CHAPMAN, RUSSELL L.1*, JUAN M. LOPEZ-BAUTISTA2, SUZANNE FREDERICQ2, and DEBRA A. WATERS1. 1Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA USA 70803; 2Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA USA 70504-2451. - The biotech potential of algae colonizing oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico: risks and rewards.
In an ever-expanding quest to find treatments for diseases such as
AIDS, cancer, and inflammatory or infectious diseases, government
agencies as well as pharmaceutical companies are turning to the seas.
More than 3,500 oil and gas platforms in the northern Gulf of Mexico
provide habitats that may harbor marine organisms with pharmaceutical
or other commercial usefulness. As collaborators in a project funded
in part by the Minerals Management Service, we are continuing our
investigations on the macroalgal epiflora of the artificial reefs
created by the platform substructures. To determine if harvesting of
these algae would be useful or wise, baseline information must be
gathered about what organisms inhabit these artificial islands, which,
if any, might be useful, and what the relative abundance of such algae
is. The first step beyond our previous studies is identifying the
algae collected in the spring from the six to eight platforms in our
study area on the Louisiana shelf of the Gulf of Mexico. The sampling
scheme allows us to investigate near-shore to outer-shelf and
along-coast variability as well as the influences of water column and
currents. Once we have conducted an initial survey of designated
platforms and identified the algae, we hope to be able to answer the
questionÑAre any of the algae known to have biotechnology potential?
Subsequent research should help us reach some conclusions about the
environmental risks of extracting marine organisms from their steel
reefs and answer the questionÑIs sustainable harvesting possible
without disrupting biodiversity and damaging these newly created
ecosystems?
Key words: algae, biotechnology, economic botany, gas & oil platforms, Gulf of Mexico, marine algae