Oilpatch,Hammster said:I work for one of those offshore oil companies, and we would like nothing more than to permanently plug our wells and leave the structures - because a lot of us are fisherman, and it costs an incredible amount of money to decommission platforms. Explosives are usually used because using divers to cut platform legs is extremely dangerous to the divers. Human life takes priority.
BSEE won't let us leave the structures, so they have to come out. The artificial reef sites are good, but they are probably not easily accessed by all fisherman (not enough of them).
Tom, not sure where you got your information, but platforms are not considered EFH by the feds so BSEE has free reign to make us remove them.
Oilpatch, you are correct, plenty of new shelf activity going on, but unfortunately, I do think there is a serious net loss of structures on the shelf.
I like the idea of keeping the cutoffs because it retains a habitat for fish. I love fishing the cutoffs in the South for AJ etc. I think the temporary loss of rig fish is collateral damage and certainly better than human loss of life. The issue is that the people benefiting from the cutoff rigs (Charter captains, recreational etc) don't have any skin in the game. It would be nice to see the rigs to reefs program expanded to include cutoffs etc . Without these, and other reef projects it's hard to maintain the current fish population with current fishing pressure. Maybe have an offshore license OR an inshore license. Tax the offshore or charge more for offshore licenses and use the money for offshore rigs/reefs. Don't shoot anyoneJuly 2012, in GOM watched this massive fish kill happen as rigs where being taken out with explosives. I could not help but, wonder why these rigs are being taken out not only killing all fish within compression range of the explosions, but the long term loss of rig and fish shelter for years to come. And now we are allowed Only a few Red Snapper in a very short season. I am for regulation, limits are necessary, but watching our Red Snapper fishery being mis-managed this way only prayers and hopes that someday, whom ever is in charge Can See the correct way to treat Our Fishery and a Red Snapper Season that makes some sense to taxpaying anglers.
Ya, I was wondering about this. I was discussing that article that uncovered the recent rig blow up yesterday while fishing with a friend. Can't they seal off a rig? Are they not safe to humanity in the long run, so just sacrifice some fish? I'd just like to know why they have to blow them up? This may be a dumb question with an easy answer, but I'd like to know. An inactive rig serves as an eco-system and helps preserve our fisheries, which helps the economy. 1) The recreational angler gets to fish and buy gear and a boat to fish. 2) The charter captains and guides get business from anglers without boats, or who want to learn from an experienced hand. and 3) Provides a healthy enough fishery were commercial fisherman can make their catches and earn their money, without hurting the fish population for everybody else.
Can one of our GOM experts explain why the gov. is doing this?
You could always use the ignore function, with . SimpleJack. Now, the only time I know he's even made a comment in a conversation is when someone is telling him how ill-formed and out of line his comment was. It makes 360Tuna a much more intelligent and friendly community.Who the (^#@!) Your one time edit are you hungryjack? Seems like you just want to attack people. Aa yes its a waste but here in Texas we see snapper places never seen before. They are caught with some regularity outside Galveston jettys on our bay trips.
Why do you keep posting this? Very old news, we know what the feds did!