![](media/image1.jpeg){width="1.1159722222222221in" height="1.125in"}

Minerals Management Service

Environmental Studies Program:

A History of Biological Investigations

in the Gulf of Mexico, 1973-2000

![](media/image2.png){width="3.071527777777778in"
height="2.286111111111111in"}

April 2003

**Table of Contents**

Page

Preface [ii](#preface)

1\. Introduction [1](#introduction)

1.1. The Nature and Direction of MMS Biological Studies
[2](#the-nature-and-direction-of-mms-biological-studies)

1.2. The Role of the U.S. Geological Survey and its Biological Resources
Division
[2](#the-role-of-the-u.s.-geological-survey-and-its-biological-resources-division)

2\. Environmental Mapping [3](#environmental-mapping)

2.1. Western Gulf Environmental Mapping
[3](#western-gulf-environmental-mapping)

2.2. Eastern Gulf Environmental Mapping
[3](#eastern-gulf-environmental-mapping)

3\. Marine Ecosystems Studies [5](#marine-ecosystems-studies)

3.1. Continental Shelf Ecosystems Studies
[6](#continental-shelf-ecosystems-studies)

3.1.1. Eastern Gulf of Mexico Benchmark Program and the
Mississippi-Alabama-Florida Shelf Ecosystems Study ("MAFLA")
[6](#eastern-gulf-of-mexico-benchmark-program-and-the-mississippi-alabama-florida-shelf-ecosystems-study-mafla)

3.1.2. South Texas OCS Benchmark Program (STOCS)
[7](#south-texas-ocs-benchmark-program-stocs)

3.1.3. Topographic Features Program [7](#topographic-features-program)

3.1.4. Northeastern Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi-Alabama Programs
[8](#northeastern-gulf-of-mexico-and-mississippi-alabama-programs)

3.1.5. Southwest Florida Shelf Ecosystem Program
[9](#southwest-florida-shelf-ecosystem-program)

3.1.6. Texas-Louisiana Shelf Ecosystems Program
[10](#texas-louisiana-shelf-ecosystems-program)

3.2. Deep-Sea Ecosystems Studies [10](#deep-sea-ecosystems-studies)

3.2.1. Deep-Sea Information Synthesis
[11](#deep-sea-information-synthesis)

3.2.2. Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Study
[11](#northern-gulf-of-mexico-continental-slope-study)

3.2.3. Chemosynthetic Community Studies and Community Conservation
[11](#chemosynthetic-community-studies-and-community-conservation)

3.2.4. Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitats And Benthic
Ecology
[13](#northern-gulf-of-mexico-continental-slope-habitats-and-benthic-ecology)

3.2.5. Other Deep-Sea Efforts [13](#other-deep-sea-efforts)

4\. Coastal Studies [14](#coastal-studies)

4.1. General Coastal Studies -- Central Gulf Marshes
[14](#general-coastal-studies-central-gulf-marshes)

4.2. Texas Coastal Ecosystems Program
[14](#texas-coastal-ecosystems-program)

4.3. Louisiana Coastal Ecosystems Program
[15](#louisiana-coastal-ecosystems-program)

4.4. Northeastern and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ecosystems Programs
[15](#northeastern-and-eastern-gulf-of-mexico-coastal-ecosystems-programs)

5\. Living Marine Resources [17](#living-marine-resources)

5.1. Protected Species [17](#protected-species)

5.2. Fishes and Fisheries [19](#fishes-and-fisheries)

5.3. Birds [20](#birds)

6\. Effects of Oil and Gas Activities
[21](#effects-of-oil-and-gas-activities)

6.1. Effects on Biota [21](#effects-on-biota)

6.2. Coastal Effects [22](#coastal-effects)

6.3. Marine Effects [22](#marine-effects)

6.4. Rig and Platform Monitoring Program
[23](#rig-and-platform-monitoring-program)

6.5. Oil Spill Effects Program [24](#oil-spill-effects-program)

6.6. Effects Modeling Program [24](#effects-modeling-program)

7\. Miscellaneous Biological Studies and Relevant Documents
[25](#miscellaneous-biological-studies-and-relevant-documents)

7.1. Miscellaneous Biological Studies
[25](#miscellaneous-biological-studies)

7.2. Gulf of Mexico Region Coastal Marine Institute Program
[25](#gulf-of-mexico-region-coastal-marine-institute-program)

7.3. Other Documents [26](#other-documents)

7.3.1. Regional Studies Plans and Studies Development Plans
[26](#regional-studies-plans-and-studies-development-plans)

7.3.2. Information Transfer Meeting Proceedings
[27](#information-transfer-meeting-proceedings)

7.3.3. Workshops and Symposia [27](#workshops-and-symposia)

APPENDIX: The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) -- AN OVERVIEW
[29](#an-overview)

A.1. Early History and Development of the ESP
[29](#a.1-early-history-and-development-of-the-esp)

A.2. Regional Responsibilities and Organization
[30](#a.2.-regional-responsibilities-and-organization)

A.3. Studies Planning and Selection
[30](#a.3.-studies-planning-and-selection)

A.4. Studies Procurement, Conduct, Completion, and Dissemination
[31](#a.4.-studies-procurement-conduct-completion-and-dissemination)

# Preface {#preface .(NoNum)Heading-1}

This account entitled *Minerals Management Service Environmental Studies
Program: A History of Biological Investigations in the Gulf of Mexico,
1973-2000* is intended to provide a brief history of more than a
quarter-century of biological studies supported by the subject agencies
since the inception of the Environmental Studies Program (ESP). It is
written for those interested either in the entire "Biological Program"
or in specific research conducted under one or more biological
categories. (In reality, most "biological" studies have been
interdisciplinary, relating biological data to the physical, geological,
and chemical environment.) We trust it will prove useful to
administrators, program reviewers and advisors, academicians, and the
interested public.

This document reviews historic and recent biological studies and is
arranged to give individual descriptions of "series" of studies such as
*Environmental Mapping, Marine Ecosystems, Coastal Studies, Living
Marine Resources, and Effects of Oil and Gas Activities*.

Comments, suggestions, and corrections are welcome. These should be
brought to the attention of:

> Chief, Environmental Sciences Section
>
> Office of Leasing and Environment
>
> Minerals Management Service
>
> 1201 Elmwood Park Boulevard
>
> New Orleans, Louisiana 70123-2394

**The Minerals Management Service Environmental Studies Program:**

**A History of Biological Investigations in the Gulf of Mexico,
1973-2000**

# 1. Introduction

This review attempts to categorize (where possible) the biological
studies conducted in the Gulf of Mexico by the Minerals Management
Service (MMS). The intent is to illustrate the record of studies
selections within the MMS Environmental Studies Program (ESP) from the
early 1970's (when the question was "where do we start accumulating
information?"), through 2000 and a little beyond. The ESP was
administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), a U.S. Department
of the Interior (DOI) sister Agency of the MMS, until the 1982 creation
of MMS. This review does not discuss costs or final results of
individual projects, but it serves to document ESP direction and
accomplishments. The costs of studies (by fiscal year) and the details
of their purpose, procurement, methods, and results can be found for
many reports received since 1992 on the MMS internet site:

<http://www.gomr.mms.gov/homepg/regulate/environ/techsumm/rec_pubs.html>

This site is a listing of all reports conducted during the covered
period (1992-present), with a collection of [selected]{.underline}
"Technical Summaries" written as required under contract. In a few
cases, the entire text of a given volume is provided for direct
printing. The Technical Summaries offer a great deal of insight into the
management, fiscal, and scientific details of recent programs.

For information on the availability of studies documents up to 1994 the
reader is referred to *Gulf of Mexico Programmatic Documents and
Contract Deliverables*, last updated in November 1994 and now superceded
by the above website. This document lists studies into certain
convenient biological categories or groupings, for example. "Marine
Ecosystems," "Living Marine Resources," and "Coastal Studies." We have
attempted, when possible, to parallel those groupings in Sections 2
through 7 below, for those needing additional information on content or
availability. Some studies or "tasks" within studies arguably fall into
more than one category. Some of these are mentioned under two of the
several categories (e.g., "Protected Species" and "Effects of Oil and
Gas Activities" or "Environmental Mapping" and "Marine Ecosystems").
Under each of the categories of studies below, the report products are
then discussed separately by geographical or resource subcategory.

Some of the older studies are still available from the sources given in
*Gulf of Mexico Programmatic Documents and Contract Deliverable*, but
many are no longer readily available from any source. Some of the older
studies are obsolete in whole or part, or have been updated.

Many of the MMS-sponsored studies have required the publication of
interim or annual reports under the requirements of the respective
contract or agreement, especially for the large, multiyear programs.
This has been a convention over most of the course of the ESP, and these
reports **are** listed in the website above. These were written as a
public record of research progress. They also reflect MMS's need for
accountability in the extremely unlikely event that a contractor somehow
failed or the MMS elected to cancel a program. After final reports are
published, the interim reports are not generally requested nor are they
offered for wide distribution. For these reasons, we cite below only a
final report title and the date of final report acceptance and
publication.

The reader must understand, then, that the date of procurement award and
project startup may have been one to several years before publication
and that the study planning and procurement might have been up to 3
years earlier than that. While we have attempted to include all major
biologically oriented programs in this review, other minor miscellaneous
reports and some written mostly for internal planning may have been
omitted. We trust that this review will provide some insight into the
history and growth of the ESP in general and the "Biological Program" in
particular. In reality, most "biological" studies have been
interdisciplinary, relating biological data to the physical, geological,
and chemical environments.

## 1.1. The Nature and Direction of MMS Biological Studies

Many of the early ESP projects ("Benchmark Studies") were
interdisciplinary regional assessments of the hydrography, geology,
chemistry, and biology of an area (e.g., south Texas, and the
Mississippi-Alabama-Florida area -- MAFLA). These were designed to
provide an overview of "baseline" conditions in "frontier" areas (those
without significant histories of oil and gas development). The baseline
data were to be used for environmental comparisons after development.
But there has been an historical trend toward the study of selected
resources and issues (but still sometimes on a regional scale).

Most recent (1985+) biological programs have been directed at target
species or habitats, or anthropogenic effects. A number of criteria may
enter into a study's selection for support. These criteria may include
legal status (i.e., species listed as endangered or threatened),
distribution and rarity (e.g., chemosynthetic communities), productivity
(e.g., seagrasses), commercial or recreational use (fish communities at
offshore platforms), importance as habitat (e.g., soft bottoms and
platform jackets), sensitivity or vulnerability (e.g., mangrove forests
and salt marshes), aesthetics (e.g., coral reefs), or status of
knowledge (e.g., any newly discovered reefs or topographic features --
this has happened several times), and/or the potential for environmental
damage (e.g., modeling fates and effects of various operational
discharges, spills, and noise; or the monitoring/measuring of actual
effects under known conditions). Clearly, studies of some
resources/effects are justifiable on the basis of a number of these
criteria. \[Miscellaneous, non-scientific considerations may influence
the process as well, for example, congressional involvement, States'
objections, General Accounting Office (GAO) reports, or public
perceptions.\]

Predictably, most of these studies (especially the early ones) focused
on the shallow resources on the continental shelf. But the MMS has now
supported a number of generalized and resource-specific efforts
pertaining to the ecology of the continental slope. Most field studies
have been conducted entirely within the confines of Federal waters in
the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). However, both "paper" and field
studies have been aimed toward States' waters when their biological
resources are believed to be (1) especially vulnerable to OCS activities
(e.g., salt marshes, mangroves, and estuaries) or (2) when a knowledge
of the shoreward distribution of index benthic communities offers a more
complete picture of distribution and life requirements (e.g., seagrasses
and shallow "live bottom"). Only recently have MMS studies ventured into
the Mexican EEZ. One of these, a collaborative deep-sea effort by
Mexican and U.S. scientists, investigates benthic ecology basin wide.
Depending on the procurement conditions and nature of international
research efforts, these studies may require a series of State Department
actions and permitting.

## 1.2. The Role of the U.S. Geological Survey and its Biological Resources Division

A close working relationship between the MMS and the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) was established in response to Secretary Babbitt's August
1994 request to all DOI Directors to strengthen the ties between DOI's
science bureaus (e.g., the USGS) and resource management bureaus (e.g.,
the MMS). A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the MMS and the
newly created National Biological Service (NBS) was signed in 1995. (The
initial reprogramming of funds from MMS began earlier in FY 1994.) The
NBS, formed primarily from the research arm of the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, was merged into the USGS in 1996 to become the present
Biological Resources Division (BRD) of the USGS. Since then, much of the
MMS biological research has been, and continues to be, conducted through
or by the BRD. Research managers and staff of MMS and USGS meet
regularly to discuss future research.

Examples of USGS/BRD-administered studies for the MMS in the Gulf of
Mexico Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Region include studies of coastal
wetland impacts from oil and gas pipelines, community structure of
demersal fishes at pinnacles in the northeastern Gulf, the GULFCET II
study, *Northeastern Gulf Coastal and Marine Ecosystem Programs - a Data
Search and Synthesis*, and the subsequent *Characterization and Trends
of Recreational and Commercial Fishing from the Florida Panhandle*.

