A gulf fish tale

June 30, 2014
About 35 years ago, 10 exploratory wells were drilled in the US portion of the Georges Bank basin 120 miles off Cape Cod, Mass. Environmentalists came out against drilling, and their arguments, including the claim that the fishing industry would be destroyed, were ultimately persuasive. Drilling ceased, yet to be restarted.

Michael T. Slocum
Upstream Technology Editor

About 35 years ago, 10 exploratory wells were drilled in the US portion of the Georges Bank basin 120 miles off Cape Cod, Mass. Environmentalists came out against drilling, and their arguments, including the claim that the fishing industry would be destroyed, were ultimately persuasive. Drilling ceased, yet to be restarted.

Ten years later, the Georges Bank groundfish stocks collapsed, the region was overfished, and nearly 10,000 sq km were closed to fishing, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. Commercial fishing is slowly recovering, but Massachusetts continues to be a net importer of Cape Cod's eponymous fish, mostly from Iceland.

Drilling didn't cause this environmental crisis. Could drilling have prevented it?

The Pickets

Elsewhere, in the Gulf of Mexico, fishermen flock to the Pickets, an area the New Orleans Times-Picayune calls "one of the most iconic fishing destinations off the Louisiana coast." Anglers in search of speckled trout consider it hallowed ground.

Here, too, there was concern about an oil company destroying a marine habitat—not by drilling, but by ending operations, abandoning wells, and removing a platform.

In 2013, Apache Corp. sold its gulf shelf assets to Fieldwood Energy LLC, including Ship Shoal 26, site of the Pickets. Over decades, the Apache structures there had become an artificial reef supporting a habitat in which the speckled trout particularly thrived.

As part of the acquisition, the companies agreed to work together to remove nonproducing structures per federal decommissioning regulations. The platform on Ship Shoal 26 was one of these.

The Times-Picayune reports that fishing guides were first to realize the implications: An established marine habitat would be destroyed, the speckled trout evicted, and a generational fishing hole closed for business.

As a 2000 US Minerals Management Service report shows, fish densities are 20-50 times greater around platforms than in surrounding open water. This is especially true in the gulf because the hard substrate that oil structures provide for marine life is otherwise absent.

The speckled trout is only one species that benefits. Bob Shipp, chairman of the University of South Alabama Department of Marine Sciences, says that the gulf snapper population is totally reliant on artificial structures.

"Before World War II, there was little or no red snapper harvest from the northwestern Gulf," he said in 2013 testimony before the US House Committee on Natural Resources. "But from the mid-40s on, the harvest in the western gulf has increased dramatically because of about 4,000 petroleum platforms. Currently more than 60% of snapper harvest comes from these areas with artificial habitat."

A rare alliance

With so much at stake, Apache and Fieldwood were in a predicament. Federal decommissioning regulations are clear, but the concerns of the people as trumpeted by the Times-Picayune were equally apparent. They wanted the Pickets preserved.

A rare alliance between oil industry, environmentalists, state government, and regulatory agencies resulted in a $1.2 million plan to replace the current structures. According to Apache, about 15,000 tons of concrete will be used to create three artificial reefs when the structures on Ship Shoal 26 are removed in July.

The costs will be shared by the former and current operators, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the Costal Conservation Association, and in-kind donations from local suppliers and contractors.

The speckled trout are saved, Apache and Fieldwood are environmental heroes, and the Pickets will be a fishing destination for generations to come. By working together, the industry, environmentalists, and people of Louisiana all came out ahead.

Could the same have been true for the Georges Banks?

The sea floors are different, as are the types of fish and marine life. But oil platforms in the North Sea, a similar environment, have been shown to attract fish, according to the ICES Journal of Marine Science. There's also the unavoidable problem that all 10 of the exploration wells in the Georges Banks basin were dry.

But it's something to ponder the next time you're dining out in Boston, eating Icelandic cod.