Offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, conversion to artificial reefs: an opportunity for long term biological studies

Abstract

From the Abstract: “There are approximately 3,600 oil and gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. They have become a focus of attention because an increasing number are being removed, having served their purpose in tapping sub-sea hydrocarbon reserves. Louisiana has begun an Artificial Reef Initiative (LARl). Platforms are either toppled in place, if they happen to be in a reef zone, or they are cut loose from the bottom and moved to a designated reef site. The opportunities for long term biological studies are excellent. It is a truism in the Gulf of Mexico, with its flat mud and sand bottom, that if you want to catch fish on hook and line, photograph Caribbean reef fishes and corals, or investigate hard bottom sessile organisms you charter a boat and go "out to the rigs". The platforms create habitat that never existed off the Louisiana coast, akin to the appearance of a volcanic island that suddenly extends up through the water column, breaking surface up to 150 miles from existing coastlines. Opportunistic colonizers need not compete with resident bottom dwellers. Many traditional intertidal predators are not represented, whereas sightings of previously undocumented Caribbean species are increasingly common.”