The Benefits of Leaving Oil and Gas Rigs Intact to Serve as Artificial Reefs
(closely related compounds that function in the same way as the original, natural compound, but are patentable). Because of this, even the testing of these compounds for bioactivity and potential biomedical use requires quantities of these organisms which are extremely difficult and expensive to obtain.19
Nonetheless, they are required in order to extract appropriate amounts and this is causing a marked decline in some source populations. Figure 4 presents a number of invertebrates that may prove useful in combating lethal diseases or possess nutritional benefits. Thousands of ornamental fish and millions of invertebrates inhabit the underwater substrate beneath offshore oil and gas platforms (EcoRigs 2010). These fish can be harvested in a sustainable manner (EcoRigs 2010) and sold to the US wholesale aquarium market, which generates from US$120 to US$200 million annually.20
The sustainable fisheries programme is a
plan to incorporate the scores of platforms scheduled to be retired (150–200/year) into a large mariculture production system to raise a diverse range of organisms. The decommissioned structures could be submerged as artificial reefs or left standing to provide a number of services. The scene below depicts the utilization of standing platforms for fish hatcheries and nutrition. They can be used for power, maintenance and supplies, fish unloading and transport to shore, and invertebrate culture. Figure 5 is a schematic of sustainable fisheries program and possible applications for retired platforms.
Fish Sanctuaries
Developing fish sanctuaries to create an ecological balance with a sustainable fishery zone should be examined. The benefits to be derived from a sanctuary are a ‘spillover’ effect where adults, juveniles, and larvae export out of the sanctuary, from where they will eventually
Sustainable fishery programmes can provide an infrastructure for a variety of mariculture applications. It is an effort to utilise the thousands of platforms expected to be removed in the next 10–15 years Photographs by Toby Armstrong and Scott Porter.
recruit into the fishery. Sanctuaries stabilize a fishery, in one area the fish are harvested and the other area, the fish are produced.21
there are over 750 idle platforms awaiting removal. Some of these retired structures could easily be used to create marine sanctuaries. For anyone concerned that the sustainable fisheries might overharvest fish populations, the sanctuaries could provide a refuge for exploited species and improve ecosystem health by protecting biodiversity and habitats.
Economic Significance of Offshore Platforms The platforms are currently used extensively by fisherman and divers; they generate US$324 million annually and create 5,560 full-time jobs in the
Figure 4b: Crab, Lobster, Scallops, Soral, Sponge, and Other Cryptic and Attaching Invertebrates Could be Raised on the Submerged Structures
At present,
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