Quantifying the potential impacts of oil and gas infrastructures on cold-water corals and sponges in the northern Gulf of Mexico

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danny Khor ◽  
Julia Tiplea ◽  
Amy Oxton ◽  
Vincent Lecours
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Cold Water ◽  
The United States ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Entire Study ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Bathymetric Data ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Conservation And Management

<p>The northern Gulf of Mexico is home to structure-forming cold-water corals and sponges (CWCS) that provide a wide range of ecosystem services to other organisms. Oil and gas infrastructure, such as platforms and pipelines, form an extensive network throughout the northern Gulf of Mexico. Since the construction of the first structures in the early 1930s, detrimental impacts of oil and gas exploration and extraction have been recorded at depths where corals and sponges are found. Given the vulnerability of CWCS to long-term impacts, it is necessary to implement conservation and management measures to protect these fragile ecosystems. This work aimed to identify areas of CWCS habitat that are the most vulnerable to impacts from oil and gas infrastructure, and in parallel, to identify areas that would be suitable for the establishment of conservation sites.</p><p>Techniques from geomorphometry were used to derive quantitative seafloor characteristics from bathymetric data provided by the United States Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management. This bathymetric data, which cover about 233,000 km<sup>2</sup>, represents the current highest-resolution bathymetric grid for the northern Gulf of Mexico, with a cell size of about 12 m. Slope, the orientation of the slope, rugosity, and general, planar, and profile curvatures were derived from the bathymetry in a GIS. These environmental variables were combined with CWCS occurrence data retrieved from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Deep-Sea Coral Data Portal to produce eleven species distribution models (SDMs) based on principles of maximum entropy (MaxEnt). The SDMs were combined with data on the location of active and proposed oil and gas infrastructures to identify potential hotspots of CWCS and analyze their distribution relative to oil and gas infrastructures.</p><p>In general, depth and slope were the two primary abiotic drivers of CWCS distribution. However, specific orders of CWCS had different environmental preferences. For example, the curvature of the seafloor was found to contribute to explaining the distribution of the Gorgonacea and Lyssacinosida orders. A summary SDM produced using all available data identified 7,355 km<sup>2</sup> (3.5% of the entire study area) as suitable habitat to sustain CWCS ecosystems. Assuming that oil and gas infrastructures can impact ecologically or biologically significant areas within 2 km of distance, active oil and gas infrastructure could impact up to 69,896.6 km<sup>2</sup> of seafloor across the entire Gulf of Mexico. The construction of proposed pipelines would add impacts on an additional 279 km<sup>2</sup>. Within the sole extent of our SDM, 1,496 km<sup>2</sup> of suitable CWCS habitat would be impacted by oil and gas infrastructure, which corresponds to 20.34% of all predicted suitable habitat. By comparing predicted CWCS hotspots to the distribution oil and gas infrastructure, we identified nine areas greater than 100 km<sup>2</sup> that hold potential for successful conservation and could help create a network of connected protected areas in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Our maps can inform discussions among stakeholders to reach the best conservation and management planning outcomes while considering other ecological, social, economic, and governance factors.</p>

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System: An Integrated Approach to Building an Operational Regional Observing System

2013 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-133 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann E. Jochens ◽  
Stephanie M. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Algal Blooms ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Address Data ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Ocean Observing

Abstract The Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important ecologic and economic resources in the United States. To help protect this resource and to support a wide range of decision-making, the Gulf of Mexico Ocean Observing System (GCOOS) is being built to be a sustained network that provides integrated coastal and ocean data from a diverse array of data sources in real time, near real time, and historically. GCOOS is 1 of the 11 regional components of the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (U.S. IOOS). Because of the very limited resources available to date, the GCOOS Regional Association (GCOOS-RA), which is working to build the GCOOS, has not deployed any of its own observing systems. That, coupled with strong volunteer participation, has led the GCOOS-RA to focus its efforts on integrating existing federal and non-federal (regional, state, local, academic, and private) assets and data. The GCOOS-RA is working to adapt and expand the GCOOS to address data gaps identified by stakeholders and to apply the lessons learned from events such as the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill, harmful algal blooms (HABs), Gulf hurricanes, and hypoxia. The contributions of GCOOS demonstrate the value of a sustained U.S. IOOS and provide specific lessons necessary for the successful build-out of the system in the Gulf of Mexico. However, the lessons also demonstrate the importance of applying additional resources to improve GCOOS’ ability to meet stakeholder needs such as in response to environmental events. A full, comprehensive GCOOS, exclusive of federal assets, is estimated to cost roughly $22 M for capital and $20-25 M/year for operation and maintenance (O&M) in the near term with approximately an additional $25 M in capital to complete the build-out and $35-50 M/year in O&M costs to maintain the system—an excellent value when compared to the billions of dollars of economic impact of four major industries in the Gulf of Mexico: oil and gas, tourism and recreation, fishing, and shipping.

