-9000

Telephone: (225) 765-2384

The Office of Fisheries, Marine Fisheries Division uses SAS® version 6.12 as its' database management system. The SAS® server runs in the VMS Operating System on the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) Alpha platform. The data managers may access the databases by logging on to personal computers that are connected to a local area network or by using a stand alone terminal. The server holds large amounts of data and has the networking power needed to interface with several machines at once, allowing for concurrent usage of databases.

Hardware Components

1. Local Processing Facility

Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) ALPHASERVER Model 300 4/266

2. Ethernet

Allows for the transfer of information between the local processing facility and the various pieces of hardware and software. Uses TCP/IP software to translate various languages to permit communication among applications.

3. Microsoft® NT network

Allows access to the databases from various locations within the Baton Rouge Office and remote field offices. Each client is networked to various peripherals (IE: printservers, plotters, scanners)

4. Tape backup system

Allows computer operators to save work performed at the terminals and personal computers and backup work done in the event of power failure. This system is equipped to read 8mm tapes. The backup drive contains five, 20gb drives capable of storing 100 gigabytes of information.