# 2. Environmental Mapping

The MMS environmental mapping program has provided many popular
documents and maps to the public including forty-one, 1:250,000-scale,
bathymetric maps with the Federal OCS lease grid overprints, and a large
series of reports and maps on geological features and geohazards, the
latter produced mostly by the USGS. These have little, if any,
information of a biological nature *per se*, but they do provide general
information of interest to all, including biologists and biological
studies planners.

The environmental mapping products described below accomplish much more
than simply illustrating the distribution of given ecosystems and living
resources in targeted areas. They frequently relate biological resources
with geological, physical, chemical, sedimentary, and other
nonbiological characteristics. All environmental mappings were done in
waters from the beach or estuary to a depth characteristic of the
subject resource or, at most, out to the edge of the continental shelf.
None were deep-sea efforts.

## 2.1. Western Gulf Environmental Mapping

The six series of *Submerged Lands of Texas* mapping efforts were
produced for as many areas of Texas by the Bureau of Economic Geology at
the University of Texas at Austin. These areas were Corpus Christi,
Galveston-Houston, Brownsville-Harlingen, Beaumont-Port Arthur, Bay
City-Freeport, and Port Lavaca, (published in 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987,
1988, and 1989, respectively). They plotted benthic macroinvertebrates
and associated wetlands against sedimentary and geochemical
characteristics. The mapping for the heavily-industrialized
Galveston-Houston area also plotted the same communities against total
organic carbon and the elements of barium, boron, calcium, chromium,
iron and lead. The latter chemical data sets are now likely obsolete
both in terms of age and original accuracy.

Early studies of the South Texas OCS (STOCS program; see Section 3.1.2,
below) resulted in an early (1977) USGS environmental mapping volume
("atlas"), which accompanied the report entitled *Environmental Studies,
South Texas Outer Continental Shelf, Biology and Chemistry*.

Another mapping effort was the *Northwestern Gulf of Mexico Shelf
Bio-Atlas* (1983), which plotted the distributions of demersal fishes
and shrimps from information gleaned from several different reports.
This is described in greater detail in Section 5.2., "Fishes and
Fisheries."

The Flower Garden Banks projects provided additional maps. In 1985, the
MMS received a final synthesis report, *The Flower Gardens: A Compendium
of Information*, which included a summary report and nine map sheets at
a scale of 1:48,000.

## 2.2. Eastern Gulf Environmental Mapping

Towards the end of the early MAFLA Benchmark Program of BLM, a new
series of mapping efforts were begun on the wide, carbonate, west
Florida shelf platform. These addressed two benthic biological
resources: "hard bottom" communities and seagrasses.

A preliminary mapping study, the *Eastern Gulf of Mexico Marine Habitat
Study,* was conducted following the MAFLA studies to gather additional
habitat information on the west Florida shelf from Pensacola south to
Charlotte Harbor, with emphasis on selected hard bottom areas that might
harbor epifauna and demersal fishes. Ten areas (five in the western
panhandle of Florida and five in southwestern Florida) were selected for
geophysical characterization (sub-bottom profiling and side scan sonar).
Following the geological work, photographic and videographic imaging of
the bottom produced early estimates of the types and amounts of biota
the areas held. This program was a precursor to the Southwest Florida
Shelf Ecosystem Program (see Section 3.1.5), a full-blown environmental
field study with a great deal of faunal sampling, hydrographic work, and
sediment and midwater measurements. A sizeable geophysical and imaging
element produced two volumes of large-format maps (*Marine Habitat
Atlases*) showing the relationships between attached hard bottom animal
and plant communities, bottom type, and associations with depth,
distance from shore, nutrients, illumination, currents and other
factors. This work was done offshore from St. Petersburg south to the
Florida Keys and from Florida State waters to the shelf's edge in water
depths of more than 150 m. In all, this program required a decade to
complete.

Another parallel final report, the 1991 *Southwest Florida Nearshore
Benthic Habitat Study* further extended the mapping efforts within
Florida's State waters, generally less than 20 m deep.

Three surveys of seagrasses have been funded by the MMS in the eastern
Gulf. The MMS has long recognized seagrasses as an ecologically
important and potentially vulnerable resource. Besides being important
primary producers, seagrasses are significant sources of forage for the
West Indian manatee (*Manatus trichecus*), the green sea turtle
(*Chelonia midas*) and a host of detritus feeders. They also provide
expansive and productive prairies within which myriads of small motile
invertebrates and fishes live, and they support diverse communities of
attached flora/fauna. Being shallow flowering plants, seasonal changes
can be expected in seagrass beds. But even in the summer and fall,
tropical storms can devastate great patches of prairie. Cumulative
anthropogenic activities seem to have reduced estuarine seagrass
densities in places such as the Laguna Madre, Mississippi Sound, and
Tampa Bay. The MMS surveys were conducted with combinations of
photosleds, divers, and aerial overflights (in clear, shallow waters).
These were the Western Florida Coast Seagrass Inventory; Anclote Key to
Palmetto Island (1984); the Florida Big Bend Seagrass Habitat Study
(1985); and the accompanying Florida Big Bend Seagrass Habitat Study
Photographic Atlas (1985).

Much of the Southwest Florida Shelf Ecosystem Program (Section 3.1.5)
consisted of a series of photographic and geophysical surveys across and
along the shelf, in addition to the extensive sampling and
process-oriented studies. The several large reports received from this
long, complex program were accompanied by two large-format *Marine
Habitat Atlases* that displayed habitat and community sites. Several
more-or-less distinct benthic habitats and epifaunal community types
which varied in response to lighting, substrates, currents, nutrients,
and other factors were identified.

Following the identification of significant topographic features during
the Mississippi-Alabama Marine Ecosystem Program (Section 3.1.4), itself
an ecological mapping effort, additional mapping was done in western,
muddy parts of the region, which differ considerably physiographically,
from the coarser quartzose eastern parts. The mapping revealed the
geological/geophysical structure and the nature of the fauna with
remotely operated vehicles (ROV's). The final report,
*Mississippi-Alabama Shelf Pinnacle Trend Habitat Mapping Study*, was
published in 1992.

# 3. Marine Ecosystems Studies

In the 1970's, the BLM funded a series of ambitious descriptive regional
field studies ("Benchmark" programs) around the Gulf of Mexico and other
regions. These were conducted in "frontier" areas (those with little or
no history of oil and gas activity). In theory the bodies of data
collected were the "benchmarks" against which future effects might be
compared. In most cases, these studies of the continental shelf (and
sometimes the uppermost slope), were the first truly systematic,
multidisciplinary, multiyear studies of a given area. The study areas
were based on a size that was realistic in terms of science (i.e., an
area believed to have a contiguously distinctive or characteristic
physiography and/or zoogeography) and logistically practical to study.
For example, the continental shelf offshore Texas-Louisiana is a wide,
muddy expanse of shelf. The South Texas area is predominantly sandy. The
wide southwestern Florida platform is characterized by sand and
low-profile carbonate outcroppings, and the Georgia Bight, influenced by
the Gulf Stream, is characterized by the distinctive subtropical
Carolinean fauna. (In the early years, the BLM Gulf of Mexico OCS Office
funded a similar South Atlantic Benchmark Program (1977) in the Georgia
Bight from Daytona Beach, Florida, to Cape Fear, North Carolina). These
benchmark programs often evolved from year to year based on existing
data and new findings. Typically these studies developed an early
framework of biological and supplemental data upon which to build. (The
early efforts of many regional ecosystem studies were designed with a
paucity of hard, organized, regional information taken systematically).
During these studies, nearly all size and trophic classes of marine
biota were described from the microscopic to the large megafauna and
within the plankton, neuston, nekton, and benthos. Analyses of
contaminants in water, biota, and sediments, the sediment type and
chemistry, and the hydrographic structure were all used in multivariate
analyses of biological diversity, biomass, and numbers. Virtually all
combinations and types of organism/abiotic-factor comparisons were made,
especially in the early STOCS and MAFLA programs.

In 1977, the GAO criticized BLM for relying too heavily upon very large,
unfocused, multidisciplinary databases. The BLM responded by contracting
the National Research Council (NRC) to recommend changes to studies
planning by restructuring the program and developing numerical criteria
to tie study selection to OCS-related management decisions. To be
selected, a study had to provide information useful for timely
management decisions. Thereafter, studies tended to focus more directly
on elements that made a region environmentally distinct or important in
some way. The later studies also focused on many aspects of the
Texas-Louisiana Shelf, with its well-developed offshore oil and gas
industry.

In biological studies and oceanographic studies with significant
biological content, the biotic elements of greatest attention have since
been mainly benthic and benthopelagic forms. The reasoning for this was
that the benthos was most easily studied quantitatively, it was
relatively immobile, and it would ultimately be the most likely
component affected chronically by contaminants. As such, it was argued,
the benthos would respond to environmental change in the most detectable
way, if not the fastest. In more recent studies (a lesson from European
researchers), some greater emphasis has been placed on fast growing,
short-generation forms such as meiofauna and zooplankton to detect
change. While the studies tended to be mission-oriented (related to
environmental impact statements or technical petroleum operations, for
example), they still had to be based on solid science and statistical
convention.

The sampling methodologies for benthic marine ecosystem investigations
were most often conventional, accepted quantitative and
semi-quantitative trawls, box corers, water bottles, sensors, and
cameras, in keeping with the MMS function as a regulatory (as opposed to
a research-and-development) agency. Some studies have included
experimental elements, biochemical assays; histopathology, productivity,
genetic, and behavioral elements; and other types of information as the
regional character and purpose would require. In some latter studies
(starting in the mid-1980's), it proved useful to deploy *in situ*
monitoring systems and moorings to measure environmental processes that
helped explain the biological observations made with conventional
samplers. This was especially true for southwest Florida,
Mississippi-Alabama, and later deep-sea programs.

![](media/image3.jpeg){width="2.6251968503937007in"
height="1.6618110236220471in"}In some programs, ROV's were effectively
used; and for the deep-sea studies, manned submersibles were required to
study highly complex chemosynthetic communities.

Final reports were typically published in sets of 4 to 10 volumes
(including often-voluminous appendices), each with a topical area or
synopsis, although some information synthesis reports were single
volumes. The ecosystems studies devoted to the northern Gulf of Mexico
shelf are described in Section 3.1, and those devoted to the continental
slope are described in Section 3.2 below. These are discussed separately
because of the inherent differences in community structure, process
rates, habitat and biological diversity, and trophic patterns, for
example.

## 

## 3.1. Continental Shelf Ecosystems Studies

### 3.1.1. Eastern Gulf of Mexico Benchmark Program and the Mississippi-Alabama-Florida Shelf Ecosystems Study ("MAFLA")

The MAFLA Program was one of the first BLM marine ecosystem programs in
the Gulf of Mexico along with the South Texas OCS (STOCS) Program
described below. One of the overriding considerations in developing the
MAFLA Program was that, of all Gulf areas, it was believed to be one of
the least affected by any human activities, including those related to
oil and gas. (Well before the ESP, there were a handful of leases
drilled in the southern southwest Florida area. In a small and brief
study in 1993, the USGS relocated these undeveloped sites and made a
favorable assessment of "health.") In contrast to the eastern Gulf, most
northwestern shelf areas west of Mississippi had been drilled
extensively, and it was argued by many that chronic, low-level exposures
to oil, metals, and other contaminants made reliable trend analyses
impossible. The MAFLA Program measured and compared virtually every
biotic and habitat compartment in the region. Beginning in 1975, the BLM
began to receive MAFLA reports in earnest. The early workshop report,
*Marine Environmental Implications of Offshore Drilling, Eastern Gulf of
Mexico*, became a landmark work. A pilot, a *Multivariate Analysis of
the MAFLA Water Column Baseline Data,* was conducted in 1974, and in
1977, a study of hydrocarbon loads in animal tissues. As a side note,
the accuracy of all of the measurements of trace metals, hydrocarbons,
and other contaminants made in the 1970's have been called into
question, compared to later measurements made with more advanced
equipment and protocols.

The massive, multidisciplinary, and multiyear MAFLA sampling programs
were procured in 1975 and 1977 (and published in 1977 and 1979,
respectively). The first was published in 13 loosely connected volumes.
In contrast to more recent studies, these studies described midwater
plankton, neuston, and suspended matter and emphasized the measurements
of contaminants and natural chemical species in biota, sediments, and
water. The second main report (1979) furthered the knowledge found in
the first.

Another major report in 1979 was related to ichthyoplankton distribution
and abundance. While a large and expensive study for its time, there
were some weaknesses in the comparisons of data, and an apparent
reluctance of investigators in differing areas of expertise to converse.
After reviews of the MAFLA program, the STOCS program, and similar ones
in other Regions, the BLM studies program, in its infancy, began to
redesign programs and target resources to make determinations most
useful for DOI management decisions.

### 3.1.2. South Texas OCS Benchmark Program (STOCS)

Procured from 1975 to 1978, the STOCS Program consisted of a massive and
diverse series of multidisciplinary efforts. In the year-one studies,
baseline efforts were combinations of information syntheses, atlases,
and pilot field studies. These included works on plankton and fisheries
(National Marine Fisheries Service \[NMFS\]); biology and geology (Texas
A&M University \[TAMU\]); geology (USGS); zooplankton, ichthyoplankton
and eggs (TAMU and NMFS); and ground fishes (NMFS). The second year's
efforts produced a massive report containing 10 volumes on environmental
biology and chemistry. It was entitled *Environmental Studies, South
Texas Outer Continental Shelf, Biology and Chemistry* (1977) and was
accompanied by a USGS mapping volume. The third year's report (of the
same name) was published as a seven-volume report in 1979, and a
synthesis volume was produced in 1980. The major biological and chemical
efforts described above were conducted by a consortium of Texas
Universities (Rice, University of Texas, and TAMU).

