Monitoring in the Vicinity of Oil and Gas Platforms; Results from the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea and Recommended Methods for Forthcoming Surveillance*

Cooperating Marine Scientists AS, Billingstadsletta 19, 1362 Billingstad, Norway

*Editors' Note: This paper has aroused considerable controversy among peer reviewers and the various groups with an interest in the topic. In particular, the controversy focuses on the authors' interpretation of the data which they contend suggests a significant extension of the impact zone around production platforms in the Norwegian sector. Peer reviewers have raised concern over comparability of the data sets from 1984 and 1986 because of changes in sampling equipment, accuracy of station locations, appropriateness of statistical analysis techniques, differences in hydrocarbon extraction techniques, and interpretation of causeand-effect between diversity indices shifts and sediment hydrocarbon levels.