The purposes of this study were to identify the benthic shelled infauna and epifauna of the eastern Chukchi Sea, compile species lists and distribution maps, determine recurrent groups of species (communities), and examine the environmental parameters that may control the distribution of the faunal groups. The study was partly supported by the Bureau of Land Management through an interagency agreement with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under which a multi-year program responding to the needs of petroleum development of the Alaskan continental shelf is managed by the Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program (OCSEAP) Office. The objective of this study is to provide an assessment of the biological patterns of the region as related to petroleum development. Future offshore oil leases proposed by the State of Alaska and the Federal Government require a biological data base from which impact statements can be derived.
Samples used in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in August 1974 from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Burton Island under the direction of Arthur Grantz. Sampling was conducted using van Veen grabs, gravity cores, dart cores, and bottom dredges. Only the van Veen grabs contained material useful for this study. At present 103 samples containing 90 species have been examined.
