Industry remotely operated vehicle imagery for assessing marine communities associated with subsea oil and gas infrastructure on the continental shelf of South-East Australia

Offshore oil and gas infrastructure provides hard substrata of structural complexity in marine environments and has been shown to have ecological value, particularly in oligotrophic environments. As infrastructure approaches end of life, understanding such values is critical to inform decommissionin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in Marine Science 2023-02, Vol.10
Main Authors: Ierodiaconou, Daniel, McLean, Dianne, Birt, Matthew Jon, Bond, Todd, Wines, Sam, Glade-Wright, Ollie, Morris, Joe, Higgs, Doug, Whitmarsh, Sasha K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus
Bass
Benthic communities
Benthos
Biodiversity
Bodianus frenchii
Brachionichthyidae
Callanthias australis
Commercial fishing
Continental shelves
Creedia haswelli
Emmelichthys nitidus
Fish
Fisheries
Fishing
flowline
Flowlines
Habitats
Ibacus peronii
Imagery
Infrastructure
Invertebrates
Macruronus novaezelandiae
Manifolds
Marine crustaceans
Marine environment
Marine mammals
Nemadactylus macropterus
Offshore
Offshore engineering
Oil
Oil and gas fields
Oligotrophic environments
Pseudocarcinus gigas
Pseudophycis
ROV
Sand
Shellfish
Software
Spatial variations
Substrata
Taxa
Taxonomy
time-series
Underwater vehicles
Unmanned vehicles
Wells
Whitefish
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Summary:Offshore oil and gas infrastructure provides hard substrata of structural complexity in marine environments and has been shown to have ecological value, particularly in oligotrophic environments. As infrastructure approaches end of life, understanding such values is critical to inform decommissioning decisions. This study uses a decade of industry remotely operated vehicle (ROV) imagery to describe fish, invertebrate, and benthic communities on gas field infrastructure. Sampling was conducted over 22 km of flowline, three wells and one manifold in the temperate waters of Bass Strait, south east Australia in depths of 155 to 263 m. A total of 10,343 mobile animals from 69 taxa were observed. A higher diversity of fishes were observed on flowlines (28 taxa) compared to wells (19 taxa). Fish and invertebrate communities observed along flowlines were distinct from those observed on wells/manifold, however, there was also high spatial variability among the different flowlines surveyed and between the three wells and manifold. These differences appear to be driven by habitat and depth preferences of the species observed. Many sand-affiliated species were associated with buried sections of flowlines (Tasmanian giant crab Pseudocarcinus gigas, Balmain bug Ibacus peronii, slender sand burrower Creedia haswelli, red cod Pseudophycis spp., blue grenadier Macruronus novaezelandiae) whilst reef-associated and schooling species were observed on the wells/manifold (jackass morwong Nemadactylus macropterus, redbait Emmelichthys nitidus, splendid perch Callanthias australis). Species of ecological importance were also noted including the Australian fur seal (Arctocephalus pusillus doriferus), long-lived foxfish (Bodianus frenchii), and handfish (Brachionichthyidae spp). This study describes the habitat value of oil and gas infrastructure in a data poor temperate region and shows the complexity of determining temporal change from historical industry datasets.378034-go 8553137311
ISSN:2296-7745
2296-7745
DOI:10.3389/fmars.2023.1095906