### 3.1.3. Topographic Features Program

For many years before BLM systematic ecological investigations started,
commercial snapper and grouper fishermen had been aware of a number of
topographic prominences on the continental shelf from Texas to west
Florida. Partly through oil and gas exploration, their presence became
known to a wider group of oceanographers, recreational divers and
fishermen, and even navigators (for anchoring \-- a particularly
destructive activity). By the early 1970's, researchers, notably at
TAMU, had begun to conduct topographic, biological and geophysical
investigations in the western Gulf. As early as the 1950's other workers
were describing other topographic features in the eastern Gulf.
Regardless of their geological origins (e.g., salt domes, chemical or
biological accretion, or erosion), these features provide substrates for
attached and cryptic flora and fauna as well as a habitat for a rich
demersal and pelagic fish population. The Topographic Features Program
has been one of the highest profile and longest lasting of the ESP
initiatives, second only perhaps to the Marine Ecosystems Studies
(above).

Reefs and other topographic irregularities are seen by many as special
places of great value for a number of reasons: (1) They often support a
variety of attached epibenthic animals and plants not found on
ubiquitous soft bottoms; (2) They often provide protective and trophic
niches; (3) They collectively comprise only a tiny percentage of ocean
bottom; (4) As disjunct features, they pose interesting zoogeographic
questions; (5) They provide places for recreational activities including
fishing and diving as well as commercial fisheries, and (6) They are
deemed by many to be aesthetically pleasing.

It has been argued that if the soft muddy bottom was the exceptional
substrate, it would get more attention. From the beginning of the
Environmental Studies Program the BLM recognized that the management of
the oil and gas industry in areas with topographic features would have
to be inherently different than for the far more common soft-bottom
areas, and it initiated a series of studies. In 1976, the BLM received
its first preliminary report on biological (and geological)
reconnaissance of selected topographic features off Texas. Through 1981,
the BLM had received six major reports on the topographic features in
the western Gulf, their fauna and its vertical zonation, water and
sediment dynamics, and chemical contaminants. The last of these, the
*Northern Gulf of Mexico Topographic Features Study* included studies of
the two Flower Garden Banks, nine minor banks, and the eastern Gulf's
Florida Middle Grounds, in addition to other banks had already been
studied. By then, all known "banks" (as opposed to the lower-profile
"hard bottoms") had been investigated to one extent or another with
photographic imaging, diver collections, and in situ instrumentation.
Detailed topographic and zonational maps were now available for most of
them, and these were being employed to develop stipulations to manage
exploration and drilling in and around the features. In 1982, under the
new Minerals Management Service, topographic features studies continued
with a special emphasis on the conspicuous Flower Garden Banks.

The East and West Flower Garden Banks are located at the edge of the
continental shelf, slightly over 175 km south-southeast of Galveston,
Texas. The banks are topographic expressions of uplift caused by
underlying salt domes originating from Jurassic, Louann evaporite
deposits 15 km below the seafloor. The crests of these isolated banks,
which are 19 km apart, are occupied by submerged coral reefs that rise
to within approximately 15 m of the surface. Together, the bank zones
containing high diversity coral reefs cover over 450 acres.

In 1984, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
formally announced its intent to consider the Flower Garden Banks as a
marine sanctuary under the Marine Protection, Research & Sanctuaries Act
1972. The two banks (East and West FGB) received formal designation in
1992. This was the tenth designated marine sanctuary and the first in
the Gulf. Subsequently, in 1996, Stetson Bank was added to the
Sanctuary. Much of the data obtained in MMS-supported studies were used
in the arguments for designation.

In 1985 the MMS received a final synthesis report, *The Flower Gardens:
A Compendium of Information*, which included a summary report and nine
map sheets at a scale of 1:48,000.

![](media/image4.png){width="2.5131944444444443in"
height="2.098611111111111in"}In 1992, the MMS received the report,
*Long-term Monitoring at the East and West Flower Garden Banks*, a
multiyear investigation of the overall health and dynamics of the
ecosystem. This work was the result of an initial 3-year field program
begun in 1989. The objectives were to document long-term changes in
coral and associated communities and long-term natural variation in
reef-building and associated communities. Various monitoring stations
and transects were established for monitoring lateral and accretionary
coral growth. Percent cover data were acquired planimetrically for all
coral species, leafy algae, sponges and reef rock on the photographs.
Measurements and calculations included number of colonies and relative
dominance of each species, diversity and evenness, and trace metals.
Growth, disease, bleaching, retreat, mortality, and mechanical damage
were quantified. Fish and invertebrate populations were estimated on
transects. Ancillary measurements included dissolved oxygen, salinity,
temperature, light, and contaminants. The long-term monitoring of the
Flower Garden Banks continues as a jointly funded effort with the NOAA's
National Marine Sanctuary Program, with additional reports being
received in 1996 and 1999. Ongoing measurements of coral growth and
other parameters continue. Virtually no significant long-term changes
have been detected in coral reef populations, cover, or diversity at the
Flower Garden Banks since quantitative surveys of the reefs began. No
significant trends were observed in any parameters during the studies.

### 3.1.4. Northeastern Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi-Alabama Programs

In addition to the many western Gulf topographic features (primarily
salt dome geology) and the Florida Middle Grounds (an accretionary
system), there is a region east of the Mississippi Delta that is a
transition area between the mud-silt deposits to the west and the
siliceous and calcareous sediments to the east of DeSoto Canyon.
Physiographically, the region known as the "Tuscaloosa Trend" or
"pinnacle trend" is replete with relatively low (typically less than 15
m) "pinnacles" and benches from the middle shelf out to the shelf edge.

While not so high as the western Gulf prominences, these features
present hard substrates for the attachment of epifauna and algae, and a
habitat for pelagic and demersal fish populations. They are valuable for
many of the same reasons as the western Gulf features but
environmentally they are not capable of sustaining high diversity coral
reefs. In addition to being interesting scientifically, there have also
been concerns for the laying of pipelines and other infrastructure in
these areas.

The program began in 1983, and the final report, *Tuscaloosa Trend Data
Search and Synthesis Study* was completed in 1985. This report presented
a regional review of known information. The field studies were conducted
under a 4-year effort, *Mississippi-Alabama Marine Ecosystem Study*,
which produced the large *Atlas of High Resolution Geophysical Data* and
a 3-volume "Data Summary and Synthesis" (1991).

Following the initial studies, a new study administered for MMS by the
USGS Biological Resources Division, the *Northeast Gulf of Mexico
Coastal and Marine Ecosystems Program: Ecosystem Monitoring,
Mississippi/Alabama Shelf* was planned to build onto the two previous
MMS-sponsored studies of the Mississippi-Alabama pinnacle trend area.
The initial studies had emphasized location and mapping of these
features. In addition, communities were described with some ancillary
correlations between physical and chemical parameters. The overall goal
of this new 4-year program on the Mississippi/Alabama shelf was to
characterize and monitor biological communities and environmental
conditions at selected sites along the Mississippi-Alabama OCS. Specific
objectives were: (1) to describe and monitor seasonal and interannual
changes in community structure and zonation and relate these to changes
in environmental conditions; and (2) to characterize the geological,
chemical, and physical environment of the mounds as an aid in
understanding their origin, evolution, present-day dynamics, and
long-term fate. The program consisted of three field-year phases
(1997-99) followed by analyses and final synthesis.

![](media/image5.jpeg){width="2.5277777777777777in"
height="2.002083333333333in"}Methods included the use of ROV's to
characterize habitats and populations of epifauna and fishes, with
occasional sampling for species identifications. Geological sampling was
conducted with grabs, side-scan sonar, and sub-bottom profiler.
Accessory measurements were made with a wide variety of hydrographic,
optical and CTD's, a variety of optical measurements at nine stations
within five "megasites." In addition, environmental moorings with
current meters and other recording instrumentation were deployed and
serviced regularly. This program was designed to monitor environmental
conditions and dynamics at three distinct types of topographic features
present along the Mississippi-Alabama OCS: (1) high profile pinnacles of
greater than 10‑m relief; (2) medium relief, flattop features of
approximately 5 m; and (3) low relief hard bottoms of less than 5 m.
Seasonal information was gathered regarding populations and diversity of
biological organisms related to turbidity, zonation, and other physical
environmental factors. After three annual interim reports, this program
was completed in 2001 with the final synthesis.

The northeastern Gulf ecosystems studies included two additional data
search, synthesis, and review-type efforts of note. The 1996,
seven-volume, multidisciplinary *Northeastern Gulf of Mexico Marine
Ecosystem Program: Data Search and Synthesis* contains some biological
elements. The final natural sciences volume (Appendix E) reviews the
biology of the northeastern Gulf from about Tarpon Springs, Florida to
the Florida-Alabama line.

### 3.1.5. Southwest Florida Shelf Ecosystem Program

The study area for this program was the continental shelf from
approximately St. Petersburg, south to the tip of Florida. The region is
a wide carbonate platform dominated by silt, sand and gravel, and
frequently encountered, low relief (\<1 m) rocky outcroppings. The
region varies ecologically with depth and from north to south. During
the study, the several more-or-less-distinctive biotic assemblages were
found to be explainable on the basis of seasonality, current regime,
temperature range, depth and light penetration, nutrient upwelling,
availability of rock substrate, and other variables.

The Southwest Florida (SWFL) Shelf program proceeded in several stages
and was conducted under 10 separate contracts (with numerous contract
modifications), and by 4 primary contractors. Ten areas (5 in
southwestern Florida) were selected for geophysical characterization
(sub-bottom profiling and side scan sonar). Following the primarily
geological work, photographic and videographic imaging of the bottom
produced early estimates of the types and amounts of biota the areas
held.

Begun as a new project in 1980, the SWFL research program continued
until the receipt of the final synthesis report in 1991. This study
began with systematic geophysical and photo-sled surveys of the SWFL
shelf from approximately St. Petersburg, FL, south to the southern tip
of Florida, combined with traditional benthic samplings (box coring,
dredging, trawling etc.) and accessory measurements. Without going into
intricate detail year-by-year, the study began with the surveying of
five east-west transects and subsequent hard- and soft-bottom stations
samplings. With annual input from, and consultation with, the Florida
Governor's office and Florida scientists, the program was adjusted each
year. Modifications included additions of sampling stations and
movements of transect locations from year to year, until all of the
suspected communities and areas of the shelf were sampled---all the way
to the Florida Keys and even into some shallow State waters.

The SWFL program was one of the first in the Gulf that combined
descriptive as well as true process-oriented studies. During the middle
phases of this program, *in situ* experimental benthic arrays were
deployed to understand some benthic processes: sequences of larval
settlement and growth, "benthic storms", animal behavior, and bottom
hydrographic extremes. The study produced numerous scientific reports,
large-format habitat atlases of communities and habitats, and
multidisciplinary syntheses.

A workshop on the west Florida shelf was convened in May 1992 (final
workshop report, 1994) at the Florida Institute of Oceanography, St.
Petersburg. At that meeting, the immensity of the work done historically
in the SWFL, MAFLA and other MMS projects in the area became evident to
the 60+ attendees.

### 3.1.6. Texas-Louisiana Shelf Ecosystems Program

The Texas and Louisiana continental shelf is the most highly developed
region in the world for offshore oil and gas drilling and production. It
is also known for its abundant fisheries, productive coastal wetlands,
and its offshore hard banks. Many studies supported by MMS and others
have been conducted in this region. However, there had never been a
synthesis of information for the whole northwest Gulf continental shelf.
For the 1988 *Offshore Texas and Louisiana Marine Ecosystems Data
Synthesis*, the study area described by Continental Shelf Associates
extended over 1,000 km of coastline from the Mississippi River Delta,
westward and southward to Corpus Christi Bay, Texas (the approximate
center of the early STOCS Study, described above). The report reviewed
the state of knowledge of the natural marine and atmospheric sciences,
socioeconomics, and the effects of the oil and gas industry and other
activities offshore. It also discussed information gaps and data needs
and drew conceptual models. As one of the later large regional syntheses
of data (this time in a non-"frontier" area), it had the advantage of
working with early large data sets from the 1970's and 1980's.

## 3.2. Deep-Sea Ecosystems Studies

![](media/image6.jpeg){width="2.275in" height="1.726388888888889in"}Most
deep-sea animals live under conditions of total darkness, low
temperature, nearly featureless mud, and sparse food resources. They are
generally small and fragile and the structure of benthic communities is
generally well known, if not satisfactorily explained, ecologically.
Many of the same sampling and statistical methods used in shallow water
apply well in the deep-sea environment. However, the costs for sea time
and sample treatments are usually significantly higher. The character
and rarity of many deep animals, the high species diversity, and the
relative paucity of qualified systematists add to the difficulties.
Another problem, not often discussed, is that relatively few marine
biologists working on the well-lighted, high-productivity, high biomass,
seasonally variable, and physically dynamic shelves and estuaries
appreciate some aspects of the deep benthos and processes. Studies
approaches are somewhat different (for example due to high diversity,
diminutive and fragile animals, temporal stability, trophic structure,
and slowed processes).

