fish. The value of the 1972 fish landings in Southern California totaled 

 $147,391,000. 



Offshore oil and gas operations can harm the fishing industry by 

 interfering with the use of the sea floor and adjacent pelagic areas, 

 by the creation of obstructions that damage fishing gear and by polluting 

 the marine habitat. The potential construction of 60 platforms, for the 

 Santa Barbara Channel (USGS estimate), and the 14 to 60 platforms in the 

 Sale 35 area (BLM estimate), could cause a noticeable reduction of avail- 

 able fishing grounds if bottom-mounted platforms, each covering 2 to 5 

 acres, were to be used. Large areas would also be declared non-naviga- 

 ble if a large number of semi-submersible platforms were used (325 acres 



o 



each including the anchoring system). Purse-seining fishing fleets, the 

 largest type of commercial fishery in the lease area of Sale 35, would 

 be most affected because of the large area required for their daily fish- 

 ing operations. Heaviest fishing occurs on the San Pedro shelf, Cortez- 

 Tanner Banks and other shallow areas, all likely sites for oil production. 

 Unburied pipelines, and abandoned structures, tools, and equipment left 

 on the bottom can damage or destroy seines and trawls. 



Occasional large spills, or persistent small spills, could also 

 affect the fishery through altering the ecosystems, reducing the weight 

 and productivity of fish, and tainting of finfish or shellfish flesh with 

 hydrocarbon odors. Wave action in shallow relatively unpolluted areas, 

 such as the Cortez-Tanner Banks, could mix the oil in the water column 

 and kill or injure large quantities of algae and invertebrates. The 

 combined dangers of OCS development to the California fisheries may have 



85 



