Presentation
Advanced Simulations of Impacts from Large Oil Spills on Six Commercially Important Fish Stocks in the North Atlantic
SessionWildlife - Impacts
DescriptionThe SYMBIOSES project has run in three phases over a period of > 10 years, financed by the Norwegian Research Council and a number of operators on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. In this third phase of the project we apply a high resolution 3-D coupled biological-physical model that includes a toxic effects module to simulate impacts of large oil spills on the recruitment and subsequent changes in the Spawning Stock Biomass (SSB) of six commercially important fish stocks in the North Atlantic. The SYMBIOSES model includes species characteristics and annual variations in recruitment and is used to simulate a range of years and spill locations, as well as a range of sensitivity to oil toxicity.
Oil spill simulations of existing producing fields and exploration activities show a maximum 8.8 % larval mortality with a reduction of SSB in a subsequent year of 1.1 %. Results of simulations performed on a set of locations in environmental "hot spots" in areas currently closed to petroleum activity indicate a maximum loss of 56 % of larval and a subsequent reduction of SSB of 18 %.
The SYMBIOSES modeling tool extrapolates impacts on individual fish to the entire population, delivering comparative information for diverse fish species in the North Atlantic. These simulation results provide valuable input to the Management Plans for the Norwegian Continental Shelf and decision support for planning activities, as well as seeking the best options for reducing the impact on fish SSB.
Oil spill simulations of existing producing fields and exploration activities show a maximum 8.8 % larval mortality with a reduction of SSB in a subsequent year of 1.1 %. Results of simulations performed on a set of locations in environmental "hot spots" in areas currently closed to petroleum activity indicate a maximum loss of 56 % of larval and a subsequent reduction of SSB of 18 %.
The SYMBIOSES modeling tool extrapolates impacts on individual fish to the entire population, delivering comparative information for diverse fish species in the North Atlantic. These simulation results provide valuable input to the Management Plans for the Norwegian Continental Shelf and decision support for planning activities, as well as seeking the best options for reducing the impact on fish SSB.
Authors
Scientist
Senior Researcher
Event Type
Paper
TimeWednesday, May 15th9:00am - 9:20am CDT
Location278-280
Remediation