The accelerated interest by industry in development of the deep water of
the Gulf of Mexico has proven a challenge for the exploration of
hydrocarbon reserves in an environmentally sound manner. This heightened
interest in the deepwater area has largely been triggered by the passage
of the Deepwater Royalty Relief Act in 1995 and the development of
technologies that allow for cost-effective development beyond the
continental shelf. With this accelerating interest, leasing in waters
deeper than 400 meters has proceeded at an unprecedented rate, with
exploration and production following closely behind. The challenge is
raised to ensure that the environmental information base is adequate to
address management issues needed in these new areas. This offshore trend
has been paralleled by MMS-sponsored research since the early 1980\'s
with studies of the deep sea in general, and chemosynthetic communities
in particular. However, if predictions of even larger reservoirs are
proven true, then during the next decade the Gulf of Mexico will
experience a profound change in the patterns of development.

In recent years, the oil and gas industry has drilled tracts in depths
greater than 3,000 m, has drilled wells in depths almost 2,000 m, and
has produced from at least ten sites from 1,150 to 2,520 m.

In the late 1970's, it was already apparent to the BLM that the industry
was encroaching onto the uppermost continental slope. Rapidly improving
deep drilling and exploration technologies and large reservoir
discoveries justified the higher cost.

### 3.2.1. Deep-Sea Information Synthesis

By 1981, the MMS had awarded a contract to Dr. Willis Pequegnat of
TerEco, Inc. to review the available information on deep-sea communities
of the Gulf of Mexico. Based primarily on accumulated trawl data and
bottom photographs collected on the R/V Alaminos from the 1960's through
about 1980, this report was received in final form in 1983. However,
systematic faunal data, except for the megafauna, was lacking for the
Gulf of Mexico deep-sea communities.

### 3.2.2. Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Study

In 1983, the MMS awarded the first systematic study of the deep northern
Gulf of Mexico. Conducted by LGL, Ecological Research Associates and
TAMU, the *Northern Continental Slope Study* (NGOMCS) was a classical
descriptive field study designed largely to test or confirm the depth
zonation scheme suggested before by Pequegnat. The continental shelf
studies, (see Section 3.1, above) were conducted as a series of efforts
based on regional physiological and zoogeographic character. At that
time the Gulf was believed to change monotonously with depth.
Consequently, it was anticipated that one large descriptive study with
stations placed on transects and consistent methods, would work for the
deep sea. The geochemical and physiographic complexity we now recognize
was unknown in the 1970's. Consisting ultimately of stations on a few
shallow-to-deep and E-W transects, the study concentrated on benthic and
benthopelagic sampling. Included were sediment characteristics; meio-,
macro-, and megafauna; contaminants; and hydrography with the usual
comparisons of the non-biological variables and community structure.

### 3.2.3. Chemosynthetic Community Studies and Community Conservation

It was during the latter phases of the NGOMCS field program (late 1984)
that TAMU researchers, conducting separate but concurrent research,
recognized chemosynthetic species in dredge and trawl tows from an area
known to have sediments containing oil, gas hydrates, and hydrogen
sulfide. Carbon isotopic analyses confirmed that the tube worms and
molluscs lived via a chemosynthetic strategy. This was, at the time, a
remarkable finding to the investigators and MMS. In 1986, the MMS
provided limited funding to the NGOMCS program for initial surveys using
the *Johnson-Sea-Link* *I* research submersible. Six successful dives
were made on two stations in the Green Canyon area (Blocks 184/185 and
233/234). These observations revealed the magnitude of the communities;
their faunal composition; spatial variability; and relationships among
the fauna, bacterial mats, seeps, and unusual geological formations.

![](media/image7.jpeg){width="2.24375in"
height="1.7118055555555556in"}The MMS recognized the potential
importance of these communities and their implication in the management
of the petroleum industry. Early findings, accumulating at a rapid rate
as more sites were visited, demonstrated high inter- and intra-site
variability in community density and composition. The MMS concluded that
protective measures and additional high-resolution information were
needed.

The MMS soon held discussions with the Offshore Operators Committee
(OOC), a group representing companies conducting petroleum operations in
the Gulf of Mexico. In cooperation with the MMS, the OOC was
instrumental in collecting and releasing geophysical information and
they commissioned TAMU to conduct a trawling study at 33 carefully
selected sites. Chemosynthetic animals were found in 28 of 39 (72
percent) of the samples. These findings significantly expanded the known
1986 distribution of these communities (or at least animals) across the
northern Gulf.

The MMS has at its disposal, measures for the protection of valued
resources. Among these measures are pre-lease stipulations and Notices
to Lessees (NTL\'s). Stipulations are sale-specific protective measures
that may or may not be adopted at each lease sale by the Secretary of
the Interior. In contrast, because of its administrative nature, an NTL
is exercised on all applicable leases (i.e., it is not lease-specific)
and it is not an optional protective measure used at the discretion of
the Secretary.

In 1988, the MMS issued NTL 88-11 (now refined as NTL 2000-G20), which
became effective on February 1, 1989. It required \". . . avoidance or
protection of chemosynthetic communities and avoidance of shallow
hazards . . . .\" It further required that, in depths greater than 400
m, operators supply geophysical data to MMS to determine the possibility
of the local existence of chemosynthetic communities. Prior to approvals
of applications for permit to drill and pipeline applications, operators
must delineate all seafloor areas to be disturbed, as well as all
available geophysical and topographic features that might support
chemosynthetic communities. If the MMS review suggests that
chemosynthetic communities could be harmed, the operator must (1) modify
the application to relocate the operation, (2) modify the application to
provide additional photographic or videotape information to determine
the presence or absence of well developed communities, or (3) otherwise
ensure that the operation does not impact a community (i.e., the
precision placement of anchors). There have been no regulatory actions
by agencies other than the MMS to protect chemosynthetic communities.

Following the early observations and imposition of protective measures,
the MMS funded the first *Chemosynthetic Ecosystem Study* (CHEMO I) in
1990. This was a two-field-year study concentrating on community
descriptions and other determinations to address the most immediate
management needs which included the status of knowledge for the Gulf and
literature review; the degree of community similarity to other areas;
the distribution and degree of development from place to place; whether
the communities are \"permanent\" or "ephemeral" and fragile (sensitive)
or robust; and the extent to which communities can be harmed by or
protected from OCS oil and gas activities.

The contract required an information synthesis (completed as a separate
report in 1992), conceptual modeling, quantitative composition of
chemosynthetic communities and spatial relationships among animals.
Investigators used manned submersibles to allow for precision
navigation, photography, sampling, and personal observation. They made
the first quantitative studies of physical-chemical factors controlling
the distribution, abundance and growth of chemosynthetic communities.
They also investigated associated heterotrophic fauna; some geochemical,
biochemical, and physiological activity; and the reliability of methods
for detecting communities.

![](media/image8.jpeg){width="2.5in" height="1.70748031496063in"}The
1995 *Change and Stability in Gulf of Mexico Chemosynthetic Communities*
(CHEMO II) was designed to expand on the CHEMO I database. The MMS
recognized that there were still few data on the ecological interactions
in these communities, the temporal stability and change within the
communities, and the physicochemical habitat that supports them. CHEMO
II addressed both abiotic habitat and biotic questions to understand the
conditions necessary for community establishment and maintenance.

In addition to furthering the general objectives of CHEMO I, CHEMO II
investigated the sources (e.g., deep vs. shallow, or petrogenic vs.
biogenic) of any necessary dissolved gases and the likelihood that
petroleum production may ultimately deprive the animals of an energy
source; the age, growth rate, turnover rates, reproduction and
recruitment; the patterns of senescence and death in the dominant
animals; and the recovery rates of communities damaged by physical
disturbance. New experimental approaches and new instruments were
deployed by submersibles and more precision measurements were taken. All
of these objectives were met, some beyond expectation.

### 3.2.4. Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental Slope Habitats And Benthic Ecology

In 1988 when the NGOMCS final report was received, the MMS was already
aware that the classical picture of the continental slope was changing.
Many newer scientific findings had been made on the slope, among the
most important being the discoveries of productive chemosynthetic
communities in 1984, and the collection of far better information on
geological structural complexity and related biogeochemical processes.
It was now generally conceded that the information available on the vast
northern Gulf continental slope was inadequate in light of these
findings.

In addition, technological and engineering advances and economic factors
had fueled the rapid expansion of the oil and gas industry into slope
waters. As a result of the passage of the Royalty Relief Act, the
expansion of leasing activities on the continental slope had risen
dramatically since 1995, especially in water depths greater than 800 m.
Furthermore, the discoveries of vast gas hydrate reserves on the slope
suggested increasing industry interest.

In April 1997, an MMS-supported *Workshop on Environmental Issues
Surrounding Deepwater Oil and Gas Development* was convened in New
Orleans to identify oceanographic and sociological data gaps, and to
recommend new investigations to fill them. The discussion group on
deep-sea ecology focused on the state of knowledge of benthic
communities, their composition and complexity, associated biogeochemical
processes, habitat heterogeneity and trophic considerations.

A study initiated in FY 1999, *Deepwater Program: Northern Gulf of
Mexico Continental Slope Habitats and Benthic Ecology* (Deep Gulf of
Mexico Benthos or DGoMB) was developed with the guidance of the workshop
recommendations. This study has many of the same objectives as the
NGOMCS study, but there are significant differences in approach. The
DGoMB study began with a series of models and testable hypotheses. The
sampling scheme is designed to detect known changes in depth,
topography, current features, etc. It is built on the NGOMCS study and
all other available information, including the presence of seeps. In
addition to the main benthic and hydrographic descriptions, it has a
significant process-oriented component (e.g., respirometry and sulfate
reduction) designed to supplement and explain the quantitative faunal
data. As DGoMB developed, there were other fortuitous additions, notably
an extension of the sampling and experiments into Mexican waters, and
the deployment of the DSV Alvin to make pertinent observations.

### 3.2.5. Other Deep-Sea Efforts

Additional (non-field) MMS-sponsored studies discussed in the 1997
workshop included: (1) a review of management usage of deep-sea
information, and (2) a Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Information Resources
Data Search and Literature Synthesis. These projects were conducted by
the cooperative Louisiana State University/Coastal Marine Institute
(CMI) program (Dr. R. Carney) and Continental Shelf Associates, Inc.
(CSA), respectively. In 2001, CSA completed a large report *Deepwater
Gulf of Mexico Environmental and Socioeconomic Data Search and
Synthesis*. Of the 11 topical chapters, 5 were devoted to various
aspects of biology, including water column, benthos (seep and nonseep),
protected species, and fishes and fisheries. The CMI report *Management
Applicability of Contemporary Deep-Sea Ecology and Reevaluation of Gulf
of Mexico Studies* reviewed selected historic research efforts by
Federal Agencies and the works by Pequegnat and LGL (NGOMCS) in the
Gulf.

# 4. Coastal Studies

The BLM and MMS coastal studies have produced a diverse series of
reports and maps which describe the important characteristics, assets,
and resources of specific segments of the coast around the Gulf of
Mexico from south Florida to south Texas. Mapped topics varied from area
to area reflecting regional environmental differences, for example the
presence of distinctive landforms and shallow ecosystems, estuaries,
seagrass beds, mangrove forests, coral reefs, and marshes. In addition
to the reviews of ecological and biological resources, many of these
studies included topics such as socioeconomic features; oil and gas
infrastructure; climatology; minerals, soils and geological character;
and coastal processes. But the studies listed below review only those of
a biological nature, region by region. These study series have also been
referred to as the *Coastal Characterizations*.

There have been several major reasons for the development of coastal
environmental data. Initially, knowledge of the distribution of
environmental resources is the first step in managing and protecting
them. The shallow water communities and coastal lowlands are the
resources most vulnerable to oil spills and other contaminants and
physical disturbance (e.g., the digging of canals and pipeline
corridors). They are also very productive in terms of natural carbon
flow as well as the Nation's fisheries (especially in the northern Gulf
of Mexico). Ultimately, the shallow water and continental shelf
production of biomass and detrital carbon feeds even the deep-sea fauna.
The coastal areas also provide critical habitat for several protected
species including bald eagles, osprey, bottlenose dolphins, manatees,
and beach mice. Finally, coastal areas are local centers of human
populations and recreational resources. The MMS coastal studies were not
begun until the late 1970's, just a few years after the early baseline
marine ecosystem studies (see Section 3.). Many have been conducted by,
for, or in consultation with MMS's sister DOI agency, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS), and many resulted in publications with FWS
report numbers. The hundreds of maps produced under the relevant MOU's
and contracts are standardized at a detailed scale of 1:100,000. Several
of these reports are also mentioned in the Ecosystems studies (Section
3).

## 4.1. General Coastal Studies -- Central Gulf Marshes

Of the most productive natural ecosystems, the coastal marshes are high
on the list of coastal studies. They have been highly researched
worldwide and are among the best understood in terms of their biological
processes and composition value to humans. In its realization of the oil
and gas industry's partial implication in the loss of wetland habitat,
MMS set out to determine the extent of the problem and possible
remedies. A final report, *Causes of Wetland loss in the Central Gulf of
Mexico*, became available in 1988. In contrast to the four, largely
descriptive, regional programs that follow below, these studies were
more ecosystem-specific and related to specific, known operational
effects.

