EcoRigs is a non-profit 501 (c) corporation. Steve Kolian is director and founder, he organized the data and wrote the text for the website. Allen Walker and Toby Armstrong supplied the underwater photographs. Dr. Paul Sammarco contributed to the page on coral.  Scott Porter, Chuck Bedell, and Michael Boatright are members who have contributed their knowledge and effort. A short biography is available below of the team members.

Steve Kolian - Biographical Sketch  

Steve Kolian grew up commercial fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and received his graduate degree from Tulane University in Environmental Science. He participated in a progressive marine aquaculture project as a research scientist at Louisiana Marine Consortium (LUMCON) and has consulted for the offshore oil and gas industry.  Steve is interested in redeployment of retired oil and gas platforms for use in sustainable fisheries and eco-technology applications. He has conducted several years of research into Japanese Marine Habitat Enhancement technology. Mr. Kolian is also interested in fish ecology with emphasis on recruitment dynamics, artificial reefs as part of a larger comprehensive culture fishery, marine stock enhancement, telemetry of reef fish in orientation to reef habitats, and food energetics and population dynamics of reef ecosystems. 

Paul W. Sammarco - Biographical Sketch 

Dr. Paul W. Sammarco is a Professor at the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON) in Chauvin, Louisiana, USA.  He has been conducting research on coral reef ecology for 30 years, in the western Atlantic (Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Bahamas) and on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia.  He has served an Assistant Professor at Clarkson University (NY), a senior research scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, and Executive Director and a Research Professor at LUMCON.  He also served as the Director of Environmental Research for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in Australia for several years.  He has worked at the margins of ecology and evolution and at the interface of physics, chemistry, geology, and mathematics for many years.   

With respect to work on Gulf of Mexico, Dr. Sammarco is currently conducting an interdisciplinary study to determine sources and sinks of coral larvae.  Working with US Department of the Interior – Minerals Management Service, he is attempting to demonstrate the expansion of Caribbean corals into the Gulf of Mexico through their colonization of offshore oil and gas platforms.    

Research 

We will support research into platform ecology by providing video footage to interested investigators. The videos illustrate that reef fish mate, spawn, feed, nest, and grow to maturity on oil and gas platforms. Observations suggest that platforms function as orientation sites on the migratory routes of coastal fish. It’s evident that they are Endangered Species Habitat for sea turtles which feed and rest on them.   The research possibilities are expansive and if individuals or parties are interested in pursuing this line of study.  If interested, please contact Steve Kolian of EcoRigs or Allen Walker of Gulf Productions at one of the numbers below.  

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Contact Steve Kolian  225-910-0304 or stevekolian@hotmail.com for questions about the utilization and preservation of retired platforms and  Allen Walker for gulfproductions@aol.com for inquiries into the photography. 

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