Abstract

The Gulf of Mexico has the most extensive Rigs-to-Reefs (RtR) programs in the world with over 500 platforms adopted into state artificial reefing programs. Other regions of the world have struggled to establish their own RtR programs due in part to opposition of commercial fisheries utilizing trawling gear for harvest. Therefore, it is critical that regulators identify space-use patterns of trawling vessels before establishing reefing areas designated for RtR conversions. To better understand how trawlers operate within the same space as artificial reefs, we analyzed a dataset of satellite-based trawling activity within Louisiana’s artificial reefing zones from January 2016 - December 2020. The Louisiana Artificial Reef Program (LARP) is comprised of nine reefing zones containing artificial reefs created from over 120 decommissioned oil and gas platforms and thereby serves as a model case study for trawler - reef interactions. Trawling effort inside reefing areas greatly increased from 2016 to 2020. On average, trawling vessels detected inside of the reefing zones maintained approximately four km from artificial reefs, likely to avoid gear loss from entanglement. Therefore, reefed platforms may establish a de facto non-trawl zone for up to 23 km2 around a reef. As the world moves away from offshore oil and gas production and towards offshore renewable energy, numerous oil and gas platforms will be proposed as reefing candidates. Therefore, prior to reefing, regulators must consider the spatial implications that a reef may have on all members within the Blue Economy operating within the same finite space.

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