In 1974, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) , as the administrative agency responsible for leasing submerged federal lands, was authorized to initiate a National Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Environmental Studies Program. As part of this national program, the BLM developed the Marine Environmental Study Plan for the South Texas Outer Continental Shelf (STOCS) to add to our understanding of this ecosystem. This plan was developed to meet the following four specific study objectives: 1) provide information for predicting the effects of OCS oil and gas development activities upon the components of the ecosystem; 2) provide a description of the physical, chemical, geological, and biological components, and their interactions, against which subsequent changes or impacts could be compared; 3) identify critical parameters that should be incorporated into a monitoring program; and. 4) identify and conduct experimental and problem-oriented studies as required to meet the basic objectives. BLM contracted the University of Texas at Austin to act for and on behalf of a consortium program of research conducted by Rice University, Texas A&M University, and the University of Texas, to implement the Environmental Study Plan. This plan called for an intensive multidisciplinary three-year study (1975-1977) to characterize the temporal and spatial variation of the shelf marine ecosystem beyond 10 m water depth. The central theme of the STOCS study was to provide an understanding of the living and non-living resources of the shelf. In order to approach the objectives outlined above a broad program was designed which included: a) water mass characterization; b) pelagic primary and secondary productivity as described by floral and faunal abundances, standing crop, and nutrient levels; c) sediment texture characterization; d) benthic productivity as described by infaunal and epifaunal densities; e) natural petroleum hydrocarbon levels in biota, water and sediment; and, f) natural trace metal levels in biota and particulate matter.Submitted to the Bureau of Land Management, Washington, D.C. ... by The University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas Marine LaboratoryContract AA551-CT8-51January 1980Marine Scienc
