Divers at reef MIA7 hover above a decommissioned platform in 150 feet of water 50 miles offshore Matagorda Island.
New life for old structures: Scientists are finding a surprising diversity of life on Texas artificial reefs
By Janice Van Dyke Walden
If there’s one uptick to the oil business, it’s that an old rig can bring new life. Off the coast of Texas, some 195 structures, many of them decommissioned oil and gas platforms, are forming artificial reefs that provide intense colonies of marine life. For sports fishermen, these are the go-to fishing spots. For divers, these are dazzling underworlds of color and diversity. For scientists, these are proof that the complex web of marine life can take place if provided space and structure.
Artificial reefs provide a solution to the barren bottom often found in northwestern Gulf of Mexico. With the exception of a few natural banks, much of the ocean floor offshore Texas has no form for marine life to cling to, the kind of base that allows reef colonies to form. “Muddy and silty,” is how Jennifer Wetz describes the underwater terrain. As Fisheries Project Manager for Harte Research Institute (HRI), Wetz has been diving and using Remote Operating Vehicles to study fish life among artificial reefs. What she and her colleagues are finding among Texas’ artificial reefs is surprising.
“We didn’t expect to see how quickly these artificial reefs attract marine life,” says HRI Executive Director Dr. Larry McKinney. Not only do submerged platforms become quickly colonized, they populate with an impressive diversity of fish. In their study completed last year, HRI found 52 fish species from all observed sites, Snapper being the most common. “We also found the marine life habitat to be more complex than expected,” says McKinney.
That’s encouraging news to Chris Ledford, Artificial Reef Specialist at Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, who has a queue of 25 structures in the process of being converted and permanently reefed. With 81 reef sites in Texas – an increase from 64 in 2014 – those structures will eventually add to 7 more reef sites being planned.
McKinney sees the artificial reefs as taking the pressure off the region’s few natural reefs. “The number of fishermen with fast, long-range boats are increasing, as are good, relatively inexpensive electronics, making it easier to find these natural reefs. So what these artificial reefs do is make more opportunities available to the recreational fisherman, and it spreads the pressure away from the natural systems.”
Click the image above to view TPWD’s artificial reef map.
An estimated 3,000 non-producing platforms remain in the Gulf, under terms to be permanently removed. If a company is thinking of decommissioning an old platform, converting it to a reef makes sense for the environment, and it could save them money. By converting a 4-pile structure to an artificial reef, a company could realize a savings of up to half a million dollars. To find out more, visit: http://tpwd.texas.gov/landwater/water/habitats/artificial_reef/index.phtml
REEF SPECIES
REEF SPECIESHart Research Institute’s ROV (remote operating vessel) documented these species on their study sites, listed here in order of most common to least common. (Data courtesy of Jennifer Wetz, M.S., Harte Research Institute.)
Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus
Spanish Hogfish Bodianus rufus
Mangrove Snapper Lutjanus griseus
Blue Angelfish Holacanthus bermudensis
Rock Hind Epinephelus adscensionis
Horse-eye Jack Caranx latus
Yellow Jack Caranx bartholomaei
Spotfin Hogfish Bodianus pulchellus
Great Barracuda Sphyraena barracuda
Blue Runner Caranx crysos
Lookdown Selene vomer
Atlantic Spadefish Chaetodipterus faber
Vermillion Snapper Rhomboplites aurorubens
Damselfish sp. Stegastes sp.
Creole Fish Paranthias furcifer
Gray Triggerfish Balistes capriscus
Almaco Jack Seriola rivoliana
Greater Amberjack Seriola dumerili
Crevalle Jack Caranx hippos
Rainbow Runner Elagatis bipinnulata
Spotfin Butterflyfish Chaetodon ocellatus
Sheepshead Archosargus probatocephalus
Reef Butterflyfish Chaetodon sedentarius
Tomtate Haemulon aurolineatum
Bermuda Chub Kyphosus sectatrix
Bluehead wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatum
Queen Angelfish Holacanthus ciliaris
Cobia Rachycentron canadum
Blue Tang Acanthurus coeruleus
African Pompano Alectis ciliaris
Bar Jack Caranx ruber
Black Jack Caranx lugubris
Sandbar Shark Carcharhinus plumbeus
French Angelfish Pomacanthus paru
Lionfish Pterois volitans
Black Margate Anisotremus surinamensis
Squirrelfish Holocentrus adscensionis
Townsend Angelfish Holacanthus sp.
Sergeant Major Abudefduf saxatilis
Porkfish Anisotremus virginicus
Creole wrasse Clepticus parrae
Scamp Grouper Mycteroperca phenax
Sharpnose Puffer Canthigaster rostrata
Doctorfish Acanthurus chirurgus
Palometa Trachinotus goodei
Permit Trachinotus falcatus
Silky Shark Carcharhinus falciformus
Pigfish Orthopristis chrysoptera
Lane Snapper Lutjanus synagris
Yellowtail Snapper Ochyurus chrysurus
Cubera Snapper Lutjanus cyanopterus
Rock Beauty Holacanthus tricolor
Brown Chromis Chromis multilineata
Bicolor Damselfish Stegastes partitus
Parrotfish sp. Scaridae
Yellowmouth Grouper Mycteroperca interstitialis
Goliath Grouper Epinephelus itajara
Warsaw Grouper Epinephelus nigritus
