Fishing near oil and gas rig's
Submitted by grantarctic1 on Mon, 2011-07-11 20:47
After watching some video's with people fishing right next to oil rig's in the Gulf of Mexico, I was wondering if in Western Australia, are you alowed to go near the oil and gas rig's to fish ? .
I noticed they worked like massive FAD's and local tour guides, and even pro fishermen were taking advantage of the masses of fish that surrounded these platforms. Some boats even moored of the rig's and spear fished under them.
I'm not interested in the right or wrong of drilling for oil or gas in Australia, ( don't want to start a debate on that subject ) Just the legality of fishing these structures in the Mid to North West of our state.
Cheers Grant
dodgy
Posts: 4584
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Yes. Exclusion zones around
Yes. Exclusion zones around every one of them.
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
MattMiller
Posts: 4171
Date Joined: 15/06/09
Simple Answer
No, you can't fish near them. I'm sure the guys from up there will give a more 'thorough' answer.
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
Not the answer i wanted
Not the answer i wanted, but deep down i knew that would be the case.
Pitty it looked like good fishing and fun.
Matt, must have sumthing to do with that Busso council, gees they got long fingers. LOL
MattMiller
Posts: 4171
Date Joined: 15/06/09
Nah mate,
if it was in the Busso Shire they would never have approved the rigs in the first place. Too much change woulda scared them.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
500 metres
Seem to remember that its something like a 500 metre exclusion zone and if you get that close one of the rig tenders will be right there with you to make sure you don't get any nearer
WADRay
Posts: 301
Date Joined: 20/12/09
Thats 500m from the entire
Thats 500m from the entire field not for a top asset.
I was on a field in vietnam when a trawler net hit one of our subsea assets, thankfully it was not active, they tied 5 boats together and turned over the PLEM (a concrete base with a pump and bunch of pipework. total weight was around 18Te.
Makes for an interesting discussion with some very confused fishermen when we told them they had to cut all their nets.
As stated though when you get too close you will be radio'd when you breach the 500m zone you will have a very large rig tender all over you shielding their assets. If allowed entry to the field for some reason you would then have a 500m exclusion zone from each topside asset.
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Bass straight field
While bringing a trawler over fron NZ to Fremantle in 2000, plotted a course from Eden down to Wilson's promitory taking in to account the rigs shown on the chart [old charts!!!] and left it to the other two on board to take over while I grabbed some sleep. Woke up wondering what all the noise was and found rig tenders everywhere sheperding us through a gap in the rigs, instead of 5-7 as shown on our old charts there were heaps of them and the course Í'd plotted was right through the guts of them and they were not a bunch of happy chappies.
Though the boat we were on was 24 metres long it was nothing compared to the tenders, they made us look and feel small, 50metre + jobbies and when its blowing about 30-35 knots from the NE all we wanted was to sneak through which they kindly let us do with a tender about 50 metres away on both sides of us.
If I ever get a brain fade again and agree to do another trip through there I'll make sure its in daylight hours with up to date charts and the auto pilot working.
WADRay
Posts: 301
Date Joined: 20/12/09
Hahaha Id have loved to see
Hahaha Id have loved to see the field master during that. While on the bridge of a FPSO we were doing the moorings for I watched a Field Master go off his tree when one of his own vessels entered the field without asking permission. Was great, he actually have the vessel master come on board and grilled him, made an example of it as a breach of policy. I can only imagine if the vessel was nt expected and no one answered their divert courses radio calls. Not like the Bass straight has the best of weather....
smash
Posts: 434
Date Joined: 01/12/10
no not quite correct
it is 500 meters from a surface asset, the cautionary zone of 2.5-5 miles is just that.
The rules arent simple but basically if the rig has no reason to believe you are a danger to them they cannot exclude you from the "cautionary zone", only the "exclusion zone". However its generally accepted that amateur boats (which dont carry AIS etc) being unidentifiable are considered a risk.
Either way the OIC and tender will tell you to clear off though.
Trawling along with anchoring is different WADray, they are marked on charts.
No one can stop you from travelling "over" an asset and the fields off the NW are huge, every rig has a spider web of pipes and wellheads.
WADRay
Posts: 301
Date Joined: 20/12/09
I stand corrected, it seems
I stand corrected, it seems once assets are installed your correct. During construction stages the entire active field does have a containment area.
bulla
Posts: 87
Date Joined: 11/05/10
Carton comes to mind
Worth a shot i recken,its not like your a boatload of terrorists.Rules are designed to be bent from time to time!!
Stop complaining and get on with it !!
Lastchance
Posts: 1273
Date Joined: 02/02/09
500m is the distance alowable
500m is the distance alowable away from the Iron Ore shiploaders up here and 800m from the Woodside loading jetties. Its a shitload more for offshore assets, exclusion zones are measured in miles, not metres. Anyone who has been out to Glomar shoals and stayed the (sleepless) night will agree that half the trip is spent dodging FPSO's, Platforms, Rig tenders Iron Ore and LNG vessels as they use the shoal to line up the Dampier 'Highway' and you have to keep the designated distance from them or they will call you on VHF ch16 and tell you to 'discontinue your current heading immediately'.
