Marine communities of platform facilities, subsea pipelines and surrounding natural ecosystems in the Gippsland region, south-east Australia

This study analyses multi-year high-definition imagery (HD cam and stereo-video) collected by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV)to examine marine communities associated with a selection of Esso Australia Pty Ltd platform facilities, subsea pipelines and a nearby natural reef feature (‘south-east reef’) in the Gippsland region of the Bass Strait, south-east Australia.

The study will describe epibenthic (colonising sessile communities i.e. ‘marine growth’), seabed characteristics and fish communities in addition to other mobile fauna of fishery or conservation value and assess how these infrastructure-associated communities compare to those observed on the nearby south-east reef. The study will also investigate potential drivers of patterns observed including structure age, position on structure, pipeline spanning, location, depth, distance from shore, distance to nearest platform, etc. The results will provide insight into the habitat value of these structures and inform decommissioning decisions.