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

Schramm, Karl D.; Marnane, Michael J.; Elsdon, Travis S.; Jones, Christopher M.; Saunders, Benjamin J.; Newman, Stephen J.; Harvey, Euan S.

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-85396-y

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 77 publications

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“…pipeline spans have been reported previously in the NW (McLean et al, 2017;Bond et al, 2018a;Schramm et al, 2021) and the North Sea (Redford et al, 2021). This pattern may also reflect known associations of this species with rocky habitat during the adult phase and soft habitat in the juvenile phase (Seiler et al, 2012).…”

Section: Fishery Target Species On Subsea Pipelines In Australiasupporting

confidence: 80%

Habitat value of subsea wells and pipelines for fishery target species in Australia

et al. 2022

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Subsea pipelines and wells installed to support the oil and gas industry represent some of the most extensive and numerous anthropogenic structures throughout global marine ecosystems. There remains a paucity of information on the habitat value of these structures for fishery target species and, as a result, little understanding of how decommissioning should be conducted to minimise impacts to populations of these economically and socially important species. We assess the diversity and abundance of species that are targets of recreational and commercial fisheries on 33 subsea wells and 17 pipelines across the tropical northwest and temperate southeast marine regions of Australia. We examine relationships between fish identity and abundance and a range of environmental (e.g., depth, location), infrastructure-specific (e.g., pipeline position, diameter, age, length of pipeline, height of well, position on well), and biological (% cover of epibiota) variables using video filmed by remotely operated vehicles during their routine offshore inspection and maintenance campaigns. A total of 100 fishery target species were observed across subsea well and pipeline infrastructure, 56 species uniquely observed on pipelines and nine unique to wells. The families Lutjanidae (snapper), Serranidae (rock cods, groupers, perch), and Carangidae (trevallies) were most common and abundant on both wells and pipelines. In the northwest, lutjanids were most abundant around the base of wells, in shallow depths, on shorter wells, and where pipelines spanned the seafloor. A greater number of fishery target species and abundance of ocean perch (Helicolenus spp.) were also associated with pipelines that spanned the seafloor in temperate southeast Australia. The combined biomass of three species of snapper on wells in the northwest was 1,270 kg, with production levels for these species on each well estimated to be 105.2 g m2 year-1. The present study serves as an important reference point for informing decommissioning decisions for pipeline and well infrastructure and demonstrates the utility of industry-held data for science. We suggest that key predictor variables identified here be incorporated into comprehensive before-after-control-impact scientific studies for specific fields/assets to enable the prediction of potential impacts of decommissioning scenarios on marine communities present and quantification of such impacts after the decommissioning activity has occurred.

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Section: Fishery Target Species On Subsea Pipelines In Australiasupporting

confidence: 80%

Habitat value of subsea wells and pipelines for fishery target species in Australia

et al. 2022

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“…Across a tropical coastal seascape comprising coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass and sand, we found that sand habitats contributed more unique species to the total fish diversity across the seascape than would be expected based on their relatively lower species richness. While many studies have demonstrated that shallow (2–10 m depth) sand flats generally harbour fewer fish species than surrounding habitats (Gratwicke & Speight, 2005; Heck et al, 1989; Pittman et al, 2007; Schramm et al, 2021), especially of juveniles (Lefcheck et al, 2019), ours contributes to the growing literature demonstrating fundamental differences in community composition in unstructured/unvegetated habitats across both temperate (Henseler et al, 2019; Lingo & Szedlmayer, 2006; Staveley et al, 2017; Travers & Potter, 2002) and, to a lesser degree, tropical seascapes (Grimmel et al, 2020; Gullström et al, 2008; Hall & Kingsford, 2021). Further, when considered in the hierarchical context of local and regional diversity scales (Whittaker, 1960), sand flats had higher‐than‐expected contributions to between‐habitat β‐diversity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blinded by the bright: How species‐poor habitats contribute to regional biodiversity across a tropical seascape

