Thoughts or opinions?
This says it all:
But an environmental group said it’s unclear that there’s sufficient oil and natural gas deposits off the coast to support drilling, and doing so would risk the bread and butter of South Carolina’s economy: tourism.
1st: We will never know if we don’t try
2nd: This would be 10-50 miles out. The tourist will not see them.
My non-fisherman reply:
We can not be energy independent without using our own resources.
As a fisherman:
This could help the offshore fishing. More structure for the things fish like…
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
What he said.
You put one rig out there and you take SC offshore fishing to another level.
Structure brings bait which brings fish which brings fisherman which brings charters which brings jobs…
Once you experience fishing around oil rigs you will be totally hooked. Fishing the rigs in the Gulf is always an awesome experience…whether in Alabama or Louisiana…it doesn’t matter. You will NEVER get skunked fishing around oil rigs. The number and variety of fish that the structures attract is absolutely unbelievable. Please keep in mind that the vast majority of oil spilled into the ocean is from ships, not oil rigs.
PioneerLouie
Pioneer Venture 175, Johnson 90
Summerville, SC
Wasn’t the fishing very poor for Alabama, Miss, Texas and Louisiana offshore prior to the installation of those rigs? Seems like a no brainer to me as far as fishing goes. I’d never want to see a DWH situation off of the SC coast but that was a huge tragedy and perfect storm. Not only would the fishing industry improve, but thousands of other jobs and industries would be created in the state bringing in millions of dollars in revenue.
Also isn’t the Gulf Coast recovering nicely from the DWH spill?
Mark
Mako 262 Twin Yammaha F200s
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
quote:
Originally posted by saltydog235Wasn’t the fishing very poor for Alabama, Miss, Texas and Louisiana offshore prior to the installation of those rigs?
</font id=“quote”></blockquote id=“quote”>Yes, but they didn’t have the natural live bottoms like we have.
I have mixed emotions on this topic. On one hand, we don’t really NEED them. Fishing is pretty dang good here. On the other hand, if they put them way out past the big ledge and don’t have to uproot any of our natural structures, then I probably could care less. I do think it would be a tragedy to see any natural structure diminished and replaced with oil rigs.
Also, I don’t think it’s a guarantee that we will see an explosive number of yellowfin just because we have rigs unless they are way way out (80+ miles). I think that many people falesly assume that if we have oil rigs, we will start catching 100 lb tuna, but I don’t think that is a valid assumption. It would be one thing if we already had yellowfins around and the oil rigs could concentrate them, but we don’t.
Another point is that in the gulf, they have THOUSANDS of oil rigs. Just a dozen or so is not going to make fishing any better off of our coast. They will be just big new artificial reefs that everyone knows about just like we have now that are heavily competed over and over fished. I don’t think it would make a big impact in fishing until we got in the hundreds. How long would that take? Would we even see any impact in the next decade?
That being said, I would lean on a NO vote. One environmental disaster could wipe out most of our natural reefs for our lifetimes. It is really worth it to make it easier for people to target schoolie dolphin and barracudas in the summer?
Thanks, SJ, food for thought. I wasn’t particularly thinking along the lines of the YFT, just that much more habitat for snappers, groupers and the endangered BSB.
Mark
Mako 262 Twin Yammaha F200s
Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal? I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.
“Life’s tough…It’s even tougher if you’re stupid” John Wayne
I was not thinking YFT either. but simply all types of fish. Any structure will hold fish.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
Maybe this will open the door to the private reef building options that are in the gulf area. If the state allows the ocean floor to be leased for drilling, they may be a bit more open minded to issuing tags to placing your own reef where you want with SCDNR approval.
23’ Key West
Yes build them. I want a job working on them. I’m all for that.
quote:No doubt. But there is a tradeoff. If you only have a few dozen of them, then they won't be worth much in terms of fishing productivity. Look no further than our own artificial reef system. If you have hundreds of them, then yes, they help. But just a few known spots get over pressured too easily. That is why I have always been a proponent of the semi-private reef where things are "hidden"... Hidden = fish, not hidden = fishermen. A few dozen rigs = concentrated pressure. Hundreds of rigs = spread out fishing pressure.
Originally posted by Fishb8I was not thinking YFT either. but simply all types of fish. Any structure will hold fish.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
The reason the rigs in the gulf do so well is likely:
- The lack of natural live bottoms (makes rigs even that more attractive to fish)
- There are thousands of them which means that the fishing pressure is a lot more spread out…
- Several of them are WELL offshore away from 95% of the fleet. Some of those guys in the gulf are running 80-100 miles to fish some of the rigs…
It really comes down to how accessible they are. If they are 10 miles offshore, then fish won’t stand a chance. If they are 100 miles offshore, then you have an experience waiting to happen for those willing to burn the fuel…
And again, we have a plethora of bottom fishing opportunities out there right now. Just because people can’t find them, doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. If you get out there and do some scouting, you can literally find thousands of bottom fishing “spots”. They are out there. It just takes some effort to find them (or friends, or money).
