You’d think citizens would be outraged if they knew the U.S. government was mandating industry spend billions of dollars to remove thriving sessile marine habitat from the Gulf of Mexico. Attitudes change when that habitat is growing on the superstructure of decommissioned oil rigs and is caught up in the backlash of public outcry over the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
There are over 3000 oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. Of those, 813 are what the oil industry calls idle iron, platforms that no longer produce oil.
In October 2010 the U.S. Department of Interior issued a directive in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill ordering all non-producing oil rigs be plugged and any remaining structure be removed within five years. The directive called the Idle Iron policy is a boon to a decommissioning industry valued at 30 to 40 billion dollars. As a result, hundreds of oil platforms have been removed from the Gulf of Mexico since 2010 with 359 scheduled for removal in 2013.
Many refer to the Gulf oil rigs as “the largest manmade reef if the world”. Removal of decommissioned oil platforms could eliminate thousands of acres of vibrant ecosystems that support a huge variety of marine life from the smallest baitfish to the largest ocean predators. Rig removal could also be catastrophic to recreational fishing and diving. A study published in 2001 estimated 21.9 percent of recreational fishing trips and 93.6 percent of recreational dive trips in the Gulf took place in the vicinity of oil platforms.
In September of 2011 Senator David Vitter (R-La) filed the Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act in the Senate while Representative Steven Palazzo (R-Miss) introduced a companion bill in the House of Representatives. The legislation would stop the insensate removal of oil rigs and allow them to remain as artificial reefs. “More than ever we need to create habitat for marine life in the Gulf, not dispose of it,” said Senator Vitter. “These idle rigs are serving a valuable purpose by supporting our fisheries, and it just doesn’t make sense to remove them.” Both bills have failed to gain momentum and are bogged down in committee but that may change due to something as innocuous as a definition.
At a recent Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council meeting, Dr. Bob Shipp made a motion that the Council clearly defines what qualifies as artificial structure. This may not sound like much but it could lead to oil rigs and artificial reefs being defined as Essential Fish Habitat. Such a designation may just be enough to give the floundering Rigs to Reefs Habitat Protection Act the teeth it needs to pull out of stagnation and pass through congress.
The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council convened its Ad Hoc Artificial Substrate Advisory Panel February 28, 2013 in Tampa Florida. This was the first step in possibly defining oil platforms as Essential Fish Habitat. Progress of this effort can be tracked by clicking here and then scrolling down until you find the topic titled Fixed Petroleum Platforms and Artificial Reefs as Essential Fish Habitat.
If you would like to let the Council know your views on designating oil platforms as Essential Fish Habitat you can leave your comments by clicking here.