Monitoring Long-Term Changes in Biological Communities Near Oil and Gas Production Platforms

The U.S. Department of the Interior Minerals Management Service Pacific OCS Region began a monitoring program conducted through the Environmental Studies Program in 1984 for the long-term effects of oil and gas production platforms on biological communities. Phase I, a broad scale geographic reconnaissance and baseline survey, has been conducted for the Santa Maria Basin offshore California where oil and gas production will begin in the near future. Phase II is beginning and will focus on time series measurements of a wide variety of biological, physical and chemical parameters at platform sites and comparison sites. Emphasis will be given to detecting changes in benthic communities and sublethal changes in life history parameters.