## 4.2. Texas Coastal Ecosystems Program

![](media/image9.jpeg){width="2.5in" height="1.8751968503937009in"}In
the Texas coastal studies, the FWS focused appropriately on the Texas
sandy barrier islands, estuarine lagoons, and marsh systems. From south
to north, the seaward coastline changes from a medium-to-high-energy
environment to a marshy region north and east of Galveston. The dynamic
southern Laguna Madre environment is governed largely by a relative lack
of fresh-water input and high evaporation rates. The 1981 final report,
the *Texas Barrier Island Regional Ecological Characterization:
Environmental Synthesis Papers* was followed by the 1983 three-volume,
48-map atlas of the same title. Volume II contains the biological
resources narrative. In 1989, the program ended with the *Texas Barrier
Island Regional Characterization*, which went beyond the previous
characterization by (1) updating and improving upon the previous work
and (2) including a large volume of conceptual ecosystem models. The
Texas reports covered the entire coast from Mexico to Louisiana.

## 4.3. Louisiana Coastal Ecosystems Program

The Louisiana coast is predominantly a low-energy coastline with
extensive coastal marshes and riverine input. This notably increases
rates of production for the wide continental shelf but it can also
produce seasonal hypoxia and nutrient excesses. The *Mississippi Deltaic
Plain Region Ecological Characterization: A Habitat Mapping Study* was
completed by the FWS in 1980 with a companion socioeconomic report. In
1981, FWS published a review of the environmental literature, and by
1983, the FWS and others had published the final report series: a
narrative report with management recommendations, a volume of ecological
models, and a 72-map ecological atlas.

## 4.4. Northeastern and Eastern Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ecosystems Programs

![](media/image10.jpeg){width="2.5in" height="1.6736111111111112in"}The
eastern Gulf of Mexico (essentially the entire coastline east of the
Mississippi River) has a wide variety of shallow ecosystems not seen
elsewhere in the Gulf, or seen here in greater abundance or density.
Some of these ecosystems, notably the oyster reefs, seagrasses, and
mangroves, are not only highly vulnerable to oil spills, they are
believed to be very sensitive, if exposed. From the barrier islands,
coastal marshes and shallow bays in Alabama, Mississippi and northwest
Florida, to the wide carbonate platform, mangroves, Everglades, coral
reefs and tropical flora in south Florida, the eastern Gulf is generally
more diverse ecologically than the western Gulf, and the MMS coastal
studies program reflects this. Continuing eastward into Mississippi,
Alabama and Florida the FWS and MMS focused on certain valuable
environmental resources and communities in addition to the general
multidisciplinary characterizations described elsewhere. No fewer than
23 coastal ecosystems studies have been published under MMS support for
the eastern Gulf. These include regional characterizations,
community-specific descriptive profiles, inventories, and ecological
characterizations as follows:

-   Alabama Coastal Region Ecological Characterization (1983);

-   Ecological Characterization Atlas of Coastal Alabama (1984);

-   Northwestern Florida Ecological Characterization: An Ecological
    Atlas (1984): 1 volume, 90 map sheets;

-   Southwest Florida Ecological Characterization Atlas (1984), 100 map
    sheets at 1:100,000;

-   Synthesis of Available Biological, Geological, Socioeconomic, and
    Cultural Resource Information for the South Florida Area (1990);

-   An Ecological Characterization of the Lower Everglades Florida Bay
    and Florida Keys (1982);

-   An Ecological Characterization of the Caloosahatchee/Big Cypress
    Watershed (1984);

-   An Ecological Characterization of the Florida Panhandle (1988);

-   An Ecological Characterization of the Tampa Bay Watershed (1990);
    and

-   An Ecological Characterization of the Florida Springs Coast (1990).

The FWS published coastal *Seagrass Inventories* for northwest Florida
(1981), Louisiana and Mississippi (1982), western peninsular Florida
(1984), and south Florida (1982). In the southernmost areas, the corals
were added to the inventories in the *Florida Keys Seagrass and Coral
Reef Inventory* (1983).

Two reports discussed the many protected species harbored in southwest
Florida ecosystems and possible effects of OCS activity: *Rare,
Threatened and Endangered Vertebrates of Southwest Florida and Potential
OCS Activity Impacts* (1983), and *Rare, Threatened and Endangered Plant
Species of Southwest Florida and Potential OCS Activity Impacts* (1981).

A notable series of seven "community profiles" was published during the
1980's and 1990's, describing the ecology of selected ecotypes in the
northern and eastern Gulf of Mexico and western peninsular Florida:

-   The Ecology of the Mangroves of South Florida: A Community Profile
    (1982);

-   The Ecology of the Seagrasses of South Florida: A Community Profile
    (1982);

-   The Ecology of the South Florida Coral Reefs: A Community Profile
    (1984), 10 color map sheets at 1:30,000;

-   Ecology of Flooded Salt Marshes of the Northeastern Gulf of Mexico:
    A Community Profile (1984);

-   The Ecology of the Seagrass Meadows of the West Coast of Florida: A
    Community Profile (1989);

-   The Ecology of Oyster Reefs of the Northern Gulf of Mexico: A
    Community Profile (1989); and

-   The Ecology of the Live Bottom Habitats of the Northeastern Gulf of
    Mexico: A Community Profile (1999).

The *Northeastern Gulf of Mexico Coastal Characterization and Data
Information Management System* (1999) is an update of older works above
for all counties and parishes from Apalachicola west to the Chandeleur
Islands. Data sets are categorized into two types: seagrass habitat maps
and natural resource/socioeconomic features.

# 5. Living Marine Resources

While the "Marine Ecosystems" studies attempt to gather relevant
information necessary to describe the natural complex structure and
components of identifiable (usually benthic) ecotypes, the "Living
Marine Resources" studies focus on the distribution, abundance, and
biology of conspicuous forms protected under law, or having commercial,
recreational, or "charismatic" value. "Living Marine Resources" studies
may seek to estimate potential effects of anthropogenic activities or
events, thus overlapping with certain "Effects" studies.

## 5.1. Protected Species

In response to the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972, the
Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, and numerous biological
consultations required under Section 7 of the ESA, the ESP has funded a
series of studies to obtain information on protected species possibly
affected by OCS oil and gas operations. These studies have emphasized
use of fixed-wing aircraft and ships to estimate distribution, relative
abundance, and behavior of cetaceans.

Questions have arisen on the effects of the oilfield structures, noise,
explosive detonations for the severing of platform elements for removal,
pollution, lighting, seismic exploration, effluents as attractants or
repellents, and the overall physical effects of industry (e.g. boat
traffic, midwater structures, and pipelines) on daily cetacean movements
and behavior. The need to evaluate potential impacts of offshore oil and
gas activities on protected species has resulted in an aggressive MMS
marine mammal and turtle research program in the Gulf of Mexico.

The MMS studies have complemented years of shallow dolphin studies
completed by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) around the
Gulf perimeter. Only two delphinids, the bottlenose and the Atlantic
spotted dolphin are found routinely on the shelf (\< 200 m). Most of the
MMS concerns result from the development of deepwater tracts. The
considerations here were (1) the rapid expansion of the oil and gas
industry onto the slope, (2) development of new deepwater structures and
technologies and (3) the deepwater distribution of most of the Gulf
species. Some of the deep-water species (e.g. beaked whales and *Kogia*
spp.) are quite rare, evasive, and difficult to identify and count. In
addition, the topography, geology, current structure, and even the
chemistry of the continental slope are proving to be very complex, and
little is known about how deepwater forms react to these features.

![](media/image11.jpeg){width="2.3180555555555555in"
height="1.4465277777777779in"}Numerous Gulf of Mexico species are
protected under the ESA, MMPA, or both. While there are several species
of birds protected under the ESA (e.g., the bald eagle), the MMS has not
undertaken any specific field studies on them, relying instead on FWS
data, for example.

The West Indian Manatee of the Caribbean and western Florida is the
manatee subspecies of great interest in the region. It grazes in the
shallow Gulf but spends great amounts of time in Florida estuaries and
rivers. Rarely, stragglers swim into the coastal northern Gulf waters.

There are at least 27 species of cetaceans (whales and dolphins)
representing five families that might be expected in the Gulf at some
time or another, but there are only about 20 that might be expected
regularly (there are no porpoises or river dolphins in the Gulf). All
Gulf species are protected under the MMPA and six are under the ESA\*:

**[Odontocetes, toothed whales]{.underline}**

> Physeteridae Sperm whale\*, and dwarf and pygmy sperm whales
>
> Delphinidae Dolphins, at least 14 species, very rare to common
>
> Ziphiidae Blainville's, Gervais', Sowerby's and Cuvier's beaked whales

[Mysticetes, baleen whales]{.underline}

> Balaenidae North Atlantic Right Whale\*
>
> Balaenopteridae Rorquals; the Minke, Sei, Bryde's\*, Blue\*, Fin\*,
> and Humpback\*whales

Sea turtles include the loggerhead, green, hawksbill, Kemps ridley, and
leatherbacks. Of these the Kemp's ridley is the most endangered, and the
loggerhead is the most common. All are listed under the ESA.

![](media/image12.jpeg){width="2.5in" height="1.6881944444444446in"}

The MMS has funded literature reviews and syntheses; field studies on
cetaceans, manatees, and sea turtles; and three workshops directed at
cetaceans and sea turtles in 1982, 1990, and 1999. The MMS studies have
greatly expanded our knowledge of the distributions, abundances, natural
histories, and behaviors of many of the more common cetaceans and, to a
lesser degree, turtles.

Prior to 1977, there were no large-scale efforts to survey Gulf of
Mexico marine mammals -- the sparse information available was a mix of
opportunistic sightings, whaling records, and stranding reports. An
early synthesis report by David Schmidley (1978) provided the MMS with
basic information on most of the known cetaceans zoogeographically
*expected* to occur in the Gulf.

The first dedicated field studies were conducted by the FWS with
fixed-wing aircraft overflights. Beginning with a small pilot study
(published in 1981) and then a larger follow-up research effort
(published in 1984), the research focused simplistically on relating
sightings to geographic location, depth, and distance from shore in
three polygons around the Gulf. While most of the cetacean
identifications are believed to be of good quality, reviewers have
expressed less confidence in the bird and turtle identifications.

Another early FWS study on manatees off western peninsular Florida was
published in 1981. A 1982 *Proceedings of a Workshop on Cetaceans and
Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico: Study Planning for Effects of Outer
Continental Shelf Development* gave MMS guidance for a continuing
protected species program.

Two regional reviews discussed the many protected species harbored in
southwest Florida ecosystems and possible effects of OCS activity: *Rare
Threatened and Endangered Vertebrates of Southwest Florida and Potential
OCS Activity Impacts* (1983), and the *Rare, Threatened and Endangered
Plant Species of Southwest Florida and Potential OCS Activity Impacts*
(1981).

Following the results of these early field and review programs,
continuing Section 7 consultations, and the 1982 workshop
recommendations, the MMS contracted with the NMFS, Pascagoula, to
conduct modest preliminary field studies (aerial and shipboard). These
were aimed at (1) associations of sea turtles and petroleum platforms,
(published in 1990), (2) the distribution of cetaceans and sea turtles
on the slope, (published in 1991), and (3) the behavior and distribution
of sea turtles in relation to the distribution of platforms. This
tagging and tracking program, was cancelled due to technical
difficulties. However, under a contract modification, the program
produced the much-needed work-up of extensive Mexican data on Kemp's
ridley turtles: *Synopsis of Data on the Kemp's Ridley Turtle,
Lepidocheles kempi.* This was one of the top recommendations of the 1982
workshop.

In 1991, the MMS initiated a major field study, *Distribution and
Abundance of Marine Mammals in the North-Central and Western Gulf of
Mexico* (GulfCet I). Funding limitations and the imposition of drilling
moratoria in the eastern Gulf restricted aerial aspects of this study to
the Central and Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Areas from 200-m to at
least 2,000-m depth. The GulfCet I study (1991-1995) was the most
intense field effort to date. It was conducted jointly under a contract
with TAMU, (Galveston) and an MOU with NMFS. This work elucidated
distribution and relative abundance of the more common cetaceans and
their habitat preferences. Observations included seasonal aerial and
shipboard line transects and concurrent passive acoustic surveys. An
added task supported attempts to tag and track the endangered sperm
whale. While the tagging effort was unsuccessful, there were some
preliminary observations on distribution and possible effects of a
seismic ship on movements. Observations were analyzed through proven
line-transect statistics. The addition of hydrographic surveys on TAMU
ship surveys and AVHRR satellite data (sea-surface temperature) gave the
investigators at least a preliminary look at Loop Current eddies, and
chlorophyll [a]{.underline} measurements gave estimates of primary
productivity. Aerial observational efforts included the estimates of sea
turtle numbers and recorded the presence of man-made trash and
pollution. The multifaceted effort was a significant improvement over
the FWS work conducted a decade earlier. However, because of the
limitations in available airtime, the sparse populations of a majority
of the known species, and limitations in the statistical operations,
excellent estimates of population numbers existed for only the most
common and ubiquitous species.

