[Coral-List] Artificial Reefs

[Eugene Shinn]

There are 4,000 artificial reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico. They 
are generally called oil rigs. To quote Sylvia Earl in her Kerr McGee 
commercials, "there is a symphony of life down there." What is 
special about offshore rigs is they provide habitats from the surface 
to the bottom. The other benefit is that in areas of abundant rigs 
and pipelines shrimpers can not drag their nets thus creating  a 
shrimp sanctuary that in addition saves the  bycatch (about 10 lbs of 
fish for every 1 lb of shrimp). Many rigs provide substrate for 
several species of coral including some of the 83 species  the Center 
for Biodiversity is lobbying for threatened status. Those are the 
positive aspects of rigs, The negative aspect is that some day by law 
they will have to be removed. umm. Gene
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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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