Posted by Patrick Smith on November 19, 2004 at 17:53:58:
In Reply to: Oil rig "Edith" posted by Captain Tim on November 19, 2004 at 17:32:48:
Tim,
To drive home the lush diversity of the oil rig ecosystems, you should have the "heavy hitters" do a jump on the "restored" rig sites. Last year I was on numerous jumps to a couple of removed rigs east of Santa Barbara - Hidie & Hilda, I believe. The "restored" sea bottom beneath the rigs was a wasteland. In numerous dives, we only saw two living creatures - a small (4") rockfish, and a small cancer-type crab on the periphery of the dead zone. Literally everything was dead. The only activity was Hilda (or was it Hidie?) leaking gas from seeps nearby.
Take 'em to the site of one of the removed rigs and let them compare to the awesome ecosystems they saw on your trip.
Patrick