Following GulfCet I, a new program, *Cetaceans, Sea Turtles, and
Seabirds in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Distribution Abundance, and
Habitat Associations* (GulfCet II) was conducted by the same
organizations and investigators. There were renewed industry interests
in the western parts of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area so the
effort in the western Gulf was reduced in favor of getting concentrated
data off Pensacola and Mobile well into shallow waters, and as far east
as Cape San Blas, Florida. Shipboard and aerial overflights and acoustic
surveys were continued. In GulfCet I, the primary production
measurements offered no insight into cetacean distribution, and it was
surmised that the higher trophic levels might be more indicative of
whale foraging areas. Consequently, midwater trawls were towed on
"focused" cruises in the Eastern Gulf and the hydrographic effort was
modified materially in GulfCet II. Satellite sea-surface temperature and
dynamic height measurements, nutrient determinations, expendable
bathythermographs, and acoustic Doppler current profiler measurements
were made specifically to define preferred cetacean habitat.
Associations were observed between sperm whale distributions and eddies,
upwelling, nutrients, and paralarval cephalopod abundance.

![](media/image13.jpeg){width="2.4715277777777778in"
height="1.9590277777777778in"}It had been increasingly obvious that a
substantial sperm whale population existed in the Gulf with total modern
population estimates ranging from 300 to 500 animals. During a 1989
workshop, the "Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Gulf of Mexico," a
panel of experts identified the endangered sperm whale as a species of
particular concern for proposed deepwater development in Gulf of Mexico
waters. The continuing need for sperm whale data brought together a
multi-institutional study known as the *Sperm Whale and Acoustic
Monitoring* Program (SWAMP). This multifaceted, joint Federal Agency
research program was begun in 2000. It was designed to study the
resident population of sperm whales and the underwater acoustic
environment. The population structure, biology, population genetics,
diving and social behaviors, vocalizations, and movements are being
studied using short- and long-term tags, satellites, and various
acoustic receivers to determine natural behavior of the animals and the
possible effects of geophysical seismic devices and other emitters. A
concurrent shipboard survey continues in conjunction with NMFS
ichthyoplankton surveys. Difficulties with the interagency agreement
with NMFS, resulted in a new cooperative agreement with TAMU in 2002.
The new *Sperm Whale Seismic Study* (SWSS) is researching the same
parameters as SWAMP, but includes the use of a seismic survey ship,
provided by industry, to directly study the effects of sound from
seismic boats.

One other study directed toward protected species was an extensive
literature review of the *Effects of Noise on Marine Mammals* (1991)
which was rewritten as an authoritative hardbound volume, *Marine
Mammals and Noise* (Academic Press, 1995).

## 5.2. Fishes and Fisheries

Generally, fisheries studies have been the purview of NMFS, and two
research laboratories exist in the Gulf at Pascagoula, Mississippi, and
Galveston, Texas. However, when MMS and NMFS interests interconnect
(especially on issues pertaining to protected species and fish stocks),
cooperative agreements can ensue. General descriptions of Gulf fish
populations can be found in the topographic features studies. A wealth
of information is found in the fishery management plans of the Gulf of
Mexico Fisheries Management Council.

The BLM and MMS have supported a number of widely dissimilar studies
that had fish and fishery components including the early STOCS and MAFLA
benchmark programs (see Section 3.1). Many of the 1975-1979 reports, and
specific volumes therein, were devoted to demersal fishes, fish eggs,
ichthyoplankton, histopathology, and contaminant body burdens. Only one
project, *Ichthyoplankton Abundance and Diversity in the Eastern Gulf of
Mexico*, was devoted solely to ichthyoplankton, . Many of the fish
studies were conducted by the NMFS, but substantial input came from
universities. Virtually all of the large "Marine Ecosystems" projects
had trawling components, and the several profiles of the ecology of
petroleum platforms and natural ecosystems contained information on
fishes in selected ecosystems (e.g., seagrasses and mangroves).

![](media/image14.jpeg){width="2.5131944444444443in"
height="1.6756944444444444in"}A 1983 report, *Northwestern Gulf Shelf
Bio-Atlas* was a study of the distribution of demersal fishes (62
families of cartilagenous and bony fishes) and penaeid shrimps (12
species). The report is unique in its combination of explanatory text
(species-by-species) along with detailed mappings of the calculated
seasonal catches and densities for all species where data were adequate.
Stations were restricted to soft-bottom habitats. Limited mappings of
seasonal surface and bottom temperatures and salinities were also
provided. Species were classified into different ecological groupings
(e.g., nektonic, demersal, estuarine-dependent, and cryptic), and the
maps showed seasonal shifts in densities, regional dominance, depth
patterns, etc. The large-format report displays the area from south
Texas to the Mississippi River.

A recent study, *Estimation of Fisheries Impacts Due to Underwater
Explosions Used to Sever and Salvage Petroleum Platforms* (2000), was a
field, fish-mortality study conducted by NMFS at nine platform removal
sites from 1993 to 1999. It determined the species composition and
abundance of fish communities at platforms and made calculations of the
adverse effects of cumulative detonations to fish stock productivity,
especially for the commercial red snapper (*Lutjanus campechanus*). A
much earlier effort *Study of the Effects of Oil and Gas Activities on
Reef Fish Populations in the Gulf of Mexico* (1982) was one of the first
studies to enumerate fish outside of the several ecosystems studies.
Occasional fishes and fisheries data (e.g., local fisheries values or
catch statistics) were found in many of the socioeconomics studies.

## 5.3. Birds

The MMS Gulf of Mexico Region has supported few stand-alone studies on
bird populations, but two surveys conducted by TAMU at Galveston (see
Section 5.1) included seasonal surveys using the primary surface ship as
an opportunistic platform for bird observations in addition to the
dedicated studies of cetaceans. These studies were the *Distribution and
Abundance of Marine Mammals in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico* (GulfCet
I, 1996) and *Cetaceans, Sea Turtles, and Seabirds in the Northern Gulf
of Mexico: Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Associations* (GulfCet
II, 2000). As indicated above, GulfCet II placed considerable emphasis
on the definition of animals' preferred habitats, and demonstrated
geographic and seasonal distributions of birds reflecting seasonal
migration patterns, oceanographic features, and surface productivity.
While there were earlier attempts with the 1980's FWS cetacean surveys
conducted for MMS, it has been debated whether the opportunistic aerial
bird sightings could have been made with acceptable taxonomic accuracy
at the adopted altitude and speed. An "Effects" study (see Section 6.1)
was titled *Seasonal Abundance and Habitat-Use Patterns of Coastal Bird
Populations on Padre and Mustang Island Barrier Beaches*. This was a
distribution and abundance study completed in 1984 following Mexico's
Ixtoc I oil spill.

A nearly complete project conducted through the Gulf of Mexico CMI,
*Interactions Between Migrating Birds and Offshore Oil and Gas
Structures*, is presently using in-place radar and visual observations
aboard platforms to assess the abundance of migrating neotropical birds.

# 6. Effects of Oil and Gas Activities

The "effects" studies are perhaps the most diverse grouping of studies
in terms of issues, methods and purposes. These studies typically stem
from specific issues (often quite unrelated) that are brought to the
MMS's attention in consultations, meetings, workshops, or through the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. If a given study
concerns the "effects of X on Y," the terms X and Y can be almost
anything reasonably related. It is important here that X is an
anthropogenic factor or event and Y is some measure of an ecological
feature, natural resource or process, and the study may involve modeling
or monitoring of effects. This is different from the several ecosystems
modeling programs in which natural processes and variations are
monitored over time to estimate trends and variability (see Marine
Ecosystems, Section 3.). While some "effects" studies were begun in the
early 1980's, they tended to increase in quality and number in the later
1980's and 1990's. This parallels the general trend throughout the
history of the ESP, which was to begin with massive descriptive field
ecosystems programs and information reviews followed by smaller studies
focusing on specific operations, ecological questions and living
resources.

Note that there are a number of purely physicochemical studies under the
general banner of "fates and effects studies." These seek to determine
the range of distribution and movements of oils, drilling muds, produced
waters, industrial chemicals, trace metals, and natural radioactivity.
However, they do not directly relate the fates to the biota, and they
are intentionally omitted in these biological reviews.

Several opportunistic investigations have been the result of accidental
oil spills on the environment or the collection of unidentified harmful
materials. These opportunities have been very uncommon because of the
excellent Gulf of Mexico operations safety record. The two spills
thoroughly researched happened in Mexico and Panama. A number of
questions have arisen about the physicochemical effects (physical
presence, or the issuing of toxic products from platforms). Some have
been devoted to arguably positive effects, such as reef-building and
fish attractant effects. Some of the efforts have relied on field
data/sampling efforts, while others are inherently information reviews
or data syntheses, and still others are laboratory experiments.
"Effects" studies are perhaps the most problematic group of studies done
by MMS (or anyone else for that matter). The accuracy of the results and
the effectiveness of their application will vary with the perceived
problem. But no results are "good" unless they are based on accurate
assumptions, impeccable testing and statistical methods, elimination of
complicating or confusing factors, and with acceptable biological
"noise."

The "effects" investigations fall, more or less logically, under several
different themes (a few which could also easily be lumped under other
categories), such as those discussed below.

## 6.1. Effects on Biota

These studies attempt to measure the effect(s) of platform presence or
exposure to contaminants on selected species or living resources. Some
examples are discussed below:

*Effects of Petroleum on the Survival of Marine Turtle Embryos* (1982).
This experiment by the FWS involved an actual exposure of eggs to crude
oil with adverse effects. The results of this program have been
questioned on methodological and statistical grounds. Also, spills
rarely impinge far enough above the high tide mark to affect viable
eggs. If that happened, the salt water alone would decimate the egg
clutch.

*Results from Chemical Analysis of Oily Residue Samples Taken from
Stranded Juvenile Sea Turtles Collected from Padre and Mustang Islands,
Texas* (1983). This set of opportunistic hydrocarbon "fingerprint"
analyses of weathered oils ingested by unhealthy turtle hatchlings
suggested a tanker discharge.

The *Investigation on the Source of Beached Tar Samples* (1982). This
was another chemical study with toxicological implications.

*Seasonal Abundance and Habitat-Use Patterns of Coastal Bird Populations
on Padre and Mustang Island Barrier Beaches* (1984). This was a
distribution and abundance study following Mexico's Ixtoc I oil spill.

*Study of the Effects of Oil on Marine Turtles* (1986). This was a
laboratory study of physiological and biochemical effects.

*Association of Sea Turtles with Petroleum Platforms in the
North-Central Gulf of* Mexico (1990). Aerial overflight studies of sea
turtle distributions were compared with platform locations.

*Potential Impacts of OCS Oil and Gas Activities on Fisheries* (1991).
This five-volume information synthesis included various biological and
operational topics, modes of exposure, and toxicity of various
discharges, and other potential operational effects.

## 6.2. Coastal Effects

These are studies on the erosional, hydrologic, and toxic effects of
infrastructure development nearshore and in coastal habitats. The study
titles that follow were all approaches to the measurement (or
estimation) of various ecological or physical effects on coastal
habitats or biota onshore or near to shore. *Causes of Wetland Loss in
the Coastal Central Gulf of Mexico* (1988) and *Pipelines, Navigation
Channels, and Facilities in Sensitive Coastal Habitats: An Analysis of
OCS Impacts* (1990) were investigations of the effects of navigational
canals, pipeline throughways, and other marsh engineering on wetlands
loss compared with subsidence, loss of sediments, and other causes.

Residual "produced" brines that are trapped in oil and gas bearing
formations are brought up to the surface, separated from the petroleum,
and typically discharged into the environment, sometimes on the order of
thousands of barrels per day. At least three studies of produced water
have been funded: *Produced Waters in Sensitive Coastal Habitats: An
Analysis of Impacts, Central Gulf of Mexico* (1989); *Fates and Effects
of Nearshore Discharges of OCS Produced Waters* (1991); and
*Bioavailability and Genotoxicity of Produced Water Discharges
Associated with Offshore Production Operations* (1995). A later CMI
study, *Long-term Effects of Contaminants from OCS Produced-water
Discharges at Pelican Island Facility, Louisiana* (1998) compared levels
of contamination and macrofaunal community changes in a canal adjacent
to the subject facility, 2 and 9 years after abandonment, to document a
return near to normal.

*Effects of Oil Spills of Coastal Wetlands and Their Recovery* (1993)
was an opportunistic study of the effects and recovery of a brackish
Louisiana marsh following a 300-barrel spill from a broken pipeline in
1985, with emphasis on recovery in a multiyear program. Permanent study
plots were reexamined over 4 years for plant recovery, photosynthesis,
species composition, and residual oil, and were compared with nearby
non-oiled areas. Land loss was measured with geographical information
system techniques.

The *Experimental Investigation of the Effects of Aromatic Hydrocarbons
on a Sediment Food Web* (1995) focused on the meiofaunal
(nematode/copepod) component of the benthos and its important trophic
links between the microbiota (food) and juvenile fishes (predators)
taken from a Louisiana salt marsh. The laboratory microcosm experiments
measured behavioral, abundance, biochemical, physiological, and
reproductive indicators of effect following contamination with differing
concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's).

