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

Effects and Management of Oil Spills in Marsh Ecosystems:
A Review Produced from a Workshop Convened July 1996
at McNeese State University

OCS Study MMS 98-0018

The Minerals Management Service (MMS), Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, announces the availability of a new study report, Effects and Management of Oil Spills in Marsh Ecosystems: A Review Produced from a Workshop Convened July 1996 at McNeese State University. This project was undertaken to provide information useful in determining the impact of oil spills on marsh ecosystems. This report is the third in a series of three technical reports.

There are many instances in which oil spills have adversely affected marsh ecosystems. Many scientists and environmental managers have approached various aspects of oil spills, with the result of advances in the science and technology of cleanup and remediation. In spite of the progress, our understanding of the effects of oil on marsh ecosystems is still evolving and uncertain. This report includes a number of papers discussing ongoing research on the impacts of oil spills on marsh macrophytes and on coastal biogeochemical processes. Bioremediation and in-situ marsh burns are examined for marsh ecosystems.

The other two related reports are Symposium Proceedings: Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Oil Spills in Coastal Ecosystems: Assessing Effects, Natural Recovery, and Progress in Remediation (OCS Study MMS 95-0063) and Managing Oil Spills in Mangrove Ecosystems: Effects, Remediation, Restoration, and Modeling (OCS Study MMS 97-0003).

For more information about the Environmental Studies Program, contact the Environmental Sciences Section (MS 5430), 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard, New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394, telephone (504) 736-2789.

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 98-0018. You can obtain this report also from the National Technical Information Service by referencing PB98-141427. Here are the addresses. You may also inspect copies at selected Federal Depository Libraries.

MMS is the Federal Agency that manages the Nation’s oil and gas and other mineral resources on the OCS and collects, accounts for, and last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from Federal offshore mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands.

-MMS-GOM-

MMS Internet website address: http://www.mms.gov/
24 hour Fax-on-Demand Service: (202) 219-1703

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Last updated on Wednesday, April 14, 1999.