Sep 19 2008
Aquaculture and Big Oil
This gem, just in from the Ethicurean:
Rigging the aquaculture game
Federal regulations mandate that when an oil company decides to stop using an offshore rig, it must remove the platform and associated equipment within a year. Doing so, according to some sources, can cost up to $5 million. Under the MMS’ proposed “rigs-to-reef” program, companies will be able to leave the submerged part of the rig in the ocean to be used in the construction of a fish farm. Estimated cost: $800,000. And here’s the kicker: Once the rig has become a reef, oil companies wash their hands of any future liability associated with it. According to a study in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries (cited here), shrimp and fish living near oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico were found to have mercury levels that were off the charts. Your farmed salmon seem slicker than usual? Eau de heavy metals, perhaps? Blame — well, who the hell knows. But not Exxon-Mobil.
I‘d be blown away. But what would be the point? Biz as usual.
Insane, insane, insane! Makes me cling to my non-seafood, non-fish diet even more. Not that anything else I is has fewer poisons.
Dana