SEDAR31-RD43- VERSAR Oil and Gas Platform Biological Assessment.Pdf
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Literature Search and Data Synthesis of Biological Information for Use in Management Decisions Concerning Decommissioning of Offshore Oil and Gas Structures in the Gulf of Mexico Versar, Inc. SEDAR31-RD43 16 August 2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 LITERATURE SEARCH AND DATA SYNTHESIS 7 OF BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION FOR USE IN 8 MANAGEMENT DECISIONS 9 CONCERNING DECOMMISSIONING OF 10 OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS STRUCTURES 11 IN THE GULF OF MEXICO 12 13 Contract # 1435-01-05-39082 14 DRAFT 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 DRAFT 24 LITERATURE SEARCH AND 25 DATA SYNTHESIS 26 OF BIOLOGICAL INFORMATION 27 FOR USE IN MANAGEMENT DECISIONS 28 CONCERNING DECOMMISSIONING 29 OF OFFSHORE OIL AND 30 GAS STRUCTURES 31 IN THE GULF OF MEXICO 32 33 Contract # 1435-01-05-39082 34 35 36 37 38 39 Prepared for 40 41 Minerals Management Service 42 381 Elden Street, MS 2100 43 Herndon, Virginia 20170 44 45 46 47 48 Prepared by 49 50 Versar, Inc. 51 9200 Rumsey Road 52 Columbia, Maryland 21045 53 54 55 56 57 58 February 2008 59 60 FOREWORD 61 62 63 This report is the product of a Project Team effort lead by Versar, Inc. under Contract 64 No. 1435-01-05-39082 from the Minerals Management Service, U.S. Department of Interior. 65 Versar Project Managers over the term of the contract included Drs. Jon V0lstad, Edward 66 Weber, and William Richkus. Versar had responsibility for overall project coordination, 67 literature search and acquisition, synthesis and preparation of background information, 68 integration of individual contributions from the team Principal Investigators, and summarizing 69 research needs. The Project Team Principal Investigators and their respective project responsi- 70 bilities included: 71 72 • Dr. Jerald S. Ault, Professor of Marine Biology and Fisheries at the University of 73 Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science – Technical Lead for 74 Gulf of Mexico (GOM) natural reefs, co-authored report Section 4.2 75 • Drs. James Cowan and Kenneth Rose, Professors at Louisiana State University with 76 a joint appointments in Coastal Fisheries Institute and the Department of 77 Oceanography and Coastal Sciences – Technical Leads for GOM artificial reefs and 78 fisheries population dynamics, authored report Section 5.0 and subsections of Section 79 7.0 80 • Dr. Daniel Sheehy, Principal at Aquabio – Technical Lead for Decision Analysis and 81 Non-Indigenous Species, authored report Section 6.0 and subsections of Section 7.0 82 • Dr. Benny Gallaway, President of LGL Ecological Research Associates, Inc – 83 Technical Lead for GOM ecosystem characterization - contributed to report Section 3 84 and provided general technical review, and 85 • Dr. Milton Love, Research Biologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara – 86 provided general technical review. 87 88 All Project Team members contributed to general reviews of all report sections. Several 89 of the sections or subsections of this report were authored by specific members of the Project 90 Team based on their interests and areas of expertise, as noted above and specified in the report 91 text. As documented in this report, the role of platforms in the Gulf ecosystem is a matter of 92 considerable scientific uncertainty. Consequently, scientific disagreements existed among some 93 of the Team members on some of the conclusions drawn in report sections prepared by 94 individual authors. For that reason, authors of specific sections that were developed relatively 95 independently are identified in section headings, and conclusions in those sections may not 96 represent the opinions of the project team as a whole. 97 iii 98 99 100 iv 101 TABLE OF CONTENTS 102 103 Page 104 105 FOREWORD................................................................................................................................ iii 106 107 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND PROJECT ELEMENTS ..................................................... 1-1 108 109 2.0 LITERATURE SEARCH AND BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE ........................... 2-1 110 111 3.0 BACK GROUND ............................................................................................................ 3-1 112 113 4.0 BIOLOGICAL COMMUNITY IN THE NORTHWEST GULF OF MEXICO ..... 4-1 114 4.1 COMMUNITY ASSOCIATED WITH OIL AND GAS PLATFORMS ............ 4-1 115 4.2 NATURAL REEFS AND HARD BOTTOMS ................................................... 4-5 116 4.2.1 Geographic Position of Reefs in the Northern Gulf of Mexico ............ 4-6 117 4.2.2 Status ..................................................................................................... 4-1 118 4.2.3 Dynamics .............................................................................................. 