Offshore decommissioning horizon scan: Research priorities to support decision-making activities for oil and gas infrastructure.

Thousands of oil and gas structures have been installed in the world's oceans over the past 70 years to meet the population's reliance on hydrocarbons. Over the last decade, there has been increased concern over how to handle decommissioning of this infrastructure when it reaches the end of its operational life. Complete or partial removal may or may not present the best option when considering potential impacts on the environment, society, technical feasibility, economy, and future asset liability.

Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the AlaskaYukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

This paper is a checklist of the fishes that have been documented, through both published and unpublished sources, in marine and estuarine waters, and out 200 miles, from the United States-Canadian border on the Beaufort Sea to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. A minimum of 241 families and 1,644 species are known within this range, including both native and nonnative species. For each of these species, we include maximum size, geographic and depth ranges, whether it is native or nonnative, as well as a brief mention of any taxonomic issues.

A comparison of two remotely operated vehicle (ROV) survey methods used to estimate fish assemblages and densities around a California oil platform.

Offshore oil and gas platforms have a finite life of production operations. Once production ceases, decommissioning options for the platform are assessed. The role that a platform's jacket plays as fish habitat can inform the decommissioning decision.

A new maximum size for the family Nomeidae and the third record of a longfin cigarfish, Cubiceps paradoxus (Stromateoidei: Nomeidae) from California, USA.

We report the largest specimen from the stromateoid family Nomeidae. The specimen, measuring 1283 mm total length unpreserved, was caught on hook and line from shore in Port Hueneme, California, USA in June 2019. Despite scavenging damage, the specimen was identified as a longfin cigarfish, Cubiceps paradoxus, using morphological characters and molecular techniques.

Forecasting the legacy of offshore oil and gas platforms on fish community structure and productivity.

There are currently thousands of offshore platforms in place for oil and gas extraction worldwide, and decommissioning efforts over the next three decades are estimated to cost more than US$200 billion. As platforms reach the end of their useful lifetime, operators and regulatory agencies will assess the environmental impact of potential decommissioning strategies. Among the many factors that will be weighed in preparation for these major economic and engineering challenges is the fate of the fish and invertebrate communities that inhabit the structures underwater.

Modeling fish production for southern California's petroleum platforms.

California's oil platforms are nearing the end of their productive lives and therefore will be decommissioned in the near future. These structures have been shown to be important habitats for both settlement and growth for reef fishes. Important information on the biological effects (i.

Assessing marine debris in deep seafloor habitats off California.

Marine debris is a global concern that pollutes the world's oceans, including deep benthic habitats where little is known about the extent of the problem. We provide the first quantitative assessment of debris on the seafloor (20-365 m depth) in submarine canyons and the continental shelf off California, using the Delta submersible. Fishing activities were the most common contributors of debris.

Hierarchical partitioning of evolutionary and ecological patterns in the organization of phylogenetically-structured species assemblages: application to rockfish (genus: Sebastes) in the Southern California Bight.

Phylogenetic divergences have recently been included in analyses that aim to elucidate patterns of biodiversity in space and time. We introduce a generalized framework for two widely used phylogenetic diversity (PD) indices: Raos quadratic entropy (QE) and Faiths PD. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to partition diversity simultaneously across evolutionary periods and spatial (e.

Size-selective harvesting alters life histories of a temperate sex-changing fish.

Selective mortality, whether caused naturally by predation or through the influence of harvest practices, initiates changes within populations when individuals possessing certain heritable traits have increased fitness. Theory predicts that increased mortality rates will select for changes in a number of different life history characteristics. For example, fishing often targets larger individuals and has been shown repeatedly to alter population size structure and growth rates, and the timing of maturation.