A New World Economic order formation

2021 ◽  
pp. 932-950
Author(s):  
Vladislav Vyacheslavovich Emelyanov
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
World Order ◽  
The United States ◽  
New Order ◽  
The West ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The World ◽  
The Usa ◽  
World Economic Order ◽  
The Impact

Every few decades, the world order changes due to various geopolitical, economic and other circumstances. For example, as a result of globalization, the world order has undergone significant changes in the last forty years. Globalization has led to the destruction of the postwar world order, as well as to world leadership by the United States and the West. However, in recent decades, as a result of globalization, the U.S. and the West began to cede their leadership to developing countries, so there is now a change in the economic structure of relations in the world system. Today the center of economic growth is in the East, namely in Asia. There are no new superpowers in the world at the moment, but the unipolar world will cease to exist due to the weakening of the U. S. leadership, which will lead to a change in the world order. A new leader, which may replace the U. S., will not have as wide range of advantages as the USA has. Most likely, the essence of the new order will be to unite the largest countries and alliances into blocks, for example, the USA together with the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the EU, etc. The article outlines forecasts of GDP growth rates as well as the global energy outlook; analyzes the LNG market as well as the impact of the pandemic on the global oil and gas market; and lists the characteristics of U. S. geopolitics.

scholarly journals Cetacean habitat modelling to inform conservation management, marine spatial planning, and as a basis for anthropogenic threat mitigation in Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Achmad Sahri ◽  
Mochamad Iqbal Herwata Putra ◽  
Putu Liza Kusuma Mustika ◽  
Danielle Kreb ◽  
Albertinka J. Murk
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Planning ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Traffic Density ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Marine Spatial Planning ◽  
Suitable Habitat ◽  
Cetacean Species ◽  
Management Planning ◽  
Marine Traffic ◽  
Conservation And Management

ABSTRACTIndonesia harbours a high diversity of cetaceans, yet effective conservation is hampered by a lack of knowledge about cetacean spatial distribution and habitat preferences. This study aims to address this knowledge gap at an adequate resolution to support national cetacean conservation and management planning. Maximum Entropy (Maxent) modelling was used to map the distribution of 15 selected cetacean species in seven areas within Indonesian waters using recent cetacean presence datasets as well as environmental predictors (topographic and oceanographic variables). We then combined the individual species suitable habitat maps and overlaid them with provincial marine spatial planning (MSP) jurisdictions, marine protected areas (MPAs), oil and gas contract areas, and marine traffic density. Our results reflect a great heterogeneity in distribution among species and within species among different locations. This heterogeneity reflects an interrelated influence of topographic variables and oceanographic processes on the distribution of cetacean species. Bathymetry, distance to-coast and −200m isobaths, and Chl and SST were important variables influencing distribution of most species in many regions. Areas rich in species were mainly related to high coastal or insular-reef complexity, representing high productivity and upwelling-modified waters. Although some important suitable habitats currently fall within MPAs, other areas are not and overlap with oil and gas exploration activities and marine traffic, indicating potentially high risk areas for cetaceans. The results of this study can support national cetacean conservation and management planning, and be used to reduce or avoid adverse anthropogenic threats. We advise considering currently unprotected suitable cetacean habitats in MPA and MSP development.

Ameroculodes miltoni, a new species of estuarine amphipod (Crustacea: Malacostraca: Peracarida: Oedicerotidae) from the southeastern United States

Zootaxa ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN M. FOSTER ◽  
RICHARD W. HEARD
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New Species ◽  
Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Fine Sand ◽  
Northwest Atlantic ◽  
Northern Gulf Of Mexico ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
A New Species

The genus Ameroculodes Bousfield and Chevrier, 1966 is emended to accommodate a new species of oedicerotid amphipod, Ameroculodes miltoni, common to estuarine habitats of the southeastern United States. In this region the new species has been confused with Ameroculodes (=Monocu- lodes) edwardsi (Holmes, 1905) and Deflexilodes (= Monoculodes) intermedius (Shoemaker, 1930), both of which are distinctly larger and endemic to the cold temperate waters of the Northwest Atlantic. Ameroculodes miltoni can be distinguished from A. edwardsi by (1) having the postero-ventral margins of epimeral plates 1-3 rounded, (2) a short, blunt rostrum, (3) uropod 2 with relatively few dorsal spines on the peduncle, (4) and a subovate telson. Deflexilodes intermedius, like A. miltoni, has rounded epimeral plates, but is readily distinguished by the well-developed, elongate dactyls on its 3 rd and 4 th pereopods. Ameroculodes miltoni occurs over a wide range of salinities (<1°/ °° to 35°/ °° ) and is most common in medium to fine sand or sand-silt substrata. It appears to be an important biotic component of northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries.

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