ACCESS NUMBER: 30951-85249 

STUDY TITLE: An Annotated Bibliography on Marine and Coastal Fishes 

Subject to Impingement and Entrainment by Cooling Water Intake Systems in the 

Northern Gulf of Mexico 

REPORT TITLE: Marine and Coastal Fishes Subject to Impingement by 

Cooling-Water Intake Systems in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: An Annotated 

Bibliography 

CONTRACT NUMBER: MMS 14-35-99-CA-30951-85249 

SPONSORING OCS REGION: Gulf of Mexico 

APPLICABLE PLANNING AREA(S): Central Gulf of Mexico 

FISCAL YEAR(S) OF PROJECT FUNDING: 2002-2003 

COMPLETION DATE OF REPORT: July 2003 

COST(S): FY 2002 $25,460; CUMULATIVE PROJECT COST: $25,460 

PROJECT MANAGERS: Donald M. Balz 

AFFILIATION: Coastal Fisheries Institute, Louisiana State University 

ADDRESS: Coastal Fisheries Institute, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, 

LA 70803 

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS: F. Martinez-Andrade and D.M. Balz 

KEY WORDS: Cooling Water, Entrainment, Entrapment, Impingement 

BACKGROUND: Since the early 1970's cooling-water intakes have been 

identified as having a potential adverse impact on aquatic organisms due to 

impingement/entrapment and entrainment. The Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA) is proposing a series of new rules to address the impingement and 

entrainment of fishes and shellfish by cooling-water intake systems on all surface 

waters of the United States, including the open ocean. In response to this 

information need, MMS gathered information about the species of fish in the Gulf 

of Mexico and about research conducted on the impingement and entrainment of 

fishes and other organisms in coastal and marine ecosystems. 

OBJECTIVES: To meet the information needs of MMS and EPA, this study 

provides an annotated bibliography that includes all research conducted in 

marine and coastal waters concerning the impingement and entrainment of 

estuarine and marine organisms by cooling water intake systems. The literature 

search includes a brief summary of references that address the distribution and 
ACCESS NUMBER: 30951-85249 

life histories of fish in the Gulf of Mexico, since this is the resource that may be 

impacted by cooling water intake systems. 

DESCRIPTION: A total of 31,610 documents were obtained through 432 

individual searches and each database output was reviewed on-line to determine 

if it contained relevant references. Almost 200 files containing references with or 

without abstracts were scrutinized and an alphabetical list of all potentially useful 

references was prepared. After the bibliography was completed, references 

were reviewed again, edited for uniformity, and sorted into four major categories 

as follows: 1) studies of fish impingement/entrainment by cooling-water intakes in 

marine and estuarine environments, 2) studies related to assessment of fish 

impingement/entrainment by cooling-water intakes, 3) studies related to 

mitigation measures of fish impingement/entrainment by cooling-water intakes, 

and 4) other relevant studies related to fish impingement/entrainment by coolingwater intakes. Finally, a list of all fish species subject to impingement or 

entrainment, mentioned in the abstracts was prepared and additional information, 

such as maximum length attained and ocean of occurrence was obtained from 

literature. 

SIGNIFICANT CONCLUSIONS: Most of the results obtained through this 

search were references about studies on fish impingement or entrainment by 

cooling-water intakes of nuclear or thermoelectric power plants located on 

estuarine or marine environments. Only one reference specific to fish 

impingement or entrainment by cooling-water intakes of oil platforms, Littrell and 

Biaggi (1979), was actually found, which means that such information is 

generally unavailable through the searched data bases. However, it is possible 

that some information exists in unpublished corporate documents. 

STUDY RESULTS: A total of 342 references are presented in this report in four 

different categories: 138 are references on biological studies directly related to 

fish impingement or entrainment by cooling-water intake systems in marine and 

estuarine environments; 74 are references on mathematical models to assess 

fish impingement or entrainment by cooling-water intake systems, 59 are 

references related to mitigation measures for fish impingement or entrainment, 

and 71 are other relevant references on fish impingement or entrainment by 

cooling-water intake systems or closely related topics. A total of 95 fish species 

were found in the abstracts, including 53 species found in U.S. waters and 10 

species confirmed in the northern Gulf of Mexico. 

STUDY PRODUCTS(S): Martinez-Andrade, F. and D. M. Baltz. 2003. Marine 

and Coastal Fishes Subject to Impingement by Cooling-Water Intake Systems in 

the Northern Gulf of Mexico: An Annotated Bibliography. U.S. Dept. of the 

Interior, Minerals Management Service, Gulf of Mexico OCS Region, New 

Orleans, LA. OCS Study MMS 2003-040. 117 pp.