Boukinda, M. L., F. Schoefs, V. Quiniou-Ramus, M. Birades, and R. Garretta
Colonization process of marine growth increasingly arouses the interest of the oil industry because engineering design or reassessment of platforms requires forecasting of biological fouling specific to the area where they are located.
Mussels (Mytilus californianus, M. galloprovincialis) and other organisms sloughed from offshore oil platforms provide a food subsidy to benthic consumers and alter underlying soft bottom habitat by creating hard substrate.
Southwest Research Institute is presently managing a relatively large program in offshore ecology for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Department of the Interior.
Operational discharges of produced water and drill cuttings from offshore oil and gas platforms are a continuous source of contaminants to continental shelf ecosystems.
Temporal and spatial (depth) patterns of shell growth were studied in the mussel Mytilus edulis in relation to water temperature and potential food availability, at an offshore oil platform, Holly (ARCO), in the Santa Barbara Channel, Californ
Van der Stap, T., J. W. P. Coolen, and H. J. Lindeboom
From the Abstract: "Offshore platforms are known to act as artificial reefs, though there is on-going debate on whether this effect is beneficial or harmful for the life in the surrounding marine environment.
Fouling was investigated on Marathon Kinsale Field Alpha and Bravo platforms in the Celtic Sea between June 1978 and June 1981. In shallow depths, algae dominated, chiefly Polysiphonia brodiaei and Ulva lactuca.
Stachowitsch, M., R. Kikinger, J. Herler, P. Zolda, and E. Geutebruck
This study examined the fouling organisms on the legs of offshore oil platforms at two sites in the southern Arabian Gulf (offshore Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates). 100% of the metal structures was colonized by encrusting organisms.
