DRILLING NOT TO BLAME FOR FISHING COLLAPSE

Jan. 23, 1995
The oil and gas industry can take comfort in knowing that its operations had nothing to do with collapse of New England's fisheries. In the mid-1980s, states in the region, led by Massachusetts, successfully blocked oil and gas leasing of federal tracts off their shores, citing threats to fishing. So rigs stayed off Georges Bank in the North Atlantic. Now fish are staying off, too. Last month, the federal government closed fishing on most of the bank.

The oil and gas industry can take comfort in knowing that its operations had nothing to do with collapse of New England's fisheries. In the mid-1980s, states in the region, led by Massachusetts, successfully blocked oil and gas leasing of federal tracts off their shores, citing threats to fishing. So rigs stayed off Georges Bank in the North Atlantic. Now fish are staying off, too. Last month, the federal government closed fishing on most of the bank.

The science of this phenomenon as it relates to oil and gas leasing is anything but straightforward. Leasing opponents in 1983-84 were mainly worried about lobster and coral, which still thrive on Georges Bank. The disappearing species are groundfish: cod, haddock, and flounder.

EFFECTS UNCERTAIN

So who knows? If Georges Bank had been leased and had attracted much drilling, maybe the lobster and coral would have disappeared. But maybe the groundfish would have taken to platform substructures in the manner of other species off the U.S. Gulf and West coasts. Even in rig-repellent California, a fishing group wants assurance that when old platforms leave their state's scenic waters, the legs stay.

Probably, however, leasing wouldn't have changed Georges Bank much. There would not have been much drilling. Georges Bank tracts of interest to oil companies tended to have economically challenging water depths, and little more than a year after the leasing controversy ended crude prices crashed. Even if drilling had occurred, it probably would not have frightened off lobsters or killed coral. And the risk of oil spills would have been far less than what the area has faced for decades from shipping.

The issue, however, was never totally or even mostly about fishing. The issue was about coastal state influence over Outer Continental Shelf leasing and a Secretary of the Interior who wanted to offer the entire OCS in a whirlwind leasing spree. James Watt dared coastal state governments to stand in his way, and they did, and Congress did, and Watt fairly quickly lost his job.

Just as no one can be certain what effects leasing and drilling might have had on Georges Bank, no one can say precisely how much of Watt's political troubles stemmed from his philosophy and how much from his zeal. What is certain, and regrettable, is that the proleasing philosophy fell along with the man and his methods.

In place of leasing advocacy by the federal government, which happens to be prescribed by law, the U.S. has bob-tailed leasing schedules and spawned a legacy of congressional moratoriums on funding for lease sales in selected areas, including Georges Bank. Yes, the moratoriums emerged from contentiousness of the Watt era. Georges Bank was among the first areas covered. Moratoriums, sale delays of other types, and tract deletions had predictable consequences. By September 1984, a Boston federal judge was able to say all too truly, while granting a preliminary injunction against the embattled sale of Georges Bank OCS tracts, that industry interest in the area had lapsed. In a way, Georges Bank set a mood for much of the federal offshore. Outside the central and western Gulf of Mexico, OCS leases aren't worth the hassle.

REMOTE COMFORT?

So the Georges Bank cod are gone, and the haddock, and the flounder, victims of over-fishing - or maybe just off to waters they like better. And New England fishermen and their families suffer. At least they can take their own remote comfort in knowing that rigs and platforms are attracting fish and employing people off someone else's coast.

Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.