Fish associations with shallow water subsea pipelines compared to surrounding reef and soft sediment habitats.

ABSTRACT: Offshore decommissioning activities are expected to increase as oil and gas subsea infrastructure becomes obsolete. Decisions on decommissioning alternatives will benefit from quantifying and understanding the marine communities associated with these structures. As a case study, fish assemblages associated with an inshore network of subsea pipelines located on the North West shelf of Western Australia were compared to those in surrounding natural reef and soft sediment habitats using remotely operated vehicles fitted with a stereo-video system (stereo-ROVs). The number of species, the abundance, biomass, feeding guild composition and the economic value of fishes were compared among habitats. The community composition of fish associated with pipelines was distinct from those associated with

SUBMITTER: Schramm KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7973564 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature