Keith supported long-term biological studies of effects of dredging at the BP Oil Company Ferndale Refinery marine facilities. His work utilized keystone species of the commercially harvested Dungeness crabs (C. magister) to assess the impact and rate of recovery from dredge operations. Keith used standard trawls, scuba diving, and systematic habitat assessments to quantify the results of proposed mitigation actions. He also used underwater video surveys to document existing conditions in the study areas and took infauna and epifauna samples using standard corers and a specially designed diver-operated airlift suction sampler.
This program was conducted for multiple years before and during dredging and continued for three years following construction to monitor habitat recovery processes.