The 3,739 oil Platforms in the Gulf of Mexico make for great fishing according to Humberto Fontova writing in Brookes News. He claims that 85 percent of fishing trips from Louisiana offshore are to the platforms, that there is 50 times more marine life around the platforms than in surrounding areas, and he has some harsh words for armchair greenies:
“Environmentalists” wake up in the middle of the night sweating and whimpering about offshore oil platforms only because they’ve never seen what’s under them. This proliferation of marine life around the platforms turned on its head every “expert” opinion of its day. The original plan, mandated by federal environmental “experts” back in the late ‘40s, was to remove the big, ugly, polluting, environmentally hazardous contraptions as soon as they stopped producing. Fine, said the oil companies.
About 15 years ago some wells played out off Louisiana and the oil companies tried to comply. Their ears are still ringing from the clamor fishermen put up. Turns out those platforms are going nowhere, and by popular demand of those with a bigger stake in the marine environment than any “environmentalist.”
Every “environmental” superstition against these structures was turned on its head. Marine life had EXPLODED around these huge artificial reefs. Louisiana produces on third of America’s seafood In fact a study by Louisiana State University shows that 85 percent of Louisiana offshore fishing trips involve fishing around these structures and that there’s 50 times more marine life around an oil production platform than in the surrounding Gulf bottoms. Louisiana produces one-third of America’s commercial fisheries — because of, not in spite of, these platforms.
All of this and not one major oil spill in half a century — not one. As more assurance, today’s drilling technology compares to the one used only 20 years ago about like the Kitty Hawk compares to a jumbo jet. The one that gave us the Santa Barbara Oil Spill in 1969 compares to today’s like a fossil.”
What did happen when Hurricane Katrina struck? Where there no oil spills and accidents then?
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Rather than more oil equals more fish, perhaps it should be:
More drilling for oil equals more oil platforms, equals more locations out at sea to which nutrients can stick, equals plant and crustaceans growing on the oil platforms, equals fish coming to the platforms to feed, equals easier for fisherman to catch the fish because they know where to go.
Says brookes news:
“To the horror and anguish of professional greenies, Alaska’s Prince William Sound recovered completely [from the Exxon Valdez spill].”
Says an article that was published in the news TODAY:
Study: Exxon Valdez Oil Lingers in Alaska
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/science/3869066.html
From the same article; “Exxon Mobil Corp. spokesman Mark Boudreaux said that more than 350 studies done by independent academics have not found significant, lingering impact on species as a result of the spill.
“We believe that the sound has recovered, is healthy and is thriving,” he said.”
350 scientists must be a consensus?
And when it comes to the booming harp seal population; “”This is interesting and weird,” said John Hocevar, a marine biologist with Greenpeace. “There has definitely been a healthy rebound in their numbers.”
..Gordon Waring, a biologist in Woods Hole, Mass., with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said the hunting ban has led to a population boom that is pushing the species farther south.
“The population is growing, with an estimated 5.5 million today,” Waring told The (Baltimore) Sun.
And now we have an excess of whales causing all sorts of marine havoc;
“Greg Kaufman says his whale-watching boat was doing everything by the book: cruising below 13 knots and staying 100 yards from any visible humpback as a crew member scanned the ocean atop a lookout.
Still, it wasn’t enough to prevent the Pacific Whale Foundation vessel from running over a calf that surged from underneath March 9.
It was one of seven confirmed encounters in the current breeding season, which is drawing to a close but already has set a record for such accidents. Between 1975 and 2005, there were 33 reported strikes involving whales and boats among the islands, with no more than three in one single season.
Environmental groups call the trend alarming, but researchers hope it has more to do with a rebound in the endangered species’ population than with negligent boaters.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060508/ap_on_sc/whale_collisions_3
So lets drill the reef then – hand up all in favour.
Very interesting article. Happens with more than the sea, though. Some land alterations can give surprising, unintended results which favour some native species (some listed as endangered) over others. We should start looking at this, hopefully not in a way that punishes the landowners who have observed what has happened, and subsequently encouraged it. If they felt safe to talk, there would be some interesting stories out there.
From my observations, the species which benefit from environment change are opportunistic. That does not mean they are unwelcome. Some have real economic value.
Lets do it Ender, if there is oil just go for it, think of the increase in fish stocks and the good to the environment.
I have sailed past the Bass Strait oil rigs, they are a haven for seals, birds whatever – quite a sight.
Meanwhile greenie madness is hell bent on locking up the coast into so called marine parks, nobody but nobody is allowed to enjoy themselves, commercial fishermen wonder why imported product is being given preference over local stock…
BTW hows the windmill going Ender?
Take my advice and dont sell just now, WA is going to go through a big boom that could last decades and you will make heaps more out of your coastal place (with pool). You just have to be patient.
Excerpt from a recent study from National Marine Fish Resources Alaska:
http://www.afsc.noaa.gov/abl/OilSpill/oilspill.htm
” Although it has been 17 years since the Exxon Valdez spill, oil still remains in the impacted area- intertidal and shallow subtidal habitats are still contaminated, some species have not recovered, and the production of the ecosystem appears “out of sync”, as major salmon and herring fisheries have not returned to stability.
