MMS Underway with $3.7 Million Deepwater
Coral Study
NEW ORLEANS The Minerals
Management Service (MMS) has begun a $3.7 million, four-year study
of deepwater corals in the Gulf of Mexico. The study contract, which
focuses on deepwater coral communities that have formed both
naturally and on oil and gas platforms and shipwrecks, was awarded
to TDI International Inc.
The first round of the project,
primarily dedicated to the exploration of shipwreck sites, took the
researchers to a remarkable discovery of a copper-clad sailing
schooner likely dating to the early 1800’s. Another wreck site
visited, confirmed to be the Gulfoil, a tanker sunk by a German
U-boat in 1942, was covered with dense thickets of the deepwater
coral Lophelia.
The study marks the first time coral
community areas below 1,000 feet will be investigated using
remotely-operated vehicles. Study results will be used by MMS to
create or modify existing regulatory policies and will help MMS
protect these important habitats from the potential impacts of oil
and gas exploration.
“As exploration reaches into the
deepest parts of the Gulf, MMS is responsible for stewardship of
that environment,” said Randall Luthi, Director of MMS. “This study
will give us a more in-depth understanding of these vital deepwater
communities and how we can best protect them.”
The study is sponsored by the
National Oceanographic Partnership Program (NOPP), a collaboration
of fifteen Federal agencies providing leadership and coordination of
national oceanographic research and education programs. Through
NOPP, the public and private sectors are brought together to support
larger and more comprehensive projects, to promote sharing of
resources, and to foster community-wide innovative advances in ocean
science, technology and education.
The research team includes scientists
from Louisiana State University, the Pennsylvania State University,
Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi, Temple University, Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution, C&C Technologies, Smithsonian Institution
and Dauphin Island Sea Lab. The study includes three years of field
work using research vessels and underwater vehicles provided by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Ocean
Exploration and Research.
During the second round of field
work, dedicated to exploration and sampling of both known deepwater
coral habitats and new unknown hard bottom sites, scientists are
collecting numerous samples of vibrant corals for analysis.
Deepwater corals in the Gulf of
Mexico have only recently been studied and there is little
information about how coral communities are distributed and how rare
they may be. This study is designed to address that shortfall.
Contact:
Caryl Fagot 504-736-2590
MMS: Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for America
U.S. Department of the Interior
Privacy |
Disclaimers |
Accessibility |
Topic Index | FOIA
Last Updated:
11/24/2008,
05:12 PM
Central Time