Conservation association to hold program on rigs as habitat
Two marine experts are to talk about the importance of offshore oil platforms as habitat in the Gulf of Mexico during a program planned at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Handsboro Community Center in Gulfport.
The Coastal Conservation Association Mississippi Ship Island Chapter is presenting the program, said F.J. Eicke, chairman of the government relations committee for CCA Misssissipi.
A federal policy known as Idle Iron is requiring the removal of hundreds of offshore oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere without giving any consideration to the tremendous loss of fish habitat that will accompany the removal or to whether there are alternatives to save that habitat, Eicke said.
The speakers will be Robert Shipp, chairman of the Department of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama, who is serving his 16th year on the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, and Capt. Al Walker, Towers of Life and Xtreme Fishing Charters.
Mississippi Press
6/25/12
Magnolia Tribune
