Behaviour aspects of fish in relation to oil platforms in the North Sea.

Fish distribution around structures of the Ekofisk oil field in the central North Sea was investigated by means of gillnet fishing, longlining, jigging and echosurveying. The studies were carried out during one week in August 1978. The greatest fish densities were observed in the vicinity of the structures, being 3 and 10 times higher for cod and saithe respectively in the distance interval 0 - 200 m from the structures, compared to the area further away than 500 m. Fish density at the time of study was, however low and of minor interest for commercial fishing