The accidental

ecologists
When the offshore oil and gas runs out and the oil industry packs up and goes home, it
leaves an unintended and surprising ecological legacy. But not everyone is so enamoured
with this newly discovered by-product of the oil rigs as George Steinbach, Executive Director
of the California Artificial Reef Enhancement Program explains.

S
killed and experienced
engineers from some of the
largest engineering firms in the
world designed and built the
oil and gas platforms for offshore
California. They did a good job,
because the resulting structures have
withstood wind and wave for decades
in water depths up to 1,200 feet. But
while the designers focused intently
on deck loads and sheer forces to build
platforms for drilling and production,
they inadvertently built structures
ideally shaped and configured for fish
and marine life. As these platforms
approach the end of their producing
lives, we are beginning to deal with
these unintended consequences.
Almost immediately after the
California platforms were installed,
the growth of marine life on and
around the structures was
unmistakable. Over the years, the
underwater portions of the platforms
became home to mature reef
ecosystems of fishes and invertebrates.
Some of the easily accessible platforms
are popular destinations for
recreational fishermen. Divers and
underwater photographers are
attracted to the structures by a variety
and abundance of marine life that
makes them the best dive sites in the
State. The marine growth on the
platform legs is so prolific that it
requires periodic removal to maintain
platform stability. The contractor who
cleans the legs also collects the
removed mussels and scallops for sale
into the local restaurant trade.
The platforms received little attention
from marine scientists until the US
Geological Survey (USGS) funded a
study in 1995 to determine the role
they play in the marine environment,
if any. Dr Milton Love of the Marine
Science Institute, University of
California at Santa Barbara assembled
a small team and began to survey the
fish populations on several of the
platforms. His team traversed the
entire vertical reach of the structures,
using scuba diving equipment for the
shallow portions and a two-person
submarine to reach the bottoms. The
results confirmed the anecdotal
evidence of extensive marine life, and
the surveys became annual events for
Love and his team. The research data,
collected in a consistent manner for 10

Underwater home. From l-r: Greenspotted

rockfish at bottom of Platform Grace; Starfish
in shallow midwaters at Platform Holly;
juvenile bocaccio at Platform Gilda; flag
rockfish at bottom of Platform Grace; juvenile
vermillion rockfish at Platform Gilda and
juvenile yellowtail rockfish at Platform Irene.

8 The edge Winter 2006

 The inescapable fact is that the California platforms, as they
currently exist, are extremely successful artificial reef structures
that play an important ecological role in the marine environment.
consecutive years, provides a sound
scientific basis for several conclusions
now drawn by Love.
Love surveyed fish populations on
both platforms and nearby natural reef
outcrops and found both to be
dominated by rockfishes of genus
Sebastes, a commercially important
group of fishes on the Pacific Coast.
The surveys show that, compared to
natural reefs, the platforms have
higher densities of juvenile rockfishes
and are functionally more important
as nurseries. Also, compared to natural
reefs, the platforms have higher
densities of reproducing-age adults
and, therefore, contribute a higher
proportion of rockfish larval
production. Overall, Love has
concluded that the platforms are not
just passive attractors of fish, but play
an important role in regional rockfish
production.
The inescapable fact is that the
California platforms, as they currently
exist, are extremely successful artificial
reef structures that play an important
ecological role in the marine
environment.
When these platforms run out of oil
and gas, the oil industry has a clear
obligation to remove the structures.
Many environmentalist groups,
especially those that oppose the oil
industry, have been looking forward to
this end to the industry’s presence
offshore. However, these groups are
now faced with another consequence
both unforeseen and unsavory. The
removal of the platforms also means
the removal of the accidental reefs, and
the prospect of killing billions of Recreational fishermen, divers,
marine animals and destroying highly scientists, environmentalists and
productive marine habitat. commercial fishermen have
volunteered to tell the story of these
The reaction of environmental groups accidental reefs.
to Love’s scientific evidence was
revealing. Many dismissed the By challenging the conventional
existence of marine life as of secondary wisdom of removing the oil platforms,
importance to seeing the platforms a foregone conclusion has become a
removed. After all, the oil industry debate. The decommissioning of the
promised to remove them, and they platforms is now seen for its fisheries
should not be let ‘off the hook.’ The management implications. The
platforms are artificial and constitute discussion is heated, and the outcome
‘industrial junk.’ The removal of the is not certain. However, serious
platforms is needed ‘to produce a people are now asking the right
catharsis for all the damage caused by question: ‘What is the best way to
the oil industry.’ It became clear that decommission California’s offshore
the scientific evidence alone was going platforms?’
to fail in the face of these very human-
centric views of what constitutes For more information about the work of
appropriate marine habitat. A separate CARE visit the website:
advocacy group was going to be needed www.calreefs.org/
to make an argument for the fish.
The California Artificial Reef
Enhancement Program (CARE) was
founded as a non-profit organisation in
1999. It represents a broad
constituency of ocean users who
believe that the platforms are valuable
habitat and that alternatives to full-
removal should be considered.
Credits
The edge Winter 2006 9