4-7 119 4.3 COMMUNITY ASSOCIATED WITH SOFT-BOTTOM HABITATS ............. 4-7 120 121 5.0 ASSESSMENT OF FISH SPECIES ASSOCIATIONS WITH GOM 122 PL ATFORMS ................................................................................................................ 5-1 123 5.1 APPROACH AND METHODS .......................................................................... 5-1 124 5.1.1 Level One Methods ............................................................................... 5-2 125 5.1.2 Level Two Methods .............................................................................. 5-2 126 5.1.3 Level Three Methods ............................................................................ 5-3 127 5.2 LEVEL FOUR METHODS—MODEL DESCRIPTION .................................. 5-19 128 5.2.1 Overview ............................................................................................. 5-19 129 5.2.2 Environmental variables and the spatial grid ...................................... 5-20 130 5.2.3 Mortality ............................................................................................. 5-26 131 5.2.4 Initial conditions and annual recruitment ........................................... 5-26 132 5.2.5 Example Simulations: Design ............................................................. 5-27 133 5.3 RESULTS .......................................................................................................... 5-28 134 5.3.1 Level One and Two Results ................................................................ 5-28 135 5.3.2 Level Three Results ............................................................................ 5-32 136 5.3.3 Level Four Results .............................................................................. 5-33 137 5.4 DISCUSSION .................................................................................................... 5-42 138 5.4.1 Ecological Context .............................................................................. 5-42 139 5.4.2 Influence of Vital Rates on Population Size ....................................... 5-44 140 141 6.0 THE ROLE OF PETROLEUM PLATFORMS AND CONSTRUCTED 142 REEFS IN NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES INTRODUCTIONS AND 143 RANGE EXPANSION................................................................................................... 6-1 144 6.1 BACKGROUND ................................................................................................. 6-2 v 145 TABLE OF CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 146 147 Page 148 149 6.2 FACTORS INFLUENCING NIS IN THE GULF OF MEXICO ........................ 6-3 150 6.3 NON-INDIGENOUS SPECIES ASSOCIATED WITH PETROLEUM 151 PLATFORMS AND CONSTRUCTED REEFS IN THE GULF OF 152 MEXICO .............................................................................................................. 6-4 153 6.3.1 Harmful algae - Ciguatera ..................................................................... 6-5 154 6.3.2 Invertebrates .......................................................................................... 6-8 155 6.3.3 Fish ...................................................................................................... 6-15 156 6.4 NATIVE SPECIES THAT MAY BE TRANSFERRED TO OTHER REGIONS 157 BY GULF OF MEXICO PETROLEUM PLATFORMS .................................. 6-16 158 6.4.1 Atlantic barnacle (Chthamalus proteus) ............................................. 6-17 159 6.4.2 Leathery tunicate (Styela plicata) ....................................................... 6-17 160 6.5 SUMMARY OF NIS INTRODUCTIONS AND RANGE EXPANSIONS...... 6-17 161 162 7.0 RESEARCH NEEDS ..................................................................................................... 7-1 163 7.1 PLATFORM ECOLOGY AND TROPHODYNAMICS .................................... 7-1 164 7.2 POPULATION VITAL RATES .......................................................................... 7-1 165 7.3 STUDY DESIGNS – BACI ................................................................................. 7-2 166 7.4 EVALUATING AND MITIGATING POTENTIAL NIS IMPACTS ................ 7-2 167 7.4.1 Potential Impacts - NIS Issues Delay Transfer of Federal 168 Inactive Vessels .................................................................................... 7-2 169 7.4.2 NIS Vectors – Predicting Introduction Linked to Offshore 170 Platforms ............................................................................................... 7-3 171 7.4.3 Preventing or Controlling Non-indigenous or Invasive Species 172 Establishment ........................................................................................ 7-4 173 7.4.4 Planning for Removal of Decommissioned Platforms – NIS Risk 174 Assessment ............................................................................................ 7-5 175 176 8.0 LITERATURE