Offshore petroleum platforms provide habitat utilized by an array of reef fish that are valuable to both commercial and recreational fishers. However, thousands of offshore platforms have been decommissioned in the Gulf of Mexico over the past decade, with many of the removals being accomplished using explosive severance methods. Here, we estimate the impact of platform removal in the Gulf of Mexico on five stocks of federally managed reef fish based on the percentage of each stock that is resident on platforms. We conclude that the gulfwide impact of removal will be relatively minor (1% to 8% of the estimated stock abundance) for four species, Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus, Gray Triggerfish Balistes capriscus, Vermilion Snapper Rhomboplites aurorubens, and Cobia Rachycentron canadum. In contrast, losses for the Greater Amberjack Seriola dumerili stock would potentially represent 45% of the known stock. An alternative explanation is that the actual abundance of Greater Amberjack is much larger than the most recent stock size estimate; in either case, we suggest this issue needs further examination. Removal impacts could also be significant for reef-fish fisheries (especially the Red Snapper fishery) in areas where platforms are presently abundant but other high-relief natural or artificial reefs are not present. Removal of the platforms from these areas will greatly impact the local fisheries.

中文翻译：

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墨西哥湾近海石油平台上红鲷鱼、大琥珀鱼和其他联邦管理鱼类的绝对丰度估计

海上石油平台提供了一系列珊瑚鱼利用的栖息地，这些鱼对商业和休闲渔民都很有价值。然而，在过去十年中，墨西哥湾已有数千个海上平台退役，其中许多拆除工作是使用爆炸性切断方法完成的。在这里，我们根据驻留在平台上的每种种群的百分比来估计墨西哥湾平台移除对联邦管理的五种珊瑚鱼种群的影响。我们得出结论，对于四个物种红鲷鱼Lutjanus campechanus、 Grey Triggerfish Balistes capriscus 、 Vermilion Snapper Rhomboplites aurorubens，迁移对整个海湾的影响将相对较小（估计种群丰度的 1% 至 8%）, 和军曹鱼 Rachycentron canadum . 相比之下，Greater Amberjack Seriola dumerili库存的损失可能占已知库存的 45%。另一种解释是，大琥珀鱼的实际丰度远大于最近的种群规模估计；无论哪种情况，我们建议这个问题需要进一步研究。在目前平台丰富但不存在其他高地势天然或人工礁石的地区，清除对礁鱼渔业（尤其是红鲷鱼渔业）的影响也可能很大。从这些地区拆除平台将极大地影响当地渔业。