|
Photographs by C.C. Lockwood In the 1950's A 1986 survey found that over 70 percent of all recreational fishing trips originating in Louisiana and extending more than three miles from shore targeted oil and gas structures in 1984.
The same survey determined that fishermen who fished around oil and gas structures caught more, bigger, and more desirable fish (such as snapper, grouper, sea trout, and mackerel) on the average than did marine recreational fishermen who fished in other areas. With these facts in mind, the Louisiana Artificial Reef Program makes sense. Since 1986, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (DWF) has managed the reef program, deploying various structures -- primarily obsolete offshore platforms -- in the Gulf to enhance fisheries habitat. DWF identifies the best locations for reefs, taking navigation concerns as well as shrimping and other fishing activity into account. Through cooperative agreements, industry provides installation of structures that it no longer has use for.
The program reduces the costs that a company would pay for removal or disposal of obsolete platforms. Half of the money saved by donating platforms to the program is placed in a trust fund. The monies in this fund are used to maintain and monitor the reefs and provide navigational aids to help the local recreational fisherman find them safely. Conoco, Inc., for example, donated an obsolete offshore platform in May 1995. A check for $87,500 -- half of the company's savings -- accompanied the platform donation.
DWF is also working with Freeport McMoRan to explore the feasibility of converting its mile-long sulfur mine platform off Grand Isle into an artificial reef. It is described by the department as "very likely to be the largest artificial reef in the world." In September 1995, 40 armored personnel carriers -- Vietnamese vehicles weighing about 12 tons each -- were given to the program by the U.S. Department of Defense. Engines and all other usable parts were removed, and the vehicles were drained of all fluids and thoroughly steam-cleaned before being presented. Rick Kasprzak, Coordinator of the Artificial Reef Program, say the submerged metal -- whether it be a platform or a military vehicle -- "provides hard surfaces for corals, bryozoans, barnacles, mussels, and other encrusting organisms. These organisms form the basis of the food chain for numerous species of sport and commercial fish."
He notes that the reef program is "a win-win situation," bringing industry, government, and the community together in an environmental partnership "at no cost to the taxpayers." Since the program began, Kasprzak says, 60 oil and gas platforms have been converted into artificial reefs in the Gulf off Louisiana. An estimated 90 percent of the 4,000 offshore oil and gas platforms in the United States are located in Louisiana and Texas offshore waters. Fisheries biologists have documented that these structures harbor 50 to 75 percent more fish than nearby soft bottoms.
November - December 1995.
Return to the Cover Stories Table of Contents Page
Return to the Louisiana Environmentalist Magazine Home Page
|
and 1960's, offshore recreational fishermen and scuba divers from Louisiana and Texas discovered that oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were excellent places to find and catch fish.
