U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Gulf of Mexico OCS Region

Across-Shelf Larval, Postlarval, and Juvenile Fish Collected at Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms and
a Coastal Rock Jetty West of the Mississippi River Delta

OCS Study MMS 2001-077

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Across-Shelf Larval, Postlarval, and Juvenile Fish Collected at Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms and a Coastal Rock Jetty West of the Mississippi River Delta.

This report presents results of a study comparing the ichthyofaunal assemblages collected at oil and gas platforms in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico across wide depth zones and including a nearshore rock jetty. Objectives included the collection of basic information on reef fish including larval, postlarval, and juvenile taxonomy, seasonality, and lunar periodicity, distribution and relative abundance. The report also addresses the role that oil and gas platforms may play as nursery/recruitment grounds and/or refugia for postlarval and juvenile fish. Ichthyoplankton and juvenile fish assemblages were sampled at three petroleum platforms and a coastal rock jetty that served as a low salinity, artificial habitat comparison. Structures included Green Canyon Block 18 in 230 m of water at the beginning of the continental slope, Grand Isle Block 94B in 60 m of water at midshelf, and South Timbalier Block 54G in 20 m of water on the inner shelf. Collections were performed using light-traps, passive plankton nets, and pushnets. Distributional differences were observed for many species within and around platforms. Between sites, the ichthyoplankton and juvenile fish assemblages sampled were also relatively dissimilar. Gear comparisons were also analyzed.

For more information about this study or the Environmental Studies Program in general, contact the Environmental Sciences Section (MS 5430), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, telephone (504) 736-2752.

You can obtain copies of the report from the Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, at a charge of $10.00 by referencing OCS Study MMS 2001-077. You will be able to obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service in the near future. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.

MMS is the federal agency in the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the nation's oil, natural gas and other mineral resources on the outer continental shelf in federal offshore waters. The agency also collects, accounts for and disburses mineral revenues from federal and Indian leases. These revenues totaled nearly $10 billion in 2001 and more than $120 billion since the agency was created in 1982. Annually, nearly $1 billion from those revenues go into the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the acquisition and development of state and federal park and recreation lands.

-MMS-GOM-
MMS's Website Address: http://www.mms.gov

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