It was demonstrated that two- and three-ring PAH's are degraded by
sediment microorganisms adapted to chronic exposure. This was the
finding in another laboratory microcosm experiment, *Assessment of PAH
Composition of Diesel Fuel Sorbed to Marine Sediments and Their Toxicity
to Aquatic Food Webs* (1998). The setting of the collected samples was a
*marsh*, but not a "marine" one.

## 6.3. Marine Effects

These are studies of various offshore (mainly continental shelf, as
opposed to the coastal effects, above) ecological effects. While not
strictly "marine effects" studies, two early general overview efforts
documented the epifaunal and nektonic communities associated with shelf
petroleum platforms. These were *An Ecosystem Analysis of Oil and Gas
Development of the Texas-Louisiana Continental Shelf* (1981) and *The
Ecology of Petroleum Platforms in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico*
(1982). In a way these are "effects" studies, which describe, largely in
positive terms, the substrate and attractant effects of the physical
structures.

A recent study, *Estimation of Fisheries Impacts Due to Underwater
Explosions Used to Sever and Salvage Petroleum Platforms* (2000), was a
field, fish-mortality study conducted at nine platform removal sites
from 1993 to 1999. It determined the species composition and abundance
of fish communities at platforms and made calculations of the adverse
effects of cumulative detonations to fish stock productivity, especially
for the commercial red snapper, *Lutjanus campechanus* (e.g., a mean of
515 snappers/removal). A much earlier effort *Study of the Effects of
Oil and Gas Activities on Reef Fish Populations in the Gulf of Mexico*
(1982) was one of the first studies to enumerate fish populations.

## 6.4. Rig and Platform Monitoring Program

The following projects are evaluations of effects of offshore platforms
during operations or remaining effects afterwards.

![](media/image15.jpeg){width="2.3472222222222223in"
height="2.1666666666666665in"}The *Environmental Studies, South Texas
OCS (STOCS) Rig Monitoring* (1977), the *MAFLA Monitoring Studies*
(1977), and *Ecological Investigations of Petroleum Platforms in the
Central Gulf of Mexico* (1981) are reports of early effects monitoring
around selected platforms in the respective regions. The first two were
relatively minor efforts embedded into much larger regional programs.
They depended largely on the measurement of habitat contamination, body
burdens, and community descriptors.

*Impact Assessment of Exploratory Wells Offshore South Florida* (1990)
was an investigation of the physical and community effects (decades
after drilling and platform removals) on the shallow west Florida shelf.
The primary approach was photogrametric.

The GOOMEX Program or *Gulf of Mexico Offshore Operations Monitoring*
Experiment was a very successful, two field-year study of the sublethal
effects of routine platform operations. The title of the final report
(1995) *Phase I: Sublethal Responses to Contaminant Exposure* is
somewhat misleading, in that a "Phase II" was deemed unnecessary and
never pursued. Some details of this program are worthy of mention. The
program was truly multifaceted, and all "facets" were carefully selected
and designed to detect sublethal responses to chronic, low-level
exposures to various contaminants at three sites having histories of
long-term oil and gas exploration and development. Approaches were
two-fold: (1) to analyze benthic sediments in conventional radial
patterns to determine the contaminant field, assessing the community
structures of meio- and macrofauna and aspects of their life histories
and genetic diversity; and (2) to provide for near-field (impacted) and
far-field (unimpacted) pairwise comparisons of a wide variety of
suspected indicators of exposure; e.g., histological, contaminant
burdens, detoxification responses, and bioassays. An offshoot of the
GOOMEX program was the study *How Does Produced Water Cause a Reduction
in the Genetic Diversity of Harpacticoid Copepods?* Tests for tolerance
to heavy metals and PAH's detected some differences in tolerance among
genotypes of a benthic copepod.

The single deep-sea effects study to date was begun in the Gulf in 1999.
Known as the *Deepwater Program: Effects of Oil and Gas Exploration and
Development at Selected Continental Slope Sites in the Gulf of Mexico*,
this study examines the fates and effects of deepwater discharges which
may be much different from those on the continental shelf. New
technological approaches to drilling and production may result in
volumes and characteristics of discharged material quite different from
those approaches used for decades in shallower water. A three-phased
approach to understanding such issues involves modeling the fate of
chemical discharges, establishing reliable indicators of impacts, and
undertaking field studies.

## 6.5. Oil Spill Effects Program

These studies are efforts to assess ecological effects after exposure to
spilled oil:

*Ixtoc Oil Spill Assessment* (1981) was a general study of the remaining
biological and chemical effects of the 1979 Mexican oil spill on the
Texas shelf. The results failed to clearly demonstrate benthic cause and
effects on the Texas continental shelf.

*Long-Term Assessment of the Oil Spill at Las Minas Panama* (1993) was a
large study of the biological and chemical effects of a tank farm spill
in a Panama embayment. Mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs were
special targets of the work, and the results were applied to the Gulf of
Mexico with certain limitations.

## 6.6. Effects Modeling Program

Variously, these efforts involved the testing of animals in laboratory
conditions, calculations of zones of contaminant effects, and
measurements of lethal or sublethal biological effects.

*A Numerical Mud Discharge Plume Model for Offshore Drilling Operations*
(1985) was not a biological study *per se*, but it did estimate the
equivalent of the expected maximum range of biological effects. The
*Dispersed Oil Toxicity Tests with Species Indigenous to the Gulf of
Mexico* (1994) was a laboratory study using various concentrations of
crude oil and dispersants.

![](media/image16.jpeg){width="3.2777777777777777in"
height="2.4916666666666667in"}

# 7. Miscellaneous Biological Studies and Relevant Documents

## 7.1. Miscellaneous Biological Studies

The studies described here are those that do not fall conveniently under
any of the above categories (e.g., "Marine Ecosystems" or" Living Marine
Resources").

Historically, the study, *Environmental and Socioeconomic Baseline on
the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Zone and Outer Continental Shelf* (1975) was
one of the very first attempts at organizing existing Gulf-wide
information into a synthesis. As the title suggests, this multihabitat,
multidisciplinary, whole-Gulf data gathering effort was to be an initial
source document for the Region. Now well-dated, the title suggests a
"shotgun approach" with little early focus, but it was useful to the
Government for early NEPA documents and future studies planning.

*A Review and Annotated Bibliography of Benthic Studies in the Coastal
Areas of Florida, with a Selected Compilation of Worldwide Benthic
Methodological References and Southeastern U.S. Benthic Taxonomic
References* was received in 1984. This report was a mid-program review
of the subject, concurrent with, but separate from, the Southwest
Florida Ecosystems Program, a field effort. This procurement revealed
the perceived importance of the benthic environment as a focus for MMS
programs, as opposed to midwater processes and biota which are more
difficult to accomplish logistically and are of lesser management use.

Some surface productivity *synthesis* (as opposed to *field*) studies
were pursued and completed in 1990 and 1991: *A Comparison of Marine
Productivity Among Outer Continental Shelf Planning Areas* (1990) and *A
Comparison of Marine Productivity Among Outer Continental Shelf Planning
Areas; Feasibility Analysis of Secondary Measures* (1991). These
synthesized and compared plankton productivity values for the Gulf of
Mexico and all other planning areas.

*Assessment of Hurricane Damage in the Florida Big Bend Seagrass Beds*
(1987) was an opportunistic study to determine the extent of damage that
had been inflicted by a hurricane and the natural rates of regeneration
in the absence of any development.

## 7.2. Gulf of Mexico Region Coastal Marine Institute Program

The current CMI in the Gulf of Mexico Region was established in 1992 as
a cooperative agreement between Louisiana State University and the MMS.
The basic intent of the CMI is to direct the considerable research
talents of a major research university towards Federal and State
information needs in a State where OCS oil and gas development is a
major factor. Funding for all projects undertaken has been equally
divided between MMS and Louisiana resources. Dozens of projects, some
biological, have been funded, employing the talents of faculty
researchers, postdoctoral associates, Ph.D. and masters candidates, and
undergraduate workers.

The studies tend toward the academic side, and sometimes produce rather
unclassifiable miscellaneous works on methodologies, often-overlooked
taxa, and critiques of past efforts using existing data. The several
innovative efforts described below reflect the range of researcher
interests.

*Development and Characterization of Sea Anemones as Bioindicators of
Offshore Resource Exploitation and Environmental Impact* (1999) was
designed to assess the value of common anemones from California, west
Florida, and Louisiana to verify the existence of a cytochrome P450
system and other biochemical indicator responses to several contaminants
including cadmium and organic toxins. This marks the interest in the
measurement of sublethal responses to exposure, as did the GOOMEX
program (see Section 6) and the following CMI study.

*Development and Application of a Sublethal Toxicity Test to PAH Using
Marine Harpacticoid Copepods* (1999) tested the sensitivity of two
meiofaunal species exposed to various PAH's. It examined several
reproduction, development, and feeding indicators in controlled
experimental conditions. The study was a great departure from EPA-type
lethal concentration or lethal dose approaches, which use relatively
large animals having much longer life history cycles.

Other meiofauna, the foraminiferal protozoans are the subject of the
ongoing study, *Foraminiferal Communities of Bathyal and Abyssal
Hydrocarbon Seeps, Northern Gulf of Mexico: A Taxonomic, Ecologic, and
Geologic Study*. This is a CMI investigation of community structure and
tolerance of unusual or extreme conditions, primarily deep Gulf
hydrocarbon and sulfide seeps. This further extends the use and value of
unexamined cores taken with submersibles during the chemosynthetic
community studies, CHEMO I and II (see Section 3.2.3).

The *Taxonomic Guide to the Polychaetes of the Northern Gulf of Mexico*
was a 1984 report based on early BLM/MMS collections. The benthic
macrofaunal polychaetes comprise one of the most numerous, diverse, and
ecologically important groups with which systematists must contend. Upon
the completion of early, large ecosystem studies, notably the MAFLA and
STOCS programs, there remained questions of taxonomic consistency among
workers and studies programs. This remarkable, seven-volume report was
written to review and standardize the systematics of the many
collections of polychaete taxa from across the Gulf up to that time. The
polychaetes are also the subject of an ongoing CMI computerized effort
on taxonomic error.

The CMI study *Potential for Accelerated Bioremediation and Restoration
of Oil-Impacted Marshes through the Selection of Superior Oil-Tolerant
Vegetation* (2000) was a new approach for the Gulf of Mexico (although
preliminary restoration plantings have been done before). Some brackish
and salt marsh (*Spartina* spp.) genotypes proved relatively resistant
when tested for growth, leaf damage, productivity and oil degradation
potential after experimental oiling in the laboratory.

The report, *Spatial and Temporal Variability of Plankton Stocks on the
Basis of Acoustic Backscatter Intensity and Direct Measurements in the
Northeastern Gulf of Mexico* (2001) investigated the utility of Acoustic
Doppler Current Profilers (ADCP's) to estimate the relative abundance
and spatial and temporal variability of zooplankton stocks in the
Northeastern Gulf of Mexico using backscatter intensity. Designed
originally to determine current velocities and ship speed, the ADCP has
been used successfully in investigating vertical migrations as well as
tracking masses of advected plankton. This physical and biological
oceanographic study was an integral part of the 2 year DeSoto Canyon
Eddy Intrusion Study, which investigated the complexities of the
regional currents in an area proposed for oil and gas development.

*Management Applicability of Contemporary Deep-Sea Ecology and
Reevaluation of Gulf of Mexico Studies* is a 2001 CMI report reviewing
and reevaluating the utility of past MMS studies for Agency
decisionmaking. Two general studies from the 1970's and 1980's required
conventional deep-sea sampling (the results of which is
technique-sensitive), and two on chemosynthetic communities (CHEMO I and
II) have concentrated primarily on "shallower" sites accessible to
available manned submersibles (see Section 3.2.3).

## 7.3. Other Documents

There are three types of programmatic information documents that provide
public information on studies program planning and the results of
ongoing and completed research projects. These are the Gulf of Mexico
Regional Studies Plans, the proceedings of the annual Information
Transfer Meetings, and the proceedings of occasional topical workshops.
The latter are mentioned also within the bodies of topical information
given above (Sections 2 through 6).

### 7.3.1. Regional Studies Plans and Studies Development Plans

Regional Studies Plans were prepared by BLM and MMS to document and
describe the studies planned by the ESP for the following fiscal year.
In recent years, MMS has prepared a Studies Development Plan to describe
studies that will address information needs during the following two
fiscal years. The Regional Studies Development Plan ultimately becomes a
part of the annual National Studies Plan. These have always been
internal planning documents and are not published for general public
consumption. However they are public documents and, as such, may be made
available to those interested in the progress of the ESP. Begun in 1978
by the BLM, these documents are the records of the codified process that
plans the course of the ESP. The study plans have little lasting
scientific value once implemented, but they offer an insight into a
process that produces scientific information for management of the
offshore petroleum industry. These have recently been made available on
the MMS web site for those interested. Periodically updated ongoing
studies information is also available on the web.