Field observations indicate longterm reproductive impairment and other deleterious effects on pink salmon and herring due to exposure to Exxon Valdez oil”.
Exxon Valdez homepage tries in vain? to improve its bad reputation.
In Norway , commercial fishermen and greenies have joined forces to combat oil drilling efforts offshore and in the Barents Sea. An oil spill would have disastrous effects on major fish spawning areas, note that even very small spills would have very harmful effects.
I wonder what the reaction would be if the oil spill was natural?
The La Brea Tar pits in Los Angeles were not human created.
And as for those nasty oil slicks in the Gulf of New Mexico, tsk tsk, no humans there either.
It is not only opportunitistic species that benefit from artifical modification. The human sub-spp. H. sapiens bureaucratii and consultantus, have developed a sophisticated parasitism through the declaration of environmental disaster, the exclusion of the area from competiting human spp., the artificial construction of regulatory infrastructure and overall (under the pretense of protection) the creation of conditions that are ideal for the affirmative expansion of their numbers.
Hi Neil,
In your analysis, don’t forget the ubiquitous and also parasitic human sub species
H. sapiens cynicus paranoidium conspiracy-theoristus that infests all facets of life, particularly the blogosphere.
Any artificial reef has the same effect.
I installed a tourist pontoon at the reef, out from the Whitsundays, & in a couple of weeks we had a huge fish population.
Its not just the fish, the birds came just as quickly, & the population was even bigger. The stink from the droppings was unbelievable, & it took 30 minutes with a 2″ fire hose to fix.
Prior to installing living quarters, & full time crew, I had to fly someone out by sea plane to clean the thing before the tourist boat arrived.
I tried one of those electric squawker things, guaranteed to keep birds away.
After one period of 6 days of heavy weather, too rough for tourists, we flew out to check & clean before resuming operations.
Most of the pontoon was covered in 2 to 3 Cm of droppings, but the squawker was under 30 Cm. They realy liked it.
Have a look at this and decide whether the oil industry really has had a positive infulence on the region:
“Petroleum exploration, production, and transportation in the Louisiana coastal zone increased dramatically from the early 20th century to the 1970s. Oil and gas production in inshore bays and wetlands of the coastal zone then decreased beginning in the late 1970s, but there is still a high level of transportation of oil and gas through the coastal zone from the OCS and Louisiana Superport. These activities have had
significant impacts on floral and faunal communities, resulting in significant deterioration of coastal and
406 Wetlands: Impacts of Energy Development in the Mississippi Delta wetland ecosystems. These impacts are related to the toxicity of spilled oil and the secondary and indirect effects of petroleum-related activities such as alteration
of hydrology. The impacts of OCS development
are related to construction of pipelines and navigation channels. Thus, the risks of oil spills and hydrological disruption continue, even though inshore oil and gas production has decreased.
Responses of plant metabolism to oil impacts are
complex, depending on exposure type (e.g., oilcoated leaves vs soil contamination), oil type (e.g., crude oil vs number 2 oil), time of spill (e.g., after the growing season vs before the growing season), density of spilled oil, and sensitivity of various marsh plant species to oil. Another complex matter is the impact of oil cleanup on wetlands. Removal of oil has been reported to cause significant damage to wetland communities, including reduced growth of marsh plants and reduced population of benthic organisms.
Lin and colleagues suggested that methods and
intensity of oil spill cleanup depend on the type and amount of spilled oil and environmental conditions at the time of the spill. If the spill is a relatively small volume and the floating oil is not continuous, light or no cleanup action is recommended. In the case of large-volume oil spills, cleanup activities consisting of sorbent application, low-pressure flushing, vacuuming,
rope mops, and the like should be considered as options. However, Lin and colleagues did not recommend the use of heavy equipment and intrusive mechanical cleanup due to the concerns of
physical damage to fragile marshes.
Louisiana experienced a high rate of coastal marsh
loss during the 20th century. This high loss rate has been attributed to a number of factors. The
immediate cause of much loss is due to plant stress resulting from both natural and anthropogenic causes, followed by plant dieback, subsequent erosion of the marsh substrate, and the formation of small ponds that then coalesce into larger open water bodies. Causes of plant stress in Louisiana marshes have been attributed to waterlogging stress (due to insufficient elevation of the marsh surface resulting from high subsidence rates in the deltaic plain and
low accretion rates) and salinity stress (due to
saltwater intrusion, often from storm surge events, into the more interior marshes).
Petroleum-related activities have contributed significantly to wetland loss in the Mississippi Delta. Oil and gas extraction increased the subsidence rate, sometimes by a factor of as high as 2 to 3, due to reduction of pressure that led to faulting-related subsidence. On the surface, canals significantly altered natural hydrology. Deep dredged canals altered water flow pathways and sometimes resulted in saltwater intrusion. Spoil banks reduced overland flow exchange and sediment input to the wetland surface. The combination of these two factors increased plant stress and plant death.”
from http://www.lsu.edu/cei/research_projects/Wetlands_final.pdf
Isn’t annoying how these pesky scientific studies get in the way of a blog post.
Alaska Fishing Trip
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