Price of oil interrupts white sea bass research
USA: The Hubbs-Sea World Research Institute is steaming ahead even after icing plans for a new USD 10 million facility near the Channel Islands off the California coast.
The institute studies Pacific white sea bass at its Carlsbad, California, facility. The research is aimed at replenishing wild populations of edible fish and developing fish-farming techniques that are environmentally friendly.
White sea bass populate a 3,000-mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean from Alaska to Baja California. Its popularity among diners drove it to the brink of extinction by the 1980s and it is recovering only slowly, according to marine biologists.
In the 1960s this fish was in such abundance that fishermen filled their boats after one catch. These days, even a whole day's fishing does not fill their nets. In 1959 the total landing was 3.5 million pounds. In the 1990s the annual catch was only 58,000 pounds.
In 2005, the institute had plans ready for placing off shore cages near an older oil rig which no longer was being used. The rig, located halfway between Oxnard and Santa Cruz Island had been idle for quite some time.
However, the USD 10 million project was interrupted because the oil platform's owner, Venoco Inc., decided that the higher oil prices was making a reopening of the oil production economical.
Because oil prices currently are close to USD 140 a barrel, and most forecasters predict it will go higher, it is not likely that this particular platform will be idled anytime soon. Therefore, Hubbs-Sea World will continue its research on white sea bass in Carlsbad.