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
What a headache
That would be a real pain in the butt, trying to avoid the exclusion zones.
I noticed with the fisho's in the gulf of Mexico , part of alowing the rig's was keeping access to the fishing grounds. The pro's were not using nets tho, they were line fishing right next to them. Even tied off to them.
On the tv show extreem fishing, they fish and dive right on a rig, it was loaded with all types of fish. ( not sure if that was the Gulf )
Brucesta
Posts: 1721
Date Joined: 29/05/09
not quite right there Damo,
not quite right there Damo, the exclusion zone is 500m from fixed offshore assets, thats when you can get in trouble. Being in comms i work with the radar system onboard and the system runs an algorithm to determin with the current speed and heading when the vessel will encroach the 500m zone and they action from that, the big risk is as stated before, pleasure vessels don't have AIS (automatic identification system, uses VHF to transmit) and so they come up as a threat target as such, the support vessel will be sent to the location and shoo you away pretty quickly but you don't have to move as long as your 500m away from the platform. we've had a number of fishing boat (commercial) right near the pluto platform but just outside the zone, there is some good reef down there, not so much of a problem on NRA or GWA
Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target
Lastchance
Posts: 1273
Date Joined: 02/02/09
Cheers Fag. Get back to work.
Cheers Fag. Get back to work.
Brucesta
Posts: 1721
Date Joined: 29/05/09
so unappreciated Damo, go and
so unappreciated Damo, go and empty those tanks, the operators out here are bored cos they can't produce at the moment, they even let me take half the comms link down for shits and giggles
Las Vegas - Rolling the dice and trying your luck. 1M+ Barra summer target. 100kg Black Marlin winter target
dodgy
Posts: 4584
Date Joined: 01/02/10
There was a bloke fishing
There was a bloke fishing under the deepwater horizon rig when it exploded. That was one hell of a report to read!
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Muppet
Posts: 408
Date Joined: 23/11/09
An operator got knocked off recently
A skipper got knocked of recently for breaching an exclusion zone off Dampier.
There is a legislative act dedicated to offshore platforms and assets and outlines the security of them. Some of the penalties are huge. Its a Commonwealth Act also, which means more of a headache as opposed to state laws, should you be unfortunate enough to get done.
With they way things are heading, I think you will find more people getting done. Its something that hasn't really been targeted in the past, other than tenders etc chasing people out of zones, but things are changing.
Pity, the amount of fish under them is awesome.
.
sea-kem
Posts: 15039
Date Joined: 30/11/09
About 15 years back when we
About 15 years back when we used to go to Thevernard we would fish the platforms there catching massive Trevally. The guys on the platforms would yell at us where to cast lures and laugh and watch the action.We were usually 20-30m off the platforms. and were never confronted.
Love the West!
PattyT
Posts: 1025
Date Joined: 15/08/10
"Marky" works on one and from
"Marky" works on one and from what he told me the fishing would be insane, to bad you cant fish around them. He had an interesting story on why the workers cant fish off them anymore as well but ill let him tell it if once he see's the thread.
grantarctic1
Posts: 2546
Date Joined: 03/03/11
I,d like to know
As i said , deep down i knew we wouldn't be alowed to go near these structures, I am realy keen to know WHY. Is there a valid reason or is it just "stay away, we don't want anyone to see whats going on "
Are we the only country that denies access or is this common practice ?
Lastchance
Posts: 1273
Date Joined: 02/02/09
Safety is the main concern. A
Safety is the main concern. A boat is a good ignition source if a leak of some description was to occur. The cop boat usually comes and says Gday when you arrive at the Monties after a few hours fishing the Mono pods on the way over!
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Hooks
As Last chance says , you are a possible ignition source but also any hooks snagged on the underwater gear can catch up on a diver or his gear with serious consequences
HuggyB
Posts: 2515
Date Joined: 03/08/08
Last trip out
on Bayu Undan (Timor Sea) they had all the support vessels helping with a product transfer from the FPSO to the tanker. The Indonesians must know this because as soon as the boats are tied up working - bang they appear from nowhere! Sat there and watched a small fishing boat pull in about 20 red emperor one after the other in about 10 minutes, then putted off. They are pretty cluey buggers obviously because generally there is a support vessel around that will shoo them away if they get too close.
The camera gear they had allowed them to track the boat coming in from 5 miles away in all directions.
The Terrorist - coming to a fishing spot near you.........
carnarvonite
Posts: 8673
Date Joined: 24/07/07
Small world
Reading in this mornings local paper a commercial skipper of Morning Rose has been fined $500 for going too close to the rigs not long back