described in a previous section. Adults spawn offshore; the young are 

 transported, or move, inshore where they grow and develop, ultimately 

 returning to natural and artificial reefs in deeper waters as 

 reproducing adults. Preliminary evidence indicates that some fish may 

 follow pipelines during the movement offshore, and thus be "funneled" to 

 platforms. Tag return data from the Buccaneer Gas and Oil Field studies 

 offshore Galveston indicated that once snapper were recruited to 

 platforms, they did not move to other habitats. These results 

 concerning lack of movement once recruited to a habitat are similar to 

 the findings of Fable (1979). The combination of population estimates 

 and tag return data indicated that most of the annual recruitment of red 

 snapper to the structures was harvested mainly by sportfishermen before 

 the fish attained sexual maturity. If pipelines in effect act as a 

 "lead" and concentrate reef fish at offshore platforms, is there a 

 related decline in red snapper stocks at natural reefs due to lack of 

 adequate recruitment? As offshore platforms are easier to locate than 

 are submarine structures, are stocks being overfished? 



Gallaway et al. (1980) developed a simulation model of the 

 recreational red snapper fishery at petroleum platforms offshore of 

 Texas, based upon tagging observations, fishing pressure, and the 

 biology of the species. The purpose of the model was to evaluate the 

 observed fishing effort indicated at petroleum platforms in terms of its 

 impact on the commercial fishery and snapper stocks in the Gulf of 

 Mexico. The modeling produced projections of major red snapper stock 

 declines. The declines were directly attributable to the recreational 

 fisheries associated with petroleum platforms if as few as only 100 of 

 these platforms received the same fishing pressure as a BGOF production 

 platform. The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, GMFMC, (1980b) 

 recently published data that also indicated red snapper stocks were 

 being overfished, and that this condition was directly attributable to 

 the recreational fishery as opposed to the commercial fishery. 



This information, while providing a basis for some concern, does 

 not rule out the possibility that red snapper populations at petroleum 

 platforms may, in fact, represent surplus stocks which otherwise would 

 not be available due to habitat limitation. For example, Fast and Pagan 

 (1974) in studies comparing natural patch reefs to artificial tire reefs 

 off Puerto Rico found some fish tagged at the natural reef moved to the 

 artificial reef, but there was no observed movement from the artificial 

 reef to the natural reef. This suggests relocation to a new habitat 

 perhaps due to overcrowding. 



Further evidence supporting the concept that petroleum platforms 

 may result in increased stocks due to increased habitat can be derived 

 from GMFMC (1980b) based upon habitat availability and distribution of 

 apparently depressed stocks. According to calculations by the GMFMC 

 (1980b), natural reef fish habitat in the Gulf of Mexico is represented 

 by approximately 39,000 km 2 or only 5.7$ of the total Gulf Fishery 

 Conservation Zone. Assuming that there are 2,000 production platforms 

 in snapper habitat in the gulf, and that the bottom area covered by each 



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