Artificial Reefs Harbor Marine Life

Re “ ‘Rigs to Reefs’ Plan Stirs Debate,� Sept. 23: I am the current president of the San Diego Oceans Foundation. One of our projects, in conjunction with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, is to record what actually goes on in the development of an artificial reef. So far everything we have seen is very, very positive.

Our biggest project is Project Yukon (converting a destroyer escort into an artificial reef). It has exceeded all of our expectations, both as an attraction for divers, taking them off natural reefs, and in supplying a place for fish to make a home where there was none.

I have spent considerable time on oil platforms in my younger years. I can tell you that they are now clean, highly productive artificial reefs in their own right--today, where they stand. Removing them will cause the deaths of millions of invertebrates. Because they make up a significant supply of food for fish, all of the fish that live there will die too.

The oil platforms were never designed or envisioned to become part of the solution. Nonetheless, every once in a while mankind gets lucky. And we are today.

On behalf of all the fish that live there, the rigs should be left. They should be made into “no take� zones so the fish that do live there can reproduce without the threat of mankind. I also believe the savings should be used to fund the biologists needed to properly manage our natural resources and to finance the installation of further artificial reefs. The vast majority of the ocean bottom off California is sand and mud and has very little reef structure. Every little bit helps.

Dick Long

San Diego