### 7.3.2. Information Transfer Meeting Proceedings

The Information Transfer Meetings (ITM) are held annually to document
the progress and findings of funded studies of all types (including
biological ones) and provide a forum for the discussion of many other
issues important to the MMS. These meetings were begun by the BLM Gulf
of Mexico Regional OCS Office in 1980 as a modest midstream review of
ongoing research programs, and were continued by the MMS. The ITM has
since grown into a major annual meeting with several concurrent
sessions. The ITM Proceedings always have some topics of interest to
biologists and the information therein is at least marginally available
in abstract form prior to publication of final reports.

### 7.3.3. Workshops and Symposia

One of the most useful processes the MMS uses in future studies planning
are workshops convened in various areas of social and natural sciences.
The workshops provide independent outside guidance for (and often,
affirmation of) the MMS regional planning efforts, and the proceedings
stand as public records against which future performance of the ESP can
be measured. These have been successful in delineating the state of
knowledge and identifying data gaps. Invited participants typically
recommend and describe needed studies (whether or not the MMS is the
appropriate agency to support the work). They also discuss appropriate
objectives, methods, approaches, and timing. Workshops are scheduled
according to perceived gravity, adequacy of knowledge of the subject,
and anticipated funding.

The biological topic engendering the most frequent workshops has been
protected species of the Gulf. A 1982 *Proceedings of a Workshop on
Cetaceans and Sea Turtles in the Gulf of Mexico: Study Planning for
Outer Continental Shelf Development* (1983) gave MMS guidance for a
continuing protected species program. The proceedings of this workshop
resulted in several productive studies (see Section 5.1, Protected
Species). The MMS revisited the subject in a second meeting producing
the report, *Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals of the Gulf of Mexico:
Proceedings of a Workshop, 1989* (1990). The *Gulf of Mexico Marine
Protected Species Workshop* (2001) was held in 1999 to guide that work
into the new millennium.

Three predominantly deep-sea workshops have been convened. The first,
the 1989 *Northern Gulf of Mexico Environmental Planning Workshop*
(1990) followed the first synoptic *Northern Gulf of Mexico Continental
Slope* Study that was completed in1986. The second was the 1997
*Workshop on Environmental Issues Surrounding Deepwater Oil and Gas
Development* (1997). This workshop was convened largely as a result of
accelerated interest in deepwater leases in the 1990's, new scientific
revelations in the deep Gulf, and new offshore technologies. A separate
session on deep-sea ecology directly resulted in the *Northern Gulf of
Mexico Continental Slope Habitats and Benthic Ecology Study* initiated
in 1999, the first major study with a joint U.S.-Mexico sampling effort
called *Joint Sampling of the Sigsbee Deep* (JSSD). The third workshop
Workshop on *Deepwater Environmental Studies Strategy: A Five-Year
Follow-Up and Planning for the Future* (2003) was held in 2002 and
reviewed the status of the deepwater program. Many important studies
were still underway, and it was suggested that topic specific workshops
be held after the completion of these studies.

A *Symposium Proceedings: Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Oil Spills in
Coastal Ecosystems: Assessing Effects, Natural Recovery, and Progress in
Remediation Research, 1994* (1995) focused on the ecological effects of
oil spills in mangroves, coastal marshes and seagrass ecosystems, and
possible remediation techniques. It is widely believed that these
tropical/subtropical resources are the most vulnerable and/or sensitive
compared to deeper water ecosystems, especially considering their
importance as habitat for associated animal populations.

The *Proceedings: An International Workshop on Offshore Lease
Abandonment and Platform Disposal: Technology, Regulation, and
Environmental Effects* (1997) was devoted predominantly to oil and gas
operations with a small section on biological pressure wave effects.

The *Physical/Biological Oceanographic Integration Workshop for the
DeSoto Canyon and Adjacent Shelf* (2000) provided the MMS with an
area-specific synthesis of physical, geological, chemical and biological
understanding of a scientifically complex region in the politically
sensitive Eastern Gulf of Mexico Planning Area. The conclusions have not
yet produced a definitive field study, as the region in question may
remain subject to a continuing drilling moratorium.

# APPENDIX {#appendix .(NoNum)Heading-1}

# The Environmental Studies Program (ESP) {#the-environmental-studies-program-esp .(NoNum)Heading-1}

# AN OVERVIEW {#an-overview .(NoNum)Heading-1}

## A.1 Early History and Development of the ESP

The first open-water oil and gas drilling operations in the United
States were conducted in Louisiana State waters in 1938. In 1945,
President Truman signed executive papers declaring that the natural
resources of submerged lands on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) were
owned by the Nation, and that these resources would fall under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI). By 1947, the
first oil and gas operation was installed in Federal waters out of the
sight of land (in 18 feet of water, Ship Shoal Block 32). The U.S. Outer
Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Program was initiated in 1953 with the
passage of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (OCSLA), which
established Federal jurisdiction over submerged lands on the OCS. A key
consideration of the Act is balancing orderly energy resource
development with protection of the human, marine, and coastal
environments. The OCSLA designated the Bureau of Land Management (BLM)
as the DOI administrative agency for leasing and the U.S. Geological
Survey (USGS) for supervising offshore activities. Section 20 of the
OCSLA requires the Secretary of the Interior to "conduct a study of any
area or region included in any oil and gas lease sale in order to
establish information needed for assessment and management of
environmental impacts on the human, marine, and coastal environments . .
. ."

The legal definition of the OCS, for purposes of offshore leasing,
exploration, and development, is the submerged land seaward of acreage
under the respective States\' jurisdictions. The Gulf of Mexico OCS
begins at the Federal-State boundaries (3 miles from land off Louisiana,
Mississippi, and Alabama, and 3 marine leagues---about 10 miles---off
Texas and the western coast of Florida, according to the arrangements
under which the respective States entered the union). The "OCS" actually
extends into abyssal depths greater than 3,000 m. The Gulf of Mexico OCS
occupies about 2.2 million statute square miles or 5.7 million square
kilometers of ocean bottom out to the limits of the U.S. Exclusive
Economic Zone. The submerged Federal lands in the Gulf of Mexico are
further divided into four leasing planning areas (Western, Central,
Eastern, and Straits-of-Florida) and numerous named "protraction" areas
(e.g., Ship Shoal and Green Canyon), and then into thousands of numbered
"lease blocks" which are nominally 3 statute miles on a side. The latter
are the geographic references for all leasing and future financial,
operational, and management activities.

In 1954, following the passage of the OCSLA, the BLM opened its New
Orleans OCS Regional Office, and the USGS's Conservation Division
concurrently established its Gulf Coast Regional Office. Since 1954,
Gulf of Mexico OCS lease sales have been conducted annually except for
1956-1958. The BLM was primarily responsible for prelease activities,
notably leasing and environmental activities (impact statements and
environmental studies). The USGS governed postlease activities such as
inspections, permitting of operations, resource evaluation and a myriad
of other functions.

The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) has as its primary
objective, \"to declare a national policy which will encourage
productive and enjoyable harmony between man and his environment;
\[and\] to promote efforts which will prevent or eliminate damage to the
environment . . . .\" The Act requires that Federal Agencies prepare
environmental impact statements for all of their actions having
potential for significant environmental impact; it also established the
Council on Environmental Quality.

In 1973, following the passage of NEPA, BLM established the
Environmental Studies Program (ESP) to support the collection and
analysis of information needed for the OCS leasing program. The main
objectives of the ESP have been (1) to provide relevant environmental
information to decisionmakers in the Service\'s OCS minerals management
program and (2) to obtain environmental data on the direct and indirect
impacts of petroleum exploration and production activities. From 1973
through 2001, studies funding in the Gulf Region has totaled roughly
\$180 million, about one-fourth of the \$713 million expended
nationwide. Of the Gulf's \$180 million, over 50 percent has been
expended on biological studies, a relatively higher percentage than that
spent on biology nationwide (\~40%). Some biological studies have been
directed toward the description of regional resources, studying
manageable geographic units, usually of a relatively homogeneous habitat
type. Other studies are specifically directed at the understanding of
particular habitats, ecotypes, or species groups. All are intended to
provide data useful for the management of OCS activities.

In 1982, under the Secretary of the Interior, James Watt, the BLM and
the USGS were reorganized into the new Minerals Management Service
(MMS), bringing pre- and postlease offshore activities under the same
roof, a recommendation of the Administration's "Linowes Commission."
Under the DOI, the MMS is now responsible for the regulation and
permitting of most offshore oil and gas activities, the collection of
leasing and royalty monies due to the Federal Government, and certain
other functions on the OCS.

## A.2. Regional Responsibilities and Organization

The entire OCS has been managed through four original regional BLM/MMS
OCS Offices; Alaska (Anchorage), Pacific (Los Angeles, later Camarillo,
CA), Atlantic (New York, NY; later Vienna and Herndon, VA), and the Gulf
of Mexico (New Orleans, LA). All Regional Offices reported to the
Headquarters Office (Washington, DC and Herndon, VA). At first the New
Orleans Office had responsibility for both the Gulf and the southern
U.S. Atlantic Planning Area (from Mexico up to Cape Hatteras, NC). The
Atlantic Office later acquired responsibility for the entire east coast.
Upon that office's devolution in the 1990's, the Gulf of Mexico \["- and
Atlantic"\] Office in New Orleans was assigned the responsibility for
all Gulf and Atlantic Planning Areas. The descriptions of marine
biological studies programs in this document are restricted regionally
to the Gulf of Mexico and almost exclusively to the U.S. Exclusive
Economic Zone.

## A.3. Studies Planning and Selection

The MMS is mandated to manage the offshore using acquired, rather than
internally-generated, data. That is, the MMS has no research arm *per
se*. Within the funding limits of the ESP, the MMS attempts to gather
descriptive, experimental, monitoring, or synthesized information to
attain an understanding of the natural and socioeconomic environment
that it is mandated to preserve. Procurement regulations and policy
promote a culture of open, competitive procurement, especially for large
programs (e.g., greater than \$500,000). These studies are usually
conducted by consulting firms and universities; not infrequently in
cooperation with each other.

Through a formal nomination process, studies are scheduled for
procurement based on available funding and perceived importance to MMS.
Needed studies are proposed to MMS, through internal and external
nominations. These are sorted and prioritized through MMS management,
both regionally and through Headquarters, according to immediacy of
scientific need, application to MMS information and operational issues,
estimated cost, available funding, and practicality. Public and internal
documents are prepared (e.g., Strategic Studies Plans and the Regional
and National Studies Development Plans). These are reviewed annually,
and a proposed study may be assigned to personnel for development and
procurement, deferred, or even cancelled.

The competitive studies selection process is the norm for the MMS, and
it is generally prescribed by Agency policy. There are exceptions,
however. One notable (but very rare) exception is that a sole source
exists, or one that has competitive advantage by virtue of patented or
proprietary supplies or services.

Other exceptions to the competitive selection process have been the
cooperative investigations conducted by States' agencies and (more
often) other Federal Agencies including the research arms of the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), bureaus of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (notably the National Marine Fisheries
Service \[NMFS\]), and the USGS. These studies are supported by
Memorandums of Understanding (MOU's) or Interagency Agreements (IA's)
and benefit, and fall under the respective mandates of, these Agencies.

The MMS biological programs most obviously procured by research agencies
have been the protected species and coastal studies MOU's and/or IA\'s
to the FWS, USGS, and NMFS. These Agencies have parallel interests in
sea turtles, cetaceans, and manatees in all U.S. waters, and the jointly
funded studies have fiscal benefits (two justifications for MOU's and
IA's).

Various State agencies (mostly of Texas and Florida) have prepared a
number of information research documents under cooperative agreements.
Another notable exception to the competitive selection process has been
the 1992 establishment of the Louisiana State University, Coastal Marine
Institute, a State-Federal matched cooperative agreement through which
nominated studies are selected.

## A.4. Studies Procurement, Conduct, Completion, and Dissemination

Legal and policy decisions determine the mode of studies procurement,
whether through full and open competition or not. The procurement mode
is determined by the MMS Procurement Operations Branch (Headquarters)
with input from the ESP. Studies are procured by a studies procurement
team. An MMS regional staffer with expertise in the subject area is
assigned to assess regional MMS information needs, the status and
availability of information, the needs of outside State and Federal
Agencies, and the specific applications of the resulting information by
his/her customers---the analysts, planners and managers. The staffer who
writes the technical aspects for a Request for Proposal (RFP), typically
becomes the Contracting Officer's Technical Representative (COTR) after
award. A Headquarters Contracting Officer (CO) is assigned to complete
legal and instructional parts of the RFP, announce it publicly, receive
and distribute proposals, and preside over all aspects and stages of the
procurement, including the technical and financial reviews of proposals,
selection of contractor, and award of contract. The CO and COTR
respectively monitor the progress of the contracted effort from the
legal and scientific angles, including the mid-program recommendations
of contract modifications, inspections for program conformance to the
RFP and proposal content and schedule, and review and approval of
expenditures.

Upon the completion of the final reports and other products, the CO
formally accepts the work and closes the contract. The MMS announces the
availability of the products and distributes them internally as needed,
and externally through purchase from MMS Regional Public Information
Offices. The MMS web site lists all reports conducted from 1992 to
present, with a collection of "Technical Summaries" written as required
under contract. Many reports are available also through interlibrary
loan. All MMS studies reports, maps, CD's, and other products are public
property.

A number of planning documents (e.g. the Regional Studies Plan) can be
found on the MMS web site, including periodically updated accounts of
ongoing research projects.