That being said, I fully support a “semi-private” reef system implemented in non-productive (i.e. sand) areas to stay ahead of the pressure curve. If we started doing this now, we would have nothing to worry about in 2050.
I am all for exploring and drilling to become self supporting on energy, however, it comes with a price.Having spent time in the Gulf oil industry there are things that no one has mentioned.
1)the workboat traffic can get pretty heavy and noisey. They are moving all hours of the day and night and don’t care about small craft in the area.
2)The shore facilities needed to support the rigs are pretty extensive.There are supply yards full of rusted pipes and frames that are open day and night, with welding and cutting and loading and unloading, trucks in and out 24/7
3)The drilling platforms are great for fishing structure, but, there are hazards all through the oil fields area. There are areas of pipes sticking out of the water that remind me of a forest and without a radar and good navigation skills you can have a bad time at night or low visibility conditions. There were numerous accidents involving workboats and pipes when I was there and just recently a charterboat hit one of those structures and killed the captain. That was posted on this forum a few months ago.
4)Charleston and surrounding areas would become a “boom town” with workers from all over the country coming here and some are not the most reputable characters. The crime rate would go throught the roof. Plus, the rental properties would go through the roof. In the 70’s in the Gulf region a 1 bedroom 1 bath rundown apartment was going for $500 a month. I traveled over 50 miles inland and found the same. If you rent and the oil industry takes off, expect your rent to at least double.
We need to drill and produce our own oil and gas and it is good for the economy and employment in the area as well as the fishing. But you need to weigh the good with the bad and there can be a lot of bad associated with the industry.
Ken
Every piece of structure spreads the pressure out.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
Its not really a fair to compare old artificial reefs that have been around for 30 years and are no bigger than a tug boat in 60 or 70 feet of water to an oil rig placed smack in the middle of the gulf stream in 400 feet of water with a large canopy to provide shade to the fish.
Conversation now:
Me: yall doin anything?
Them: found a milk jug and put a few slingers in the box.
Me: any weed lines?
Them: mostly scattered
Me: Where yall at
Them: 226 hole
Me: Any bait
Them: dead
Me: Yall goin to Reds later to brag about all the mahi you caught?
Them: Yeah
Me: See you there
With Oil rigs
Me: yall doin anything?
Them: 6 YFT and 10 blackfin
Me: How are yall fishing?
Them: Chunking
Me: Where yall at
Them: Rig 17
Me: Any bait
Them: some schools of bullet mackerel along with some pilchards under the rig.
Me: Yall doin anything later?
Them: heading in early. was out here since yesterday evening fishing under the lights.
quote:Not in significant fashion... Look at the numbers yourself:
Originally posted by Fishb8Every piece of structure spreads the pressure out.
Fishb8 (Fish Bait)
23 Sea Hunt “My Last Boat V”
If you can’t stand behind our soldiers, try standing in front of them.
“An economic impact survey of SC artificial reef users was also completed which revealed that approximately 203,400 fishing trips were made to SC artificial reefs during the 2006 calendar year”
http://saltwaterfishing.sc.gov/pdf/2008_SRFL_Report.pdf
203,400 trips spread across 40 reefs = 5085 trips per reef…
Okay, let’s add in 10 oil rigs
203,400 trips across 40 reefs + 10 oil rigs = 4068 trips per artificial structure…
And that is assuming that people don’t ■■■■■ to the rigs. I would be willing to bet that they are hit harder than the reefs because of expectations…
quote:You have to see the irony in your expectations, no?
Originally posted by BW2150Conversation now:
Me: yall doin anything?
Them: found a milk jug and put a few slingers in the box.
Me: any weed lines?
Them: mostly scattered
Me: Where yall at
Them: 226 hole
Me: Any bait
Them: dead
Me: Yall goin to Reds later to brag about all the mahi you caught?
Them: Yeah
Me: See you thereWith Oil rigs
Me: yall doin anything?
Them: 6 YFT and 10 blackfin
Me: How are yall fishing?
Them: Chunking
Me: Where yall at
Them: Rig 17
Me: Any bait
Them: some schools of bullet mackerel along with some pilchards under the rig.
Me: Yall doin anything later?
Them: heading in early. was out here since yesterday evening fishing under the lights.
Shoreside facilities to support offshore drilling ventures will boost waterfront property values.
Do a Google Earth / satellite view along the Gulf at some of the shoreside staging areas and then imagine fitting some of them in Charleston Harbor.
Forget about getting the state or county to get some property to build large launching areas once big business starts writing checks for rent. If one drystack marina in the area decides to change operations there will be that many more boats using existing ramps.
I’ve read somewhere Texas has been constructing a reef system along the entire coastline. Off SC a nice reef system along the 60’ curve would be accessable to many. Little fish need a place to hang out and big fish will follow.
Rigs certainly do produce but at a cost.