Effects of OCS oil and gas production  platforms on rocky reef fishes and fisheries

Abstract

Volume 1: “The Pilot Study is an initial component of a larger possible field study designed to examine and evaluate variations in commercially important rocky-reef fishes in relation to natural environmental factors and to potential effects (either positive or negative) of an offshore oil and gas development andproduction platform on the California Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The study area, located offshore of Pt. Arguello, focuses on Platform Hidalgo and surrounding natural reef habitats at water depths of about 110-250 m. In the present Pilot Study, investigators collected preliminary data on: (1) the spatial andshort-term temporal variability in densities and species composition of fish assemblages on an offshore platform structure, and from a series of eight natural offshore reefs representing different factorial combinations of relief height (high vs. low), water depth (110-160 m vs. 200-250 m), distances from the platform (nearfield vs. farfield) and type of habitat (benthic vs. overlying water column); (2) variations in feeding habits between different species of fish caught during the day and night, depths along the platform structure, times of day (night vs. day), type of substrate (platform vs. a natural reef), and relief height; and (3) the pathological and physiological conditions of these or similar species of fish in relation to chemical body burdens and a known contaminant source.” Volume 2: “Contents: rov photographic data on fish abundance; chemistry data metabolite analyses; histopathology data; stomach content analysis.”