Harper

Lefcheck

Whippo³

et al. 2022

Diversity and Distributions

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Aim Conservation efforts have traditionally addressed the threat of biodiversity loss by prioritizing regions and habitats with high endemic species richness. However, species‐poor habitats often harbour distinct, valuable and/or functionally unique species that contribute to regional diversity. In the tropical marine realm, the ‘mangrove‐seagrass‐coral reef continuum’ has dominated both the scientific literature and marine spatial planning. Bare sediment habitats are also part of this continuum and often comprise the majority of bottom area, as they do in most regions worldwide, but are understudied and rarely considered in conservation. To address this information gap, we partition the relative contributions of five habitats in the coastal mosaic (forereefs, patch reefs, seagrass, mangroves and bare sand) to fish diversity across a tropical seascape. Location Carrie Bow Cay, Belize Barrier Reef. Methods Using diver visual censuses, we assessed fish community composition at three replicate sites from each of the five habitats annually for 5 years. We then partitioned diversity into within (α) and between (β) habitat contributions, and further partitioned β‐diversity into components attributed to species replacement and richness difference. Finally, we determined the local contributions to β‐diversity (LCBD) by each habitat and identified the key individual species behind these contributions. Main Results Tropical sand flats contributed uniquely and disproportionately to regional fish species diversity, despite having the fewest species overall. Sand flats also had higher‐than‐expected local contributions to β‐diversity (LCBD) and had the highest percentage of species not found in other habitats. Main Conclusions Our results demonstrate that previously understudied sand habitats harbour a relatively unique assemblage of species compared with other nearby habitats. Marine spatial planning aimed at maximizing the preservation of total biodiversity (including unique species) in the tropics should consider sand habitats.

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“…Slope values and sh feeding guilds were derived from the FishBase website (https://www. shbase.se/search.php) and relevant published literature (Schramm et al 2021). DOV's were not carried out across Fly reef due to limited days in the eld, but as there is no signi cant variation in habitat types between Eva and Fly reef (Dee et al 2020), and similar abundances have been witnessed at Fly reef previously (Pers.…”

Section: Fish and Urchin Abundancementioning

confidence: 99%

Endolithic Borers Drive Rates of Bioerosion Among Inshore Turbid Reefs in Western Australia

Dee

DeCarlo

Lozić

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Bioerosion on turbid inshore reefs is expected to increase with global climate change reducing reef stability and accretionary potential. Most studies investigating bioerosion have focused on external grazers, such as parrotfish and urchins, whose biomass is more easily measured. Yet, cryptic endolithic bioeroders such as macroboring (worms, sponges and bivalves) and microboring taxa (fungus and algae) have the potential to be the dominant bioeroders, especially among inshore reef systems exposed to increased nutrient supply. We measured bioerosion rates of three bioeroder groups (microborers, macroborers, and grazers), and their response to environmental parameters (temperature, turbidity, light, chlorophyll a, salinity, pH) across two inshore reefs of north Western Australia. Total bioerosion rates were low (0.152 ± 0.012 kg m-1 yr-1) compared to average global rates, but were comparable to other inshore turbid reefs. Macroboring worms were the dominant source of bioerosion and displayed a significant negative relationship with temperature (r2= 0.24, P=0.008) and light (r2= 0.16, P=0.037). A global assessment of environmental influences on bioerosion further identified chlorophyll-a as a significant driver of macroboring (r2= 0.60, P=<0.001). Low bioerosion rates among marginal inshore reefs is encouraging as these reefs may be able to maintain a positive carbonate budget state despite lower coral cover and gross carbonate production rates. These data also highlight the necessity of reducing local impacts such as nutrient loads, which drive increases in chlorophyll a, to support marginal reef systems with climate change. Further, the development of empirical relationships that quantitatively link bioeroder activity and rates of environmental change will improve our ability to predict reef responses to environmental change, and better manage reefs into the future.

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

Cited by 19 publications

References 77 publications

Habitat value of subsea wells and pipelines for fishery target species in Australia

Habitat value of subsea wells and pipelines for fishery target species in Australia

Blinded by the bright: How species‐poor habitats contribute to regional biodiversity across a tropical seascape

Endolithic Borers Drive Rates of Bioerosion Among Inshore Turbid Reefs in Western Australia

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